Why do people care about gear measurements when most rooms suck?

Bruce, what is with the one ear headphones? Are they hearing the mixed version only in that ear?

I'm not Bruce, but yes, they are getting their monitor mix in one ear and leaving the other free to hear their own instrument.

Tim

...and the musicians around them, for timing and intonation. I always found it a bit strange and prefer the recording engineers do their job and I do mine (which could actually be as player or recorder, depending) without the players needing to hear the mix.

They are also used when playing with a click track or recording with a pre-recorded event, such as might be used to play along with a band's recording (think of a progressive rock song with orchestra parts added) or movie soundtrack.

Aside: Sony some years ago in an article about their in-ear monitors (relatively new then) said using just one actually increased hearing damage. This was in rock'ish bands, not the orchestra, I should note. The problem was, with the sound so loud in the uncovered ear, the in-ear volume was raised to compensate, leading to worse damage than if two in-ears or none were used.

It makes sense that the phones are only being used for a click track, anything else would be pointless as far as I can see. An interesting discussion on such at http://www.gearslutz.com/board/remo...3482-100-single-ear-headphones-orchestra.html.

With regard to the mics, I would be fascinated to compare the final mix with the raw stereo pickup from just the two mics on either side of the conductor, I wonder how many might prefer the latter ...

Frank

amirm said:

Bruce, what is with the one ear headphones? Are they hearing the mixed version only in that ear?

Click to expand...

Also the same principle when singers stick one finger in their ear so they can hear themselves better through bone conduction.

Thanks for the explanation guys. Not being a musician or a recording engineer, I can't imagine that being a comfortable way to do things . Then again when I am shooting with my long telephoto, I often keep both eyes open with one looking through the viewfinder, and the other seeing what else is happening outside of my narrow field of view. It is very weird at first, with one eye looking through the porthole and the other from behind the camera and wide view. But the brain amazingly adjusts and gives a reasonable view. I suspect the same is true here.

Amir,
sounds like you would make a fine Apache helicopter pilot, well at least with the eyes - you just need to practice now running around (very fast no slacking bud!!!) while using the camera with both eyes as you mention
Cheers
Orb