Large monitors vs. small monitors w/ sub
- Thread starter Kasey
- Start date
Massive Master
www.massivemastering.com
The better ones.
Seriously - It depends on so many variables...
I like "real" speakers - If it says "Studio Monitor" on them, you can throw them in a pile and light 'em up.
But that's me. "Studio Monitors" are what we used to check mixes on to see if they sucked on small, bad-sounding speakers. Now, people use those same small, bad-sounding speakers as their mains.
But for what they're designed for - Short-throw, narrow dispersion... If you need to take the room out of the equation, they'll certainly give you better results than a large set of full-range boxes.
But for YOUR room... It depends on what your room can handle. If it's fairly small, maybe go with something in an 8" woof and nix the sub. You can always add it later. And of course, anything you can do to treat the room to make it sound better is always a plus.
Seriously - It depends on so many variables...
I like "real" speakers - If it says "Studio Monitor" on them, you can throw them in a pile and light 'em up.
But that's me. "Studio Monitors" are what we used to check mixes on to see if they sucked on small, bad-sounding speakers. Now, people use those same small, bad-sounding speakers as their mains.
But for what they're designed for - Short-throw, narrow dispersion... If you need to take the room out of the equation, they'll certainly give you better results than a large set of full-range boxes.
But for YOUR room... It depends on what your room can handle. If it's fairly small, maybe go with something in an 8" woof and nix the sub. You can always add it later. And of course, anything you can do to treat the room to make it sound better is always a plus.
Blue Bear Sound
New member
You'll have an easier time talking in terms of "near-field", "mid-field", and "mains" -- monitors with 6 or 8-inch drivers do not constitute being considered "large."Kasey said:
You'll find that most high-quality monitors with 8" inch drivers will likely have more than enough low-end response for mixing... and the room response/acoustics/layout will be a very dominant factor regardless of the monitor size.
SouthSIDE Glen
independentrecording.net
Don't you DARE go near my 824s with that can of charcol fluid, John!Massive Master said:
G.
SouthSIDE Glen
independentrecording.net
Kasey, here's my take on it, but this is admittedly one which many folks in this board may disagree with, at least in part.
By my way of thinking, start out with the best near fields you can afford and forego the subwoofer for now unless you have the budget to afford everything all in one shot. Unless you can mix everything in the 80Hz-15kHz range well enough, what you do below 80Hz is academic; if the kick is mushy or boomy, the mids are indistinct or honky and the highs are veiled or harsh, nobody is going to give a s__t if they can feel it in the seat of their pants or not. Get the stuff sounding great in the nearfields first. Once you feel you have that down, then you can think about expanding your range to the basement.
Exceptions to the above might be if you are mixing for playback on mostly sub-woofer-equipped systems such as 5.1+ mixes or a lot of hip hop-sters with subwoofers on wheels. In those cases, mixing for the sub is obviously more important. But even then, if you got it wrong in the "mains", you got it wrong.
G.
By my way of thinking, start out with the best near fields you can afford and forego the subwoofer for now unless you have the budget to afford everything all in one shot. Unless you can mix everything in the 80Hz-15kHz range well enough, what you do below 80Hz is academic; if the kick is mushy or boomy, the mids are indistinct or honky and the highs are veiled or harsh, nobody is going to give a s__t if they can feel it in the seat of their pants or not. Get the stuff sounding great in the nearfields first. Once you feel you have that down, then you can think about expanding your range to the basement.
Exceptions to the above might be if you are mixing for playback on mostly sub-woofer-equipped systems such as 5.1+ mixes or a lot of hip hop-sters with subwoofers on wheels. In those cases, mixing for the sub is obviously more important. But even then, if you got it wrong in the "mains", you got it wrong.
G.
Ethan Winer
Acoustics Expert
Kasey,
Unless you're producing surround sound movie sound tracks that require a subwoofer, you're much better off with full-range speakers and no sub. By full range I mean speakers that get down at least to 60 Hz if not 50 or 40 Hz.
My main objection to speakers with small woofers that need a sub is that introduces more chances for low frequency problems. Small rooms have enough problems without adding yet another opportunity for bass peaks and nulls caused by having three separate drivers all working at once (around the crossover frequency).
--Ethan
Unless you're producing surround sound movie sound tracks that require a subwoofer, you're much better off with full-range speakers and no sub. By full range I mean speakers that get down at least to 60 Hz if not 50 or 40 Hz.
My main objection to speakers with small woofers that need a sub is that introduces more chances for low frequency problems. Small rooms have enough problems without adding yet another opportunity for bass peaks and nulls caused by having three separate drivers all working at once (around the crossover frequency).
--Ethan