Rant: This must be the price we have to pay...

[MrLip]

I've worked with studio monitors in the past, but this is the first time I've been able to take a pair home and use them in my own setup (Alesis Monitor One's).

Man...

I can hear all sorts of things that I never heard before in recordings

but...

it sounds like shit.


Reminds me of the time when I was given the wrong perscription for my glasses (it was too strong), I could see everyone's zits and oily faces! It was gross. (BUT it was really awesome when I looked up at the moon or the clouds...)


My brother-in-law (who isn't a musician or engineer) bought the speakers used a long time ago and isn't using them at the moment, so he offered to let me borrow them.

Everything is so mid-rangey and muffled sounding, no wonder he wanted to get rid of them!

I know that Alesis monitors aren't regarded very highly and I know my amp sucks (Sony compact component system). A better speaker/amp combination hopefully sounds much better. I've worked in studio's before and their monitoring systems never sounded THIS bad, so I'm sure things are better when you've got better stuff.

Oh well, beggars can't be choosers!

Just wanted to share my experience.

[scottboyher]

Maybe it isn't the monitors but the music?

[Drummerbones]

Dude. Those monitors suck! They were the first pair of monitors I ever purchased and I fought with my mixes for 6 months with those pieces of crap. I never got ONE mix to sound good on any other system....not one. I finally gave up and bought Event 20/20's. Night and day difference. I actually was able to create a mix that sounded great in the studio and great in my car.....and great in a boom box bla bla bla. I also have a pair of Tannoy Proto-J's that I picked up for $100 off of Ebay and I absolutely love them for a second reference. "Real" CD's played through the Events and Tannoy's sound great to me and thus make it easier to mix my OWN music that also sounds great. Even commercial CD's sound like crap on the Alesis, so how the heck do you make your own stuff sound good on them? Monitor selection is totally subjective to personal taste, but finding a good pair that sound good to YOU and are still relatiely "flat" frequency will save you many hours of hair-pulling. Ditch the Alesis man! Only my opinion....

[MrLip]

Yeah, even commercial CDs sound shitty, at least at first, but my ears are adjusting.

A friend of mine has Event 20/20bas in their studio. ONce I took a CD of some of my stuff over to listen and everything sounded 'too good'. Like, I know where I went wrong in these mixes, but I wasn't able to hear the 'mistakes' in the Events. I don't know... I'm sure lots of ppl will disagree, just my two cents.

[crosstudio]

its not the monitors its your mix. the same thing happened to me when i chucked my house speakers and got my monitor ones years ago.

people are always telling me about better monitors, but thus far, anything i've done that sounded right and tight in my mon-1's sounded right and tight everywhere else.

[JamesBond]

I bought a pair of Mackie HR-824's bi powered near field speakers and found them to be very accurate. What I hear in my studio is exactly what I hear coming out of my CD player in my house and car.

Yes they might cost a little more but sometimes, you get what you pay for.

[MrLip]

its not the monitors its your mix

I'm talking about commercial CDs. Everything sounded really shitty at first. And I don't think it's just me. A potential client came over and even commented that these monitors sound bad.

But after about a week, things are better. I've listened to just about every CD I own thru these monitors and have been doing some 'practice' mixes. And now, I wouldn't want to go back to my old Sony speakers. Mixing on these (with occasional checks to commercial CDs) leaves much less 'surprise' element when taking mixes elsewhere. At least for the mids and highs, if it's OK in the Monitor One's, it will be OK elsewhere. However, the bass freqs are a little more obscure and more difficult to judge.

[Norbert]

"anything i've done that sounded right and tight in my mon-1's sounded right and tight everywhere else."

There ya go. That's exactly what the Monitor 1's were made to do. Having the matching 'Alesis RA-100 Reference Amp', helps too.

[tmix]

I agree with Norbert.

I have used many different monitors, and still use my passive monitor ones coupled to the RA-100. My mixes have no problem transferring to other systems.
One thing though, I had to "tame" my mix room a little (frequency wise) which I would of had to do with any speaker.

[malcolm123]

Originally posted by JamesBond
I bought a pair of Mackie HR-824's bi powered near field speakers and found them to be very accurate. What I hear in my studio is exactly what I hear coming out of my CD player in my house and car.

Yes they might cost a little more but sometimes, you get what you pay for.

Agreed !!!

Malcolm824

[ambi]

You get what you pay for, but if you can't afford it you can't pay and you don't get it.