Hi Mac

What you propose is intriguing. While digital hearing aids are amazing, the audio info is still dependent on pin-head mics and speakers, and the mics can receive up to 105 without distorting - at least in the ones I have. There are also 8-band equalizers on board which are tweaked through software. But I'm not sure I wouldn't do better recording vocals if I could dispense with the aids in the chain and rig headphones to do the same thing.

I had also given some thought to a headphone setup with a 10 band eq for each of the left AND the right side. That might enable me to take out the H-aids and just go with the headphones with each side adjusted to the particular ear's loss. Hearing loss is not uniform in both ears for me - so there is an added challenge - hence the need for separate 10 band eqs.

Carrying it further, perhaps an in-the-ear monitoring system like Westone would work if I had the dough.

So the problem is, when I record my voice, I need to be able to pick up (ear) enough musical information in the root freequencies from the backing tracks so that I can stay on pitch - it's not so much an across the board "volume" issue as much as it is a "some frequencies" volume issue. I'm surprised how a-tonal a note can become for me when certain frequencies are not present. I can take my pitch information from the bottom four strings of the guitar by playing the four strings of a chord one at a time. Once I start to strum, I lose it the pitch info.

The same thing happens with the backing tracks when I record - too much info and I lose pitch - I do better if I record with simple backing and percussion. I also get more pitch information listening to my bookshelf speakers while recording, less info using headphones. But recording using this setup with no phones gives me a more accurate pitch, it also gives me more bg stuff because I can't isolate myself from the speakers. The noise (bg tracks) is the tradeoff for better pitch. Know of a really good directional mic?

Whatever setup I can figure out, I'm still going to need a good pitch correction software. But most of the battle is being able to receive enough pitch information during recording - whether it can come via headphones with no H-aids, or with a properly adjusted hearing aids. My ultimate goal is producing a good demo for my songs.

Ian

Ian
My "Original Tunes" Site
My gene pool needs more chlorine.