Anyone Here Not Using 'Proper' Monitors?

[gvdv]

O.K., fess up, has anyone here 'adapted' to using anything other than 'real' studio monitors for multitracking (either for cost or space reasons)?

I'm wondering whether people have learned to compensate for the biases / sound colorations that things like headphones or hi fi speakers might introduce into the recording or monitoring process.

Curiously,
GVDV

 

[TelePaul]

I use a commercial stereo amplifier and the speakers that came with it. I havn't had the cash for monitors, but I hope to get em and that they make a noticeable difference.

 

[RAMI]

I have a pair of JBL car speakers. I love them, but they're probably terrible monitors.

My name is Rami and I'm a dreck-a-holic.

 

[whjr15]

I use a commercial stereo amplifier and the speakers that came with it. I havn't had the cash for monitors, but I hope to get em and that they make a noticeable difference.

ditto that

 

[travelin travis]

I have a pair of JBL car speakers. I love them, but they're probably terrible monitors.

My name is Rami and I'm a dreck-a-holic.

Are you saying you mix on a pair of car speakers? If so, I'm amazed at what you're putting out to be mixing on car speakers.

 

[Dogman]

I'm sure my monitors are shit....but so is my music.

 

[TragikRemix]

well, i have proper monitors, NS10's..

but i got very used to using audio technica Ath-40fs or something headphones. the problem is, they make evreything sound good even if it is shit.

thats ok, cause i second dogman, my music is shit too

and rami, do you really use car stereo speakers, because your mixes are really good..

 

[RAMI]

Are you saying you mix on a pair of car speakers? If so, I'm amazed at what you're putting out to be mixing on car speakers.

Yes...Car speakers...With a nice fluffy kind of felt covering them. They're like triangular and sit on their sides..I think that's what a "wedge" is, but I may be way off.
I do alot of referencing and have gotten to know them well....I'm not saying I don't need good monitors, but I concentrated on room treatment, so now the next step is good monitors.

 

[mixsit]

..I'm wondering whether people have learned to compensate for the biases / sound colorations that things like headphones or hi fi speakers might introduce into the recording or monitoring process.

Curiously,
GVDV

Yeah I did for a long time. Had them learned, down pat, the whole drill.
No more.
The question is why did I wait so long to get a great set of speakers.

 

[jmorris]

Are you saying you mix on a pair of car speakers? If so, I'm amazed at what you're putting out to be mixing on car speakers.

What you use as monitors is not important as long as you KNOW what the speakers do/sound like etc.

 

[travelin travis]

What you use as monitors is not important as long as you KNOW what the speakers do/sound like etc.

Obviously, that isn't said enough around here.

 

[TragikRemix]

thats such a hard thing to understand.

maybe that's what seperates me from you.

i guess i'm learning my monitors. i know that they make everything sound like crap. in the end, it still sounds like crap on them, even though it can sound decent elsewhere.

it that the purpose of NS10's? make everything sound so bad that you have to work really hard and then you get mind boggling mixes in the end, when you are listening on your CD player and iPod? or.. boombox, DAT walkman or 8 track

 

[gummblefish]

I have two decent sets of monitors ( events TR8s and makie hr824's) but i have done alot of my recent mixes on shit speakers and and on my emacs buit in speakers before i go to the bigger monitors. Helps get the translation problems right.

 

[Dogman]

Yes...Car speakers...With a nice fluffy kind of felt covering them. They're like triangular and sit on their sides..I think that's what a "wedge" is, but I may be way off.
I do alot of referencing and have gotten to know them well....I'm not saying I don't need good monitors, but I concentrated on room treatment, so now the next step is good monitors.

So...you're saying that actually being able to play well, and put together a good song has something to do with it sounding good?

Now you tell me....

 

[travelin travis]

So...you're saying that actually being able to play well, and put together a good song has something to do with it sounding good?

Now you tell me....

Why didn't someone tell me before I shelled out my cash on monitors? Damn, now I have to practice. I guess I can spend my money on hookers now though.

 

[RAMI]

....you guys........................

 

[Dogman]

Why didn't someone tell me before I shelled out my cash on monitors? Damn, now I have to practice. I guess I can spend my money on hookers now though.

Shit....I just spent some on drums.....and I've never even hit a drum before.....

 

[gvdv]

Yeah I did for a long time. Had them learned, down pat, the whole drill.
No more.
The question is why did I wait so long to get a great set of speakers.

So why *DID* you wait so long to get a good set of speakers?

GVDV.

 

[Lt. Bob]

I think a big mistake that a lot of people make is they assume that a 'monitor' doesn't add any colorations like stereo speakers do. The truth is .... monitors are just stereo speakers with the word monitor added to their name.
A good pair of stereo speakers nowadays is likely to be as flat or even flatter than some of the monitors we use.
I'd take a nice pair of Paradigms or Focal or any of a large number of quality speakers for monitors any day.
But ALL speakers have their own colorations ...... there's no such thing as a completely flat speaker no matter what their specs say. Once you put them in a room and push them with different electronics than they were measured with and in a room with it's own interactions with speakers and every single one of them is gonna have some suckouts and some emphasized freqs to some extent.
As Travis and jmorris have already said ...... the most important thing is to really 'know' your speakers and how sound from them translates to other speakers in the wild.

 

[mixsit]

So why *DID* you wait so long to get a good set of speakers?

GVDV.

Like I said, I did know' them really well (Klipsch 3-ways), that they were decent but not 'flat, etc.
It's interesting that in spite of they're short comings, where projects ended in mastering sessions for example (not that many) fixes were pretty small. No big surprises.
On the other hand I had no idea how much I was not hearing in the way of contrasts in tone differences across the bandwidth, detail, and ease of zeroing in on things.

So basically what happened is, I worked harder, and for a long time avoided change subsequently, skipped the 'good' speaker step.. went directly to great ones.