Looking for headphone to transcribe bass

[ics1974]

Hello,

Can anyone recommend a good set of headphones to help hear bass lines better. I want to be able to pick out the bass lines from songs and transcribe better.
My budget is $500 Canadian.

 

[spantini]

This is all so subjective..

Of course, a lot of this will depend on the piece of music you're listening to. Closed back phones will most likely give you boomy/muddy bass, especially if the bass is prominent. Open back phones can reduce a lot of that, giving you the bass lines with less boom/mud - or there are some that have increased bass response. Then there are semi-open back phones to give you a middle of the road listening experience. All the above I was referring to are also over-the-ear phones, fully covering the whole ear. There are also on-ear phones which are smaller and just press against the ear - although these may produce a loud bass response you may not actually hear it unless you press the ear pads against your ears.

You can go with Tascam TH-200X around US $99, or maybe the Audio-Technica ATH-M70x around US $299 - both closed-back. Those are just two in a hundred to choose from.

Whichever you get, they will give you different results with different songs - that's what makes this an inexact process.

 

[seamonkey]

As far as headphones, you just need accurate and flat. You don't want bass enhanced headphones - they will muddy the clarity of the bass

IMHO - a shortcut trick to improve clarity is to pitch shift up an octave to better hear the bass for transcribing.
Keep the same tempo, or slow it down, but shift it up an octave, and filter out sound above the bass line. Shift it back down to confirm.

You can also find transient reduction plugins to filter out drums. Many DAWs have this kind of manipulations built in.

Izotope has "Rebalance" plugin to help isolate bass.

Or you can get standalone transcription software

Here's one: Transcribe! - software to help transcribe recorded music
There are also iPhone apps that do this kind of stuff that are cheap.

 

[And I]

I have an older pair of Focal headphones that I swear by. Closed back but not boomy / muddy at all. They're transparent and extremely detailed. Here's the new model of what I've got.

FOCAL - LISTEN PROFESSIONAL - Closed-back, circum-aural headphones

 

[ics1974]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions

 

[dbase]

I use Audio-technica, not too expensive and they don't fart out with the bass notes.

 

[ics1974]

I use Audio-technica, not too expensive and they don't fart out with the bass notes.

which model do you have?

 

[dbase]

which model do you have?

ATH-M40x stamped into the headphone

 

[DirkP]

Hello,

Can anyone recommend a good set of headphones to help hear bass lines better. I want to be able to pick out the bass lines from songs and transcribe better.
My budget is $500 Canadian.

If you have an iPad, I would highly recommend the Amazing Slow Downer app.It is available for Macs and Windows, too.
You can slow songs down without changing the pitch, you can loop parts, it has an EQ. It works with Spotify, so no need to transfer songs.

Many headphones in this price range have a good bass response. I like the Sennheiser HD 650. The HD 25 has a very good bass response, too and could serve as a mobile headphone, too.
But the Beyerdynamics, AKGs, Audiotechnicas are good, too. Maybe don't choose the K701 if your focus is on bass-response and not neutrality.

 

[ics1974]

I am leaning towards the Audio-technica ATH-M40x or ATH-M50x.
From what I have read the ATH-M40x has a more balanced flatter sound where the ATH-M50x has a little more hype in the bass and trebel. My question is do I want more of a flatter balanced sound or emphasized bass to hear bass lines better?

 

[ics1974]

As far as headphones, you just need accurate and flat. You don't want bass enhanced headphones - they will muddy the clarity of the bass

.

I missed this so flat is better. Maybe the m40x would be better for my purpose.

 

[muddycreek]

I missed this so flat is better. Maybe the m40x would be better for my purpose.

Agreed, you're really listening for the bass content in the mids, where the easiest to hear note information is. Hyped bottom can be pleasing, but blurry.