Do you really need "monitors" vs "regular" speakers...

joey2000

New member
Been wondering about this. I get the gist, it gives you a truer sound, etc etc. But I have to kick this in this tires at least once and ask "so what?"

When you or others will listen to what you've recorded, they likely will be listening through regular speakers, not monitors. Wouldn't you therefore want to hear how they sound through those vs the truer sound of monitors? What's the big hoopla over monitors?
 
Def monitors, for the mixing room environment. Best for near field. Monitors are also self amplified, one less thing (receiver) in the studio to worry about (just run the line out, done). They're critically made and generally tuned for optimal crossover (flat) response.

You can probably find 'speakers' that will do the job, but at a premium. [yes, I realize some monitors are expensive, but for the cost of a decent receiver and comparable speakers, you'll always spend more on the comparable speaker setup]

After being a speakers guy for many years I'll always have a set of monitors for mixing now. Since I'll always have a need for speakers in the living room and car, I'll always have someplace to preview mixes on equipment the layman uses.

Think of it this way - monitors for fine tuning, speakers for ballpark.

My $0.02
 
The reason: because you want your mix to translate to ANY other speaker system. Just because your mix sounds good on your XYZ home stereo speakers doesn't mean it will on someone else's ABC speakers. If your XYZ speakers accentuate the bass because that's how you like the sound - driving bass like at a dance club, then the ABC speakers with accented highs will reproduce your mix with no bass and harsh highs.
All speakers color the sound in their own fashion, you want to mix with the least "speaker color" possible.
 
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what mjb and others said above ^^^

Importantly . . . yes . . . you would indeed want to hear how they sound through 'regular speakers'.

But what are 'regular speakers' and what do they sound like? That's the problem . . . there are so many different types of speakers that people use as 'regular speakers', and in so many different listening environments. It would be impossible to determine which is the most regular-est.

Fortunately there is an answer. You don't even try.

What you do do is use the most neutral speaker you can find. Neutrality can be measured; you can see it in, for example, frequency response charts. By using neutral speakers and getting you material to sound good on those, you stand a reasonable chance of having it sound good on the vast array of regular speakers out there. If you pick one pair of regular speakers and mix so it sounds good on them, it will sound good on them, but maybe nothing else.

Sadly, neutrality comes with a cost: the cost of the speakers themselves, and the cost of creating an acoustic environment that supports the speakers.
 
Monitors are (theoretically) neutral sounding. So once you get the mix right on them, it should translate to everyone's 'normal' speakers.

You simply can't mix trust a mix done on speakers that are lying to you.
 
Monitors are the way to go but room treatment is as important. A $2000 monitor in an untreated room is a waste of $1999.99 IMHO.
 
Just coming from another angle -- I'll use quality hi-fi over 90% of the boxes out there that have a "MONITOR" sticker on them.

There are some fine quality studio monitors out there, no doubt -- But just because it says "STUDIO MONITOR" doesn't mean squat. Same with powered monitors - On the budget-friendly side, some of the amplifiers are just terrible.

Either way, you have to do your research, room prep and develop your listening skills.

Farview mentioned "theoretically neutral" -- Best wording. But hi-fi / a.k.a. high-fidelity (lots of truth) is also by definition theoretically neutral. That said -- Listen to 10 pairs of similarly priced "studio monitors" and you'll usually find 10 completely different sounding boxes. Jump up some to the Dynaudio / Genelec range and suddenly you're looking at subtle differences between similarly sized boxes. And even with Dynaudio (and just about everything else I've used that offers passive versions), I've always preferred pairing them up with a good quality amplifier over using the powered units.

There are good "monitors" and bad. There are good hi-fi speakers and bad.
 
This is, of course, coming from a guy with $10k hi-fi speakers (massive) and another guy with $5k worth of studio monitors (me)...
 
This is, of course, coming from a guy with $10k hi-fi speakers (massive) and another guy with $5k worth of studio monitors (me)...
True - But I'd bet that neither of us have any regret whatsoever about dumping all that $$$ on our monitoring systems... :cool:

Mechanic in Mad Max (the movie) said:
Speed is just a question of money. How fast do ya wanna go?
There's truth to that too.
 
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Do you really need "monitors" vs "regular" speakers...


The honest answer is No. Ideally, yes, but honestly, No. You can get by with most anything. Headphones, god forbid, can work and I've heard some decent mixes done on headphones. :eek:

We are all about home recording and the two biggest obstacles that come with the territory is the room and the budget. We usually have to make huge compromises on both.

If you are not ready to buy some decent monitors, then use what you have. Listen to a ton of reference material that is similar to the tunes you are recording and mixing. Get your song to sound as close to theirs.

Then....

When you're ready to compile your songs into an album/downloads/CD/etc. send it off to the guy with $10K monitors. He will be able to remove your horrible speakers and crappy listening environment. He won't be able to undo your mistakes, bad recording room, poor mixing skills, dumb song, talentless playing skills... (oh wait, that's me!!) but he should be able to compensate for your monitors and listening environment.

Plus all the other reasons to send your work off to a mastering engineer when you are ready. Sell a few hundred CD's and buy some monitors. :D
 
The reason: because you want your mix to translate to ANY other speaker system. Just because your mix sounds good on your XYZ home stereo speakers doesn't mean it will on someone else's ABC speakers. If your XYZ speakers accentuate the bass because that's how you like the sound - driving bass like at a dance club, then the ABC speakers with accented highs will reproduce your mix with no bass and harsh highs.
All speakers color the sound in their own fashion, you want to mix with the least "speaker color" possible.
Good point, should have thought of that......thx for the replies!
 
When you're ready to compile your songs into an album/downloads/CD/etc. send it off to the guy with $10K monitors. He will be able to remove your horrible speakers and crappy listening environment. He won't be able to undo your mistakes, bad recording room, poor mixing skills, dumb song, talentless playing skills... (oh wait, that's me!!)
lol. I was going to ask if you had my house bugged.

Plus all the other reasons to send your work off to a mastering engineer when you are ready. Sell a few hundred CD's and buy some monitors. :D
You have me confused with a professional. :) I'm not even close, nor any desire to be. I do however want at least a reasonable degree of quality when all is said and done. Frankly I doubt I'll even try to sell anything I make (maybe online for giggles); it's mostly just for me.
 
All correct but I totally get where John is coming from.
I'm no high flying pro but I'd definitely rather mix on a pair of good quality old "hifi" speakers than modern samsons and alesis or something.

Ideally the simple answer is yes - You want studio monitors and a good environment but just because something says "studio monitors" on it doesn't make it good. ;)

In either circumstance, knowing your setup is very important. You can buy 5 pairs of $10,000+ monitors and they'll all sound different.
Whatever you choose, learn your speakers and environment through exposure to familiar material.
 
You have me confused with a professional. :) I'm not even close, nor any desire to be. I do however want at least a reasonable degree of quality when all is said and done. Frankly I doubt I'll even try to sell anything I make (maybe online for giggles); it's mostly just for me.

Yup, this is all me, too. Sell a few here or there. Give them away to those who want them. Other than a little scribble in my signature here and a small unused facebook page, I don't even try to sell my music.
 
The trouble is, a lot of things labelled as "monitor" are pretty ordinary speakers with a label to make them more expensive.

However, assuming "proper" monitors, they do make your mixing easier (if not better). The whole idea of a monitor is to give an accurate idea of what your tracks really sound like rather than make them sound artificially good. Lots of "ordinary speakers" throw in things like bass boost or a presence bump to make recordings sound artificially pleasing to the ear. If you mix so things sound right through a speaker like this, somebody with more accurate speakers will think your mix is pretty flat.

You CAN learn what things need to sound like on "ordinary" speakers to sound okay everywhere. It's a matter of doing a trial mix, listening to it all over the place and making notes, then revising the mix based on your notes. You'll eventually get there. Indeed, even with the best monitors, there's a learning period while your ears get used to the sound. This is why my main studio monitors are currently 32 years old. Heaven help me if I have to replace them!

A couple of points...first, although most things sold as monitors these days are indeed self powered, there are a lot of good monitors that aren't and need an amp. This isn't necessarily a problem.

Second, I fully concur that there are some good hifi speakers that are also excellent monitors. Indeed, some of the offerings from companies like Rogers and KEF sell the same speakers for both, usually just with different input connections. However, don't be fooled by some of the ridiculously priced Audiophool units.
 
Except for "audiophile" stuff, the days of real home stereo systems with decent speakers are over for most people. They're streaming their music to whatever speakers are hooked up to their computers or to their TV/surround sound systems (with a whole bunch of 2-3" speakers and a small sub). Typically none of these are any good for judging a mix.
 
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