I'm buying a ton of gear at the moment, and have about £430 left over for some active nearfield monitors...
I'd like to have a bass response that goes down pretty low so will most likely need to consider a subwoofer, unless there are some standard monitors that already have good bass response
At the moment I've been looking at the M-Audio BX5a deluxe, coupled with the M-Audio SBX subwoofer, but for both sets I've seen mixed reviews and figured I'd ask here to see if anyone has any recommendations
Depends on your room. If you have a small room you shouldn't go for huge monitors... just look into those producer masterclass videos and check the monitors from those guys... non of them are huge at all.
KRK Rokit or Yamaha would be fine on your budget. Get 5" or 6"(maximum) woofers if you are in a small room.
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That's encouraging to hear, I've been looking at the rokit 6s and the yamaha 5s but i can't decide >.<
The Yamahas seem better except for the fact the bass drops off like a stone at 50hz :\
I have a feeling I might end up going for the rokits, the bass seems a little better, they're ugly as hell but if i get the white ones i can customise the look i guess
I have the Yamaha's, liked the bass better in the shop (doing some AB listening with the Rokits) but it all depends on your room.
Basically if you can make your tune rock on the Yamaha's it will rock pritty much everywhere. The dumbest thing to do would be getting megabass monitors for production and then hear/read that your bass is in fact really thin. Monitors should be pretty neutral, but I aggree on the 50Hz thing, it is too soon. You should atleast be able to hear the sub you are doing. I have the 8" version which is actually too big for the room I'm producing in, but the low end rolls off a bit lower than 5 or 6" pieces.
Not that mr Clipz is such a God, but check what he has there in his studio... Yellow woofer and white woofer...
The video is utter rubbish btw, don't waste your time on it.
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Ive decided to up my budget (cashing in my Bonds) and am looking more in the £700 bracket now, so far i like the look of the Mackie HR624s: http://www.thomann.de/gb/mackie_hr624_mk2.htm
Studios get expensive speakers in them because people PAY THEM. they usually hve multiple sets of speakers, because all
I could go on about reasons not to spend more then a few hundred on speakers, but no one cares really. I know it's just like buying a sports car, there's no practical reason, it's just a fun investment.
in fact it's more like a motor bike, because big speakers, big sound, equals bigger hearing damage! kinda counter-intuitive ...
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This post has been edited 3 time(s), it was last edited by Halph-Price: 11-07-2009 22:32.
@Halph
Nah I'm intending on taking care of my ears
mostly I want them because the bass response is better and these particular ones don't appear to have any big problems judging from the reviews
I'm not one of these people who thinks louder=better by any means, I'm mostly looking for accuracy, and given the kinda stuff I do, a good representation of bass is important to me.
8inch woofers are probably to big for my room, so the 6.7in of the Mackie monitors is perhaps a good compromise while still retaining some bass end?
Of course, without a sound-treated room I will have some problems, I intend to do all sorts of tweaking to get them flat as i can (monitors need to burn in as well as headphones I hear?) but like i say, a nice bass response will give me a better idea of how to master a track for a big sound system
I mean, you obviously seem to know your stuff, you give plenty of advice on here so if you have any advice regarding what I should be looking for I'm all ears
Originally posted by PLaGuE CeLL
@Halph
Nah I'm intending on taking care of my ears
mostly I want them because the bass response is better and these particular ones don't appear to have any big problems judging from the reviews
I'm not one of these people who thinks louder=better by any means, I'm mostly looking for accuracy, and given the kinda stuff I do, a good representation of bass is important to me.
8inch woofers are probably to big for my room, so the 6.7in of the Mackie monitors is perhaps a good compromise while still retaining some bass end?
Of course, without a sound-treated room I will have some problems, I intend to do all sorts of tweaking to get them flat as i can (monitors need to burn in as well as headphones I hear?) but like i say, a nice bass response will give me a better idea of how to master a track for a big sound system
loo
I mean, you obviously seem to know your stuff, you give plenty of advice on here so if you have any advice regarding what I should be looking for I'm all ears
well if you look at what any pro studio uses, you'll notice there's AT LEAST 2 pairs of speakers. cuz' all speakers suck. you cannot get a flat response. everyone listening to your music won't listen with a flat response either. so it's just unrealistic. What I suggest, is to have 2 pairs, don't have to be expensive at all. Once you understand the flaws of both, then you can really UNDERSTAND the sound. not just hear it.
i.e. tinny speakers and warm speakers. if it sounds too tinny on the tinny ones, then someone with tinny speakers will think it sounds too tinny too. you already know the speakers suck for being tinny, so you correct it. again too warm on the warm speakers, then someone who's got warm speakers will think the music sucks because of the warmth.
now if you only had one or the other of these speakers the too warm (good bass response) speakers and countered and made the music more tinny, then you failed some.
i would suggest mixing with warm speakers, and just refernecing on shitty tinny ones just to check the snares not too loud, the hats don't catch whatever too bad.
you just learn what the sounds are from listening to refernece material, this is why I don't care about any type of speakers. I'll never drool over any set of speakers, FOR MIXING. i am headphones guy, but I still use 2 diff speakers for referencing. one of them is PC speakers, because let's face it, some people use PC speakers to listen to music still.
so in the end, the best speakers, are REAL WORLD references. the amount of people with 700 dollar speakers, is less then the people that will listen to it on headphones. what you hear in the monitors is what you mix FOR, so don't mixing is about the lowest common denominator.
if it sounds good on bad speakers, it'll sound better on great speakers.
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This post has been edited 1 time(s), it was last edited by Halph-Price: 12-07-2009 08:18.
Yeah, but Halph, you really are talking about mixing here. Mastering really requires pro speakers with as flat response as possible so that one can notice the little artifacts the sound has, and how effects influence it. Of course, you keep shitty, consumer hi-fi speakers for a reference, or listen to the master on various systems.
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Adam A7s have caught my eye, may end up with them, at some point may salvage some hi fi speakers and also use my computer speakers so I can A/B/C between them all!
Am also after some headphones at some point so I can see what the really low end is doing and also more accurately deal with stereo and what it sounds like without room acoustics
Anyway, cheers for the info Halph, mostly buying more expensive ones so I don't outgrow them too soon with regards to how precise I need things to be!
I'll be spending a lot of time in my University studio next year too, they got the high end Quested stuff in there so would like to be able to come home in the evening without too much of a noticeable drop in quality
One single way of listening to tunes is bad indeed, A/B/.. listening is the way to go.
I do A/B/C/D listening
A) Monitors on pro soundcard
B) Headphones Sennheiser HD280 PRO on consumer soundcard
C) Headphones Sennheiser HD 480 II on on-board soundcard
D) Car Stereo
Option C can really make you feel
because it is cheap and doesn't add any fancy feel to the sound at all.
Option D works very well for me because I listen a lot of music in my car, so I know what it should sound like in there.
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Originally posted by Muad'Dib
Yeah, but Halph, you really are talking about mixing here. Mastering really requires pro speakers with as flat response as possible so that one can notice the little artifacts the sound has, and how effects influence it. Of course, you keep shitty, consumer hi-fi speakers for a reference, or listen to the master on various systems.
that's what i ment by us mere mortals. mastering studios are different then mixing studios you do not mix with mastering speakers. and yes, mastering studios have flat responses. but they also have a sound treated room like a anaconic chamber. Some of 2 solid cement pillars that go 10 feet into the ground to eliminate any rumble from the mix on the stand. Compressors that cost as much as a house.
How much do mastering speakers cost, and where would you buy a pair from?
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because it is cheap and doesn't add any fancy feel to the sound at all. 
