Studio headphones for a new old-school recording studio?

[DefectiveAudioComponent]

A friend of mine is setting up a new recording studio. It's a full-size studio with mainly old-school gear, and with a tiny bit of digital editing added. Despite being a traditional recording studio, it's still just an amazingly expensive hobby project.

Question is, what headphones should he have in there?
(If you were to decide, what would you put in there? Why?)

[Nocturnal310]

As far as i know... Studios are more of Speaker dependant...

but you could do with some CLOSED headphones to offer isolation..

hence try out Sennheiser HD280's

[DefectiveAudioComponent]

The speakers are already in place. I was considering the HD414.

[Faust2D]

Fostex T20, classic studio cans.

[SawaFish]

AKG K271s maybe? New old school like studio cans, and you probably can get a nice price with the new models being released a few months ago.

[yoyorobbo]

A few that I recall using for studio recordings are: AKG-141, Sony MDR-V6 and MDR-V600. The Sony's are better isolating for no bleed thru to the mics while doing vocals, etc. There are som many good options, much better than the few I mentioned, but they get up there in the $$$. Sennheiser HD-280 get major praise for closed cans (oops, Nocturnal310 said those in his response above, but yeah...they get tons of good press for affordable closed cans).

Anyway my "real" response here would be to go all out on the retro (old-school) look too...grab some of the Panasonic RP-HTX7 phones. Talk about an old-school look, but still decent sounding closed cans...check them out. They come in black, olive green, baby blue, red, cream....think god-awful brady bunch 70's colors...there ya go!

RP-HTX7-R1 - Headphones - Shop and Compare at Panasonic

[Almoxil]

x2 on the AKG 271S. They automatically turn off when taken off of the head, which is a bonus for studio usage, I guess.

[lweijs]

Originally Posted by SawaFish

AKG K271s maybe? New old school like studio cans, and you probably can get a nice price with the new models being released a few months ago.

You wish I was about to order AKG K271's a few weeks back, suddenly they were all replaced by K272's and K271 MKII's. The shops that do still have them.. upped their price :x Or you have to buy the K271 MKII's for more

But yea either AKG K271/272's or Sennheiser HD280's I'd say.

I personally like the 'old school' look of the AKG's.

[sackynut]

Sennheiser 280 or Sony V6. although the AKG 271's may be good or better, ive never heard them.

The studio I use has a pair of 280's and they are great. Although there may be a better choice than the 280's out there, if you end up getting the 280's you (or he) will not be disappointed one bit.

[SawaFish]

Originally Posted by lweijs

You wish I was about to order AKG K271's a few weeks back, suddenly they were all replaced by K272's and K271 MKII's. The shops that do still have them.. upped their price :x Or you have to buy the K271 MKII's for more

But yea either AKG K271/272's or Sennheiser HD280's I'd say.

I personally like the 'old school' look of the AKG's.

Really? I saw them reduced in price just after the new line was up for sale. Guess they saw the old K271s's were still wanted so they took advantage, unfortunatly.

- I just checked the website where I bought them, they lowered the price with 5 euros but they're sold out now. And the new ones (K272HD) cost 25 euros more.

[Peter Pinna]

When you say "old school", how "old school" do you mean? I mean, are you going to have a studio where the recordings are etched directly onto a 78 RPM wax disc while the orchestra plays into a big wooden horn? (This is how they recorded prior to the invention of the microphone and before electronic recording.) During the 1930's, 1940's, 1950's and up until around 1965, they didn't use headphones in studios. The performers would be in the same room as the Orchestra some distance from the orchestra but at a place where they were still able to hear the orchestra. There wasn't the need for the type of isolation that is required today because back then, stereo and the idea of stereo separation had not yet been invented. Everything was mono until the late 1950's.
I first started in recording studios during the early 1970's. Back then, limiters (a.k.a. "compressors") which are in common use today (mostly in pop genre recordings) had not yet become available so performers had to watch constantly their distance from microphones (depending on how loud or soft in volume they were performing) and the recording engineers had to more carefully watch the "dials".
Although the Beatles had "overdubbed" and "multi-tracked" during the late 1960's, many studios, until the late 1970's, while recording in stereo, recorded direct to 2-track which left little possibility for post recording mastering.
During the 1970's the most widely used headphones in studios, to my knowledge, were a type of Koss brand headphones that may not still be manufactured. Prior to the 1960's, headphones and "earphones" (for only one ear) were not thought of in the same way as they are today. They were not nearly as clear sounding or as comfortable (indeed, some were wooden with no padding) and were probably used more in the aviation industry than in the recording industry.
Is that what you meant by "old school"?
A side note you might find interesting: Long after they started using headphones in studios, Frank Sinatra didn't use them. There were two reasons for this: he preferred to record everything at once and did not like overdubbing and he was deaf in one ear so headphones were impractical for him.

[DefectiveAudioComponent]

With old school I mean people who want a real analog gear studio, with boxes and stuff (with digital as an option), rather than all-out-digital. The newest item is the 60 channel analog board.

Some people who enter will certainly want to use headphones. Although if some celebrity like Frank Sinatra (but not being all dead) would enter, then I wouldn't insist...

[Akathisia]

Originally Posted by Peter Pinna

When you say "old school", how "old school" do you mean? I mean, are you going to have a studio where the recordings are etched directly onto a 78 RPM wax disc while the orchestra plays into a big wooden horn? (This is how they recorded prior to the invention of the microphone and before electronic recording.) During the 1930's, 1940's, 1950's and up until around 1965, they didn't use headphones in studios. The performers would be in the same room as the Orchestra some distance from the orchestra but at a place where they were still able to hear the orchestra. There wasn't the need for the type of isolation that is required today because back then, stereo and the idea of stereo separation had not yet been invented. Everything was mono until the late 1950's.
I first started in recording studios during the early 1970's. Back then, limiters (a.k.a. "compressors") which are in common use today (mostly in pop genre recordings) had not yet become available so performers had to watch constantly their distance from microphones (depending on how loud or soft in volume they were performing) and the recording engineers had to more carefully watch the "dials".
Although the Beatles had "overdubbed" and "multi-tracked" during the late 1960's, many studios, until the late 1970's, while recording in stereo, recorded direct to 2-track which left little possibility for post recording mastering.
During the 1970's the most widely used headphones in studios, to my knowledge, were a type of Koss brand headphones that may not still be manufactured. Prior to the 1960's, headphones and "earphones" (for only one ear) were not thought of in the same way as they are today. They were not nearly as clear sounding or as comfortable (indeed, some were wooden with no padding) and were probably used more in the aviation industry than in the recording industry.
Is that what you meant by "old school"?
A side note you might find interesting: Long after they started using headphones in studios, Frank Sinatra didn't use them. There were two reasons for this: he preferred to record everything at once and did not like overdubbing and he was deaf in one ear so headphones were impractical for him.

You win this thread.

[Nocturnal310]

Originally Posted by Akathisia

You win this thread.

I second that.
Its called putting a point across.

the only place where i see 78 RPM Vinyl playing is in my Virtual DJ console...and thats as real as it gets for me..being in the digital age...where even the Top DJ's are promoting Digital HD-based Turntables..

[DefectiveAudioComponent]

It's a good point. The studio only has old equipmet when it's "old and great". Preferrably famous for being great as well. There might be no headphones that fit the description. In that case, I'll recommend new studio cans.