Confusion on Monitors' Purpose

[Paul D]

I'm in the process of looking to buy my first pair of studio monitors. I read Dragon's article on tips for buying monitors. He stated that studio monitors don't emphasize frequencies at either end of the spectrum as "listening speakers" do. The flat-frequency response makes sense, but if listening speakers emphasize lower and higher frequencies, wouldn't this make getting a mix to "sound" good difficult if using monitors that do not emphasize these high/low ends? I must admit, going to a local music store and auditioning some of these monitors (Tannoy Reveal, JBL 6208, Event Project and Triamp system) with music which I was familiar with (including things I recorded with a VS-880, which I knew didn't sound good..."muddy" through most listening speakers) was difficult for me. I was trying to listen for clarity, they all seemed to sound clear (overall) to me, but they all sounded good, even my not-good recording sounded clearer than I knew it really was. I know my listening skills need to be developed, but this audition really confused me, as it didn't seem to reveal (at least in my recording's case) obvious flaws. Any comments/thoughts/suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks. Paul

 

[sonusman]

This is just the beginning...

Now you get to spend the next few years or so after purchasing ANY of those monitors learing to listen to music through them again....

Dragon's advice is sound. Really, any of those monitors would do. I prefer the Events, other prefer some of the others, but in the end, we all had to learn to listen to music through our monitors to really KNOW what sounds great through them and what doesn't.

What may not be an "obvious flaw" right now may become something that will make you sick after your skills develope to a much higher level in audio production. I was just chatting with dobro in the chat room last night about this same thing. He was expressing how he is starting to hear the little things that hold his mixes back from sounding like the big time ones do. He is certainly starting to get his "studio ears", and it has been hard won for him as it is for anybody who pursues recording engineering.

Good luck.

Ed