Do I need monotors if... IMPORTANT!!! NEED ANSWERS

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PRiZ-one

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Do I need monitors... IF I'm oing to get my shiet professionally mastered anyway. I was going to get the mackies, $$$$ do I need to spend all on this, if I plan to get my mixes done professionally mastered after anyway.

I'd like to be able to do it all myself, but don't think this is possible to do aswell as the pro's at it wth the years of experience. Can I get the pros/cons of this?
How much to get pro's do do this for me in general?

I'm lOST!!! not sure what to do now, been planning on purchasing the mackies for a while now. I don't intend on being a producer as a living, or charge people for my mastering, mayby in future, but doughtfull.

???????????????????????????????????????????????????????? :(

THANKS! pEACE!
 
A mastering house doesn't go near the mixing process...they assume that that has been finished already: ie reverb, eq, compression to individual tracks, volume levels, etc. These are all very difficult things to apply if you can't hear what your doing in the highest resolution possible.

There are alot of good monitors that are cheaper than the Mackies though.

pAp
 
i got my new reveals this morning and cant sit still at work till i got them hooked this evening...
I already have a good amp so i got the passive ones very cheap (260 EUR). I will write what i think about them after a/b-ing them with my old Pilot m1's;)
 
Yes you still need monitors. You definately still have to make sonic judgements about the stuff you're doing. A mastering engineer can't make a silk purse out of a sows ear, just a nicer silk purse out of a silk purse. Ya know what I mean?:D
 
Well, I used to mix on consumer speakers and I had a mastering engineer fix some of the problems that caused. The final version blew me away.

But the final track that he gave me is left choking in the dust by the mixs I can do now that I have my monitors. I'm no fantastic recording engineer or mxing engineer, but when I got the PS6's I realized that I simply couldn't hear what I was doing without them. From tracking to mixing the monitors told me much more about what was going on- and I've been learning in leaps and bounds now that I can hear what I'm doing "wrong" and can do something about it.

My opinion is that you should invest in the monitors because you are going to have you music professionally mastered. Mixing without monitors is a bit like trying to paint in a dark room with sunglasses on. Do you really want to spend all the money for mastering that kind of mix?

Besides, for me, the monitors have increased my enjoyment of this hobby a hundred-fold. I've been in geek heaven since I got them a year ago. :D
 
Yupper.

Don't use the mastering engineer to fix mistakes made in the mixing process due to poor monitors. Get the mix correct from the start and allow the mastering engineer to then make the final product even better.
 
Totally agree...

Monitors are vital. The better you can afford - the easier it will be to get your mixes right.

"non-monitor" speakers generally have a low-high bias to the frequency range with some of the mids cut out. Monitors on the other hand are designed with a flat frequency response so you can really hear the most difficult region to get right...the midrange.

Be warned however...there is an adjustment period to get used to with whatever monitor you choose as folks are generally not used to hearing the flat response.

So buy your Mackies or whatever you choose...play a TON of good reference material through them...and be happy with better mixes down the road.

zip >>
 
reveal

hehe - listening the whole yesterday evening (about 5 hours) to tons of great recordings thru my new Tannoy reveal passiv monitors gives me a good feeling what they are good and what they are bad for.

Basically they sound characteristically similar to my Infinity Kappa 7 (1200$/pair a few years ago) homie speakers with having little less highs (maybe more linear) and a much wider sweet spot. The tonal integrity between tweeter and bass/mid ist very well and u cant hear the crossover, so it sounds more like one single widerange speaker.

Compared to my old Pilot m1's which sounds more harsh (close to the NS10's) they are far more balanced and accurate without being exhausting like my Infinities (great details but u have to stay centered between the speakers).

Finally, even if i am used to a relativ linear speaker i completly agree with zip:
Be warned however...there is an adjustment period to get used to with whatever monitor you choose as folks are generally not used to hearing the flat response.
Click to expand...

but it's worth it...
mark
 
THANKS!

alright, I'm glad I got this cleared up...buy now I'm confused on what mastering is?

is it just making the mix louder?

Or is it still compression/EQ mixing etc? becasue then I would think it would be better to not use any compression at all, so the final mix man can do it "perfect" the first time.

Thanks again!
 
Mastering...

...is better left for the pros at a Mastering Facility!

But if you just want to screw around with your final stereo file...

1) Make a copy of your final mix (so when you fuck it up you can go to a mastering house)

2) Evaluate objectively what your file needs... This could be anything from EQ, gain adjustment, subtle compression, fade ins / outs, limiting, determination of the best track order for best flow of the music etc... etc... etc...

You see - mastering is the art of polishing a final stereo mix to prepare it for duplication or preparation of a glass master for commercial CD pressing. The keys are...

1) Experience and knowledge (great OBJECTIVE ears)

2) Proper tools and facilities (very expensive EQ's, compressors, limiters and monitoring systems)

Here is an article written about "mastering" using the Ozone mastering plug-in. IMHO it is not true mastering but if you want to try DIY...


http://www.izotope.com/products/ozone/ozoneguide.html

zip >>
 
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