
Re: Why Do Headphones Affect Pitch Recognition?
Postby vocalthoughts » September 21st, 2009, 8:30 am
This thread is fascinating for me. Here's something I find very interesting... I (and most singers, I find) hear best with 1/2 hear off. Not a whole side, just slide one half of a closed headphone off one ear. Not sure about the science behind why, but I do know it "orients" me acoustically to my voice and connects my voice to my ears (and the track), enabling me to sing with the most accurate pitch.
With the whole ear off one side, it throws me off. I think that's because messes with my breath control, like singing dry outside vs in a reverberating stairwell. Yes, I can accomplish similar results with open cans but they tend to feed back... and even the better ones made to limit feedback just don't give me as much confidence as closed cans, one off.
Every once in a while I come upon a singer who truly hears better with both cans fully on (of course they are being fed their amplified voice in addition to the track. This makes me suspect that no matter what the science, much of what we can accurately "hear" of pitch is a learned thing.... what our brains get used to hearing and figuring out among signals. I know some older session singers who still miss the days when they sang with speakers instead of headphones. I actually had a large musical theater chorus record that way recently, and with the monitors strategically placed, it worked pretty well.
Postby vocalthoughts » September 21st, 2009, 8:30 am
This thread is fascinating for me. Here's something I find very interesting... I (and most singers, I find) hear best with 1/2 hear off. Not a whole side, just slide one half of a closed headphone off one ear. Not sure about the science behind why, but I do know it "orients" me acoustically to my voice and connects my voice to my ears (and the track), enabling me to sing with the most accurate pitch.
With the whole ear off one side, it throws me off. I think that's because messes with my breath control, like singing dry outside vs in a reverberating stairwell. Yes, I can accomplish similar results with open cans but they tend to feed back... and even the better ones made to limit feedback just don't give me as much confidence as closed cans, one off.
Every once in a while I come upon a singer who truly hears better with both cans fully on (of course they are being fed their amplified voice in addition to the track. This makes me suspect that no matter what the science, much of what we can accurately "hear" of pitch is a learned thing.... what our brains get used to hearing and figuring out among signals. I know some older session singers who still miss the days when they sang with speakers instead of headphones. I actually had a large musical theater chorus record that way recently, and with the monitors strategically placed, it worked pretty well.