Monitor Suggestions (Something Cheap)

scarboro78

scarboro78

NYC HIP-HOP AMBASSADOR
Hey Guys,

I currently own a pair of Event TR8's which in general sound great, but I'm having problems getting a good bass mix because they're too forgiving on bass.. It's not until after I give it a few tries and listening to my mixes through various sources that I get it right. What happens is that the bass sounds good when I mix.. but end up turning out too bass heavy on other systems. So anyways I've read and have heard suggestions about getting a cheap pair of small monitors to get a different opinion for measuring bass (new or used).

So my question is there a cheap pair or small monitors you guys would suggest for this purpose? I want the pair that will best reflect when the bass is too heavy.

Thanks for your help.
 
Cheap monitors won't help you at all. Three obvious suggestions:

"Learn" your monitor response. Spend lots of time listening to commercial CD's you know well through them, so that your ears develop a reference

Room treatment - there's a mass of posts about the importance of having a properly treated room for checking the lows

A good set of headphones - you can't mix on them but - again once you have learnt to gauge them - they are useful for hearing what the bass is doing.
 
Garry Sharp said:
Cheap monitors won't help you at all. Three obvious suggestions:

"Learn" your monitor response. Spend lots of time listening to commercial CD's you know well through them, so that your ears develop a reference

Room treatment - there's a mass of posts about the importance of having a properly treated room for checking the lows

A good set of headphones - you can't mix on them but - again once you have learnt to gauge them - they are useful for hearing what the bass is doing.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your response Gary and you're right.. These are all good suggestions as to what will help.. which I'm however already doing. The acoustics in my room is really the weak point of my setup but I'm working around it as best I can until I can do some treatment to it. But that wasn't the question. My question was specific to a second pair of monitors that would help.. not what else can be done.
 
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can any one with experiance let me know the best and least expencive way of stopping my sound ,amplified guitar ect,form going threw my glass window
 
monitors and bass

scarboro78 said:
It's not until after I give it a few tries and listening to my mixes through various sources that I get it right..
Click to expand...

funny how that is?
i think you already have your own answer,
unless your expecting to "hit it right" first mix!

a small set of speakers to get a 2nd opinion of the bass?
try a subwoofer.
you already have nearfields.

Nearfields, my understanding, were to be these "crappy" speakers
to the pro studios... no offense but most of us.......
our Primary speakers are the crappy ones!
low end Event's, Wharfs, B&W303, M-Audio, KRK rockits...
these are the nearfields.
Most of us don't have the high dollar huge in-wall monitors.

nearfield monitoring (Auratones, NS10) were an attempt to hear the mix thru "average Joe consumer" speakers or how well it'll translate to the average public. we all know this.
yeah..
not everyone has $70,000 wall-mounted 12-way Urei studio monitors...
blah,blah,blah...
the pros wanted to check their mix on average Joes speaker system(crappy speakers said the HiEnd Audiophile) =nearfields...
Auratones were a Radio-Mono sht car simulation, as "stereophonic"
came to be... whooallla..NS10 type.....

now most pro's have little cheap subwoofers and some type nearfiled speaker...why?? because thats what Joe Average Pubic hair has...

ask yourself..
what is the "average Joe Consumer" stereo these days?
IMO, it's either SUB+ Speakers or MP3 computer systems/ IPOD. Thats the average Joe Consumer setup. So thats what you want your
mixes to pass the class on...pass the grade..or pass the ass gas.

Never mind killing yourself trying to make it sound good on some fhkng cheap plastic garbage can sounding jam box that weighs 10oz and states 100Watts with Bass Boost.....using plastic screws into plastic cabinets....
fhk that. it'll always sound like pure audio hell designed by the evil dwarf bag,
Earbleed Plasticsoul.

you got it man... check it on a few decent units...until as you said
"you get it right".

buy a sub if you don't have one. put your money in better mic's and pre-amps..and room acoustics.... your Events are good Nearfields.

hell go spend $$$ and have one of your "good mixes" mastered by a pro.

Disclaimer: I have no clue what I'm talking about and tend to drink too much coffee and ramble on...and on...and on.... :)
 
lol.. damn dude you really need to lay off the coffee.. lol. But anyways, couple of comments... first, there's no comparison between my monitors in any way to my shit home stereo boom box speakers.. even though they are in no way high end. Also, I always thought that the word "nearfield", implied monitors small enough to monitor and mix through at close proximity, I didn't think that the value of the monitors had anything to do with this more than really the size of the monitor itself. Maybe someone could clarify this for me. My TR8's are pretty big so I personally keep my monitors close to 6 feet away, which seems to be most effective.

So back to the original question...

Any suggestions on a small pair of near field (or nearer field.. lol) monitors to give me a good second opinion?.. Something I can basically do an A/B with.
(Straight answers please!)
 
Dude check out my mini-review on the KRK RP-8. For $500 I think the bass as well as overall response is very flat. I did much research and was considering the TR-8. By popular demand, the RP-8 were very highly recommended. Go to your local Guitar Center with one of your mixdowns and hear for yourself! :)
 
monitoring up close

scarboro78 said:
lol.. damn dude you really need to lay off the coffee.. My TR8's are pretty big so I personally keep my monitors close to 6 feet away, which seems to be most effective.

So back to the original question...

Any suggestions on a small pair of near field (or nearer field.. lol) monitors to give me a good second opinion?.. Something I can basically do an A/B with.
(Straight answers please!)
Click to expand...

hee,hee...yeah, i like my coffee :)

i now get what your saying, you have the 6ft..and looking for "nearfield",
as you described , i agree with your description of nearfields.

so little ones, closer up...3ft ish.. $500 for some KRK V4's?
the small Bx5"s with a sub were very nice IMO.
adding the sub was so dramatic it was like DAMN!!! those design guys
do know what their doing!! Bx5's used can be $185-200 pair + Active.

a friend of mine is a physics type and he explains the physics of it all.
i understand about 10%...but think about it, speaker throw, phasing, recoil...
so yeah, 3ft is a smaller speaker for nearfield. If you use a large speaker your probably hearing more of the room reflections than the "original only".
too small (headphone size speaker) the throw is a very short distance.
most likely why 4-6.5" is typical 3ft-nearfield.

.
 
COOLCAT said:
hee,hee...yeah, i like my coffee :)
most likely why 4-6.5" is typical 3ft-nearfield.

.
Click to expand...

Cool stuff man. I actually picked up a pair of used Event Tria's this week, which are 2 powered 4'inch monitors and an 8 inch sub for like 60 bucks.. and hey it worked! I played one song I had which I knew was bass heavy and yeah they definitely showed some distortion/rumble which is what I wanted. So I'm happy! Plus they look like mini-me versions of my TR8's!.. and they look very cool up besides my flat screen too. :D

Thanks for the info Coolcat.
 
scarboro.
i'm not sure you need to change monitors.
for a second opinion a lot of big studios used to spot check their mixes on auratone cubes. ive forgotten the price, under 160 i think or buy a used pair.
 
manning1 said:
scarboro.
i'm not sure you need to change monitors.
for a second opinion a lot of big studios used to spot check their mixes on auratone cubes. ive forgotten the price, under 160 i think or buy a used pair.
Click to expand...
When you say change do you mean change all together? Or do A/B comparisons? I wasn't planning on getting rid of my TR8's, just adding a smaller second pair which I did and it worked! lol (sorry I'm a little happy). But those auratone cubes, I'm curious, never heard of them.. i'll have to check them out.
Thanks for the info Manning!.
 
I found the tuned reference of the event series was trickier to learn than the nice flat response of the KRK models. (y) My mixes always ended up light on the bass through the event series models.
 
VesuviusJay said:
I found the tuned reference of the event series was trickier to learn than the nice flat response of the KRK models. (y) My mixes always ended up light on the bass through the event series models.
Click to expand...

Funny, mines always end up a little bassy.. so what I've been doing is kind of undershooting the bass.. But my mixing should be a little better now with a second pair of monitors..

Manning, I just looked up those auratones.. funny, they look exactly like these little fisher satellite speakers I have for my living room entertainment center (which I never use).. I think I might swipe those from the living room and hook them up too.. lol.. Get a Third opinion.. why not??. :D
 
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