Beginner Playing Wearing headphones

[Hammie 1982]

Guys,

Im in awe of alot of you and trying to work out what i need to do to fix a problem im having!
Im getting to the stage on a few songs that i want to play it along to backing track in order to help timing etc.
However whilst i can play some of these songs well enough, i cant hear what im doing when i put the headphones on and end up missing notes left right and centre!

I can somewhat keep up with myself and the music with 1 ear covered!

Is this just a case of practice to get this right or whats your suggestion?

 

[Pete Effamy]

Most DAW setups allow mixing your live mic sound against the track volume. Often, even in "pro sessions" this doesn't get to a great mix so the one ear on and one off is quite often used. Sax, trumpet, trombone are all loud enough and far enough away from the mic that "spill" isn't much of an issue - unlike recording a vocal might be.

Other than this, you can "hear" yourself internally too with the vibrations from your teeth through the mouthpiece which should help.

The other thing you can do is turn your phones level down. For many, loud volume in the phones causes the pitch to be heard flat, and then play flat. I think there's a scientific name for the effect but can't remember it.

 

[Hammie 1982]

Thanks Pete,

sounds like ill have to start with some kind of a mic setup and allow the laptop to let me hear that way!
It wasnt something i was going to do yet, cause ive no real desire to start recording myself (however ive been told it might be a good learning tool also)

Ill start having a look at the options over the next few weeks.

 

[Ivan]

It wasnt something i was going to do yet, cause ive no real desire to start recording myself (however ive been told it might be a good learning tool also)

When I returned to sax seven or eight years ago, I was of the same mind

Fast forward

Recording and listening back is a very useful tool for understanding your strengths and weaknesses

A thirds rule: a third of the time you sound great, a third of the time you sound terrible but listening back a while later you quite like it, a third of the time you realise there's a long road ahead

 

[Colin the Bear]

Some systems allow you to monitor your instrument through the head phones.

 

[Zugzwang]

Hiyah @Hammie 1982 - could get yourself a little Bluetooth speaker like Wonderboom or Anker - they’re plenty loud enough (and if you’re worried about the neighbours, it won’t be the backing music they complain about, believe me )
They do have latency issues, but now we’re all living in Zoom world, that’s nothing new. Good luck.

 

[6441]

could get yourself a little Bluetooth speaker like Wonderboom or Anker

I have one of those really small JBL cubes. They also can just be connected by the usual cable and work well for monitoring without headphones. Looks better on video, too, the day you get to that point

 

[Hammie 1982]

Neighbors arent a problem to me, however young kids are a bit of a problem.
I get home about 6.30 every evening and they start going to bed about 7.30 so its difficult to play all the time!
plus if there is music on, they want to hear "Frozen" or "baby shark" or something similar.......
Thats why i trying to do it with Headphones

 

[Vetinari]

Headphones won't make it any easier on the kids. You could not play your sax quietly enough to achieve that.

 

[Vetinari]

I'm lucky as no one complains about how loud I play. Not good enough to record however, but I find that if I turn up the backing track as loud as live players would be and play with that (yes it'a a big amp and speakers) then it feels like it would in a live, acoustic, group.

 

[MikeMorrell]

I would suggest earphones instead Headphone. I only only have experience with a Zoom mic but as @Colin the Bear says, this allows me to hear the backing tracking and (as I remember) my recording at the same time,

Mike

 

[Hammie 1982]

Ok just out of curiosity, is there a specific type of mic that does well for this kind of thing?
I know the one on my laptop is basically pants and not worth a &&&& for recording music....
I dont want to go bluetooth on the mic as its not going to be anything magic!!!

Im not lookinng for recommendations of "this mic or that mic" as ive tried reading the other threads on the subject and gotten truely lost..... what im thinkin is "Condenser mic" or "Dynamic instrument mic"

Ill try doing a bit of research on them over the next while so i might understand what im looking at......

 

[Nikki]

Hiyah @Hammie 1982 - could get yourself a little Bluetooth speaker like Wonderboom or Anker - they’re plenty loud enough (and if you’re worried about the neighbours, it won’t be the backing music they complain about, believe me )
They do have latency issues, but now we’re all living in Zoom world, that’s nothing new. Good luck.

Or monster adventurer( blue tooth )
Works great!

 

[Nikki]

Ok just out of curiosity, is there a specific type of mic that does well for this kind of thing?
I know the one on my laptop is basically pants and not worth a &&&& for recording music....
I dont want to go bluetooth on the mic as its not going to be anything magic!!!

Im not lookinng for recommendations of "this mic or that mic" as ive tried reading the other threads on the subject and gotten truely lost..... what im thinkin is "Condenser mic" or "Dynamic instrument mic"

Ill try doing a bit of research on them over the next while so i might understand what im looking at......

Best Computer Microphones (For PC & Mac) In 2020