Not liking my ns10s for this genre. Any suggestions?

Talldog

Talldog

Pain in the ass
hey all. Taking my first stab at recording and mixing extreme metal. All sounds good in the studio with my ns10s but when I bring the mix to another player (car, home) it is WAY too bass heavy (low mids too high as well). Wondering if you have any other monitor suggestions. I'm all analog if it matters (Otari 16 track, Amek board). The band is good, the sound is good in the studio but.......
 
Is it a room problem? Whats the room like, any bass traps, treatment?

Don't forget that the NS10's are light on the bass end, you could try adding a small sub to the NS10's, notice I said small.

Alan.
 
ns10's are pretty terrible. All high mids and no bottom or top (like mixing on an amplified clock radio). People used to use them because the consensus was that if you could make a mix sound good on them it would sound good on anything. I guess they will be ok if you are actually going for retro rock or disco (if you want all of your mixes to have that exaggerated smiley face eq curve). My philosophy is that if you are going for a modern metal sound than use modern gear, including monitors. KRK rokit 6's or a set of Tannoy Reveals are good bangs for the buck. A lot of people also speak highly of Yamaha hs50m and hs80m.
 
Murdersgalore said:
ns10's are pretty terrible. All high mids and no bottom or top (like mixing on an amplified clock radio).
Click to expand...

Have you ever mixed on them? In fact if the recording is any good and the mix is any good the NS10's can actually sound good. That is the whole idea of them, they make you get the best sound you can get, when you then play the mix on other systems it should sound better. This is why most studios in the world have a set of NS10's.

Maybe it's because I have been using them for so long that I have got used to the sound, when I mix on the NS10's then flick on the mains, if I don't hear that wow of the mains it's back to the NS10's.

You have to have a good sounding room and you have to have the NS10's positioned correctly.

Alan.
 
Genre has no bearing on what monitors you should use. Genre is a bullshit term anyway.

Get to know your monitors [and your room] and how they translate. That is the only key. If a particular pair of monitors aren't working for you get rid of them and investigate new ones.

It's a long held idea that the monitors you use are very personal and that is why most engineers find ones they like and stick with them for a long time, regardless of the "genre" of the music they work on. They are probably the most personal pieces of gear in the engineers' arsenal.

Cheers :)

Ps. NS10's have a hyped reputation and I suspect Bob Clearmountain has something to do with it. They are flat, boxy, and have no bottom end. The top end can be strident too and I personally think they are terrible speakers. I guess that is where the old adage "if you can make the mix sound good on them, you can make it sound good on anything" comes from but come on, they are 30 year old speakers and there are many other BETTER speakers available. Look at the old KRK 4000 or 7000 series if you're looking for great vintage speakers that actually sound great.
 
As said, ns10s are love hate, but in my experience, two things are very important with them.

The room, and the amp.

I ran mine in the garage studio with an ra-100 amp and hated them for ages.

Moved them up to my bedroom as hifi speakers cos I was sick of them, and used a little yamaha amp.

Now I love them!

I was reading some (braggin) forum somewhere,,,probably GS. These guys were running $200 ns10s with $3000 amps!

Something to think about.


You'll probably have translation problems with any speakers if you don't know them well or if the room isn't treated.
 
Room is 12 x 12, treated with bass traps and high density fiberglass panels. I've done lots of mixes on them, single guitar, pop, alt country, rockabilly, classical strings and they all sounded great. The music is tuned really low (a sharp).
 
kidkage said:
like hs80m's?
Click to expand...

Um, no. But quoting out of context is dangerous. If you read on you'll see I recommend the old KRK 4000 or 7000 series. Even the 6000's are great and you'll get a pair for around 400 to 500 dollars on ebay and there are plenty of them floating around.

Steenamaroo said:
but in my experience, two things are very important with them.

The room, and the amp.
Click to expand...

I think this is true for any set of speakers, the room being the biggest factor. However, what I said about the NS10's is merely my opinion. I have experience on them (I used them for the first few years of my recording career) and they didn't work for me. They may work for you and that's great. Like I said, monitors are highly personal things.

Cheers :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top