[jefemeister]

Canman and I recorded a Roger Waters show using a MD recorder and a pair of Grado SR-60s as a microphone awhile back. It actually came out sounding really good. I wouldn't say they can replace a good mic obviously, but in a pinch it could come in handy. Also good for running a little covert op

I guess this makes sense because a dynamic headphone driver is pretty much a mic in reverse. I think the "easy to drive" nature of the SR-60s make it a pretty good choice for such a practice.

Does anyone else have similar experience or some thoughts on the subject?

 

[jpelg]

I remember using headphones as a makeshift mic when DJ-ing way back in college. Worked OK in a pinch, but I don't imagine the sound quality would measure up, even remotely, to a real mic.

 

[Canman]

I've made some decent recordings with the SR-60's but that Waters show we went to was probably the best! Using a Sony MZ-R50 MD recorder that fits easily in your pocket, noone suspects that you will be recording the show. The SR-60's work best when closest to the sound source. I think that's why the Waters recording came out so well--we were right in front of the stack. I have also done some close mic'ing of a guitar with another friend using the SR-60 and it came out really nice.

I'm sure a decent mic would do better as it is designed to capture a certain dispersion pattern, but you guys would be surprised how good the SR-60's can record. For those who have MD recorders, give it a shot (use high recording levels).

 

[lini]

I've only tried that with some earbuds for test purposes - but the sonic quality left quite a bit to be desired...

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini

 

[Andrew Pielet]

You guys are nuts.

 

[lindrone]

LMAO...

How long before we have a "What's the best headphone to be used as microphones?" thread?...

We must start judging our headphones on their recording as well as the playback characteristic. What's the most balanced headphone for recording/playback?!.. Who will find out?!!!

Oh.. so many intriguing questions... so little time...

 

[lan]

If you're going to be doing some covert stuff, why not try and fit a small mic in there? You could replace the cord and it's all good.

 

[dMoog]

A couple of years ago I did the same thing but the other way around; using a microphone as a speaker. The sound was crap and the volume was really low, but it worked!

 

[Csidinim]

I remember reading that doing this causes damage to the headphones... but I don't remember why. Can anyone clear this up?

 

[eric343]

It would be interesting to see if there's a correlation between headphone quality for playback and headphone quality for recording.

 

[zzz]

me and a friend of mine played with phones as mikes half a year ago with the total airhead being our amplifier. the consensus was that beyer dt831 makes an extremely poor mic while grado hp-2 was pretty damn good. it would have been fun to try using the omegas like that as well, but it was too much work setting them and the amp up for recording.

 

[vwap]

Quote:

Originally posted by Canman but you guys would be surprised how good the SR-60's can record.

I actually tried this once with my SR60's and my MZ-R50 when I had them way back when.. and it sounded pretty crappy...

But maybe I just needed to reposition them or something.

 

[jefemeister]

Quote:

It would be interesting to see if there's a correlation between headphone quality for playback and headphone quality for recording.

it would be even more interesting to see if the music sounded best played on the same headphones used to make the recording.

 

[eric343]

Hey, that's a darn good idea...

I have a question, though... with MD players that are designed to work with electret mics... will the power supplied on the mic input damage headphones?

<diyer mode>
Hmm, that's an idea. Run a few mV DC through a dynamic transducer from a high impedance source, and observe the fluctuations in that DC, run them through a servo... I could imagine this might improve the performance, am I right?

</dm>

 

[jefemeister]

Quote:

Hmm, that's an idea. Run a few mV DC through a dynamic transducer from a high impedance source, and observe the fluctuations in that DC, run them through a servo... I could imagine this might improve the performance, am I right?

Interseting idea. I nominate you to check it out for us

On a somewhat related note, I'll be the first to to say I've never been a fan of servo controlled DC-bias.