Pricey Monitors vs A Good Ear.

[alphadelta80]

I tried to find the most appropriate forum for this post. Forgive me if I failed to do so. I was just wondering if I could get some opions on the issue of reference monitors. I bought a pair of Event TR8s. I think they sound just as honest, if not more that the Roland DS-50s I had before. Just MHO. Some salesmen suggest that you need to spend as much as you can on monitors because they are probably the most essential players in the recording/ mixing game. I agree in part. Only in part. My theory is, even if your on a budget and can't afford to pay $2400 for a set of monitors, You do have your ears (at least I would hope so if your recording/ mixing MUSIC). I feel that if you get to know your monitors you'll get a better mix in the long run. Learn how honest they are. If your room is untreated and your monitors tend to be very generous with bass, you'll probably end up turning the bass down so you don't overkill it. Then, after listening to your mix, you find that there is not enough bass and you call your monitors a pair of DAMN LIARS, Experiment with just how dishonest they are. A little or a lot and give it another shot. I play a lot of commercial CDs on mine. So I can more accurately adjust my mix in comparison to.. Oh.. let's say.. The Mars Volta or whoever else has a good sounding mix when played back on a car/ home stereo. I try to study how each instrument relates to each other ( vocals too). Am I the only one who feels this way, or am I lying to myself to make me feel better about my "Budget Monitors"?

[vestast]

I've heard it said many times on this board that you need to learn your monitors and that seems to be true.

That being said, a couple of months ago I had the opportunity to visit Blue Bear's studio and he had just received a pair of Adams monitors. He did an a/b with another set of monitors on several songs, and while my ear is not as tuned as his is , there were amazing differences. First thing I noticed was the amount of reverb on some songs. It came out more in the mix than on some cheaper monitors. Bruce was able to hear notes that he hadn't heard before...

Anyway I guess what I'm saying is that I know my $500 (Canadian) monitors are way better than using headphones/computer speakers/Hi Fi speakers/$200 monitors, and I manage to get an alright mix on them because I've learned them and tweaked with mixes for hours and hours, but I know that if I ever wanted to do anything serious I would have to spring for some better monitors. Maybe not the Adams, but something .....

Just my opinion.

[Massive Master]

My personal experience - With Event monitors, I'm fine with PASSIVE. Actives & bas series have something that's just not right to me. No matter how well I "know" them.

Certainly monitors can be compensated for - to a point. If there's something that they just won't reproduce, you won't hear it. Period.

But yeah, listen to a lot of stuff through them. The bee-otch is to not easily get used to another type... Once Blue Bear gets used to his ADAM's, he'll be hard-pressed to use his old KRK's efficiently.

No matter how well you drive, a Rolls is more comfortable than a Mercury.

John Scrip - www.massivemastering.com

[TexRoadkill]

The room is more important then the monitors. If you are trying to mix in a small untreated room then it doesn't matter how much the monitors cost.

The use of NS10s over the years has probably proved that.

[The Green Hornet]

Yo ALPHA & no Omega:

If you are patient, if you are willing to spend time doing it over and over, and if you have a "good ear," you can do nice stuff with modest monitors. Of course, the better the monitor, well, it really helps.

But, "ears of engineers," that can be the question and the answer.

Don't you just love word anomalies?

Green Hornet

[ChristopherM]

Originally posted by The Green Hornet
Yo ALPHA & no Omega:

If you are patient, if you are willing to spend time doing it over and over, and if you have a "good ear," you can do nice stuff with modest monitors. Of course, the better the monitor, well, it really helps.

But, "ears of engineers," that can be the question and the answer.

Don't you just love word anomalies?

Green Hornet

Well, I'm at least a bit partial to the "ears of engineers" quip anyway

[lpdeluxe]

Good monitors will educate your ear so that what you formerly thought sounded "good" will start to sound "bad". This is a valuable process since it will eventually allow you to listen to your music much more analytically.