Tight, dull, shallow, hard

[alanfc2]

I'm having a mix translation problem

I have some clues but I don't know how to put them together,
can you help me

-monitors, Yorkville YSM-p1
-Software- Sonar 3
-mixing space- apartment bedroom,
only treated on the the hard reflective
surfaces with light burlap.
-genre: hard rock, 70's -ish with heavy guitars
-my secondary reference for mixes- my car a 1996 Honda Accord with the stock stereo. Radio and CD's sound great in there.

the clues:

a) my main reference has bee this Fugazi tune called "Waiting Room" .I love that song, although I barely know the band. In my car, the song is full and rich, excellent. High end, low end, all seems right.

b) this same Fugazi song on my monitors sounds sunken in, far away, very wide.

c) my band tunes. In my Monitors, Sound rich and full to my satisfaction,
hi-'s lows, all in order.

d) My band tunes, on CD, in my car, Dull, Tight, small,; almost like they're not using all of the speakers if that makes sense.

I re-create the rich bass of Fugazi, with my bassists tracks on my monitors, but it sounds hard and annoying on CD, in my car. I know its not the best place to test stuff but its what I have now. I know the sytem. My only guess so far is to mix my stuff to be too bright on the monitors, and learn the varying degrees of too much/not enough when I hear it in my car.

my guess, is that the Yorkvilles, my listening space, or combination of the 2 is misleading me. On the high end and in other ways.
Is the sort of scooped sound I get from the Fugazi on my monitors, telling me something? They sound great and =not= scooped in my car.

very confused
any comments or diagnosis would be greatly appreciated.

[chessrock]

Originally Posted by alanfc2

my guess, is that the Yorkvilles, my listening space, or combination of the 2 is misleading me. On the high end and in other ways.
Is the sort of scooped sound I get from the Fugazi on my monitors, telling me something? They sound great and =not= scooped in my car.

Yea, you're pretty much answering your own question there. If you want your stuff to sound like Fugazi in your car ... then get it to sound like fugazi does on your monitors.

My guess is you've got some interesting modes going on in your listening position that's attenuating the mids somehow. I would highly recommend moving around to different positions and see if there's a sweet spot where fugazi sounds fantastic over your monitors and things sound close to the way they do in your car ... then set up shop there. Either that, or invest in expensive room treatment or re-design. It's up to you.

[alanfc2]

Originally Posted by chessrock

Yea, you're pretty much answering your own question there. If you want your stuff to sound like Fugazi in your car ... then get it to sound like fugazi does on your monitors.

My guess is you've got some interesting modes going on in your listening position that's attenuating the mids somehow. I would highly recommend moving around to different positions and see if there's a sweet spot where fugazi sounds fantastic over your monitors and things sound close to the way they do in your car ... then set up shop there. Either that, or invest in expensive room treatment or re-design. It's up to you.

Aha yes, thanks; I'm starting to think I rely too much on reference CD's and not enough on sounding like us- minus any stupid rookie engineering mistakes that is. I am indeed going to get into the room problem after this CD is done for sure.