Anyone Here Not Using 'Proper' Monitors?

  • Thread starter Thread starter gvdv
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I use Gateway2000 computer speakers with a subwoofer as well as Koss headphones.
 
gvdv said:
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
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I have Event 20/20s and a pair of Auratone M5 soundcubes. The Auratones sound like complete shit and anything mixed to sound good on them sounds good anywhere (and that is the point of them).
 
I have Sony headphones MDR 64, though they tend to fall appart very quickly, I once built their speakers into cheap discount headphones and thus have a nice closed system.
In addition to that, I use an about 20 year old 2 x 70 Watt RMS amplifier with 100 Watt noname 3 way speakers, I selected by ear. They can't be bad, as I hear the flaws on about half of the CDs in my collection (not just the infamous Californication).
When I have a first mix, I test them with my iRiver using the Koss Porta Pro headphones, and several other stereos I can use. In about 1 out of 5 mixes, I notice problems I didn't notice on my own system, and then I go tweaking the mix/master.
I also test my mixes with Dolby Prologic. Sometimes I even mix for it, though I make sure it sounds well with regular stereo too.
Usually people are suprised how clear and dynamic my mix sound, compared to many recent CDs which are often overcompressed or overdriven.
 
I use JVC stereo speakers 10 ft away from me and 6 ft from each other.
I have always possibility to approach closer to make that same sized triangle but honestly I don’t hear much difference.
I burned a couple mixes of mine to an Audio CD, listened in my car on Pioneer CD player with 6 speakers. I heard every single mistake I made by playing and mixing as well.Then I visited my friend and listened same CD on Edirol monitors and it sounded so different that I got confused.
No bass at all, everything was tiny, crapy and lifeless. When I posted some of mixes on mixing clinic I got feedback about wrong things which I could hear on my speakers as well, but I never got feedback about sound I heard on those Edirol monitors.
My wife intended to buy me monitors for my birthday next month but I think I’ll choose another present this time.
 
i'm poor. i've just gotva sharp stereo system. no bass boost or eq on them, of course.

i sorta just try to get the mic placement/choice, preamp, ad converter...all the in stuff to be ok.

i think it turns out alright...though i feel like burning a small cd to listen on other systems today.

when i switched from stock audio card to the onyx i heard a huge difference. the stock just sounds like tin to me. it sorta makes me want to get monitors...but reality sets in when the bills come.
 
i think monitors are no more dependent on brand and price than a guitar.....

good stuff has been made on shit Auratones or Optimus RadioCrack 7's. litle speaker in little box...like a TV sound.

its similar to the MIM Strat at $280 versus a US Relic Hand Beaten Strat for $12,000...does the more expensive one make anyone play better?

Rami is a perfect example, i really like his mixes...but he's using frkn car speakers...I mean its great, seriously.

wierd, on one hand monitors can be the most important "tool" in the recording chain, yet if the skills aren't there a $20,000 pair won't fix that...ying, yang, ....its always Ying & Yang, back and forth, fighting....
Ying and Yang this... and Ying and Yang that....

No one ever mentions Yong, the third son, never.
:confused:
:p
 
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I recorded seven songs using M&K S100B's and a sub. But the problem is that it took hours and several remixes to get good mixes using them.

I then recorded four songs using my Boston Acoustics CR8 two-way speakers. This actually seemed to work just a LITTLE better.

I went to GC yesterday, went in the pro room and auditioned some KRK RP8...I was sitting at a desk/workstation with the monitors at ear level on that desk. I was floored. I was stunned by how much more revealing monitors are than home speakers (or at least the ones I use). I played my own music which I know so well, and then popped in Audioslave's "Revelations", and was similarly amazed.

Some here can attain excellent results with minimal speakers as long as they know the speakers; that's a truism, I think.

I can get good results using home speakers, but it's a much LONGER road to get there as I mix, burn, listen on other speakers, in the car, etc and then remix with the changes needed. I think with monitors, I could get it right dramatically faster, IMO.
 
Dan The Speakerman said:
I can get good results using home speakers, but it's a much LONGER road to get there as I mix, burn, listen on other speakers, in the car, etc and then remix with the changes needed. I think with monitors, I could get it right dramatically faster, IMO.
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With those particular models that's probably very true.

Now go out and compare a pair of Ascend 170 "home speakers" and compare them against a pair of MAudio BX5 "studio monitors". I'd bet my next paycheck that you'd say just the opposite.

G.
 
yeah I agree SG,
what is a speaker? cone, coil, magnets, frame..etc..?
what is a cabinet? 4 sides, a front and back, maybe a port. maybe active maybe not..

ah! the power of Marketing....LABELS
"Professional Series!" "Pro Recording Studio Response Speakers with FLAT RESPONSE!!"

very rarely will we see a speaker on the shelf that says "CHEAP SHIT SERIES!"
"ASS SOUNDING STUDIO MONITORS!!"..or "These monitors have flabby bass reproduction but their cheap!!"

unfortunately, we're left having to actually try out the speakers and see if they work for us....adventure thru the "muck" & ask around.

being its an open free forum, we don't get paid to say the expensive ones are the best either.

just buy some Yamaha NS10's and tape toilet paper over the tweeters and be done with it, like many pro's have done? :p
 
COOLCAT said:
yeah I agree SG,
what is a speaker? cone, coil, magnets, frame..etc..?
what is a cabinet? 4 sides, a front and back, maybe a port. maybe active maybe not..

ah! the power of Marketing....LABELS
"Professional Series!" "Pro Recording Studio Response Speakers with FLAT RESPONSE!!"

very rarely will we see a speaker on the shelf that says "CHEAP SHIT SERIES!"
"ASS SOUNDING STUDIO MONITORS!!"..or "These monitors have flabby bass reproduction but their cheap!!"

unfortunately, we're left having to actually try out the speakers and see if they work for us....adventure thru the "muck" & ask around.

being its an open free forum, we don't get paid to say the expensive ones are the best either.

just buy some Yamaha NS10's and tape toilet paper over the tweeters and be done with it, like many pro's have done? :p
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lol that is exactly what I do at the studio. I use the yamaha ns10's for mono playback, BX8a's for regular mixing and then we have a big speaker setup, I think they were Urei or some other brand... can't remember...
 
mono playback

mindset--- is your mono playback done on one or two speakers?
 
two speakers. The only times I use it, is to make sure the music is mono compatible.
 
Hi,
Thanks for everyone for the replies here.

I guess what I've learned from this thread since I originally posted the question, is (1) get to know your set up really well, and (2) if you want to be able to mix in different environments (with different monitors, rooms and so on), it is probably best to use monitors that will give as flat a response as possible in order to remove one 'variable' from the equation (that of the monitors introducing their own idiosyncratic sound into the mix).

I've also learned a lot about different kinds of nearfield monitors that I'd like to test out. The KRK line seems quite ubiquitous in home recording set ups, as does Event, judging from this forum and others.

Thanks for all the responses, and please keep them coming.

GVDV.
 
personally i have found that the better the speakers (consumer or studio) the higher the acuity (ability to pinpoint certain frequencies). I have found that speakers/headphone that sound nice as soon as you try to mix with them its really hard to hear the changes.
That being said i am currently mixing in a corner with krk rp5 and my left speaker has so much more bass and theres no stereo imaging (50L and 25L are soo similar). I cant do anything about it so im just going to deal with its shortcomings
 
gvdv said:
Hi,
Thanks for everyone for the replies here.

I guess what I've learned from this thread since I originally posted the question, is (1) get to know your set up really well, and (2) if you want to be able to mix in different environments (with different monitors, rooms and so on), it is probably best to use monitors that will give as flat a response as possible in order to remove one 'variable' from the equation (that of the monitors introducing their own idiosyncratic sound into the mix).

I've also learned a lot about different kinds of nearfield monitors that I'd like to test out. The KRK line seems quite ubiquitous in home recording set ups, as does Event, judging from this forum and others.

Thanks for all the responses, and please keep them coming.

GVDV.
Click to expand...
One year anniversary. :)
 
I used to mix on some old kenwood speakers with a 70's pioneer amp for awhile. Like most people, i didn't buy moniters right when i started making music. I honestly felt it was actually easier to get decent to good mixes much of the time. Even when i really didn't know what i was doing. I listen to my old music and compare it to some stuff a bit after i got my monitors and they sound as good or better. I had krk rp'5s and i almost concider them a step back in retrospect. I don't know how much was the actual speaker and how much of it was hearing where i was wrong and sometimes over compensating but i was far more consistant. Now that i have my room more where i want it and my tannoy reveals, i wouldn't go back, big improvement there.
 
I've got a pair of m-audio dx-4's. I would hardly call these "studio monitors." More like "okay sounding computer speakers."

That being said, I've gotten quite used to their shortcomings and can mix on them. I've mixed on KRK VXT8's and NS10s. I liked the idea of the NS10's the best. Really being able to hear whats up with the midrange, but I didn't have enough time to really get used to them.

I think it really doesn't matter what you're mixing on if you've got a good ear and have used your stuff long enough to know what to expect.
 
Right now I'm just doing it in some Bose Triport headphones. They're working all right, but I've read some of the seasoned sound "engineers" on this board that monitors are a very important part of the chain and I really can't wait to get my hands on some.
 
I'm stuck on the headphone thing as I usually mix late at night and we have a small house - no basement. When it sounds great on the headphones it will be really overbassy on anything else. But when I have something kindasorta close I start running a CD past my Event TR5s, then a Bose stereo downstairs (pretty bassy and midrange hype there) and then in my Subaru. By the time I've gotten five or six miles in the Subaru I know pretty much what went wrong. :cool:
 
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