I've written before about training your ears to headphones. You have
to interpret the earphone sound to judge what your recording will
sound like on loudspeakers.
When I was being paid for recording, I used expensive noise excluding
cans (Canford Audio because my ears stick out and they were
comfortable) because I was responsible for any recording defects when
shooting non-repeatable film/video sync sound. Enclosed cans take you
away from the real world and if you are not careful, you can miss
what's happening off-mic. I had to do a lot of music balancing on
cans, when you need good direct sound rejection.
Now that I record long and select afterwards, I use foam pad folding
Sennheisers for convenience. Again with practice, you can distinguish
between direct and recorded sounds, if not, lift one earpiece.
The difference with binaural recording is that the end result is
intended to be listened to with headphones. Only with headphones can
you hear small differences in phase between the tracks, which can be
off-putting with XY stereo. Again, you have to train your ears to the
differences.
> I just want to make a good decision here, and not waste time and
> money. BUT, are they flat enough, without bass/treble cuts/boosts
> that illustrate improper reference readings?
Scott,
Tracks heard on headphones are never going to sound the same as live
sound or loudspeakers. The only sure way to choose is to listen to
different types and pick a pair you get on with (expensive) or get a
half decent pair and train your ears to them.
David
David Brinicombe
North Devon, UK
Cogito cogito ergo cogito sum - Ambrose Bierce
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