Those lyin' MF'in monitors!!

[knownuttin]

Actually, I don't fault them perhaps as much as my room acoustics, or my failure to fix them. I know there's lots of good reasonably priced nearfields out there right now, but they all lie about something. I guess I've just resigned myself to getting used to what they lie about and compensating for it when I mix.

They're Audix PH150's, BTW, but as I said it's probably far more relevant that I use them in the smallest,squarest room in my shoebox apartment without a toilet in it.

Mostly, I monitor very softly, only turning them up loud near the end of a mix to see what the Fletcher-Munson curve does. Comparing with tapes and CD's in the car and on boomboxes, I see various translation problems. Vocals that sounded way hot while mixing are buried on other systems, for example. Learning to compensate.

Guess that's the theme here. Remember reading how some of the big boys kept the same wretched pair of NS-10's for over 20 years and would not mix without them. Hell, some refused to upgrade. Why, when even a reasonably bright A&R guy could tell how false and awful they were? Because those engineers knew those boxes inside out, and had invested far too much time learning how to work with them to ditch them and start over before they had to. End of rant.
-kent
from mixing hell

 

[strmkr]

Monitoring too softly is probably the biggest part of the problem you are experiencing.You have to get them loud enough to really hear what is going on through the entire mix process.Try recording a 1khz test tone at about -6 db or so and use your db meter to set the level at 83-87db,then mix to that.Mix for about 50 min. or so,and take a 10-15 min break and go back at it.

Good luck!

 

[darrin_h2000]

those ns10s were in use in all of the big boys sudios. and if you wish to sound as good you will have to evaluate your mixs on them. they dont lie to you so the translation sounds great on everything.

When you do listen to a mix that ns10s werent used on they stick out like a sore thumb. So dont badmouth the ns10s because every major recording was mixed on them.

 

[The Green Hornet]

Yo Dispenser of No Knowledge:

That's why I enjoy the Yorkville monitors I use. They didn't advertise; they didn't promise; they didn't lie. Thus, when I heard the nice quality sound they emit, I was happy.

I haven't heard the active Yorkvilles; however, I would guess they are pretty good too. [considering the $$ involved]

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Green Hornet

 

[knownuttin]

Thanks to all for the replies! I was looking to provoke discussion, more than looking for recommendations. I appreciate them all the same. Nah, I wuz jus' bitching.

Darin, your point is well taken about the NS10's, but you may have missed mine. I was overly harsh in dissing them, and I'm aware of their ubiquity in pro studios for the last couple decades. I'm saying however, that this is probably because more mix engineers have learned the NS10 curve well enough to use them. For my part, I have not learned any monitor that well yet, but hope to one day. No argument about their usefulness if you know them intimately.
-kent