Studio Headphones

Welcome back everyone!
Today we are going to discuss several headphones that one may want in their studio. When you are recording at home, your artist should have a good pair of headphone to listen to themselves play. This goes the same if you are recording yourself, or listening to an artist. A professional quality pair of headphones will also come in handy when you are not able to listen to your session through your studio monitors. An example of this would be monitoring in an apartment or if you can't be loud in your environment.

Before we look at some headphones we need to know what the two different types of professional quality headphones are available. First we have closed ear headphones, which have a backing that covers the entire ear. These are the headphones that will give you complete isolation and block any outside noise. Then we have open ear headphones, which don't have a solid cover and allow for outside noise and air to get into the headphones. While this may sound undesirable, the outside air that seeps into the headphones eliminates resonance buildup in the headphones (resonance build up is a build up of frequencies, particularly low frequencies that sit in the mix).

Another consideration to take into mind is the frequency response of the headphones you purchase. If you are doing a lot of mixing, you probably want headphones with the most even response across all frequencies, almost flat. This will help give a more accurate representation of each sound in your mix.

One thing to note is that open ear headphones leak out what is playing in the speaker itself through the back on the headphone. This would be really undesirable when tracking instruments such as guitar or bass. If your artist is playing back to a click track in the headphones, you don't want the sound of that beep to leak into the microphone that's picking up the artists instrument.

Here are a few examples of professional quality closed ear headphones.

Sony MDR-7506

The Sony MDR-7506 is an industry standard when it comes to closed ear studio headphones. They are great for mixing, detailed listening, DJing, and recording.

As you can see, between 40Hz and 10000Hz, the response is pretty flat, except for a nice dip around 7500Hz and at 11000Hz. However, there is a nice bump up around 15kHz. The frequency response along with the quality of the product make this a desirable headphone to have in your studio. It's usually a good idea to stock up on a couple pairs in case you need to have multiple headphones feeds going at the same time.

Shure SRH940

The Shure SRH940 are another pair of closed ear headphones. These are designed for comfort and on the go go use for mobile project. Shure also allows the user to detach the ear pad and get the most comfortable size for you.

The frequency response on this pair of headphones has a nice boost in the mid range to give a nice tight low end. There is also a nice peak around 10kHz, which will keep the high end present in the mix.

Now we have some open ear headphones.

Sennheiser HD 800

These open ear headphones offers a realistic and natural sound field with minimal resonance. They also are built with a large transducer, which is what transfers electrical energy to acoustical energy, which means outside noise will not interfere.

As you can see these headphones have a very unique frequency response. There is a very nice curve from 80Hz to 2kHz. This will give for a very smooth low and with tons of middle and low presence. There are then peaks at 7kHz, 11kHz, 12kHz. There will blend in a beautiful high end with the curved frequencies. As you can also see, the amplitude peaks of each frequency are very close to each other, so the frequencies that are highlighted don't out do each other.

AKG K702

These are another pair of open ear headphones. The AKG K702s try to give a near linear response, focusing on producing accurate bass response, while still delivering clear highs. They are also designed to give the "perfect" amount of air passage from the open ear design, making these headphones extremely comfortable to wear.

The AKG K702 open ear headphones produce a similar response to the Sennheiser model previously mentioned. There is a nice curve from 80Hz to 900Hz, giving a precise low end without muddying up the middle. There are then peaks at 1kHz, 5kHz, 9kHz, and 12kHz. This will highlight frequency areas that will make the high end have a solid presence without interfering with other frequencies. Also with these headphones, the highlighted frequencies have peaks at even amplitude, meaning the frequencies don't over power each other.

There are many headphones to choose from and all different designs and styles. In the end, the best way to choose a pair of headphones is to listen to them before you buy them. Just like studio monitors, one pair of monitors or headphones may sound good to one person, but you may dislike the sound of them completely. With that being said, it is also a good idea to have a couple pairs of good headphones so you can record and listen at home. A good idea may to have a really nice pair of headphones for yourself, and a basic profession model for your artists or guests.

*Note: I didn't add any links or pricing to this post. Headphones can range greatly in price, but it does mean they are any better than another pair, just like mics and monitors. If anyone wants the links to any of these headphones just leave me a comment.*

Leave comments and feedback on headphone stories you have had, or other headphones you or your artists enjoyed using!

TTYL,
BCEB

 *It's not about how fast you can pump something out, it's how efficient you can use your knowledge to create the best available product while delivering a professional experience.*