Topic: Headphones at shows??

[BCostigan]

Just curious who uses headphones at shows and who doesn't?   I used to but they really didn't help at all.  You have a pretty good idea what's going on via the levels.


The one reason I can see having headphones is they are pretty helpful when troubleshooting......I just always hope I never have to do that at a show.

[twatts (pants are so over-rated...)]

Out of the 5 or 6 shows I've taped, I've only really used them once...  I'll listen every once in a while, but at a recent bluegrass show, I listened almost the whole way through the show with headphones...  I had SBD access and was sitting next to a bunch of loud annoying college kids...  It was nice being able to tune them out and get a nice clean sound...

T

[cpclark]

i tried using them when i first started taping, but they really dont do much, i just check the levels all the time, thats all i need to pull a sick tape

[John Kelly]

I'll usually use them during the opening of the show, just to make sure there's nothing wrong (I've had problems with diginoise in the past, so I need to make sure the recording is clean).  But after my initial check they go unused for the rest of the show.

[Brian Skalinder]

I only use 'em at shows for multi-set performances, but even then, rarely.  All-day or multi-day festivals, though, I use 'em to check out different configs, figure out what config I'm liking best during the warm-up acts so I can use it during the headliners.

[1st set only]

I just picked up a hearing protection head set. for 3 bucks at building 19 (MA only) they really block out outside sounds well. my plan is to use some in ear plugs probably koss in combination with the protectors. I took the ear cups off the head band becaus I would just look fuckin stupid with it on. this way it just looks like im cupping my ears.

[blu666z]

Never tried.  Always just trust my levels and let what happens...happen.

-Kevin

[John R]

use them a lot when archiving.  the boards sound better than the pa if you've got the right enginer. and you can pick up a lot of the on-stage banter between the artists that the audience never hears.

jr

[Tim]

I'll usually use them during the opening of the show, just to make sure there's nothing wrong (I've had problems with diginoise in the past, so I need to make sure the recording is clean).  But after my initial check they go unused for the rest of the show.

unless you run a 4 head deck this is pointless, you're not hearing what is being written to the tape...

[John Kelly]

unless you run a 4 head deck this is pointless, you're not hearing what is being written to the tape...

Tape?  What's a tape?  I record to a laptop.

[gonads]

you have diginoise with a laptop?

I always thought diginoise was a result of dirty/bad heads....

[Nick's Picks]

I tell ya...
I used headphones and an airhead amp for a long time (beyer dt-250s).  The final result...hearing damage trying to drive them over the ambient noise floor.

They were never needed until I got into recording with stereo mics where you could adjust poloar patterns remotely.  Then monitoring became a must, and I bought Etymotics.  Had I just bought those orignaly, I would still have my hearing at 100% today.  They isolate Soooooo well, you dont need to crank up the volume to hear them.

Now that i'm back to normal mics, I dont need them anymore.

[teamakg]

used to but see no reason anymore.   just one more thing to drag around.

[wbrisette]

I use the Etyomotic 4S earphones. However, I will point out that normally I use 4 mics, so I need them to mix with. Until I bought the Etyomotic earphones, it was a crapshoot. Sometimes I could get a good tape, other times I wished I hadn't bothered. But again, with multiple mics you need the ability to adjust things.


Wayne

[rabhan]

ER4-P's are the schnizzle!