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keith

Headphones!

I suppose this could be asked on any audio board, but since we're all performing in SL...

Been performing in SL for the past few weeks, having fun, digging the payment/tips thing when it's there. My issue is my headphones, Sony MDR-7502, probably cost about fifty bucks. Getting a lot of buzzing or clipping when I wear them, stuff I don't hear when playing the song through my monitors. Some of my electronic music goes goofy when the deep bass kicks in. Not every song does this...it tends to be bass that overdrives the headphones.

Just wondering what you folks are wearing when performing, if I should be upping my pricepoint to, say, $100 for headphones or figure out how to adjust my levels better.

Doing my gigs in Logic, mic plugged into my Motu828mkii, Nicecast.
ticious

Do you have anyone in the audience who can and does give you good feed back on your sound in world?  Don't trust Joe Audience or Jill Venue Owner/Manager.  We're idiots about this stuff and may tell you it sounds great (either to be polite/encouraging or because to our untrained ears it does) when really it's way sub-optimal.  Your best bet is another musician or a friend whom you really trust to give it to you straight and help you get it just right.

There are several people here in the forum who are aces at this and will do it just to be helpful (in other words, you shouldn't have to pay for this help).
keith

Good idea, asking the musician-types. I've asked the manager and a few club hostesses if all is well...they're saying it sounds fine.

Then again, there are people listening to artists with nice stereo gear and others listening with their laptop speakers. Can mix for all of them...
RayW

keith wrote:
Then again, there are people listening to artists with nice stereo gear and others listening with their laptop speakers. Can mix for all of them...


Exactly right, keith  Laughing

I have a $200 Sony headset (can't remember the model .. had it so long the outer covering on the earpads is shredding and flaking off) that I use for both recording and for monitoring my show.  Then, for the laptop and for when I want to "keep it down" on the other machine, I have a simple set of ear phones that came with a walkman.

I had something similar with another set of phones, even would get tingles on the earlobe every so often .. but they turned out to be defective.

They don't have to blast your ear drums.  They just need to give you decent monitoring of what you are doing.  Do you have friends who would loan you different ones for comparing?

BTW .. my next headphones will most likely be $99 Sonys ... But, also, will want the full deal, with mic, for voice.  So, still thinkin' on it.
Norris Shepherd

I don't have much of an answer for you, but something to consider is where your earphones are getting the signal from.

If you are listening via a 'Monitor Mix' through your mixer, and the signal being sent to SL is via the 'main out', it is possible that it is clipping and distorting in your earphones and not in SL, or vice versa.

I'm not familiar with the specific gear you are using, so please no one get all cranky at me and say blah blah blah... i'm just noting that depending on how you are set up, it is possible to have crap sound in your headset and ok sound in SL, and vice versa.
keith

Norris Shepherd wrote:
I don't have much of an answer for you, but something to consider is where your earphones are getting the signal from.

If you are listening via a 'Monitor Mix' through your mixer, and the signal being sent to SL is via the 'main out', it is possible that it is clipping and distorting in your earphones and not in SL, or vice versa.

I'm not familiar with the specific gear you are using, so please no one get all cranky at me and say blah blah blah... i'm just noting that depending on how you are set up, it is possible to have crap sound in your headset and ok sound in SL, and vice versa.


That's what I'm wondering, if I'm distorting yet everyone says my sound is fine. Nicecast is hijacking Logic. I wonder if there is a monitor option in Nicecast I need to turn off...or maybe it's in Logic. Must check...

Thanks, ya'all.
Silas Scarborough

I use Sennheiser HD 280 Pro and I'm sorry I don't recall the price on them.  They're exceptionally sturdy and hold up to a lot of abuse.

I don't know of any audio monitor setting in Nicecast but, for GarageBand, you need to record-enable any track you want to monitor if you're sending live audio through it.
Sanity Inn

Same  as  Silas

Senn HD 280 pro ,  great set of cans,  isolation,  flat response  so you hear  exactly what you are delivering,,, ( monitoring)   little warm in summer tho lol

most consumer headphones  tend to boost  bass and highs  to make it sound like you're listenning to  a big stereo  for the  listenning pleasure

125 Canadian


Also,  if you are happy with you cans,   perhaps a test to make sure its the  phones doing to noise,   take  the songs that cause the  noise, and  record to an ipod, and try your cans on that ,  if it persists , its the cans,  if not,  you may  have issues with the gear its plugged into or level outs

Sanity Inn
Krell Karu

Two suggestions for phones. Both in the $100 zone. I use Sony MDR7506 for fidelity's sake, and Sennheiser HD 280 pro when isolation is important.

Don;t mistake me - the Sennheisers sound great, too. However, the Sonys are just a bit clearer in the bass region. The flipside is that, if you're tracking with a screaming Marshall full stack in the same room, the isolation of the Sennys is more important.

YMMV
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