Isolation headphones - a good enchancer

[m_estock]

I'm a real drummer and I had some Vic Firth isolation headphones laying around and decided to see what it would feel like to play with them. So I got some adapters, plugged in the audio jacks, and plugged in the headphones. Theres a huge difference when playing with them:

1. You don't have to turn up the volume on your TV to hear the music over your "clack clack's"

2. You can't hear anything except for the music. You can't hear the sound coming from the hits made on the pads. You can actually enjoy playing.

Just thought I would share it with everyone :D

[DarK_AssassiN]

I want to do this SO bad... I have to turn my speaker system up loud just to get over the annoying clacking of the drumpads. What headset do you have?

[Kevhouse]

Any good set of noise-cancelling headphones should work decently, although the Vic Firth ones would probably work best (seeing as they most likely are meant for drums). If memory serves, I believe you can pick up a pair for somewhere between $60-100, depending on brand and specs.

[NOXER36]

Yea I use pair of sennheisers I used for CS. I just plug up them up to tv. Definitely the best way for me to play so I don't hear the clanking from the drums.

[caribou42]

well. i actually enjoy the pad noise - helps keep me on beat. but I have those same headphones and use them for real drum practice and they're incredible. Not too pricey and WELL worth it. I may have to try plugging them in.

[AdamWill2]

you don't really need closed headphones. I played with my Etymotic ER4s for a while, but the cord on them is kinda short, so I switched to my Sony Eggo D77s. They really don't have any kind of isolation, but they work fine for RB, still makes the music sufficiently louder than the pad noises that I don't care about the pad noise any more.

[mattdude]

finally got my headphones set up so the drummer has his own set of headphones, and then the music also plays through the tv so the guitarist and vocalist can hear. oh man.. makes a huge difference. low and behold! i can now get through foreplay's red-green/bass hits with ease on hard.

[m_estock]

Yeah, it really helps you if your like me and play to the music more than what is scrolling down the screen. I can actually 5 star songs on expert now. Here's a picture of the ones I have.

There going for $46 on WWBW - http://www.wwbw.com/Vic-Firth-SIH1-Stereo-Isolation-Headphones-i115140.music

http://images.wwbw.com/products/full/Vic%20Firth/115140x250.jpg

Nice long cord too

[DrEvyl666]

I almost always wear headphones playing the game, except when I'm making videos.. and if I could figure out a good way to capture the audio from the game, I'd wear them for that also..

I have a set of Sony MDR-7506 headphones, they seal nice to my head, and I can't hear the drum pads or the clicking of the guitar, either.. it also helps me hit the pitches better when I'm singing. It always throws me off when I switch to do a video, the noise of the drums or guitar is definitely kinda distracting at time.

[m_estock]

if I could figure out a good way to capture the audio from the game, I'd wear them for that also..

Try getting a headphone splitter? :D

[DrEvyl666]

Try getting a headphone splitter? :D

My camera doesn't have the ability to accept audio input during recording... if it did, I would mic the room and patch it into the mixer... then I could record it 4-track with good mics, and mute the room audio during gameplay portions.. that would be perfect for me.. but I don't really wanna crash the bucks on a more expensive camera.

Right now I'd have to record the audio separately and then paste it together with the video, and that's sometimes a real ***** to get sync'ed properly.

[m_estock]

Yeah, I see what you mean. It is hard to sync up. Maybe if you used a camera that is directly connected to your comp. via USB. Then use a headphone splitter, plug your headphones into one, and have another cable going to your comp. Not sure if there is such a cable (headphone jack to USB?) If you started recording both at the same time, they would be perfectly in sync. Again, I'm not an audio wiz so I'm not sure if this is even possible. hah

[SoKGiX]

i have a nice pair of skull candys i'll try this out with. sounds like a plan

http://clanky.mp3prehravace.info/img/skullcandy/green1.jpg

[AdamWill2]

correction: there is no such thing as 'a nice pair of Skullcandys'. not trying to be harsh, but man, their headphones are an atrocity. they're worse than Bose, for crying out loud.

[DrEvyl666]

Yeah, I see what you mean. It is hard to sync up. Maybe if you used a camera that is directly connected to your comp. via USB. Then use a headphone splitter, plug your headphones into one, and have another cable going to your comp. Not sure if there is such a cable (headphone jack to USB?) If you started recording both at the same time, they would be perfectly in sync. Again, I'm not an audio wiz so I'm not sure if this is even possible. hah

The audio you hear in my videos is coming from my mixer, not the Xbox... it's already routed through... it's that I'd have to have a video camera that could hook up to my computer and send video that I could sync to whatever audio I supplied it, whether it be from the room or the Xbox. The room's already setup to capture it, I'd just need the right camera. I'm just too cheap to buy one.

[m_estock]

Ah, would a webcam be feasible?

[SoKGiX]

correction: there is no such thing as 'a nice pair of Skullcandys'. not trying to be harsh, but man, their headphones are an atrocity. they're worse than Bose, for crying out loud.

why? sound good to me, they're comfortable, stay on my head when i'm moving around a lot, and weren't very expensive, plus the style's not too bland

guess i coulda got some 5.1 headphones for like 130, buuuut there's no point in having that for RB

[Corscore]

I've got those that same pair. They work really well for real drums, so they should work perfect for rock band.

[SoKGiX]

lol yeah forgot to mention i use them when i actually play the drums too so...

[AdamWill2]

sokgix: fair enough if what you're looking for is style and comfort, I guess. I'm a bit of a headphone geek so I care more about sound quality :).

5.1 headphones are a pointless ripoff, BTW (and probably a violation of advertising standards - I'd *love* to know how they're getting a subwoofer into a casing about 5cm square...). Good headphones are un-gimmicky and mostly made by non-famous brands; Sony make some decent ones (and some crap), the next most well-known decent brand is Sennheiser.

Anyway, for RB it isn't really that important, so rock on with your skullcandys, sorry if I sounded harsh :)