PIcs of your cribs..

drukqs2369 wrote:no wonder your mastering is off, you have KRK monitors

What's so "bad" about KRK Monitors?

krush777 wrote:

drukqs2369 wrote:no wonder your mastering is off, you have KRK monitors

What's so "bad" about KRK Monitors?

I think they are aight if you listen to music, but for professional sound your need monitors that are on the 0 point , KRK speakers are kinda powered up, when I make a beat on KRK monitors, and after it listen to it on other monitors, it sounds empty as hell

I think KRK is a hyped up brand. When you directly compare them to other brands, in a store where you can listen to different monitors forth and back, they sound pretty bad unless you try out the stuff in their upper price segment. They sound better than logitech PC speakers tho...

Some of you guys are missing the point a little. Monitors aren't always meant to have a flat response and it's very hard to provide that in a room anyway. Not only that but great music has been made on HiFi speakers or headphones before now so don't believe the hype. I honestly believe with enough referencing over time and not constantly moving or changing brands you can and should "learn" your monitors sound.

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/sep08/articles/yamahans10.htm

Give that a read, and you might appreciate that there's a place for "bad" monitors in every studio. Also read up on the little Mixcubes by Avantone based on Auratones' designs, you might be even more suprised.

As it happens I think the KRKs are great. Front porting is a good idea for most small studios because it means you can place things closer to the wall if you must.

I've come accross that article many times when i was on the hunt for monitors, it's a good read. I made music for almost three years using logitech pc speakers and also elac hi-fi speakers. I agree that if you "learn" your speakers, you'll be able to make music with anything... on the other hand, it's much more enjoyable if you have speakers that are not as hard to "guess", or that you don't have to "learn" so much until you figure out how a good mix should sound on them... Sure, those yamaha monitors could help you getting a dope mix... but was the process of mixing with them enjoyable? I doubt it.
IMO, it's much better to learn to mix on good monitors. While you might be perfectly capable of learning bad speakers and end up with good mixes, it's like learning to ride a bike with a bad bicyle... sure you can do it, and you'll learn a thing or two in the process, but it's much better to start off with a good bike right away...

I'm not one to talk down on music gear usually... i believe it doesn't matter what you are using, you can make most stuff work if you really want to and have good ears. However, KRK always struck me with their sound when i compared them to other brands, and not in a good way... i'm not sure why so many people buy them but i think most people were on a budget or never compared them to other brands (or simply followed the hype around those speakers... almost happend to me as well... but luckily i decided to compare them before buying).

I'm not talking about their higher priced models, i'm talking about the entry level stuff. To me they are something i'd never buy, like mixers from behringer...

PS: Monitors are something very individual and depend a lot on taste... i can understand some people actually like them and respect that.

Speaking from experience my KRK's tend to make my mixes sound weak and like it lacks bass so In the past ive over compensated so much and then ended up taking the track to use at a night and it sounds terrible lol... but since ive kinda learned what to do and what not to do when I'm trying to mix, plus when you're broke and have other things to pay for you have to play the cards you've been dealt! I think people just concentrate too much on the mix (which is fine) and get too wrapped up in how it sounds then the actual beat is lack luster.... we all know a good mix can make or break a tune but there has to be something more than 4 bar loops of whack chords. C'mon Son!

That's fair enough jibber, in all honesty I find doing mixdowns of any kind an absolute drag. Genelec or KRK it would still do my nut in. I've heard a few cheaper pairs of KRK monitors and actually thought they were really quite good for the price. I've had friends use them in DJ setups too and they were definitely more than adequate. But as you say each to their own.

The Behringer thing I don't ever really know what to think, the internet has been flooded with negativity about the brand but their products are built at a great price, and obviously sell well. Some of my heroes of old would use the Behringer Composers and other bits of their outboard. So until I pick something up from them I'd rather reserve judgement.

I mean just looking through their products now:

£16 for a guitar pedal with chorus
£20 for a mic
£30 for a basic little mixer
£20 for an audio interface
£35 for a little tube overdrive pedal
£50 for a first set of monitors

Those prices are ridiculously good to be fair, no matter where they source components. It'd be interesting to get a budget of a grand or so to get a full on Behringer studio and just see how capable their stuff is. I bet most of us would be pleasantly surprised.

scoobylol wrote:I mean just looking through their products now:

£16 for a guitar pedal with chorus
£20 for a mic
£30 for a basic little mixer
£20 for an audio interface
£35 for a little tube overdrive pedal
£50 for a first set of monitors

Those prices are ridiculously good to be fair, no matter where they source components. It'd be interesting to get a budget of a grand or so to get a full on Behringer studio and just see how capable their stuff is. I bet most of us would be pleasantly surprised.

From my own experience, whenever you buy the cheapest stuff available, you get something that seriously lacks quality. It's the same with music instruments (guitars, bass, etc)... you should NEVER ever buy the cheapest products or you will get shit gear. There might be rare exceptions, but generally speaking those products are aimed at people who are on a very small budget or just started out...
Hell, i'd buy my kid a beginner guitar for 100 bucks aswell, well knowing it'll be a piece of shit... but only since it's not gonna be a lot of money down the drain if the kid never wants to touch a guitar again after two weeks...

If you're the least bit serious about making music (even if just for yourself as a hobby), you should never go for the cheapest entry level stuff... it's not worth the money IMO.

Anyway... i think we're heading a little off-topic with this...

to me KRK is just like beringer it's just a cheap imitation kinda thing. popular cause of the price tag. but why buy cheap only to have to upgrade later. your only gonna end up spending more money than if you just saved up for longer n bought real shit.

drukqs2369 wrote:to me KRK is just like beringer it's just a cheap imitation kinda thing. popular cause of the price tag. but why buy cheap only to have to upgrade later. your only gonna end up spending more money than if you just saved up for longer n bought real ****.

Exactly what i meant.

scoobylol wrote:It'd be interesting to get a budget of a grand or so to get a full on Behringer studio and just see how capable their stuff is. I bet most of us would be pleasantly surprised.

their main problem in my book is in their PA related gear.. the components are pretty weak and not the greatest quality. For example pots, buttons, switches, knobs.. anything you move around on their units should be done so with a very delicate hand because they feel as though they will fall off in your fingers.

I think their stuff is not too bad as long as it's something that doesn't effect the sound directly .. so things like mixers and EQs.. I would avoid. you know what though? if you had a dump jam space you're renting... their mixers are perfect because you dont gotta worry about losing an expensive mixer leaving it there... plus your band mates may be slamming jacks into the thing so .. again, never mind, leave the midas at home.

jibber wrote:

scoobylol wrote:I mean just looking through their products now:

£16 for a guitar pedal with chorus
£20 for a mic
£30 for a basic little mixer
£20 for an audio interface
£35 for a little tube overdrive pedal
£50 for a first set of monitors

Those prices are ridiculously good to be fair, no matter where they source components. It'd be interesting to get a budget of a grand or so to get a full on Behringer studio and just see how capable their stuff is. I bet most of us would be pleasantly surprised.

From my own experience, whenever you buy the cheapest stuff available, you get something that seriously lacks quality. It's the same with music instruments (guitars, bass, etc)... you should NEVER ever buy the cheapest products or you will get **** gear. There might be rare exceptions, but generally speaking those products are aimed at people who are on a very small budget or just started out...
Hell, i'd buy my kid a beginner guitar for 100 bucks aswell, well knowing it'll be a piece of ****... but only since it's not gonna be a lot of money down the drain if the kid never wants to touch a guitar again after two weeks...

If you're the least bit serious about making music (even if just for yourself as a hobby), you should never go for the cheapest entry level stuff... it's not worth the money IMO.

Buy cheap, buy twice. A famous saying, but not something I'd conform to really. Tell you what though, as a point of interest next time I'm ordering some gear I'll get one of those pedals, run a few sounds through it and pop the results on here.

I honestly don't think budget and "seriousness" towards music making have any correlation at all IMO. It's that sort of elitism that usually fools people into thinking they have to spend a fortune to get "pro" equipment to keep up appearances.

Take it to an extreme and I'm sure there will be a gulf in quality. But to write off everything under a certain price as "imitation" or a "piece of sh*t" isn't the one.

I dont think behringer designs much of their own stuff... they mostly do copies I think.. from their PA speakers, to their mixers, to what ever else..

So I dont think there are too many issues with functionality... I think it's just because they use cheap low end components on pretty much every step they can manage so that adds up..


I always hear about people buying things like those and upgrading they key components to create a great product without breaking the bank... that compressor by ART with the tube upgrade comes to mind as an example.

scoobylol wrote:Buy cheap, buy twice. A famous saying, but not something I'd conform to really. Tell you what though, as a point of interest next time I'm ordering some gear I'll get one of those pedals, run a few sounds through it and pop the results on here.

I honestly don't think budget and "seriousness" towards music making have any correlation at all IMO. It's that sort of elitism that usually fools people into thinking they have to spend a fortune to get "pro" equipment to keep up appearances.

Take it to an extreme and I'm sure there will be a gulf in quality. But to write off everything under a certain price as "imitation" or a "piece of sh*t" isn't the one.

I don't think it's elitism, at least not in my case... i sample from an old technics turntable with a 30 year old amp into a 12 bit sampler... i don't think that counts as "elitism" audio equipment. It was never the cheapest down the line tho... and that's my point. You get what you pay for usually.

When i was 16 years old (15 years ago), my dad bought me a new classic guitar for christmas... this is a great example actually...

We went to this big music store where they had a room set up for trying out instruments (with good accoustics, blabla). My dad told the guy working in the store to bring a range of 5-6 different models (within the range of money he was willing to spend) into that room, but previously to that, he should take the price tags off so i couldn't see the price of the instruments. He then told me to try out all the guitars, and line them up from "worst to best".

And here comes the funny part...

After i've tested all of them, for three times... i lined them up in the order i liked them, from "sounds worst", to "sounds best". Now i'm not the greatest guitar player, but i have good ears and feel for an instrument regarding tone and quality...

I lined up all six guitars exactly according to their price tags! The one i liked the least was the cheapest entry level price, the one i liked the best was actually the most expensive.

As i said, there are exceptions (and maybe somebody else would have liked the sound of the 2nd expensive more over the most expensive), but in music gear, you get what you pay for... at least 99.9% of the time. And there's nothing "elitist" about that, it's just a simple fact.

Elitist is paying 100'000 dollars for a pair of hi-fi speakers, while paying 50% for the actual hardware inside the speakers, and the other 50% for the exclusive special wood from some almost gone forever rainforrest and the fancy speaker design with diamond flakes in the paint...

Nah jibber I'm all for striving for quality that appeals to your own judgement, wallet and reasoning for choosing it.

But the suggestion of someones commitment or "seriousness" as it was put, being based on the money they spend on gear did come across as elitist to me. But we've cleared this up now I feel.

I'm a born and bred bargain hunter/poor man so I often favour cheaper end products that are slept on.

So, any requests as to what piece of bargain-Behringer-bucket gear they'd like me to try out?