Hear The Music

Once you start getting into recording or playing with a band without moniter speakers. Headphones become your best friend. Most of the time though, cheap pairs of headphones don't cancel out enough of your drum set so you can't hear the mix well enough. Or even hear the metronome coming in which could only mean bad news. Its very critical to find a pair that does just this and is comfortable at the same time. Did I mention without falling off your head while your playing? So it has to be snug. 

The most popular headphones for drummers these days would be isolation earbuds they go in your ears like ear plugs do and cancel outside noise. They can be pretty pricy but is well worth it if you get one pair that lasts a lifetime rather than going from cheap pair to cheap pair. Plan to spend anywhere from $40 to $120 bucks on one of these babies.

Another thing thats very easy to do is pick up a half way decent pair of isolation ear buds then some ear mufflers that go around your ears. We all know the set can be very loud but would rather spend our paychecks on a new cymbal but I can garentee you won't regret being able to hear and play at the same time, weather its on stage or off.