Monitors ?

[thevo711]

Okay .. I am working with some basic stuff: Dell Dimension 4300, SoundBlaster Live Card, Samson MDR6 mixer, cakewalk, 2 guitars and 2 mics. Some nice people have already helped me figure out how to get the proper levels from the mixer to cakewalk. I found out that a compressor can help, but right now my real concer is that I am hearing that I need monitors ?
1) Why ?
2) Where would I be plugging them in ? the mixer ? the sound card ?
3) When is the appropriate time I would need them ? Would they be used while I recorded or after I recorded for playback or are they when I want to lay another track on top of one I have already laid down.
4) Since the Samson mixer I have has a power souce can I use passive monitors ?
5) Do I need some type of return of the sound from the sound card to the mixer ?

Right now I use the supplied speakers that came with the computer to listen to my playback.

As you can see I am really confused, I have looked around but everybody seems to already know this. Please help me and I thank you ahead of time for everyones patience.

[distortedrumble]

ok! one or two questions at a time please! monitors give a flat response when it comes to what you hear...the speakers you have for your computer have an enhance bass and/or treble. you would plug them into your sound card. use your monitors during the recording session, mixing, mastering. the only time you wouldnt have them on is if you are: A. not recording, mixing or mastering. and B. your recording vocals or something that requires a microphone in the same room as the monitors. having a powered mixer isnt all that good for recording i think. when i say powered, I'm thinking your mixer has a 150 watt output or something. someone can elaborate on that but i think your sound card cant take the kind of power a powered mixer will put out for too long before something fries. no you dont need to return the sound from the sound card back to the mixer...the sound from the sound card should go to monitors or some kind of listening device

[SPINSTERWUN]

1. Regular speakers are designed to make music sound good/great. Which translates into.... you aren't hearing what you think you are hearing.

I don't know what your budget is..... but take a look at these monitors:

Event 20/20 BAS's or TR series
Alesis M1 Actives
Mackie HR-524's
Mackie Hr 824's
Genelec 1030A's
Genelec 1031A's

2. Into the same place you have your PC speakers connected.

3. Whenever you need to hear the music.

4. No.

5. It depends on how you want your setup to work, which in turn, will change the answer of #2

spin

[SPINSTERWUN]

http://www.event1.com/Products/Products.html

http://www.alesis.com/products/Monitors/index.html

http://www.mackie.com/products/studi...ors/index.html

http://www.genelec.com/products/products.php

[thevo711]

Thanks for the answer on why I need monitor speakers. It seems that the general consensus is that I should be hooking them up to the sound card. Now I know I have a crappy sound card, SBLive, so my next question is, do monitors use the same type of cables that my computer speakers use ? I mean, I only have a 1/8" output out of my soundcard form my speakers now, will I be able to hook up monitors to these ?

Thanks, Vo

[noisedude]

sorry to be a spoilsport but you're wasting your time IMO with monitors before you've got a proper soundcard.

i think you should concentrate on getting a good recording signal chain first. then when you add monitors you know that what you've got isn't fundamentally crap to start with.

alesis m1a's or behringer truths. yorkevilles if you can get them, i can't in the UK.

but if it were me:
m-audio audiophile or delta 44/66 ($200 or summat)
a pair of Studio projects B1 condensers ($60 each i think?)
maybe a yamaha MG series mixer?

hmm.

btw the reason i say this is that you need monitors mostly for mixing/editing post recording. use headphones for your positioning of mics etc, but when it comes to making it sound 'good' ready for CD that's when you need the monitors. i.e. after the soundcard, mics, preamps etc have finished their work.

[baba]

Hi,

I agree with noisedude in you need a better soundcard in the chain but if you have a Sblive, you can improve it very much by visiting:

www.kxproject.com

They have developed a driver for your card that includes ASIO and will make the SB work at it's limits.

I had a Sblive once apon a time and used these drivers with no problems. Far exceeds the performance of Creative's bloatware. In fact I still use them with my Audig 2 ZS. I also have a Delta 66 in a pci slot next to it though.

cheers,
baba

[thevo711]

How much of a difference would there be if I get a new sound card, audiophille 2496 ? Where woudl I see or hear the most difference. Is it worth it to upgrade from SB Live?

[cstockdale]

Originally posted by thevo711
How much of a difference would there be if I get a new sound card, audiophille 2496 ? Where woudl I see or hear the most difference. Is it worth it to upgrade from SB Live?

YOu will hear the difference in how good your music sounds. Yes it is worth it, well worth it. All the fancy tools on earth won't make your music sound better if the initial A-D conversion is crap (ie SB Live).

[mbouteneff]

I was reading noisedude's (and others') responses above about using monitors. All else being equal, what are the big 'errors' or sound quality issues that will result if you use headphones to do your mixing and editing rather than monitors? (I currently have no monitors...sigh...)

-M

[grinder]

Mixing with cans will cause you to make bad sonic decisions with stereo imaging, equalization, and possibly track levels. Phones can be good for editing, listening for noise problems and tracking. With tracking, I would check the sound through monitors before start recording.