Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones for live mixing.

[Lizardpoint]

Hi Team,
Can someone just tell me if I'm mad or if this is achievable?

I'm using an X-Air 18 to mix online sound for my church and this is providing pretty acceptable results. I mix from an ipad but have headphones plugged into the unit. I'm using Bose QC15's which are OK but not very loud as I'm trying to mix sound for online streaming while someone else is mixing for FOH sound.

Ideally I'd like to have a wireless unit I can plug into the headphone output for the X-18 which would then blutooth to a pair of noise cancelling headphones which I can get a good level of audio on. I understand there may be slight latency issues.

My questions are
1. Can it be done ?
2. Would anyone recommend a suitble Bluetooth transmitter and some decent Bluetooth Noise Cancelling Headphones ?

Cheers

Dave W

[shufflebeat]

What I use:

https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/wi-audiolink-pro

Maybe coupled with:

https://www.headphonesty.com/2017/03/cm ... ifier-kit/

...or something fancier if required.

My Wi unit drives Shure srh840s. I wouldn't want to do an orchestral CD mix with that setup but problem solving and live band performance to F/B would be well withing its capability.

The last F/B thing I did was, on reflection, a bit bass-focussed and might have been lost on someone listening via laptop speakers or cheap buds so I was planning to mix to my Senn hd25s next time.

For me, because room levels are not huge I'm happy to go with decent traditional isolation rather than spending on something noise cancelling, not sure how well that would work anyway in my situation.

There will be more pro options but this works well enough for my meagre needs.

[Lizardpoint]

Hi Shufflebeat,
Many thanks for your suggestions.
Looking at these now.
Cheers
Dave W

[Drew Stephenson]

My starting point would be isolation rather than noise-cancelling. The latter works well on consistent noise sources (traffic, trains, air-con etc) but doesn't do much for rapidly changing sounds (music/people).
I find my DT770s give me very good isolation even in quite noisy environments so I'd certainly suggest giving them a listen.

[Mike Stranks]

I'm with Drew on this...

I used to use Sennhesier HD 280 PROs (https://en-uk.sennheiser.com/hd-280-pro when mixing for radio church services when in the same space as the services - incl with Worship Bands. Gave good attenuation and worked well.

[Drew Stephenson]

Oh yes, and the thing I forgot to mention is that good isolation is really dependent on the fit on your head and ears. So whilst people here can recommend, you'll really need to try a few pairs out and see what works best for you.

[Sam Spoons]

One other thing, you do not want to use Bluetooth for this, is is not a professional system and you will be plagued with latency issues and drop outs. I would go for UHF analogue and decent isolating IEMs as Shufflebeat suggested. I tried the wireless system shuff linked but had to send it back as I needed to sing using the IEM's and found the 18ms latency made it unusable for that purpose*, for listening only the Wi Audiolink system was very good, extremely compact and well designed, had I not needed to use them while singing I would have kept it.

* I replaced it with LD Systems ME1000 because the cheaper ones don't have that essential limiter.

[Wonks]

As the OP is mixing, not playing or singing, I doubt BT latency would be an issue, but the worry of drop-outs would be.

[The Elf]

...plus I will guarantee that the batteries in active headphones will always fail at the least convenient moment.

[Dave B]

I'd look at the problem from two angles :

1. I need to have a wireless way of getting a good, clean sound to judge the mix
2. I need to cut out the ambient sound

I'd be looking at any kind of wireless IEM pack (the one above is fine) along with some decent earbuds. You can get multi-driver ones for under 150quid these days which are very hi quality. With a little practice mixing, you should be able to compensate for the 'headphones vs speakers' issues - certainly well enough to judge something for a stream.

Then I would be looking for a good set of ear defenders (industrial grade) that would go over the top of these IEMs cutting out/down the sound. This would also let you run the IEMs at a lower level which would protect your ears

[Tim Gillett]

Just adding the usual caution about IEM's or earbuds. For realistic bass response make sure they seal well against the ear canals. With a poor seal there can be a temptation to heavily EQ up the bass end which could result in bass heavy audio for many listeners.

[ore_terra]

moulded IEM's with a fair learning curve mixing at home