a quick question about settings on amp during monitoring....

hey, sorry to be posting so much tonight but..well...you know how it goes.=) Anyways, I was wondering something...I just replaced my old amp that i run my external soundcard thru and my monitors out of with one that has a setting of"tone direct"...which basically makes the signal coming out as flat as possible. Would this be a good setting to mix with or should i keep the amp eq'd as to what sounds best during cd playback? Thanks to anyone who gives advice, this question has been killing me. Peace. Jimmy

you should always mix with the most un-colored sound. However, if you are used to the settings, you should mix accordingly, like if your eq has extra bass, know that you will have to make up for that extra bass in the mix. A good thing to do is to listen to your favorite cd's (ones you know like the back of your hand) with the flat signal. That way you know how things are supposed to sound.

In my studio I run 2 pairs of speakers: 1 for critical listening and another that are just book-shelf speakers. That way I can either hear what I need to hear, or what I assume everyone else will hear. Headphones also come to play and do duty for good isolation when mixing difficult passages.

So, I say set the eq for whatever the music will be played through in the end.