Recording guitar is tons of fun, but why does your recorded tone sound way different than what you dialed in?
Disclaimer: The Sennheiser headphones were provided to me by Thomann/Sennheiser in exchange for the content I create for them. However, whether the video is sponsored or not, the company has no say in the things I mention in the video.
1. Closed-Back Headphones Eliminate a Lot of Acoustic Sound from Your Guitars
If you have ever recorded an acoustic guitar, you know how loud it can be and how difficult it is to hear what is getting recorded. But what we usually forget is that our electric guitars can be loud as well.
The acoustic sound of our electric guitars is very trebly and bright, so when we record, it’s natural to dial in a duller sound than what works for our mix. Closed-back headphones help you hear properly by eliminating a lot of the acoustic sounds of your guitar from your ears and allowing you to hear what’s getting recorded.
2. You Don’t Hear Your Room
Unless you work in a professional, acoustically treated studio, chances are that the room you work in affects how you dial in your tones. At worst, your room might be, for example, canceling some of the frequencies completely or making some way too prominent.
My small studio booth has quite a lot of acoustic treatment done to it, but even still, by just clapping my hands, I can hear sounds being reflected off the walls, the desk in front of me, and the door behind me.
Closed-back headphones give you consistent sound whether your listening space is acoustically treated or not.
3. Consistent Monitoring Everywhere
This one is kind of obvious, but is it really?
Closed-back headphones allow me to get the same listening environment whether I’m working in my studio, mixing on the couch, or traveling to my mother-in-law’s place.
4. Don’t Annoy People Around You
I love being a dad, but it does bring on some challenges when kids go to sleep, for example.
With closed-back headphones, I can be having the jam of my life while my kids are sleeping, or my wife has to work late.
5. Protect Your Hearing
I sucked at this as a teenager, and now in my mid-thirties, I’m paying the price. I didn’t use any kind of earplugs or anything like that as a teenager. And now in my mid-thirties, I’m paying for those mistakes, at least a little bit. When I put on any headphones, it takes a couple of seconds for my ears to balance out: my left ear hears worse than the right one.
I also get tinnitus every now and then, but at least for now, it’s not consistent.
Over the past few years, I’ve become quite obsessed with protecting my hearing. I want to be able to enjoy music in my sixties and seventies. Using closed-back headphones allows me to hear everything properly while keeping the overall volume low.
►►If you want to get your own Sennheiser HD 620S and support what I do, check out the affiliate link here: https://thmn.to/thoprod/587750?offid=1&affid=394
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