Sennheiser Headphones

Michael Chobot · June 9, 2009

I have recently graduated, and am looking for a job in NYC for post production sound. I am looking to purchase my own basic protools setup for my apt so I can work on short student work on the side, or mix shorts that my graduated friends plan to make. I am looking for a good pair of not only monitoring headphones for a basic stereo mix in protools, but also a good pair to use on the everyday basis listening to music on iTunes and watching movies on my computer.

I am trying to decide between the HD650's and the HD600s. Anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks,

Mike

Hal Smith · June 9, 2009

Mixing with headphones is iffy. When you use headphones you are hearing the most direct version of your sound. On playback the audience is immersed in a reverberant sound field. With headphones you can be easily tempted to add too much room sound or reverberation into the mix to keep it from sounding too dry in your headphones. The same mix played back in a room or theater can easily get indistinct due to the reverb you added.

My 2 cents on headphone selection is I own AKG's. K240M's for open back and K271's for closed back. Yah, I know...expensive...but worth it.

Rob Vogt · June 10, 2009

I would recommend getting some monitors. Yamaha and JBL are the leaders in the Audio and cinema worlds for audio mixing, but some techs by me swear by the KRKs, which are actually less expensive. Less than those HD650s anyway. If you afford them get those, but I doubt you will get the depth, and accurate reverberation (hall or plate). The audio would probably sound either too clean or distorted in the low end. Not to mention that sound editing takes time, and after a while headphones really bother my ears. I've owned several sets of cans, studio headphones, noise canceling ect. after 3-6 hours they all start to cause discomfort. If you wanted the headphones for your iPod as well, the 650s need to draw more power than an iPod can give so you would be forced to listen to your music at a low volume, if you stay tethered to your computer that would be fine though.

Hal Smith · June 11, 2009

For small monitors I like JBL Control 5's. My main squeeze for big speakers is a pair of classic Dahlquist DQ-10's in the living room with a Control 5 for 5.1 center and a pair of Bose direct/reflect speakers for rear speakers, I plan to buy the matching Dahlquist center speaker now available one of these days. I use 5 JBL 4410's for my Dolby SR/SRD setup out in the shop.

Michael Chobot · June 17, 2009

Hey guys thanks a lot for the advice. Sadly, the apartment I moved into is a little too small for me to do anything with protools yet, but on the plus side this will give me some more time to think it over!

Thanks again,

mike