so many monitors in studios!!!

here is a stupid question- why is there more than one pair of monitors set up in front of the mixing board in lots of recording studios? lost of times i see a smaller monitor on its side (ns10) followed by something like a pair of mackie 824's. i am thinking it is for different kinds of monitoring, but i thought that when mixing there was only nearfield monitoring. just a casual question.

well, to do a.b comparisons. between the two, or maybe for different genres of music. or he made some money and decided to buy an xtra pair

To see how well the mix translates from one speaker to another. Don't forget about the $49.00 wal-mart boom-box.

good points all. so they are just there to give the mix a different feel for each kind of music then. cool good to know. peace...

at studio 51 theres exactly that. a smaller pair closer to the desk. then a huge pair taller and wider than me!!! behind the smaller ones. he masters tracks for people. so when Brad's mastering and doin what he does best, he often switches the smaller monitors off and send the sound thru the huge ones. listens for a bit then switches back. not sure exactly why, but im sure its for comparing like ska said

he also uses two yamaha o2r boards so maybe he like doubles of everything?

but im sure its for comparing the sound when mastering the track.

minus wrote:good points all. so they are just there to give the mix a different feel for each kind of music then. cool good to know. peace...

I doubt that it has anything to do with the kind of music. When you mix a record it has to sound good on all systems. All speakers have their own sound. An engineer will switch between monitors to see how how the mix sounds on each. A mix could sound great on the monster main speakers, but sound crappy on the small near-fields because there is too much low end info. You know that you nailed it when it sounds good on all systems, especially the typical car stereo.

yeah what ddot said^^^^^^^

part of mastering, is getting the sound to be universal.....so it sounds good in every situation......so it bangs good in every situation.

all speakers do are interpet the sound.......they are not the sound itself...ya know?

I got a car sub that i put in my closet (still hooked up to my receiver) and when im layin down my kicks or the bassline, i use that to see what it will sound like to the people who always bumpin shit in the cars.


A lot of people i talk to who only into dirty south shit, thye say east coast shit is boring in the car. They say dirty south was madde for clubs and cars. So thats where i got the idea to try the shit out.

the sub i used to have always threw my mix off. i could never rely on it.

DEADLY MiND wrote:I got a car sub that i put in my closet (still hooked up to my receiver) and when im layin down my kicks or the bassline, i use that to see what it will sound like to the people who always bumpin **** in the cars.


A lot of people i talk to who only into dirty south ****, thye say east coast **** is boring in the car. They say dirty south was madde for clubs and cars. So thats where i got the idea to try the **** out.

that sounds like a good ideal about the sub thing, but as far as the east coast music being boring in the car, well last time i stood next to car playing dirty south music all i herd was a bunch of bass and no words and i know there was words cause somebody was liping them. So whats so fun about that. The dirty sound do have a good place in the clubs. (NOTE) i didnt say this to come at you, i was just saying something.

they use the ns10s for hearing what it will sound like on the worst of speakers. its like this: if your mix sounds good on horrible speakers then what will it sound like on decent or good speakers....

u no what i mean?

Smoove03 wrote:the sub i used to have always threw my mix off. i could never rely on it.

that's probably cause it wasn't designed to go with the speakers you use. there is an important aspect with subs that the the crossover has to be perfect betweent the monitors and the sub. if you have a sub that's interfering even slighltly with the 80hz freq, then you are going to have trouble in that zone. It took me like two weeks to get my sub set up correctly and that is using the sub that's designed to go with my speakers
genelec 1031A's with a 7070A SUB..... you can't mess around with those frequencies cause it's gotta be precise.....

i had to set the phase correctly, the crossover at the correct frequency and then set up the bass tilt's in order for it to be real precise.


I also use a bypass switch to bypass the sub cause not every body got a sub system. as someone stated above, monitors are a reference so you gotta use them creatively.... it's gotta sound good with or without the sub and with big, small or crap speakers.... you always gotta compromise.....


peace

its so you can find out what it will sound like on the radio
or in the club
or boomin in tha jeep.
u know?

tgw617 wrote:they use the ns10s for hearing what it will sound like on the worst of speakers. its like this: if your mix sounds good on horrible speakers then what will it sound like on decent or good speakers....

u no what i mean?

yeah, they arent that good......Its all relative.

ON ANOTHER NOTE: I noticed that sometimes even A & B testing doesnt work, Like i gotta test A,B,C,&D.

My computer speakers and montitors always sound good, then my boombox does....but when i take it to my friends, it doesnt.