What Monitors????

Ok, So I have owned about 20 sets of monitors (many not powered)...


I rocked the BM5a Dynaudios for like 3 years... and eventually I gave way to the fact that the low lows were wack, and I didn't want to spring an extra G for the 10" sub (overpriced)

I have owned the OG mackie 824's.... and those were lacking in the mid's and high highs.

I then went passive for awhile...
Flipping between Alesis Monitor One's (OG), Bose 301's, and NS-10's...

all do their thing well, but honestly... getting a passive speaker to perform like a powered one, it is difficult... tried different amps, receivers, etc... still have a ton of passives around to reference....


SO

My main difficulty in my mixes is that the low lows are through the rafters (underkicks, 808 tones etc) after I pop them in the car.

additionally, the high highs (high syllabant tones and thin crash area) tend to be overharsh when I crank the treble knob when you playback (in whatever)

SO<<

I went to GC for like 3 hours yesterday, and brought a bunch of stuff, mine, stuff I know, stuff I never listen to... and demo'd everything in the room...

I gotta say, I kind-of kicked myself for selling the dynes.... but it was the same as always- the Low Lows were underplayed while the mid-bass was overhyped... so for hip hop, I made the right decision. (unless I was going to spring for the sub)

Second place? its between 3. the ADAM a7, the Yamaha hs 80, and the M-audio bx8a.

Probably in that order too... but then I started considering again what my problems were with my mixes..... overhyped low bass, and harsh high highs. So, I reasoned, The ADAMs, as far as clear representation, obviously take the cake from 400hz to 20k... just because of the ribbon tweeter. but again, the need for an accurate sub and accurate crossover points, as well as a correct positioning for the sub itself... all add up to a bunch more problems...

The Yamaha 80's are really nice... and actually sound a lot like the NS-10's with added bass reflex. I think that the 80's have a semi harsh tweeter, and may add to ear fatigue... and one of my two problems is harsh highs... so either it would have been catastrophic and added to the problem, or completely solved it... but I couldnt be sure. Also, the MID's are a bit overhyped as well... just like the NS-10m's, causing you to overnotch the midrange and you always end up with a "disco smile" mix (the mids are cut out, which can sound great, but its kind of a cheater mix to me)

Finally, I kept switching back and forth to the yam's and back to the M-audio.

What I heard was completely different on both... the M-audio's were superbassy, and had a sweet sounding tweeter... and the mid's were a bit tucked in, but relatively smooth regardless.

The Yamaha's were a lot tighter in the lows, and you could tell that they were more controlled woofers overall, but the mids were almost annoying on rock and metal music, and vocals seemed to stand out 2db higher than they sound on anything else (like the NS-10's)... then combine that with a crispier, more detailed, harsher overall tweeter, (which I honestly could not tell if it was just hyped, or really that accurate ??) I started thinking about my PROBLEMS again... Too much bass... over harsh high highs...


HMMMMMMMMMM





I was there for like 3 hours.





Bottom line: I sacrificed some accuracy and prestige for what I thought would best suit my NEEDS... not what I thought played more "accurately". Albeit that in a perfectly controlled room, most of the nuances in the higher quality speakers dissipate, and will start to play more in tune with how they were designed... but I don't make beats in a control room... I make them wherever living. As much as I hate to admit it... I bought the M-audio BX8a's. and for 500 bucks, its kind of a steal.

Heres my summary:

When I first plugged them in at home I wanted to turn around and go get the Yamaha's within the first 5 minutes. "waaaay too bassy" was my first reaction. But then I started listening... The extra thump is what I need to let me hear my low lows, bass lines, kick drums and the vocal low-range tones... which I always had to just "do my best to guess where to set them, because I know when I put this in the car, its gunna be waaaay too much bass". and instead of just "shelving" my highs, in case somebody (everybody) had their treble at +8... but it WAS just a best guess, which would leave me re-doing mixes all day.

since the tweeter is pretty smooth sounding or "soft" sounding, I can actually boost the highs in certain frequencies again (for the first time in 4 years), because the dynes would tempt you to do it, but then you would regret it later. NS-10's tend to make you squash everything... etc etc.

I just remixed 7 songs with them, and just bounced a copy... about to go take a drive and see... if it sounds like shit still, I am quitting.

What go y'all trust? do you go for "accurate" "what works best for your faults, even if you know it is not as accurate" "use 5-6inch speakers with a sub, but know that depending on bass pitch and speaker position, you might be way off"


lemme know.

Man, I'ved learned not to go by the studio monitors as the end users are not gonna be listening on studio monitors and regardless if the room is untreated it's gonna affect the reference too.


The best thing you can do is A/B tests with commercial cds in the same genre that you know have the sound you want from your's.

A/B in the car factory system .. the car system will reveal plenty of the mix, of the bass , phase issues


A/B in the ipod earbuds

A/B in a clock radio cd player

A/B in a bookshelf system with subs

A/B in display stereos at bestbuy

A/B on laptop speakers

A/B in your monitors

A/B in a club system


When you find your track translates well on as many of those sources as possible and as close as you can get to your a/b reference track then your good to go

I never consider a track "done" until it "passes" the a/b tests

+1 on the A/B. No two pairs of ears are ever gonna hear things the same. If your mixes pass the A/B tests, then you are doing well. After you reach a certain point and understand the technical aspects of mixing and critical listening - the rest is subjective.

Im overall impressed with these things... as always, there will be an adjustment period...

but the 7 tracks I mixed I spent about 10 minutes a piece re-doing eqs and volumes on everything, then adjusting the master eq... and really did not take attention to detail whatsoever, I just threw a good sounding mix together for a test run.

The mix translated well to my car, which I know rather well by now. I can tell on the ones That sound better, I took more care in the mid's, and didn't try to force a false representation of mid through a overall mid notched speaker.

I am going to take a minute tonight to track something I have not yet and mix it from scratch.

heres crossing my fingers that these are the ones. (for now)

That's why I always mix/master in my car...

20 Sets? You will probably never find a set that fits your needs if you still haven't by now. I own the OG 824 and I'm perfectly happy with them. I know them very well, also their "flaws" or rather my studios' flaws(my room is not perfectly treated with akoustics). Maybe just stick with a good pair and compensate if it lacks a certain frequency.

Also I'm just assuming; maybe your not a ood mixer as you think. And I do believe that mastering is one of those things that, even in this day of digital age, should still be done by professionals.

I think the speaker is out there. Im going to find it.

Everyone hears different. I have never stuck to constructs like "wrong" or "right", "better" or "worse"- for music anyway.

I think I am good at mixing... mastering, I leave to someone else.

If I had the space, I'd do it up right.

on a sidenote... I found them on ebay for 350 new in box... so sorry once again retail... you are being shined by the intraweb. save me about 230. yo.

Nice find man... good luck listening!

I have a set of Dynaudio BM5a's along with the KRK RP10s Sub and have been a happy user as my main mixing monitors. I switch back between NS10's without the sub and the Dynaudios as the NS10's are better in my opinion of judging reverb and delays in a mix. It really comes down to how well you know your setup and what music sounds like coming thru the speakers in your room. I always am listening to mainstream mixed music thru the same setup so it pretty much tunes my ears into what i should be getting out of my monitors. Another big thing is u shouldnt be banging your monitors loud for more than a few seconds. I mix at a level that is as loud as 2 people having a normal speaking conversation.

On a side note I am looking for another set of bigger louder powered monitors to use when banging out production! But they don't have to be anything too crazy just clear punchy and loud. Been thinking of getting the TRUTH 2031A's for this purpose as they are cheap and i wont cry if i blow them up.

Anyone tried the KRK expose's out? I didn't even see those last time I was at the shop. They are kind of pricey though... I wasn't a huge fan of the KRKs on a side by side with a few other models.

Best set of monitors Ive ever purchased.

Yo Pound, are those JBL's???

Yesir

The room correction feature was a major plus.

The answer does not have to have the word new involved.

Go buy a pair of Event ASP8's and call it a day homie, trust me.