headphones for sound

[nelsound]

I do a fair bit of sound at school; this includes much sound for live performances. Much to my dislike the desk is inside a control room with only window that I can open halfway at the moment I either move the desk out of the room into the theatre, which annoys people as I am taking up valuable space or doing my best with the window.

 

At present we have a pair of rubbish speakers that we can here the mix through, I was wondering whether it was worth my while getting a pair of decent headphones instead of these speakers.

 

If the answer is yes what headphones would people recommend, I would not really like to spend more than about £130

 

I would also be interested if people had an opinion about doing the EQs using headphones, obviously any mixing would have to be done without headphones.

 

Thanks

Henry

[johndenim]

In My personal opinion it would not be preferable to op the desk from where you are currently.

 

If this remains the case, a good sound check and correct gain structure would be crucial.

I suppose a pair of cans could be used for reference, but again, it would not be my first choice!

 

 

E2a.

 

A good topic found through the search function, here.

[ojc123]

Another useful thread.

[wmcalin]

Hi, you need a sliding window so you can hear... I would not event try doing a live mix through headphones..

[TeeJay]

While I agree that you shouldn't be mixing inside a room separate to the room the performance is taking place in, I suspect that purchasing headphones is going to be cheaper than renovation.

 

I think my first port of call here would actually to be purchase better speakers for monitoring. This of course depends on being able to purchase speakers that give reasonable sound without breaking your budget ...

 

Maybe look to buying headphones for the PA mix and then using the current speakers as a wedge monitor of some kind (if you have the outputs spare).

 

However, do keep pushing to be out in the hall where-ever possible. Every trade mag under the sun should be able to provide you with photo's that show sound desks to be in the space rather than in a control room and regular listeners should note that the sound is better when you are able to hear the sound throughout the performance. Keep any distruption to nearby audience to a minimum (use proper cans technique, make doubly sure everything is tidy, etc) and train your performers to request the sound desk be in the hall - if they keep asking, at some point the powers that be may start to take notice.

 

If you want more details on headphones, Dave Rat was recently running tests on a few dozen - have a look at his results on his blog and let that guide your purchases. Linky here

 

Best of luck