Headphone Tone Creation

[RD1967]

So, I have purchased a set of BeyerDynamic DT990 Pro's that are open backed cans.  I'm going to use these for mixing but thought I might try them through the headphone jack on my Helix.  Have any of you tried this and does it accurately represent what you hear at your church or other venue through FOH?  I would imagine the sound you get out of the headphone jack if you're using a good set of Studio cans wouldn't be "colored" differently than what goes out from your XLR outs to the board.  Your thoughts?

[silverhead]

I have been using those exact headphones with my Helix Rack for more than 2 years now. The sound is great, but it is coloured differently than the sound from the speakers connected to the board. You're probably right that the audio signal from the Helix XLRs to the board is not coloured differently than the signal from Helix headphones jack. But nobody actually hears either of those signals directly. What we hear is the sound coming from the headphones or the speakers - not the incoming audio signal. And each of those output phones/speakers will sound different, even based on the same incoming signal, because of their different characteristics. I think Fletcher-Munson has much to say about that.

[RD1967]

Silverhead....did you find you could dial in your tones through the cans?  Or did you have to make some tweaks once you went live?

[silverhead]

I don't recommend using headphones to dial in tones intended for playing live. IMO your live tones should be dialed in using equipment similar to what you will be using when playing live. If you connect Helix XLRs to a mixing board when playing live than you should dial in your tones using PA/FRFR speakers at gig volumes, or as close as you can get to that in your practice space. If you route your Helix output to a guitar amp on stage and then mic the amp to send to FOH, dial in your tomes with your amp volume set to the same level that it will be on stage.

 

Many players maintain a separate setlist of tones for using headphones when practicing. They are generally not directly useable for live situations; significant EQ and perhaps other differences are usually required.

[Heavyville]

9 minutes ago, silverhead said:

 

 

Many players maintain a separate setlist of tones for using headphones when practicing. They are generally not directly useable for live situations; significant EQ and perhaps other differences are usually required.

This works well for me. 

1 playlist for Studio patches

1 playlist for Live patches 

1 playlist for patches used to play along (tone matched to a degree, you still need a difference in order to tell your own guitar from the song). 

1 playlist for development patches. 

 

[erniedenov]

4 hours ago, silverhead said:

I don't recommend using headphones to dial in tones intended for playing live. IMO your live tones should be dialed in using equipment similar to what you will be using when playing live. If you connect Helix XLRs to a mixing board when playing live than you should dial in your tones using PA/FRFR speakers at gig volumes, or as close as you can get to that in your practice space. If you route your Helix output to a guitar amp on stage and then mic the amp to send to FOH, dial in your tomes with your amp volume set to the same level that it will be on stage.

 

Many players maintain a separate setlist of tones for using headphones when practicing. They are generally not directly useable for live situations; significant EQ and perhaps other differences are usually required.

 

I have six setlists for three different guitars; each has a live and a direct setlist. When I started out with Helix, I made patches using in-ear monitors through the headphone jack. Then when I got an FRFR speaker, i modified those patches (at gig volume) to work with it and transferred them to the "live" setlists... and that took some time. I rarely need hi and low cuts on the in-ear patches, but I had to use them a lot with the speaker. In one of the bands I play with, the Helix goes straight to the board and we all have in-ear monitors; I use my direct setlists in that band and just hope the soundguy tweaks them decently with hi and/or low filters to sound good through the FOH. The problem is that patches that were made for the FRFR speaker sound bad when going direct and using the in-ears and it's hard to play well when you're not digging your tones.