Best headphones to play along with

[UOVDrummer79]

I've never really learned parts by playing along with songs. Just listened to them and tried to emulate what I've heard. Now in a band covering 100+ songs and I need a good set of headphones to play along with songs as a learning tool. Any recommendations? I've used AKG and Sony in studios and liked those but would like to get some opinions before I drop a couple hundred bucks. Thanks in advance.

[Bertram]

I bought some vic firth ones... really great. Mutes the drum overtones and sound by about 80% they preform great... 100$

[adamsdrums]

I had some of the in-ear moniters those worked great,
the shure in ear headphones run like 100 bucks but they are prob the best in my opinon

[unfunkyfooted]

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/pro-a...ion-headphones

[Fuo]

http://www.etymotic.com/ephp/mc5.html

[topgun2021]

Originally Posted by Bertram

I bought some vic firth ones... really great. Mutes the drum overtones and sound by about 80% they preform great... 100$

I bought mine for $50 USD. Twice.

The wire does have a tendency to break if you are not careful enough.

http://www.vicfirth.com/product/buyn...hp?button=SIH1

Sennheiser hd-280..Trust me they are awesome for this kind of thing. I love mine.

[Bertram]

it depends alot, if u want in ear or not... to me in ear headphones have badder quality sound, and doesn't reduce as much of the external sound.
BTW my vic firth headphones has no problems whats o ever,... never snapped the wire.

[tard]

I find headphones somewhat heavy and are prone to move around on your head plus you have to get them to fit perfectly for them to isolate, the shure ear buds that use the yellow foams work perfect, you scrunch them up and put it in your ear and it swells back up like ear plugs giving you complete isolation if you wear both plus it keeps them from falling out no matter how much of a head banger you are and they are so light you hardly know your wearing them. Shure has several price levels from single to triple drivers that all use the same yellow foams. If you can swing the cash get the p4hw wired body pack as well and you have a complete in ear monitor with mix and volume controls right on you hip.

[audiotech]

I only wear "earbuds" when I absolutely have to, all other times I wear headphones with a high degree of ambient noise isolation. Some of my favorites are the Shure 840 and 440 (with the 840 ear cushions), Sennheiser 280, Beyer 109, and Audio Technica M50's.

Probably the highest isolation in the above bunch are the Sennhieser 280's and the Shure 840's. The best sounding to my ears are the Shure 840. The lightest in weight are the Shure 440's. That's why I like to use the 440 headphones with the more isolating properties of the 840 ear cushions for longer sessions.

Dennis

[SergiuM]

I use the Vic Firth ones. Here's my deal with them. The sound quality is decent, construction is fine, but when I play for over 15 minutes, I get VERY fatigued. My head and ears start hurting, it literally makes me stop playing until the discomfort goes away. They also have a tendency to not want to stay on your head properly.

The Etymotics look awesome, im gonna look into those.

[Joe Morris]

Beyerdynamic DT 770. Best drummer headphones on the market hands down.


Joe

[Embalmer]

Originally Posted by nhzoso

Sennheiser hd-280..Trust me they are awesome for this kind of thing. I love mine.

Exactly what I have. I was sold on the cheaper Vic Firths, until the Guitar Center guy had me try both of them.

[SergiuM]

Originally Posted by Joe Morris

Beyerdynamic DT 770. Best drummer headphones on the market hands down.


Joe

Im really interested in the 770's. Im assuming you own them, how are they? Are they worth the money in terms of construction and sound quality? I heard some mixed reviews on their sound quality

[audiotech]

The Beyer Dynamic DT-770 Pro headphones sound great for listening to something that is already pre-recorded where back ground audio or noise is not a problem. The 770's have a slightly hyped high frequency response and a low frequency response that is very bass heavy, in my opinion. The cloth ear cushions of the DT-770 do not isolate outside ambient audio nearly as well as the memory foam ear pieces or any of the headphones I've listed below. Their ear cushions fit lightly around your ears and a plus in this respect is that they are comfortable to wear for long listening sessions.

Yes, I own the Beyer Dynamic DT-770 headphones and because of what I stated here, that's the reason I never even mentioned them in my first post.

Like I said, if you want something to listen to music in a non tracking environment, where you don't have to worry too much about leakage, then the 770's will probably work for you, if you don't mind the exaggerations in their upper and particularly lower ends. Just don't buy them without first trying them, if at all posible.

BTW, the pair of 770 headphones I have, have their own headphone amplifier where I can adjust the contour of their frequency response to be able to create a more linear response.

Dennis

the bose AE2, they are amazing. i use them to play along to my mp3's, and i have used them while recording live (in an isolation booth with the other guys in their own booths as well, i could hear my bandmates as if they were right in front of me with their amps turned low). when we recorded in our guitarist's parent's huge living room, we did individual cuts, then layered them. it helped keep each track as clean as possible, since doing it all live would have sounded muddy. but the guys used my phones to play along to the previously recorded tracks, and raved about them.

[swiNg]

i love my b&w c5 http://www.bowers-wilkins.eu/Headpho.../overview.html

[kettles]

I have the Sennheiser HD280's also....but I wouldn't recommend them. They don't cut out enough external sound for my liking. I have to set the volume on my player at almost max just to hear it over the drums. I play pretty hard and you may be different, but I still think it's worth trying out other models.

I have used Koss for many years. Always found they have great bass reproduction, especially with the electronic kit. This is what I have now. http://www.koss.com/en/Product_Pages...F80C40D528B398

[Joe Morris]

I agree with some points and strongly disagree with others. You are right they are bass heavy. WHICH IS GREAT IF YOUR A DRUMMER. YOU GET EXCELLENT KICK DRUM WHEN YOUR RECORDING. Your also correct about the highs. WHICH IS GREAT IF YOUR A DRUMMER BECAUSE THE MIDS ARE PRETTY MUCH USLESS TO US. Although I Think there are plenty of mids. I have tracked with these phone EVERY DAY for many many years. I own two pair. I get great isolation with the cusion ear pieces and they are way more comfortable then any other phones I tried. I think they are an excellent choice for drummers in the studio. The 770s i have don't have a head phone amp so maybe we are talking about two different 770's. There are different models. Its sounds like you have a good idea of what your talking about and technically your probably more advanced in sound, but I go what I hear. Even if you put them on without even plugging them in they make your drums sound fuller. I wear them when I practice and they aren't even plugged into anything because I just dig the sound.

Like they say though to each his own. Everyone will have a different taste in what headphones they use but I certainly would not say these are headphones just to listen to music with. Thats just not the case.

Originally Posted by audiotech

The Beyer Dynamic DT-770 Pro headphones sound great for listening to something that is already pre-recorded where back ground audio or noise is not a problem. The 770's have a slightly hyped high frequency response and a low frequency response that is very bass heavy, in my opinion. The cloth ear cushions of the DT-770 do not isolate outside ambient audio nearly as well as the memory foam ear pieces or any of the headphones I've listed below. Their ear cushions fit lightly around your ears and a plus in this respect is that they are comfortable to wear for long listening sessions.

Yes, I own the Beyer Dynamic DT-770 headphones and because of what I stated here, that's the reason I never even mentioned them in my first post.

Like I said, if you want something to listen to music in a non tracking environment, where you don't have to worry too much about leakage, then the 770's will probably work for you, if you don't mind the exaggerations in their upper and particularly lower ends. Just don't buy them without first trying them, if at all posible.

BTW, the pair of 770 headphones I have, have their own headphone amplifier where I can adjust the contour of their frequency response to be able to create a more linear response.

Dennis

[audiotech]

Originally Posted by Joe Morris

I agree with some points and strongly disagree with others. You are right they are bass heavy. WHICH IS GREAT IF YOUR A DRUMMER. YOU GET EXCELLENT KICK DRUM WHEN YOUR RECORDING. Your also correct about the highs. WHICH IS GREAT IF YOUR A DRUMMER BECAUSE THE MIDS ARE PRETTY MUCH USLESS TO US. Although I Think there are plenty of mids. I have tracked with these phone EVERY DAY for many many years. I own two pair. I get great isolation with the cusion ear pieces and they are way more comfortable then any other phones I tried. I think they are an excellent choice for drummers in the studio. The 770s i have don't have a head phone amp so maybe we are talking about two different 770's. There are different models. Its sounds like you have a good idea of what your talking about and technically your probably more advanced in sound, but I go what I hear. Even if you put them on without even plugging them in they make your drums sound fuller. I wear them when I practice and they aren't even plugged into anything because I just dig the sound.

Like they say though to each his own. Everyone will have a different taste in what headphones they use but I certainly would not say these are headphones just to listen to music with. Thats just not the case.

I can only go by what I see and hear and that's the way I make my living. In my experience, there is absolutely no way that a closed back pair of headphones that have cloth ear pieces be rated anywhere near that of conventional designed leather, memory foam or even plastic covered ear cups. But if you truly believe that yours are, maybe there might be some auditory damage already done. Cloth is just not a good material to perform a good acoustical seal to your head. The 770 Pro headphones do not caress the circumference of the normal ear tight enough and they also fit more loosely than standard closed back headphones to be able to have a superior affect of alleviating high sound pressure levels of an acoustical drum set. This has all to do with comfort, but very little in terms of great isolation.

Anything placed over your ears will have an affect on muffling the sound of a drum kit and thus making the drums sound a bit fuller, your hands, ear muffs or even a cardboard box. Put your hands over your ears and have someone hit your drums, don't they sound fuller? This is why any closed back designed headphones will soften the attacks as the drums are hit, but not all headphones will attenuate all the sound leaking through or around the cushions in a linear fashion. This is why drums with some headphones will sound better than others when just wearing them on your head without an audio input to the transducers, but in no way does it put all headphones in the same category as having superior outside ambient noise specifications.

My comment about the headphone amplifier might have been misleading. No, the Beyer Dynamic 770 Pro headphone I have didn't come with an amplifier. I use an external amplifier just so I could plug the 770 headphones into so that I can flatten out and make a more linear response so that these headphones would be of use to me. Out of the box, they were not what I expected. What I'm doing is similar to using a 2/3 octave equalizer for headphones.

I would not be critical about any piece of equipment if I didn't have enough experience with it and actually know how other pieces of alternative equipment might be a better buy for their intended use. If I would use any Beyer Dynamic headphones for studio tracking, I would use something similar to the DT109 that I've been using for more than twenty five years or maybe a set of the DT 770M headphones. They have a bit better ambient noise isolation than the DT 770 Pros, but still doing nothing for me in the terms of being a good monitoring pair of headphones because of their hyped response. Hyped response can be detrimental for prolonged healthy hearing, especially depending on what you're listening to and the duration of time wearing the headphones. In all my years in the studio, I haven't once been told to lower the level in a drummer's headset. Add to this sometimes extreme loudness level, a hyped up lower and high frequency response, some damage to you ears could be done and without warning at first.

I'm not here to tell anyone what to buy or what not to buy, I'm only giving my insight as an audio engineer that there are much better options, and I gave a few. As I always say to a person trying to make a decision on anything, try to check them out in person before you make a purchase.

Dennis

[Joe Morris]

Are you an engineer or a drummer? Are you an engineer that plays drums? So for a living are you an audio engineer or a drummer? Just wondering.

Joe

Originally Posted by audiotech

I can only go by what I see and hear and that's the way I make my living. In my experience, there is absolutely no way that a closed back pair of headphones that have cloth ear pieces be rated anywhere near that of conventional designed leather, memory foam or even plastic covered ear cups. But if you truly believe that yours are, maybe there might be some auditory damage already done. Cloth is just not a good material to perform a good acoustical seal to your head. The 770 Pro headphones do not caress the circumference of the normal ear tight enough and they also fit more loosely than standard closed back headphones to be able to have a superior affect of alleviating high sound pressure levels of an acoustical drum set. This has all to do with comfort, but very little in terms of great isolation.

Anything placed over your ears will have an affect on muffling the sound of a drum kit and thus making the drums sound a bit fuller, your hands, ear muffs or even a cardboard box. Put your hands over your ears and have someone hit your drums, don't they sound fuller? This is why any closed back designed headphones will soften the attacks as the drums are hit, but not all headphones will attenuate all the sound leaking through or around the cushions in a linear fashion. This is why drums with some headphones will sound better than others when just wearing them on your head without an audio input to the transducers, but in no way does it put all headphones in the same category as having superior outside ambient noise specifications.

My comment about the headphone amplifier might have been misleading. No, the Beyer Dynamic 770 Pro headphone I have didn't come with an amplifier. I use an external amplifier just so I could plug the 770 headphones into so that I can flatten out and make a more linear response so that these headphones would be of use to me. Out of the box, they were not what I expected. What I'm doing is similar to using a 2/3 octave equalizer for headphones.

I would not be critical about any piece of equipment if I didn't have enough experience with it and actually know how other pieces of alternative equipment might be a better buy for their intended use. If I would use any Beyer Dynamic headphones for studio tracking, I would use something similar to the DT109 that I've been using for more than twenty five years or maybe a set of the DT 770M headphones. They have a bit better ambient noise isolation than the DT 770 Pros, but still doing nothing for me in the terms of being a good monitoring pair of headphones because of their hyped response. Hyped response can be detrimental for prolonged healthy hearing, especially depending on what you're listening to and the duration of time wearing the headphones. In all my years in the studio, I haven't once been told to lower the level in a drummer's headset. Add to this sometimes extreme loudness level, a hyped up lower and high frequency response, some damage to you ears could be done and without warning at first.

I'm not here to tell anyone what to buy or what not to buy, I'm only giving my insight as an audio engineer that there are much better options, and I gave a few. As I always say to a person trying to make a decision on anything, try to check them out in person before you make a purchase.

Dennis

[audiotech]

Originally Posted by Joe Morris

Are you an engineer or a drummer? Are you an engineer that plays drums? So for a living are you an audio engineer or a drummer? Just wondering.

Joe

Both. Started drumming about fifty years ago in about 1960. Began my broadcasting career in 1967 when I was 14. Started working for RCA records as a field recordist in 1969, that same year I became studio maintenance engineer at the same station as above. In the seventies received my masters in electrical engineering. Started my television career in 1974 working for a CBS affiliate, later working for FOX. Been working three of four jobs continually since then, not because I ever had to, but because I have a passion for what I do. Drummer, studio drum technician, audio engineer, audio technician, voice over artist, photographer.

Dennis

[Agd8]

You might wanna check out the Shure se-215.
It took me a while to get used to the design but now I really like them.
You can also put on a set of regular noise isolation headphones on top of them if you really want to go extreme but they do get the job done.

[imispgh]

I have the HD-280s and they are bass light. They isolate OK but it's hard to hear the kick.

Had the Firths- they are even lighter in the bass and treble. I had to modify their ear foam to up the treble. Not very accurate at all. They isolate very well but in order to do so they are tight and that wears on you.

The best I have tried are Klipsch S-4's. Yes they are in ear but they isolate so well it's uncanny and they tip the bass up a tad which helps the drummer. they are outstanding and sound very good. I use them to mix with. (Keeping the bass bump in mind). Now keep in mind for them to work right there is only ONE way they fit in your ear. You turn them until they push pretty far in. The first time it worked it was a little unnerving. But again - outstanding sound, bass and isolation for a drummer.

[audiotech]

Just to throw this bit of information out there but, a lot of influential noise and vibrations actually are transmitted through the bone structures surrounding the actual ear itself and the only way to somewhat alleviate this is by using headphones with the proper ear cushions that fit sort of snugly against your head to dampen this. That's why I only use in-ear monitors when I absolutely have to.

Dennis

[New Tricks]

After much internet research and no hands on testing, I just ordered 4 sets of Sony MDR-7509HD for my "headphone" studio.

After reading thru several hundred posts, reviews and recommendations, I ended up just tossing a coin.