Ear buds

G

ggrantly

Veteran
Hello Listers,

I have a couple of typical headphones I use for normal shooting situations. I also have a backpack cam (HMC40) which is small and light, but still has phantom capability, so I carry a small mic or two depending on what I am doing that day. My backpack is minimal, and usually my intentions aren't for a lot of audio, but I would like to monitor things for confidence. There just isn't the space for a set of cans. Now the question:

Could anyone recommend a set of ear buds that have either a over the head mount, or individual buds that have ear clips so they won't fall out when active. The audio doesn't need to be great, I am more concerned about retention while active. Budget not a big problem.

TIA
Grant
 
ggrantly said:
Hello Listers,

I have a couple of typical headphones I use for normal shooting situations. I also have a backpack cam (HMC40) which is small and light, but still has phantom capability, so I carry a small mic or two depending on what I am doing that day. My backpack is minimal, and usually my intentions aren't for a lot of audio, but I would like to monitor things for confidence. There just isn't the space for a set of cans. Now the question:

Could anyone recommend a set of ear buds that have either a over the head mount, or individual buds that have ear clips so they won't fall out when active. The audio doesn't need to be great, I am more concerned about retention while active. Budget not a big problem.

TIA
Grant
Click to expand...
How about In Ear Monitors such as those from Etymotic or Ultimate Ears? Both can be audiologist fitted so they fit your ear perfectly and won't fall out with use and have the added advantage of being noise isolating which ears buds aren't. You see 'em in the ears of many stage performers.
 
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I like these relatively cheap aluminum cased ear buds of the kind that go into your ear canal. There are a few diff. brands but if you see they are made of aluminum then they are probably the right ones.

They sound great and also cut out external noise, almost like an earplug with sound. Downside is if filming near traffic they can kill to much external sound. They cost around $15. They don't fall out easily if the silicone "pads" are the right size. They usually come with 3 diff. sets of pads to fit your ear canal.

Otherwise I go for big headphones, but you said you wanted something smallish, correct?

Mine look kinda like these:

Charming-Metal-Earphone-WD-MEP012-.jpg
 
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I use Klipsch X-10, worth every penny, I also own a set of futuresonic, as well as $500 Shures and these smoke them all.
 
The one thing I have to have is ear hooks or over the head mounting. Standard ear buds just fall out of my (strange) ears. Any other great ideas?

Grant
 
ggrantly said:
The one thing I have to have is ear hooks or over the head mounting. Standard ear buds just fall out of my (strange) ears. Any other great ideas?

Grant
Click to expand...
That's one reason I suggest professional IEMs. The top brands are custom made to audiologist castings of your ear canal, similar to hearing aids. They're much less prone to falling out during use.
 
One less-expensive possibility you might consider would be the Skull-Candy ear buds. I have a set that have very nice fidelity for ear-buds, they fit/stay in my ears (not an easy task, but they come with three different sizes of rubber ear-pieces, so you can find the best fit for you), and they were only about $30.

If you have room in the back-pack for small folding ear-protectors (the kind that look like headphones, but are used for ear-protection on the firing range, with heavy-equipment operation, etc.), they work great over the ear-buds as inexpensive "isolation phones." I don't remember who makes my red ear-protectors, but they are pretty small and fold-up even smaller.

GJ
 
The drawback to most earbuds made for casual music listening is they tend to be non-flat in their frequency response. In-ear monitors, especially those with multiple drivers provide both accurate response and greater isolation. I'm using the M-Audio EI-30, a ruggedized version of the Ultimate Ears Pro5. These are reasonably priced at around $250 and have proven to be very durable. I've been using them in the field for nearly two years with a single failure. The cables are field replaceable and can be used with custom ear molds (which is what I use). With the ear molds, they stay in my ears just fine when running and gunning.
 
Hi gpforet,

I am not a pro film production sound tech (although I am an audio pro, and I am very interested in the subject), so my next questions are legit and not facetious or meant to be challenging at all: Do you really need $200 studio-quality flat-response headphones or in-ears to monitor in-coming boom audio? Aren't you primarily listening for distortion, spikes, or eggregious noise? Are you doing a lot of EQ or processing while running and gunning?

GJ
 
With my Klipsch in ears i can hear every nuance of a performance even when some one in the crew accidentally makes some noise or passes gas. stuff i could NOT hear with my MDR7506s but yet is still being recorded, alot is due to the isolation in-ears offer. not to mention your ears dont get hot and sweaty. The reason I paid over $300 for them IS because they are very accurate even in the low end.

Understandably these guys are what most people consider expensive but then so is anything that excels in performance. and to me they are worth it.
 
Not to through a spike into the rolling wheel of the thread, but my original post asked for nothing more than confidence monitoring for backpack recording. I have a couple of good pairs of cans for normal setups. I have tried all sorts of ear buds, and they fall out of my ears with the least movement; everytime. I need ear loops or over the head mounting. Though I do appreciate all the response, many of the products seem pretty interesting.

Grant
 
I will take your question at face value:


To begin with, no, there is no signal processing of any kind being done to the signal as it moves from the microphone, thru the preamp, and to the recorder (or camera) other than possibly tickling the limiters on peaks (which you can hear very clearly with accurate in-ears).

So, why the need for accuracy in monitoring? Whether we're talking about location sound or recording in a studio, there are three factors that most determine how the recording will sound.

1. The microphone position. Move the mic an inch or two in any direction, or change it's angle in reference to the source, the the sound changes.

2. The interaction between the source you want to record, and the reflected sounds of the source coming from nearby objects. Not all reflections are bad, but it's important to be able to hear these differences and make adjustments BEFORE the signal gets recorded. How? By combining #1 and #3, which is

3. Microphone selection. Not every microphone is going to be the right one for either the talent, or the space, and you can only make those kinds of decisions if you can accurately hear what the microphone is doing.

Do you think they use lesser quality monitors in a studio when they're tracking, then when they're mixing? I can't carry my Event studio monitors out in the field, so I choose something that provides monitoring as accurately as possible and falls within my budget. There are far better and more accurate in-ears than my M-Audios, it's what I can afford right now.

Here's the thing with location sound recording. You can never make it better, only worse. Location sound recordists, by their nature, are about recording as accurately as possible the voice. There is nothing I can do to the recording later to improve articulation and clarity. About the only thing I can do after the fact is attempt to remove some noise (and it will have a negative effect although there are a few professionals out there who can remove noise with only a small amount of harm done to the voice), squash it with a compressor which in affect reduces the signal to noise ratio, and eq it, which not only affects the voice but anything else laying in the signal (background sounds that despite our best efforts end up in the take). The point being that the only thing you'll have to work with is the recording made on location (unless you're doing ADR, and my guess is any ADR is recorded while monitoring on some fairly accurate monitors).

So, if the variables presented on a location shoot all require me to make decisions based on what sounds best in a given situation, accurate monitoring is the instrument I have to provide feedback on what my other tools (microphone selection and position in reference to the talent) are doing.

Here's an analogy, how important is it to have a properly color balanced monitor on the camera when making lighting and exposure decisions? On the camera, the viewfiinder and monitor is the primary tool to determine what the camera is seeing? I'd think you're want a monitor or viewfinder as accurate as possible. I've seen filmmakers spent over a thousand dollars on a 5" monitor because it was accurate, portable, and gave them what they needed to properly light and set iris.

Sound is no different

Our field monitor (whether it's headphones or in-ears) is our viewfinder.

.



Gregg Juke said:
Hi gpforet,

I am not a pro film production sound tech (although I am an audio pro, and I am very interested in the subject), so my next questions are legit and not facetious or meant to be challenging at all: Do you really need $200 studio-quality flat-response headphones or in-ears to monitor in-coming boom audio? Aren't you primarily listening for distortion, spikes, or eggregious noise? Are you doing a lot of EQ or processing while running and gunning?

GJ
Click to expand...
 
I second the in ear monitor ones that are used by musicians. All of the higher end ones go over the top of the ear so they are much less prone to fall out since the cable is not pulling on the buds. I have a pair of shure e5's (no longer available) and they are great. These look like the newer versions:

http://www.shure.com/americas/produ...nes/se-models/se425-sound-isolating-earphones

They come with different sized rubber and foam inserts or like others pointed out you can get custom ear molds.
 
Thank you for your detailed response, gpforet. I'm very familiar with in-studio monitoring for tracking and mixing.
Your thoughtful response has raised some good questions and consciousness re: on-location monitoring and mixing,
however!

GJ
 
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