Headphones for transcribing

[Juggo]

First of, I apologize if my question is in the wrong part of the forum which I somewhat suspect but ain't sure.

However, I would like to ask you guys who are great transcribers if you could recommend me nice headphones for transcribing, especially ones for really hard bass parts that somewhat fall bad into the mix. I thought of spending around 200$ dollars, I mean investing 200$.

Thanks in advance guys, cheers.

[Reiver]

While I'm very new to bass guitar, I've spent the last 20 years in public radio broadcasting, broadcast journalism, audio production, and video production. In my office, I currently have a pair of Sennheiser HD 650s that I use for video production, as my monitor headphones--that's what my last supervisor bought for us, because he thought they were the best. And for @ $400 a set, they are very nice.

But for my personal listening, and for recording out in the field, Sony seems to be the equipment of choice. I work in the communications department of a major university in the midwest, and we have several sets of Sony MDR 7506s that are found in recording studios and camera bags. I bought a pair of these (or maybe Sony's "consumer equivalent" at the time) in the early '90s... got eight or nine years out of them... and then bought a pair of Sony "DJ headphones" that are just about played out. Those are very similar to these MDR-V700DJs. Having that removable adapter is nice, as is the vinyl bag or pouch to store them in. These two Sony models are well under your $200 budget.

Our department's broadcast engineer prefers Koss or Sennheiser--to him, Sony sounds too "bright." To my ears, Sony sounds best, Koss and Sennheiser are "muddy." So, there's a bit of personal preference involved here. We all have different ears.

Find a retailer that will allow you to listen to a few pair. Take your iPod or other music player with you, so you can hear what your music will sound like on these headphones.

So, now you have two pennies... one for each ear.

Good luck!

--Reiver

[Snarf]

Headphone quality doesn't make a difference. As long as you have reasonable full-size cups, you're fine. EQ in software/hardware if you need to, and if that doesn't help, the problem is probably with your ears.

[sammyp]

Anything decent will work.....shure 440 akg stuff......beyer dynamic 770 pro are my favs.

But snarf is right......learn to work the eq and play speed on windows media player.

[vinny]

I use Sennheiser HD 280. Priced well below your budget, they're good for me. BTW, someone on here gave a couple of tips for isolating those buried lines: One was to crank the volume & close the door to the room while listening in another room. Don't laugh, it helps. The other is to raise it an octave. I guess this puts the frequencies in a better place for your hearing while raising the others to a place where they're easier to ignore.

[SenatorBob]

Originally Posted by vinny

I use Sennheiser HD 280. Priced well below your budget, they're good for me. BTW, someone on here gave a couple of tips for isolating those buried lines: One was to crank the volume & close the door to the room while listening in another room. Don't laugh, it helps. The other is to raise it an octave. I guess this puts the frequencies in a better place for your hearing while raising the others to a place where they're easier to ignore.

+1 to the HD280's, those are really nice for the price.

[Juggo]

Originally Posted by vinny

I use Sennheiser HD 280. Priced well below your budget, they're good for me. BTW, someone on here gave a couple of tips for isolating those buried lines: One was to crank the volume & close the door to the room while listening in another room. Don't laugh, it helps. The other is to raise it an octave. I guess this puts the frequencies in a better place for your hearing while raising the others to a place where they're easier to ignore.

Hold on a minute, how could I go to another room when my earphone cable dosn't reach so far? What you say is interesting but I don't understand it exacly, how do you mean?

[J-B'ass]

I think s/he means play the music out loud through speakers and leave the room. Bass frequencies will travel, and high frequencies won't, so it helps to isolate the low end you're listening for. Not sure how much detail you'll hear because I haven't tried this.

[Juggo]

Originally Posted by J-B'ass

I think s/he means play the music out loud through speakers and leave the room. Bass frequencies will travel, and high frequencies won't, so it helps to isolate the low end you're listening for. Not sure how much detail you'll hear because I haven't tried this.

Oh, thanks for clearing that up bro. I will try it when I fix some speakers.

[Aunt Babe]

I have a pair of Sennheiser 202's which work fine. I would also suggest downloading Audacity, a great program which lets you slow down songs without changing the key. When I transcribe bass lines, I usually rip the song at the highest quality I can, then import into Audacity, and apply Bass Boost and the Low Pass filter. That helps to bump up the bass so I can actually hear it. If you're having trouble transcribing a section you can cut and paste parts into a new window and play it over and over until you can hear what the notes are.
I mostly practice at home after the kids are asleep, so I jerry-rigged a setup where I listen to the song out of my over-the-ear Sennheisers and listen to my bass through a set of earbuds. Cheaper than a mixer, and I've read a few other TB-ers doing it. Awfully useful when transcribing.

[bassinplace]

Originally Posted by Aunt Babe

I listen to the song out of my over-the-ear Sennheisers and listen to my bass through a set of earbuds.

+1 Works awesome.

[lowendfriend]

I use cheap Sennheiser PX-100's. They have great bass response. and they cost about 40 bucks.

Then use something like BestPractice software to repeat and slow down and filter the tough sections and loop them.

[Juggo]

Originally Posted by Aunt Babe

I have a pair of Sennheiser 202's which work fine. I would also suggest downloading Audacity, a great program which lets you slow down songs without changing the key. When I transcribe bass lines, I usually rip the song at the highest quality I can, then import into Audacity, and apply Bass Boost and the Low Pass filter. That helps to bump up the bass so I can actually hear it. If you're having trouble transcribing a section you can cut and paste parts into a new window and play it over and over until you can hear what the notes are.
I mostly practice at home after the kids are asleep, so I jerry-rigged a setup where I listen to the song out of my over-the-ear Sennheisers and listen to my bass through a set of earbuds. Cheaper than a mixer, and I've read a few other TB-ers doing it. Awfully useful when transcribing.

How do you mean? You have earbuds on and then you put the headphones on too?

[Aunt Babe]

Originally Posted by Juggo

How do you mean? You have earbuds on and then you put the headphones on too?

Yep!

[Juggo]

Originally Posted by Aunt Babe

Yep!

That's the weirdest thing I have ever heard. So you listen on the earbuds from your MP3 player or something? Then you put on your computer studio headphones on? Or do you connect your earbuds somehow to the computer too?