

With so many variables in the recording studio, having at least one piece of stability and consistency is invaluable.
SENNHEISER HD 600 WAVES NX SUBPAC S2 DRIVERS
You’ll get full frequency response with drivers powerful enough to give your the detail and nuance that you need when making critical sonic decisions. Honestly, any pair of closed back studio headphones above $99 US is putting you in a range of quality that will work great. Why? Because he’s had them for years and knows what music sounds like on them.


That’s half the price of a budget set of speakers!Īlso – as I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, Grammy winning mixer/engineer Andrew Scheps mixes on a pair of $99 Sony MDR-7506s from time to time. I personally use and recommend the KRK KNS8400s and they will run you around $150 US. They will give you more isolation and separation which is great for tracking and playback in one room setups. Go for a pair of closed back studio headphones. Now, I’m sure 99% of you already own a pair of “good” studio headphones, but for those who are in the market for a pair of if you simply want to know what I think is an acceptable option for the studio, here are some thoughts. A pair of good studio headphones is your most trusted friend in the studio.

This might all sound obvious to you – but I don’t want you to miss the profound implications of this truth. It’s been an integral part of my development as an engineer. I’d work out of basements, churches, and living rooms without my normal speakers and the room I’m used to.īut thanks to my pair of trusty studio headphones I had a standard with which to make my mic placement decisions. I would fly to places like Boston, Washington D.C., and Richmond to track albums for really talented artists. Over the years I’ve found this to be true, especially when I was doing a lot of mobile recording. Ultimately this leads to better recordings that virtually mix themselves. What it comes down to is simply this – if you have a pair of accurate headphones (more on that in a minute) and you know what good music sounds like on those cans, then you have a monitoring standard with which to make accurate microphone choice and placement decisions. No matter where you record (on the go, in another studio) playback on those headphones is consistent. No matter what your room sounds like, playback on those headphones is consistent. They allow you to hear your tracks in isolation and with consistency every single time. not super cheap) headphones is so valuable – as the gold monitoring standard. So even though things like proper mic choice and strategic mic placement are the key to killer recordings (beyond talent and performance of course) you’re working from a disadvantage if you can’t hear every nuance of the instrument you’re tracking. The common situation for us home studio owners is a simple one room setup – and chances are very high that the room doesn’t sound very good to begin with. Unless you have a dedicated control room that is acoustically tuned and treated, then you have no way of knowing what your recordings are really sounding like on tracking day. It’s funny how much emphasis is put on microphones, preamps, and converters when it comes to recordings, and yet no one seems to talk about whether or not you can hear what those performances really sound like. That’s right, the most powerful recording tool you could have is a pair of studio headphones. Not only that, it doubles as a powerful mixing tool as well.Īnd the best part – you probably already own it. What if I told you there was a recording tool so powerful that it could help you get the best sounding tracks, no matter where you record or what gear you record with?
