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Home Studio
Do It Yourself
HEADPHONE DISTRIBUTION - How everyone in the band hears themselves when recording
One thing I quickly learned while recording in a band setting is that it is critical to provide everyone a different headphone mix so that each person can hear themselves and provide a good performance. If you’re just recording one track at a time this probably won’t be a big deal, but if you’re going to be recording a band save some budget for a headphone distribution system.
If you’re recording a band I encourage you to try to record the overall performance at the same time. In my experience, the players in a band feed off of one another and you’ll get a much better performance by recording everyone at the same time than you’ll get having each person play their part separately. You’ll probably do some overdubs, doubling, punch-ins and the vocals using single track takes, but the initial underlying groove will probably be best if everyone creates it together.
To give everyone in the band their own mix, I selected the Furman HDS6/HR6 headphone distribution system. The system allows you to send a stereo mix plus 4 different mono audio signals on separate channels. For example, in addition to the overall stereo mix, you could put drums on channel 1, bass on channel 2, keys and vocal on channel 3, and guitar on channel 4. Each performer can then independently determine how much drum, bass, keys/vocals, and guitar they want to hear as they’re playing. By including a small mixer with different busses in front of the HDS system you can create even more variation of mixes you send to the players.
I can’t stress enough how valuable a system like this is when recording a band. It eliminates endless complaints of “I can’t hear myself in the headphones.” Instead I say “You’re on channel 1, turn yourself up.”
One thing I quickly learned while recording in a band setting is that it is critical to provide everyone a different headphone mix so that each person can hear themselves and provide a good performance. If you’re just recording one track at a time this probably won’t be a big deal, but if you’re going to be recording a band save some budget for a headphone distribution system.
If you’re recording a band I encourage you to try to record the overall performance at the same time. In my experience, the players in a band feed off of one another and you’ll get a much better performance by recording everyone at the same time than you’ll get having each person play their part separately. You’ll probably do some overdubs, doubling, punch-ins and the vocals using single track takes, but the initial underlying groove will probably be best if everyone creates it together.
To give everyone in the band their own mix, I selected the Furman HDS6/HR6 headphone distribution system. The system allows you to send a stereo mix plus 4 different mono audio signals on separate channels. For example, in addition to the overall stereo mix, you could put drums on channel 1, bass on channel 2, keys and vocal on channel 3, and guitar on channel 4. Each performer can then independently determine how much drum, bass, keys/vocals, and guitar they want to hear as they’re playing. By including a small mixer with different busses in front of the HDS system you can create even more variation of mixes you send to the players.
I can’t stress enough how valuable a system like this is when recording a band. It eliminates endless complaints of “I can’t hear myself in the headphones.” Instead I say “You’re on channel 1, turn yourself up.”
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| Headphone Monitoring |
| Furman HDS6/HR6 |
| Furman HR6 mixing station |
| Yamaha RH-5ma headphones |
Which headphones to use?
First suggestion: Don’t get the little cheap headphones with the foam on the ears. In most cases they won’t give you the isolation you need. Instead get phones that enclose your ears. It'll often be noisy, and the isolation is needed.
I’ve tried several different types of headphones and by far the best bang-for-the-buck phones that I’ve encountered are the Yamaha RH-5ma headphones. I’ve tried several of the cheaper ones and there’s a considerable step up in quality from those to the Yamahas. I understand we’re all on a budget and it probably makes sense to try different kinds, but I would at least try one pair of the Yamaha RH-5ma so you’ll have something better to compare to.
First suggestion: Don’t get the little cheap headphones with the foam on the ears. In most cases they won’t give you the isolation you need. Instead get phones that enclose your ears. It'll often be noisy, and the isolation is needed.
I’ve tried several different types of headphones and by far the best bang-for-the-buck phones that I’ve encountered are the Yamaha RH-5ma headphones. I’ve tried several of the cheaper ones and there’s a considerable step up in quality from those to the Yamahas. I understand we’re all on a budget and it probably makes sense to try different kinds, but I would at least try one pair of the Yamaha RH-5ma so you’ll have something better to compare to.