0561 – Three Reasons You Need Studio Headphones

2022.07.15 – 0561 – Three Reasons You Need Studio Headphones

Monitors (or loudspeakers / speakers):

So we can hear the final mix of recorded audio in a room-situation (that is, without headphones), so several people can hear the same audio at the same time and be able to hear each other’s comments.

In a live studio, to enable us to hear the output when a microphone is closed[1]

Headphones

Why you need headphones

• To better hear the sound of our own voice or that of a contributor, and monitor the quality of both and fix in the moment rather than in the edits, such as
• Background noise
• Speaking levels – avoiding any high or low levels, plosives and so on

Editing problems later is time consuming, and may even be impossible to fix. It may be easier to re-record the entire piece again, using more time and removing the spontaneity.

• To hear any audio that we mix in with our voice, in our live or recorded session, that could be music, a sound effect, or someone else’s voice.
• To allow a presenter or voice actor to hear instructions from a producer (via a ‘talkback’ intercom system), while they have the microphone open, without it being heard on air or by a guest[2]

[1] In a radio studio, songs played on air can be heard by the presenter through loudspeakers. But when they open the microphone, the audio feed to the speakers is cut off. That’s to avoid ‘feedback’, a howl-round loop of sound caused by sound from the speakers being picked up by the microphone and then fed out through the speakers… and so on. As the presenter needs to hear the music and other elements that are going out on air (interviews, commercials and so on), they wear headphones which of course do much the same job as loudspeakers but because they are close to the ears, there is no feedback disruption.

[2] You should be able to control the volume of the talkback from the engineer or producer, so it is not too loud or intrusive in your headphones. 

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