How necessary are Studio Monitors?

Whaddup, I think this question has been asked a million times, but I couldn't find it.
Currently I have : A mpc1000, Turntable, that in a Focusrite USB interface, and I use a minilaptop to record my beats on, aswell as to play around with soft synths.
I listen on quite normal speakers. Well, they are around 120 cm, (50 inch) tall, '3 way bass reflex' and have a range from 22- 30,000 Hz. They are hooked up to my JVC S22 amp.

Now my question is, would it be a good plan to buy some monitors? I don't believe that this setup really colours the sound..
I have enough money for a MacBook pro, though, might it be clever to buy some monitors first?

I hope you can understand it through my 'English'.

Thanks

All monitors colour a mix to a certain point, as does their placement in the room and of course the room itself.

The advantage dedicated monitors have over hifi speakers for example is that they're specifically designed to give you as much detail as possible and as Lamp says they let you "see" deeper into your mix.

Whereas most hifi speakers are designed to emphasise certain frequencies to give music a more appealing sound, which is usually more bass and a little less mid... which is known as a smile-shaped EQ (like a smiley face).

From your list I'd say monitors were probably more important than a Macbook pro right now. Although it depends on how well you feel your mixes are translating at the moment. I'm a big believer in "learning" your speaker setup. If you think you're fine with what you've got, get the Macbook.

depends who u ask

illmind always come with sonically tight shit and he mixes on some cheap 20 quid headphones.

i neva thought it was hugely important to spend several 100 on monitors if u want monitors just get the ns-10's from yamaha or the equivalent cos thats the standard.

but it aint a big issue to me think about what u listen to music on? ur stero hi fi your car system and ur headphone or your computer speakers.

as long as ur shit sounds as good as your reference mix does on those systems then why do u need 1000 quid speakers.

depends on how you work, i currently use and have been using cheap shitty headphones for a year or so and it has improved my mixing a whole lot more compared to my real studio monitors which i had been using for 5 years before that.. There are plenty of awesome music that has been made on what many elitist would call useless equipment. However, no matter how much money you spend on monitors it will be kinda pointless unless your room is also "neutral" until then, you can actually end up improving more with some random cheap monitors that might fill whatever gap your room may have. Pro monitors alone are no guarantee at all of giving you a better chance to improve. The reason i was able to improve more with cheap headphones is just that, my monitors didnt help me improve as my room has never been treated to be a pro listening environment so in the end it was a waste of money and a waste of those years i used them.

you could never waste time with monitors.headphones are monitors-plus you could do serious damage to you ears,banging beats in them all the time-what I would suggest is you get some monitors and learn how to mix-yamaha has some decent monitors out-you can get a used MAC and some decent monitors and you'll be glad with your set up.

Depends on what kind of audience you are working with. Are you still in that phase that you're just banging out beats for fun and have you homie spitting over it? It's not really necessary.
Or are people starting to notice you, asking you to do some beats for their major release? Then you need some monitors yesterday.

Must say that it's always a big plus to have some decent monitors.

I'd say that after i got myself a pair of monitors in the upper segment of the lower price range (Adam A7's)Ii quicker get a mix that I'm happy with and there's far less adjustments I have to make the mix sound ok on other systems. I had a top range pair of AKG headphones (K 601) which I tried to mix in but I quickly sold them as it was damn near impossible to get a mix made in them to sound good on any other system. I've always used Sennheiser HD 25 SP's while composing, and I check my mixes against those, a pair of Koss PortaPro, Macbook speakers and earlier my hifi-system (though my amp is busted now so unfortunately I'm partly blind on the open air comparisons right now).

As a general advice I'd say that if you'd like to know (hear) what you're doing while mixing, which allows you to work quick and efficient and yield a more predictable result, get a pair of decent monitors. And decent is not the cheapest model by a company that manufacture everything and nothing, in the case of speakers (as with much else) the level of care and quality invested in something is often reflected in the price tag. It's better to save a while longer and get something that'll actually help you work instead of some cheap stuff that just stands in front of you, looking "rad" or "pro" but doesn't do anything else.

I'll add this. If it sounds shitty out my own speakers and the dogs howling and cats crying then it'll sound shitty on your speakers too. Know your speakers and you'll know the mix.

Interestingly, Yamaha NS10 was not designed as studio monitor at all, it was marketed for affordable bookshelf speaker. It became "standard" rather accidentally. The famous white speaker is made of sheet of paper, the reason was it's cheap to manufacture that way.
It is definitely not good sounding speaker (it is a trusted tool, rather), but it's said to reveal mixing mistake very well, which was the main reason why NS10 became studio standard.
JBL monitor speakers 4312 was the standard monitor speakers before NS10. JBL 4312 sounds good (I love mine, but it is in my house's living room), whereas on NS10, a mixing engineer have to work hard, so that the it sound good from NS10.
Even though NS10 has been discontinued (official reason is that paper pulp for the white speaker has become scarce, but I think it is BS, the speaker can be still ordered as a replaceable parts from Yamaha dealer.)
(Side note: JBL monitor speakers 4312 can be still purchased new in Japan. There's even small (!) version of 4312 sold in Japan!)
Nowadays very decent active monitor speaker can be purchased around $200, it is amazing.
Treating room (i.e. set up base trap etc.) is as important as monitor speakers. There is no point of having expensive monitors on untreated room. Either way, you have to know / learn about your speaker you are using, in order to have good results your mix.

JVC wrote:Treating room (i.e. set up base trap etc.) is as important as monitor speakers. There is no point of having expensive monitors on untreated room. Either way, you have to know / learn about your speaker you are using, in order to have good results your mix.

again, this!! when i were new i used to think good monitors were enough, even if i had heard about room treating.. but it wasnt until i switched from my studio monitores and tested other types of monitor and headphones that i realised my 5 years or so had been a huge waste of time and money.. sure it allowed me to hear what i did, but it wasnt giving me any exact sound because the room would still affect the sound and make everything coloured and there was nothing "neutral" about it at all.. if i had stuck to what i had before those studio monitors, id still had learnt and progressed as much as i did after i had bought them... then when i had to switch to headphones i suddenly had a big step forward when it came to my mixing as now there was not much of a room to talk about that warped and distorted the sound.. i hated using headphones at first but damn it is so much better than before, i know now that the room is much more important than what i thought in the beginning... it its very common to see people talk about buying expensive monitors but have not thought about the room one bit or what kind of monitors would work best with the room they are in and so on.. its just "what model is best?" type of talk for the most part..

now i kinda regret wasting that money as i could have bought some other tools or sound toys that could have been much more useful to me, and i cant help but to wonder how my mixes would be today if i had gone straight for those cheap headphones.. and probably eventually bought studio headphones when the time was right

and what you said lastly.. yes! there are lots of people that are making awesome mixes on cheap equipment simply because they have gotten to know their tools well.. and still, there are lots more poor mixes coming out of pro equipment because the people using it doesnt know how to use it.

i just want to add... knowing how what you are hearing translates to other systems (which takes time and happens through experience on the said monitor, speaker, or headphone) is important too... sure, we often mix to what sounds good right in front of us... but learning that balance of what will sound good elsewhere is also just as important as the monitors themselves...

that is why often you see pro studios with several monitor sets, and different references.. hell, having a hi-fi system, a not too great boom box, a few sets of headphones.. etc... those are handy to get an earful on other systems.

dont waste money on moniotr learn ur speakers and gain an awareness of how sounds on ur speakers translate to other systems.

for instance u know how a certain dre track sounds in a car or club then play that shit on ur own speakers and see how it sounds.

using that ref u can ascertain that if u get ur mix a certain way on ur speakers then u can bet that on a car or club /headphones ur mix will translate well.

spending a grand on speakers to make beats in ur room is foolish and if ur working on major releases likely they will take the stems to a pro studio and mix it so no need for u to shell out for speakers.

mr_debauch wrote:i just want to add... knowing how what you are hearing translates to other systems (which takes time and happens through experience on the said monitor, speaker, or headphone) is important too...

Yes! That's exactly what I meant when I said knowing / learning your monitor speaker is important.

jpeg wrote:dont waste money on moniotr learn ur speakers and gain an awareness of how sounds on ur speakers translate to other systems.

for instance u know how a certain dre track sounds in a car or club then play that shit on ur own speakers and see how it sounds.

using that ref u can ascertain that if u get ur mix a certain way on ur speakers then u can bet that on a car or club /headphones ur mix will translate well.

spending a grand on speakers to make beats in ur room is foolish and if ur working on major releases likely they will take the stems to a pro studio and mix it so no need for u to shell out for speakers.

I agree. Play your favorite song that are known for great mixing (use uncompressed source, avoid MP3), note how each system translate the recording.
I like playing Steely Dan "Aja" album, still one of the best mastered albums in recorded music history, I think. Mile Davis "Kind Of Blue" album is good too, it is hard to belieave it was recorded in late 50s'. (I think every one should own those two albums!)