Good Monitors = Good Mixes

Z

zallen25

New member
Ill keep this simple, i work at guitar center and i get plenty of time to A/B monitors and I will try to help the people having thoughts about what monitors to get and why. I will say this........

If you NEED good mixes you need good monitors. This means you save up and start at the price range around 1,000 for a pair and up. Im talking abot HR-824's, KRK V8's, Tanoy's, etc. Basically you get what you pay for. Time and time again I always see people buying crap then coming back to me crying about how their music sounds like ass after mixing................DUH!!!!!!!!!!!.

If you just want to feel contempt that you actually own a pair of studio type monitors then go break open your piggy bank and go buy crap speakers like Event 20/20's, SP8B's, Alesis M1's, anything below 500 bucks for a pair pretty much qualifies for these types.

When it comes to making good quality you must forget about you wallets and what your budget is and listen to your ears! Trust me, they are smarter than you.

i used to have 20/20's and every time my mixes came out harsh on the mids and highs..........and too bassy cause the damn 20/20's would produce the lows during mixing........yesterday my life changed once i brought home my new pair of HR-824's. Huge difference just from the start. What i hear during mastering is what i hear from the CD i put in the car or home stereo or whatever.

out!
 
Yo Zallon from Krypton:

Basically, I agree with you. You usually get what you pay for. But, I have to say, for the money, my Yorkvilles do a decent job.

If I were doing stuff for the movies or television, I'd probably have to go with better than Yorks.

I may still go better.

But, there are also other parts of recording gear that can lower the meter on good results, like a good mic pre. Since you work with the stuff, you know where I'm coming from.

I had thought about getting a pair of York powered monitors but I'm still thinking that one out.

Appreciate your comments.
Green Hornet :D :cool: :D
 
Well yes and no....

Good monitors can make tracking/mixing easier, but not just because they're "good".... good monitors in a bad-sounding room will give you horrible results -- yet mediocre monitors in a great room are much more workable....

It ain't just the monitors, it's also where you listen to 'em!
 
it's also how well the mixer knows the monitor...

i dont like the mackies myself, but if you are not familiar with them, your mixes might not sound right at all.

i know engineers in very good studios using monitors like ns10 to MIX on.they know the monitors very well from using them for years. the results are awesome.
 
just monitors

Im well aware how the natural accoustics of a room can effect how monitors sound........thats yet another factor of the overall sound of how a mix can come to be, im simply expressing the importance of having a good articulate monitor.

Mic pre's will only help whats going in the recording........but very important too!

Mr. Track Rat .......give me one good example of a Pair of monitors that even come close to the performance of a single 600$ monitor........or better yet. If you're able to; do a pink noise test on the monitor of your choise and let us all know of its performance. Now i know some of you don't like mackies 824's but i would say for the price of a pair and the performance of 1.5 +/- db from 39Hz to 20Hhz is damn good.........there is a KRK E8 i believe that goes for $1800.00 each that has about the same frequency responce with a +/- 1 db all the way across.

I have yet to try out a pair of the disscontinued NS-10's but from some of the contacts i have that used to use them said they are way over rated.....they tell me there is a story behind why they were used so much......something abot a compatibility of sound for small end speaker systems for the consumre market....they even had to use a thin sheet of paper or cloth infront of the speakers to reduce the harsh high end sounds.........ill ask about that and try to get that story unless anyone else knows. This source came from the Conservatory Recording School down in Tempe Arizona by the way.

I do like Yorkvilles too and remember some friends using those, i just had to bite my lip and go for what i believed in at the time and went with the HR 824's.
 
zallen25 said:
Mr. Track Rat .......give me one good example of a Pair of monitors that even come close to the performance of a single 600$ monitor........or better yet. If you're able to; do a pink noise test on the monitor of your choise and let us all know of its performance.
Click to expand...

...'ah 'ah... don't ask him... ask Boray... He'll be glaaaaaaaddddd to show you ones....


:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D
 
I'll stick with KRK, thanks. Good enough for Bob Clearmountain, Abby Road Studios, the Record Plant, and Skywalker Sound....good enough for me.

Honestly, I prefer the KRK RoKits over the Mackies, for half the price. Better imaging, hands down. The Mackies are too wooly for me. Much more bass, but not all that great in definition. I'm gonna add a sub with my Rokits and have it all.
Cheers, RD
 
I've got great monitors - they show me things I can't hear on any others set of speakers or headphones or earphones. They're invaluable. But they don't guarantee good mixes. I can get stuff sounding wonderful on them, and through headphones, and through my home stereo, and then the mix still sounds crappy on my diskman earphones. Damn! What's that about?
 
James Argo said:
...'ah 'ah... don't ask him... ask Boray... He'll be glaaaaaaaddddd to show you ones....


:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D
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I payed $700 for mine. Want to see them?
 

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i have a pair of event 20/20's and my mixes come out fine.

but on the other hand if you want to get good monitors than forget about all of that other crap and go break open your piggy bank and get a pair of meyer hd-1's. they are fucking amazing!!!
 
I'm on a second pair of Yorkville YSM-1's. $210 a pair. I agree that you need a decent monitor to mix on. But the best set in the world won't help much if you don't understand them. A set of Meyers in a strange room wouldn't do me much good until I learned how they resolve sound and that takes a little time. I know my room and how the Yorkies behave. I also have a pair of Paridigm mini mkII's that are kind of pricey but I can say the YSM-1's smoke them. What I strongly disagree with is the statement that one CAN'T make very good mixes on a monitors unless they cost at least a grand. That's bullshit.
 
Track Rat said:
I'm on a second pair of Yorkville YSM-1's. $210 a pair. I agree that you need a decent monitor to mix on. But the best set in the world won't help much if you don't understand them. A set of Meyers in a strange room wouldn't do me much good until I learned how they resolve sound and that takes a little time. I know my room and how the Yorkies behave. I also have a pair of Paridigm mini mkII's that are kind of pricey but I can say the YSM-1's smoke them. What I strongly disagree with is the statement that one CAN'T make very good mixes on a monitors unless they cost at least a grand. That's bullshit.
Click to expand...

Yorkies,,,, Yep,
I was " Mixing " on a pair of NS10s for a while, then I started playing with a pair of Alesis actives ( cant remember the model),, then I read in another forum and asked around a bit about the Yorkville YSM1's. So I ordered a pair,, For $150 bucks at that from " Daddys " . I hooked them up and started listening then mixing. I couldn't believe how well they sound for a $150 bucks. So I mixed on the Yorkies, Mastered on the 824s, and referenced on some Bose 301s. It was a nice chain because I new it. Well anyway,,, someone stole most of my gear a while back and the ns10s, ysm-1s- and 301s are now history.

Im starting back with the 824s first

anyway.

Malcolm
 
i agree that good monitors can help, but alot of people dont know what to do to fix the problem they hear! i have a pair of alesis M1's and my mixes dont sound like crap. it think it is just "knowing" your monitors, no matter how much you have spent on them. just buying expensive monitors is not going to solve all your mixing issues!!





lynn
www.therecordinghouse.com
 
You really have to learn your moniitors and know your studio environment. Shortly after I purchased the HR824s I got lazy because they made my mixes sound "too good". But when I played my mixes on other systems I learned the truth. My point is it took me several months to really understand how the HR824s sound and to translate that sound to make it sound good in boom boxes and etc.
 
monitors

I use the Timepiece 2.0's from SP Technology Loudspeakers and my mixes have been coming out great ever since. My mixes always ended up real muddy in the mid to lower midrange and I have now noticed that I was using way too much reverb and overcompensated EQ that was the cause of this. Time domain issues were causing me to overcorrect, because I couldn't "hear" the effects.

Now everrything is crystal clear and I have found that I use very subtle eq settings and effect settings.

Most of the time if I use a good mic, set it up right, and don't get phase cancellations, most of my settings tend to be very conservative in the final mix. This is because I can now actually hear what the effects are doing and I spend most of my time adjusting delay times and reflections and such rather than wet/dry signals.

And when you mix use the LIVE END, DEAD END concept for your room!

If you guys are looking for a FLAT monitor, there isn't another one on the market that comes close, +/- .5 dB from 30 Hz to 16 khz!!! That is less than one half of a decibel! I was lucky enough to be friends with an engineer at Crown Audio that was working on doing a review for the company and it turns out they have been around for some time, but I never heard of them. I went to his house and heard them on some of his recordings, and BAM! I had to have them. I have heard alot of speakers in my time, even the old Plasmatronics, that hardly anyone knows about at $10,000 a pair, that run on helium for the tweeter.

So, I'll let you know you guys can end the debate on Monitors. I bet the Continuums are even better yet but I haven't heard them yet, just guessing. If anyone wants to check them out they are at www.4sptech.com.

Good Mixing!
 
zallen25 said:
If you just want to feel contempt that you actually own a pair of studio type monitors then go break open your piggy bank and go buy crap speakers like Event 20/20's, SP8B's, Alesis M1's, anything below 500 bucks for a pair pretty much qualifies for these types.

When it comes to making good quality you must forget about you wallets and what your budget is and listen to your ears! Trust me, they are smarter than you.

Click to expand...

Do you make commision at Gtr center? I trusted my ears and still keeped my mind on my dwindling cash in my wallet. I got a pair of used JBL studio monitors for 100 bucks. They are the kind that have been used in recording studios the world over(not sure anymore) have you listened to any new mixes coming out in recent years? They suck...... Oh I did buy a pair of sennheiser hd-280 pros at guitar center. They were on sale for 100 bucks.
Myx
 
Hmm....I read a lot of reviews on different monitors and was thinking about the Event 20/20's. So I went to one of the local Guitar Centers around here to check em out. After listening to a few different types of speakers in the "crap" class, cause that's what my budget allows for, I stumbled across the Studiophile SP-5B's. I loved the sound coming out of them. I think that for a set of speakers that usually cost $300 they sounded great. And to top it off, they were on sale on the net for $199. So I walked out of there with them and a month and a half later, I can't be happier. It's all what your ears tell you, not always what the price tag tells you. And as everyone tends to say, "it's what you think works best for you".

Cheers,

Jeff
 
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