How to Decide on The Best Studio Headphones for Your Music Production : Finances – I mention this a lot I know however for a good reason. Whenever moving into music production it is extremely simple to spend too much money on equipment. There is in fact a key phrase just for this it is known as a “GearSlut”.
The truth is you may never get all the supplies you want so you will always want more. Like I talked about before get the best quality music equipment you are able to with the funds you have. That or save until you can get your idea item.
Comfortability – Can you honestly see yourself wearing these on for hours at a time? Chances are when you are working on your music you are going to be doing it for a long time. Will you like your headphones after many hours of using them at a time? If not you will be in trouble.
I used to have a pair of game playing headphones during my World of Warcraft days and I loved them but over very long periods they would hurt my head. Guess who is not using those headphones any longer? The same could happen to you if you choose a non comfortable pair of studio headphones.
How do they sound to you? – This is a given but it is very important. No two pairs of ears hear the same. Really listen what are headphones doing towards the music? They will not produce a flat frequency responds like studio monitor speakers try to achieve.
Closed Back vs Open Back Headphones
Closed Back Headphones
Looking at head phones you will observe that some headphones have the drive facing out and a few in. The types which have the driver facing in are known as “closed back” because drive is enclosed.
These types are generally less expensive and are a good starter set regarding studio headphones. The down side is there is less room for bass to develop and you’ll have less traditional acoustic interaction as every little thing is “enclosed”.
Two solid pairs of such would be Sony’s MDR-7506s which I own in addition to Audio-Technica ATH-M50′s. If I did it again I ‘d buy the M50′s even so the 7506′s were required after I went to college for audio production and I can’t justify spending $120 using a minimum return within sound quality.
Open Back Headphones
Whenever they drivers are facing out they’re known as “Open Back Headphones”. With the driver facing out it allows some sound to flee and generally makes for better bass responds and sound more natural.
They tend becoming a little more expensive but most music engineers prefer them for mixing. The reason for this is a better bass responds, and they allow your own ears to breathe more that is great for extended mixing sessions. They are not the best for tracking as they will bleed sound out that will come through when recording.