Sculpting low end

BDiNkY30

BDiNkY30

New member
I have a pair of Samson rubicon R5a monitors, the frequency response is not very wide at all and my mixes tend to keep coming out thin. Sooo naturally i try to boost a little more and i get muddy mixes. I'm having a hard time finding an in between. Is there a way around this friends?
 
Better speakers and plenty of broadband trapping. Two of the only real "rules" of audio:

1) No matter your experience, listening skills, years of study, quality of gear (etc., etc.), you will only ever hear as well as your monitoring chain allows you to hear - period.

2) No matter the quality of your monitoring, no matter the fidelity of the DA, amplifier and loudspeakers, your monitoring chain will only ever be as accurate and consistent as the space they're in allows them to be.
 
Massive Master said:
Better speakers and plenty of broadband trapping. Two of the only real "rules" of audio:

1) No matter your experience, listening skills, years of study, quality of gear (etc., etc.), you will only ever hear as well as your monitoring chain allows you to hear - period.

2) No matter the quality of your monitoring, no matter the fidelity of the DA, amplifier and loudspeakers, your monitoring chain will only ever be as accurate and consistent as the space they're in allows them to be.
Click to expand...

Amen and hallelujah.

Just for interest's sake, the spec sheet reports your monitors have a frequency response of 58Hz to 27kHz +/- 3dB. Granted, it's not extended down to 20Hz but it's still "wide" enough for monitors with 5 inch drivers. Genelec 8020a's, monitors similar in size to yours, have a frequency response of 66Hz to 20kHz +/- 3dB and they are entirely workable. In other words - I realise that the Genelecs are in an entirely differently league - but the "bandwidth" of the monitors was not a limitation when I worked on them.

Cheers :)
 
I'll post one of my mixes in the MP3 clinic later on today. Whenever you guys get a chance, take a listen and maybe throw me some feedback. By the way would Eq'ing on a pair of computer speakers with a sub help in tightening up my low end? Just the low end nothing else.
 
The Samson rubicon R5a monitors don't have a very low frequency response. Maybe they lack the low end definition that you need and you are over compensating for it?
 
Can one of you possibly tell me what to set the ribbon level to on these monitors?
When mixing that is
 
You really need to listen to some low frequency sine waves in your room. I have a pair of Samson Resolve 65a. They're fine in the bass response -- they'll go to 41 Hz easily. The problem is that my mixing room has a bass frequency null between 41 and 100 Hz at my listening distance. If I get about 2' from the speakers I hear the bass plenty. 3'-7' back they're dead up to around 100 Hz. At 8' I get bass again. I've filled out the paperwork for Auralex and will fax that for a room analysis.

So if I mix bass so I can hear it at my normal listening distance, the mix is muddy. If I mix it tight at the normal distance the mix is fine. It just sounds thin on the monitors but sounds good on other systems. What is difficult is knowing how to compensate. But it's guess work and I use a frequency analyzer plugin to help.

So I'd look into fixing the room. I looked up nulls on the web and found some audiophile forums where people are dealing with them. I'll see what Auralex has to solve it, other than moving. If nothing, I might try a subwoofer and play with the crossover and move it around to where it gets rid of the null in the listening position. Nulls are very difficult to deal with. You might think adding foam treatment to bring down the highs and upper mids would help, but they can just make the room unrealistically dead if overdone. Then you end up compensating for lack of transients in the mix and make the mix too bright on top of it? Acoustics are not easy.
 
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