I still don't get the point of monitors

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AKR

AKR

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I've read some articles and I've searched through the forums, and I still don't see the point. Ok, so they're supposed to give you an "accurate" and "uncolored" view of your music. Alright, so let's say that the speakers the average person gets has the bass cranked up a bit. So on my monitors, it will be pretty flat. This will cause me to pump up the bass to get it to sound like it would on "normal" speakers, and therefore, give me way too much bass when anyone (pretty much everyone) listens to it on their cheap speakers. So, really, aren't you just making it worse for yourself? Wouldn't it make more sense for monitors to be setup to be a compromise between the most purchased speakers? Or is that what they are trying to do, and I'm just having issues understanding explanations?

As it is now, it seems to make more sense to mix through my computer's factor speakers, check it out in my car and a few pairs of headphones and get a good mix in between all of those sources.

I'm sorry if this has been asked a billion times, but I couldn't find the answer.
 
Congratulations, you've answered your own question. You want your mixes to sound good on whatever system they are played on. Good monitors (flat response) make it easier to get the balanced sound which works on most playback systems. Let the listener boost the bass or whatever they want for their preferance, just get everything to balance and sit well in your mixes.
 
i don't know about you, but I usually use a couple different sets of monitors when mixing music. I used to have some KRK Rokit 6's but they were too bass heavy so my recordings came out a bit flat. So a couple of years ago I decided to buy a "home" audio system by panasonic with an aux input. Best decision I could have made.
When someone listens to your music, they're not gonna be using some elaborate monitors. They'll be using some car speakers or something economical.
After I do my mix on these home speakers, i'll burn to cd and play the track in my car, my computer monitors, etc.. Then I'll find a happy medium

Hope this helps.

LP
www.reverbnation.com/losianthelostpoet
 
If you mix on consumer speakers that hype the bass, you will likely reduce the low frequncies in your mix (making the mix wrong for other sources). If you use PC speakers that have too little low end, you will likely add low end - making the mix too bass heavy for consumer speakers.

So.....you use flat frequency "near filed" monitors that give you the most accurate idea of where each sound sits and which frequencies need to be tweaked. You then select various "reference speakers" to test your mix on (examples being the car, a boom box, etc.).

If you do this often enough, you will "learn" how your monitor speakers work (translate to other speakers) and can then trust them to give you an accurate mix. As a general rule of thumb, if you can achieve a nice balanced mix on your "near field' monitors.....that should translate well to other speakers.

Like many people on this site, I use various speakers (I can route my signal to 4 different sets of speakers). While one set are my main flat/accurate "near fileds" I also depend on a set of "consumer" speakers that a good but not great. I find if a mix works on these - the mix will likely sound good on anything. I also use a set of reference speakers that are a little bass heavy and a set of reference "bookshelf speakers that are bass starved (like a little "clock radio").

I get the best mix I can on my main speakers and then reference the mix on the other speakers - to make sure the mix seems to translate well. Once all my studio speakers tell me the mix is good - I then burn a CD which I play in the car, on a boom box and on my consumer stereo system.

I then normally go back to the studio and start to re-mix the whole thing again:eek: Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever completed a mix:D
 
mikeh said:
(snip) ...If you do this often enough, you will "learn" how your monitor speakers work (translate to other speakers) and can then trust them to give you an accurate mix. As a general rule of thumb, if you can achieve a nice balanced mix on your "near field' monitors.....that should translate well to other speakers.
Click to expand...

Yep. You have to learn how your speakers "translate". Absolutely! You have to learn that whether you have $30 dollars computer speakers, $200 dollar home audio speakers, or $1000 dollar studio monitors. You still have to learn to translate. Question is... is it any easier to learn that translation with the (waaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyy) over-priced studio monitors? IMHO it is impossible to learn with small, cheap speakers. But, mid-sized, mid-priced, home audio speakers work just fine, for me. That's what I'm mixing for anyway. YMMV.
 
Yeah, what everybody has said is dead on. Monitors shouldn't "sound good." They should give you a detailed enough sound for you to tell whats going on in your project, while giving you a sound that will be very average compared to what your listeners will be listening on.

The most popular monitor in the world is the Yamaha NS10. These are by no means good sounding boxes, but a good mix on NS10's translates great on most systems.
 
oh, and make sure your mix sounds good on your TV's 2" mono speaker!!!!
 
the original poster has a good point, though. i can relate since i've been mixing with my headphones (audio technica somethings). i always have for over 6 or 7 years against all "don't EVER mix with headphones" warnings. why? because i reference those mixes with other speakers. let me spell it out...

no matter what i use as my "standard" mixing medium (headphones, monitors, crappy home stereo setup, etc.), if i always cross-reference my mixes with other sources, why would i invest in monitors just to use them as my "standard"?

that being said - i'm looking at the KRK RP5 Rokits or the M-Audio BX5a's. i've been told the Rokits are more bang for the buck. but i'm still interested in knowing why i need monitors as my "standard" when i always check my mixes with other sources. if you're thinking "if he's doubting the reason to get them, why's he looking" it's because i don't have computer speakers at all at this point (gave them away) and i'm tired of reaching for my 'phones everytime i want to check out some new music or write.
 
If you have learned how to translate your headphone mixes to other speaker systems...and if you feel it works for you....then go for it. That's the beauty of the arts - there really are no absolute rights or wrongs.

In general theory, if you have a monitoring system that you can trust and that you have worked with long enough to know with confidence how your mix will translate to other speakers......then using reference speakers is actually somewhat redundant....but that redundancy provides quality assurance.

While I (and most people who record) do use multiple reference speakers (for quality assurance) - I trust that my primary near field monitors are not misleading me....and in most cases the redundancy of using reference speakers is not actually needed.

The risk of using speakers that are not accurate - or headphones - you may not be able to make the right decisions. When you then listen to reference speakers you hear problems with low end or stereo placement or reverb and then have to go back an make corrections.. In theory good speakers help you make the right decisions that don't require additional tweaks.

If you (or anyone) hears your mix on refence speakers and you hear no need to make any adjustments.......then your monitoring system works. Flat response speakers simply can make the task a little.....easier.
 
so, in short, my new monitors should save me time in referencing my mixes on other systems (though i'd still do it anyways cuz i'm anal like that).

cool. i'm still getting monitors. just gotta wait for the right deal on eBay to come along. i'm a budget basement kinda guy.
 
Ok, thanks everyone for the input. I just burned a mix that sounds good on my pc speakers, my cheaper set of headphones, and fairly good in a car (little too much low end in the car). I have smallish Altec Lansing speakers, which aren't all that expensive, but they seem to be pretty "accurate" relative to the other speakers I've listened to this mix on. For now, I think I will go with the guy who said if you can "translate" with what you have now, then do it. I mean, one way or another, I'm going to have to translate what I'm hearing on my mixing speakers and just guess how it's going to sound for the consumer world. Again, thanks for all of the responses.
 
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