--I don't have monitors, I do have a Sony stereo tho--

[TwistOvFate]

I'm new to recording and i'm broke to the point where i won't be near any monitors for a while. Would using a stereo system like this be beneficial while mixing songs, or am i just wasting my time?? Sony stereo system. . .if it is, what should i set the eq on the stereo
for in terms of(highs, mids, and lows) they spand from -6 to +6
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If my stereo system won't work, what should i use to mix my tracks until i can afford monitors ?? Any advice will help, thanx for the advice

 

[pingu]

Hi man.


I for one find myself always putting things off until i get better gear, but better gear doesn't make me a better engineer.

Just start mixing with what ya got.

Set the eq as flat as possible.

Most home consumer systems are untrue in the bottom end.

If you really need to go ahead and mix with these babies then spend a bit of time setting the speakers up and look into acoustically treating your room.

http://www.musicplayer.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=forum&f=26&

Expensive speakers set up in an acoustically compromised room are of no real use anyhow.

But if you spend some time setting up your speakers and read a little about the acoustics at Ethans web site, it should get you by.

The whole benefit of a good monitoring environment is to assist you in producing songs that translate well.

In your scenario you might have do a few reference mixdowns and listen to them on as many playback systems as possible.


It also might be hard to hear the effects of compressors and eq's effectively.

But still just jump in and go for.

The money for new speakers will arrive when when you need them,

 

[Brackish]

If I were you I'd just start with setting the 3 dials
to the middle "0" position as a starting point.

 

[LeeRosario]

The good news is, you're not wasting your time. At least you have speakers.


Just set em flat flat flat. Meaning:


-Don't set any "enhancements" such as a super bass setting or some kind of surround setting.

- Default settings only. No "jazz" or "rock" settings. They all have different eq that will sound different.

You'll be tempted to try, but trust me, it's a loosing battle.

HOWEVER (and this is a big however)...

The thing they won't tell you is that one of those settings might be the flattest for those specific speakers and that specific mixing enviornment. The are two ways about going through with that: 1) an actual technical measurement will professional RTAS and it's appropiate gear OR

2)simply just use your ears (alot cheaper and good for that mental listening muscle).


The bad news is, you're probably gonna spend a good amount of time making sure your mixes translate well to other speakers (since that kind of speaker system is not really designed for "tell all" mixing).


But if you can become the master of your own speakers and predict how they will sound on other systems, then you're set.

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

But if you can become the master of your own speakers and predict how they will sound on other systems, then you're set.

Lee hit the nail on the head with ths one.

It doesn't matter what kind of loudspeakers you use as long as you can learn to reliably know that if they sound like "A" in my studio, they'll typically sound like "B" on average in the real world. That's all that counts.

Some speakers that are missing important frequencies altogether (not enough low end or high end) will fall short in that if you can't hear a frequency at all, you'll have no idea whether you have too much or not enough. But this is just as true with some econo "studio monitors" as it is with consumer stereo speakers.

If you can play commercial CDs on your stereo and have them sound fairly decent across the audio spectrum, there's little reason based upon the speakers themselves why with a little practice you couldn't do the same thing with your own homebrew recordings.

And Pingu also brought up an excellent point that the room is just as important as the speakers. Just having the right placement for the speakers can make all the diffrence in the world.

G.