good studio headphones?

[djkiller]

I just bought some mackie mr8's but problem is i live in an apartment and during the day they are fine but even at normal levels the freq response goes through the walls. one of my neighbors is a dj so we worked something out. but i have a neighbor and he just goes nuts after 10pm at normal talking levels it's insane. however i write a lot of my beats late at night sometimes. i was wondering if anyone could recommend a decent pair of studio monitoring headphones for those later night creative sessions. i'm trying to find something that's somewhat realistic to the monitors i have. closed ear, flat and realistic while i'm making a song... i plan to use the monitors for final mixes, demoing and cleanup for the final version but i just need something current for the late evening so i can pump them up and jam out. any good recommendations would be greatly appreciated. given my current budget and all the money/repairs dished out on my studio i'm in the $80-$150 range. i know there is something good out there i can use for late night sessions to record and make beats.

the headphones i have laying around my apartment are consumer and will not do. who wants to record and make beats only to find out later they are way off and sound like crap when heard on some good monitors.

[se.audio]

hmmm, well for that price range you're gonna have trouble finding anything decent but hey, ebay is full of surprises. I heard beyerdynamic headphones are quite good. I personally use M-Audio IE-40 (the are earphones though but they give such a tight sound due to the outside attenuattion...) for late night mixing.

You might want to try to find the issue 69 (august 2009) of Audio Technology magazine. they have done some quite extensive comparisons and put their findings up there in a 10 pages article...

[djkiller]

actually i found for $120 that's final price with shipping a pair of audio-technica ath-m50. i've seen nothing but rave reviews for the sound and being flat, uncolored and very accurate and constant reviews saying they compete with monitor headphones twice as much. i've read they are really good for matching with the kind of mackies i have pretty well. so far haven't read a bad thing about them and every time i do a search for best studio monitor headphones they keep coming up. so i think i'm gonna place an order for them and give them a try.

i have an awesome setup but i just started really getting into good monitors that are true uncolored and honest, just need a headphone like that.

for the longest time when i was broke i used a pair of 20 dolla sony headphones and some bose speakers. after getting the mackies i'm having to do my mixes all over again from the past. it's crazy how much a difference great monitors make and the time they save. now when i mix when im happy with the sound and bounce down everything sounds great on a cd, ipod or anywhere lol. i love my new mackie mr8's and will use them for the final product during the day but these audio technicas are the closest reviewed ones in a price range that will pair with my monitors from what i've read. hope all those 1,000 reviews and articles i read weren't wrong!


ordering here we go!

mac pro quad core
8gb ram
digi002 console
mackie mr8's
leopard 5.8
42" lcd
lots of synths/gear

[:Rob:]

I'm using sony mdr-7506 and in my opinion they sound great. Price is around 100$.

[Dism]

Sennheiser HD 280 Pro. Got em about 6 months ago and I love em. Cost me about $150. Keeps noise out and sound in. They're very flat and have excellent response.

[djkiller]

well see even at a normal level say a conversation level my with my mr8's becasue of the frequency they carry i guess and i even have them cut down to 0 on my lows it causes issues with my neighbor. i'm going to use the headphones for late night mixes/jamming and refference checks. but does anyone know a way to cut down sound in an apartment. like relectors or something maybe. i don't have bass booming and this is kinda a friend of mine but it's just nuts. i don't know if it's just his new g/f being a dumb and complaining about the slightest peep. but im trying to compromise. i bought my monitors not to be loud but to mix at a normal level. i'm just pissed. i think the headphones i just ordered will be nice for checking mixes and really late night mixes. but i have to put my foot down somewhere. i looked up my local law and it said, noise level of 40dba(speaking level) from 10pm-7am and 7am-10pm 60dba(shouting voice) which i'm hardly cracking anything like that, just speaking level volume. yet it goes straight through to his bedroom wall but my tv at the same level doesn't.

i'm pretty respectfull and no means like a deuce that likes to impose loud music on other people from a car or in my apartment lol... just want to do what i do for a living without it being such a big issue. i'm just gonna have to follow the law and use my headphones at night...if he doesn't like it because his girlfriend has an issue oh well he can try to intimidate and bang on my door all he wants lol. but any recommendations on making a space more silent would be really helpfull!

[Carl Fuehrer]

I love AKG K-240 and K-271S

[1ace1]

I love my BeyerDynamic 250's. Comfy, sound great, neutral, closed back, well priced, nice....

A:)

[Dism]

The problem with asking a question like this, is you are going to get a lot of different answers, which might confuse you more. Your best bet is to find a store that will allow you to try out several different brands of headphones in the same place, connected to the same unit. Unfortunately, places like this can be rare... (I happen to live quite close to a store that has a "wall of headphones" all plugged into the same unit, a great service!), and will take some time. Budget is also a large factor. You can find some great sounding headphones within the $100 to $200 range, but if you ever get the chance to compare them to $1000 to $1500 headphones... the differences can be astonishing. Your best bet is still to listen to as many different headphones as possible to get an idea of what sounds best to you, and what you are most comfortable wearing.

As far as sound-proofing an apartment goes... well it's pretty well next to impossible without major renovations that 99.9% of buildings won't do. It's the nature of apartment living, unfortunately.

[SculliD]

+1 on the athm-50. $120 is a good deal.
Peace,
Kevin