SINGING IN THE STUDIO. Question About Using Monitors Instead of Headphones.

Singing In The Studio ; Question About Using Monitors Instead of Headphones.

The engineers sometimes accommodated them by having a specialized speaker in the vocal booth which was designed so that it didn't get into the vocal mic too much.

Here are the limitations of using speakers instead of headphones:
·        You'll have to keep the volume coming through them (which will be your instrumental tracks) as low as possible. This may make it harder for you to sing in tune (and sometimes to stay in the groove), and to feel the music enough for emotional delivery.
·        It will be harder to 'punch in' if you make a mistake. You may need to sing the whole song from top to bottom for every take (pass).
·        Though it may be muted, there will almost certainly be some track leakage that gets into your vocal mic. This may make any post-processing on your vocal more difficult, or it may not matter. Be sure you take it into account when you make your decision.

That said, you could try it and get magic. It's such an individual thing. Other options are for there to be just the right mix of instruments and just the right level of your voice coming through your headphones that it feels quickly natural to you to use them. 

One other thing, go back to using headphones with one ear half-off, and be sure you focus on singing to someone, which should help you ignore yourself better and help you get 'into' the conversation.

My personal preference is to use headphones for the precision it gives to the  ears and the resulting greater vocal control you can aim for. Let me know if any of you, my readers, have an opinion on the subject.