Should i use Mono headset to monitor?
 

This may be stupid a stupid question, do headphone exist where you can switch off one side? I find having the headset on my head with the right hand can not on my ear uncomfortable after a short while.

I have been recording audio using my Zoom H4n + Rode NTG2 and im getting very distracted by a hissing noise in my right headphone whilst monitoring the audio.

Now i assume this is because i am recording a mono track with the shotgun mic and there is no information coming through the right speaker.

- If a you cant get a set where you can switch one side off, Would a decent set of headphones stop me from hearing this hiss?

Or should i look at some decent in ear headphone buds so I can easily wear just one?

I frequently wear headphones off the ear on the unrecorded channel, especially when paying attention to a young reporter's questions.

I would be inclined to get rid of the hiss first. If you have upgraded the firmware of the H4n, you can now control the XLR inputs separately and can turn the down the level of the unused channel.

You don't say how you are monitoring the audio, from the H4n or from the camera? Either way it sounds like you have recorded a track of hiss as well as the NTG-2 audio. A specially wired cable could take care of passing only the NTG-2 signal from the H4n to the camera if you wanted.

Even when recording a mono signal, I prefer to monitor it with both ears, but maybe that's just me.

Thanks Colin - updated my firmware and now it has gone! I didnt realise that it would be recording track two even when there is no input connected.

I am monitoring the audio from the H4n's line out directly.

Are in ear buds any good for monitoring though ( i mean decent ones, not apple iPod ones!). Having the headset half on my head drives me nuts as it balances funny.

Unless you can recommend a decent pair of cans that are perhaps lighter/ more suited to monitoring in the field as well as editing at a desk?

I have been using Sony in-ear buds exclusively for NON-music content monitoring in the field for 12 years. $20 at my local electronics big box. For speech primarily, they give me everything I need and the comfort for prolonged wearing, INCLUDING under ClearCom when I was doing live news "hits"

Be aware, I am NOT talking about the special bass enhanced stuff, just plain jane ear buds with the lowest impedance I could find... I BELIEVE I use 16 ohm, although 50 ohm seems to come to mind as well. Certainly not higher than that. They are as good as MY hearing is at least, given that I'm listening for intelligibility, distortion and noise NOT for accurate equalization. For that I have a set of flat AudioTechnica headphones.

These are awesome cans, and one side articulates to move the pad off your ear.

Sennheiser HD 25-1 II
Sennheiser HD 25-1 II - headphones - Ear-cup, Binaural - DVeStore

Just beat me to it, Chad. These are the ones I use for monitoring with a pair of cheapos very similar to Shaun's if I am taking a small camcorder with me on a family outing and travelling light.

Thanks guys - very helpful!

Sadly i have just had to spend £500 on a new exhaust / catalytic converter on my car today, so I will have to save up for the sennheisers.

I have a messed up head ( yeah, yeah...I know..heard it all before; from my wife) from cancer surgery, and I can't stand wearing headphones...painful. I use a pair of Shure E2C earbuds all the time for monitoring, and just leave one plug out. They really work well at isolating ambient noise, almost too well. If I have them both in my ears, I can't hear anything the mic isn't picking up