This column rightfully devotes most of its allotted editorial space to discussions about the various configurations of speaker/amplifier systems, digital mixing console platforms, new and old microphones, recording interfaces and the vast family of audio software. But I have decided to devote this column to an unsung hero of the live mixing world. It’s time to give some well-deserved recognition to that trusted but often ignored pair of headphones that lives on a stealthy hook, faithfully hanging just below the right hand fader bay of my DiGiCo SD5 console. During the workday, these particular headphones take on the role of an audio multipurpose tool rather than remaining a portable private music listening environment.
The Right Balance
Anyone who has donned a pair of headphones during a live performance immediately experiences the huge impact that the output from the audio system, especially at low frequencies, exerts on what one can actual hear while attempting to critically listen inside the ear cups. Very early in my career, I realized that employing a pair of high-end audiophile headphones was neither required nor recommended. A more useful approach to choosing the correct tool was to compromise a bit of quality for clarity. I searched for a pair of headphones that would maximize source recognition in a challenging environment but would also retain sufficient overall musicality to be relevant as full spectrum listening devices. Somewhere in the early 1980s, I was introduced to a product that worked perfectly in this highly specialized environment, and Sony MDR V6 headphones have been part of my console setup ever since.
The primary workday functions for headphones at FOH are identification and verification. Is a selected signal present, and is it appearing in each of the places it belongs? Is that signal clean and full-range from input to output? These functions are utilized from the minute the FOH desk is initially powered up until the end of the performance. In addition to fulfilling these principal functions, FOH headphones must provide pleasing and predictable (if not exactly perfect) broadband frequency response. For example, the Sony V6s do not possess body-shaking low frequency output, and I am completely fine with that. When the band is playing through the P.A., there is plenty of low frequency energy being produced in the room. When the band is not playing, one’s brain is capable of filling in the missing pieces to make the whole.
Headphone selection criteria need to be prioritized in order to best match/complement the environment in which they are to be employed. A pair of phones with a response curve that is too heavily weighted in lower frequencies will present a masking problem when those frequencies couple with the P.A. output. Higher frequencies will subsequently become much harder to hear while inside the cans. Making a rapid and accurate assessment regarding the characteristics of an individual input, or formulating a judgment about relative levels among combined inputs, become far easier tasks if one chooses headphones that exhibit a gentle but steady roll-off in the lowest frequency regions.
Another thing to consider is how tightly a pair of headphones fit over one’s ears and seal off sounds from the outside world. I find very tight fitting phones to be extremely disorienting as they present such a radical environment change from the normal, open air mixing condition. While allowing the user to listen at lower relative volumes, the tighter seal still does not isolate the listener from low frequencies and may actually accentuate the buildup at that end of the spectrum.
A pair of headphones that have no isolation or are too loose-fitting creates its own set of problems. Products that are too open-air would need to be both very loud and very bright in order to be heard distinctly in a noisy performance environment. One would need to resist the natural urge to turn this type of headphone system up beyond safe listening levels.
I always strive to keep my personal cans at minimal volume levels unless I am addressing a specific problem that requires brief exposure to higher volumes. I always try to keep in mind that one is issued only one pair of ears. Observing safe listening levels in headphones definitely helps to preserve one’s hearing and thereby extend one’s professional longevity in touring sound.
Similarly, I try to stay away from phones that are overly bright. Products that are simply too harsh or uneven sounding may cause the user to quickly develop an aversion to picking them up them at all. Additionally, headphones that inappropriately accentuate higher frequencies may influence a mixer to jump to false conclusions and believe that there is more discernable articulation of the various elements in a mix than is actually occurring.
Once again, a FOH mixer must search for a product the offers a compromise between obviously skewed HF response and absolute accuracy. This is where the Sony V6s have always seemed to provide the optimal solution. By exhibiting slightly, but reliably, elevated high frequency characteristics, the V6s create an increase in articulation while remaining smooth and non-assaultive in their overall performance.
Fit and Feel
Another reliable criterion to apply while selecting headphones has to be physical comfort. Are they too heavy or too light? Are they bothersomely tight or annoyingly loose? Is the cable unobtrusive while wearing the phones? There are many times each day when the necessary place for the headphones to live is around my neck. For example, during line check, I always audition the individual lines through headphones before turning them on in the PA. Line checking a 70-input show takes a while and it’s important that the headphones blend seamlessly into the process.
How the cans feel while remaining around the neck for extended periods of time is as important as how they feel over the head. Are the ear cups so big that they get in the way of freely moving one’s head and neck? Does the headband adjustment system work easily? While the show is going on, the phones often end up hanging loosely around my neck with both headphone drivers are pointing directly into my body. When that happens, I try to remember that I should use the Solo Mute button on the SD5. There are subtle but still discernable frequency anomalies produced if the cans are left blasting too loudly in relation to what I am hearing from the PA.
It definitely takes a while to develop a trust relationship with any headphones — especially after one willingly agrees to sacrifice more linear frequency response devices in order to achieve better live mixing results by using a slightly less flawless tool. It also requires training and discipline to learn how to successfully translate the information from the headphone buss to the large-scale sound system that is currently filling the performance venue.
The Console Connection
Years of both familiarity and trust allow me to privately, confidently and successfully conduct in-show adjustments while listening through the console’s cue system. Thankfully, the DiGiCo SD5 console features a fantastic headphone amplifier section that faithfully outputs the big, warm sound of the mixing desk. Each of the two separate solo busses also offer delay adjustment to align the headphone buss output to the arrival time from the PA system. One of my daily rituals requires the use a laser sight to shoot the distance from my seated position to the main PA. Properly aligned sound sources results in vast increases to both the quality and clarity that one hears in the headphones.
Familiarity, reliability and consistently good results have created a strong bond of loyalty to the venerable Sony V6s. I have always kept an extensive inventory of spare parts (diaphragms, ear pads, and plastic bits) in order to maintain two pairs in good working condition. While on tour, one pair lives in the FOH workbox. The second pair hangs out in my suitcase — ready if needed. After 30+ years of professional marriage to these Sony MDR-V6 phones, I had no reason to believe I would ever experience a need to explore an alternative product.
That feeling persisted until a pair of Audio-Technica ATH-M70x headphones walked into my life. When we at one of this year’s final tour stops at Blossom Music Center in Cuyahoga Falls, OH, Roxanne Ricks, my good friend and esteemed Artist Relations person for Audio-Technica USA, came by in the afternoon to visit. Once we finished chatting about friends and families, Roxanne asked if I was interested in trying the new 70x model in the M Series headphone line. My son loves the 50x phones that I gave him for Christmas, but I was somewhat concerned about the thick, heavy bottom end I had heard in both the 40x and 50x versions. It turned out that my fears were baseless.
Instead, I discovered an extremely pleasing but still rather transparent quality to the extended low end. The very smoothly extended and well-balanced low frequency response actually enhances rather than masks the equally balanced midrange and high frequencies. There is a small, but necessary, upward kick in the high frequencies that is extremely beneficial in fulfilling my preferred listening requirements from live use headphones. Listening to some familiar tracks caused me to form a very favorable first impression.
I next tried using the ATH-M70x phones for line check, then at sound check and finally during the show. Surprisingly, that single day’s experience with the 70x units was all it took for me to confidently embrace making a change. At the next tour stop, the old Sony V6s never came out of the tray in the FOH workbox. The 70x headphones represent a positive product advancement that results in a significantly expanded, more refined and more detailed audio picture than is delivered by the Sony V6s. I am looking forward to the commencement of a new project to solidify me the decision to go with the ATH-M70x. In addition to the positive audio output qualities, I like the way these headphones fit comfortably over my ears. I appreciate getting the three different replaceable cables. And the solidness of the adjustable headband keeps the phones securely in place.
Old dog, meet new trick! Safe Travels!
