Mackie 828's hyped?

T

terrible_buddhi

New member
Am I using these things wrong? When I listen to a mix through these, I got nice reverbs on the vox, present up front guitars, kickin drums, booming bass...then I burn it, listen to it else where, and almost always the mix if lifeless, the bass is non-existent, and the reverbs are overpowering....WTF!?
 
Buddhi,

> then I burn it, listen to it else where, and almost always the mix if lifeless, the bass is non-existent, and the reverbs are overpowering....WTF!? <

This is a very common problem. Mackie 824s are fine speakers. The problem is your room acoustics.

--Ethan
 
I am in the process of building a proper studio/ mixing environment...anything I can do to make this place tolerable in the mean time? Oh, I am surrounded in concrete :(
 
supposedly the mackie's are hyped in the low scooped in the mids and hyped in the highs....i've never heard them personally...maybe try mixing with that in mind and see if it works better
 
Bud,

> anything I can do to make this place tolerable in the mean time? Oh, I am surrounded in concrete :( <

How much do you have to spend? Seriously, there's no magic or free cure. What you need is acoustic treatment and especially bass traps. This can range from a few bales of fiberglass stacked in the corners - which do a surprisingly good job considering the low cost - to a roomful of commercial acoustic treatment.

If you're on a tight budget see the Acoustics FAQ, second in the list on my Articles page:

www.ethanwiner.com/articles.html

Again, your Mackie speakers are very flat. Your room, on the other hand, varies by 30 dB or more throughout the entire low end. So that's what you need to address.

--Ethan
 
Also how do your reference CD's sound though the Mackies, do you do a lot of A/B ing between your mixes and some similar CD's
 
One thing that I have found with my set is if you try to make them shine, the mix will more than likely be too much when translating to other systems. (depends on "your" room though)

Mix for balance first. Try to use them for placing certain instruments in certain spaces without clouding things up. Listen closely to the levels of certain inst. as well as things going on in the track. Mix at a modest level and if that woofer is jumping out like cold nipple, definetely turn down that low end.


In other words, practice your mixing and continue learning your monitor as well as your room.

Basstraps really helped me the most. oh and that freq analyzer thing I downloaded from Ethan's website.

Good Luck

Malcolm
 
mackie hr824's suck.. they're shit.. they have no bass, no punch, no dynamics, shitty stereo imaging. and the genelec 1031's aren't much better...

last night we had 3 pair of monitors hooked up
the mackies, genelecs and asp8's(events)....
the event asp8's are just about the BEST nearfield monitors out.. nothing can touch them under $5000. the westlakes were real nice but they're up there in price..

i use to think the mackies were nice, now i see they're shit. and for damn sure they aren't flat, anyone that has used them in a major session knows that...
 
c9,

> mackie hr824's suck... genelec 1031's aren't much better <

Spoken with the voice of true authority. :D

--Ethan
 
man we didn't change anything. all we did was unhook the mackies, setup the gen's. then the events. and the new events are serious..
damn, the gens are 3200 and they're garbage vs the asp8's.. i use to like the mackies but i always thought the bass and mids was muddy and the highs are to bright due to the metel tweeter...no i see i wasn't trippin
 
those mackies are fucking awful. put some mixes on through them that i had done through tannoy reveals. they just sounded terrible- but the same mixes sounded shit hot on like every hi-fi i tryed them on.

they also seem to popular for the same reasons as NS-10s ( overblown high end the makes them seem pretty flat to the mildly deaf) i was once at a studio that had them and NS10s, your ears would bejust tierd after the first hour!!!
 
See how opinions work.

I have my 824's and Love the snot out of them been using them since 97. Great speakers for the price, very accurrate.

And I hate Events.

I am not a major fan of tannoys the top end always felt funny to me and this was before Mackie even designed a nearfield. But see once again that is subjective.

I always felt the tannoys to be a tad on the false side.

Love Westlakes though. But no westlake budget.

So yeah you have those who hate em, and those who love wm. Who is right????

Only your EARS can judge that.

Personally I'd buy another pair and I am gonna buy another pair for the next studio I build starting in January.

Oh yeah and on the detail thing.

When I bought my Mackies I A/b'd them in the same room with.....


Tannoys, Events, Genelecs.

They had the best iamging to me. I used MJ's Human Nature as my test CD and I heard MORE detail and a lot of the subtleties in the mix with the Mackies then I did with the others...Genelecs were harsher than the Mackies. and of course lighter in the bottom end

The mix was the smoothest with the Mackies than with the others...

Oh well, That is why I bought mine....

Oh Yeah, and I was in a REAL studio too.

I went out and ordered mine the next day.

Bryan Giles

THE ONLY SPEAKERS better than that to me under 5 grand is the Klein and Hummel O300D. And those are 3-way cabinets.

IMO.

Mix On


Oh Yeah and those events you speak of, I heard them a/b about a month ago with the mackies, JBL LSR 28, and the Genelecs.

I HATED THEM. They are overly harsh and britle, False brightness to cover up a lame heritage. Nice shiney case, but false reference. IMO
 
Ah yes another monitor debate, while it's kinda fun to talk about it really dosn't get you too far in terms of making the big purchase. From my experinece in the world of monitor shopping I will offer you these humble words of wisdom...

Before you make your final choice you really must take home the monitors and try them in your enviroment with music you are extremely familiar with. It's the only way to find the monitors that are right for you.

Now about those mackie's...

I was impressed the first time I heard them at my friends studio but quickly found that they were not all there made out to be. You just have to spend some time with them to realize why a lot of people diss them. It could also explain why most of my friends work lately has had trouble translating to other systems. At first I thought they were realy clear and punchy but soon changed after listening to playback for afew hours. They became rather cold and unflatering, and the music needed extreme tweaks to make it sound decent. When it finaly sounded good we took the mixdown and played it on many different systems, I could tell after these tests that they did indeed not sound good outside the studio. You could blame it on the monitors or the room or the engining but in this case they did not do the trick. To each there own and good luck to you in your search.
 
Folks,

> i wasn't trippin <
> those mackies are fucking awful <

Any comparison of speakers that doesn't take place in a room with proper acoustic treatment is assessing the room a lot more than the speakers. That is, what you're really comparing is how the speakers respond in adverse circumstances. And in that case all bets are off.

--Ethan
 
i was in a damn good studio running a accel hd3 system.. the mackies sound good.. but they're not asp8's..
i'm willing to bet someone that has 824's to model asp8's in the same room and i bet 99% of you will choose the asp8's.

the studio i was at just got rid of the mackies yesterday for the asp8's and some adam's.. both blow the mackies away.. but if you mackies are giving you good mixes, use them...
i'm gonna make a order for my asp8's in a few weeks.. my 20/20bas's fall short vs the asp8's
 
Whut Ethan said......even a 'Proper Studio' may have sound issues. As for whats best, only you can determine that and its going to take a while to assess. Sure you can take a reference source which you know well and flesh out some differences in sets of monitors.....this a good starting point....but the truth in monitoring will not happen until you've done several complex mixes in your own environment and then listened to how these translate in the real world. Its always sad to hear of peoples growing hatred of particular pieces of gear.Sorry to hear that.Its also a bit overboard to claim one thing is better than another for ALL situations..Kinda presumptuous....In my experience, anything Genelec,Adams,Upper end Tannoy,and several others in a properly tuned room will give the clarity and accuracy one needs to produce quality mixes that travel well.

As Ethan suggested, its all about the room with the monitors secondary to that. Monitors are ,however, your most important purchase as far as gear is concerned.
 
cavedog101 said:
In my experience, anything Genelec,Adams,Upper end Tannoy,and several others in a properly tuned room will give the clarity and accuracy one needs to produce quality mixes that travel well.
Click to expand...
i agree.. i've always used the 1031's.. i love them.. i haven't had one bad mix on them. i've had some mixes that i think i could have went back and chaged something.. but the mixes sounded good anywhere on any stereo.. thats what we're really after right..
in my control room i have my partners 1030's.. i get great mixes with them and trully better mixes than my 20/20bas's.. but sonically, they don't compare to the asp8's.
my boy is gonna let me use his pair for the weekend when he goes outta town. my room with out a doubt acoustically isn't very good.. i've learned to work with it for now..
so i'ma see how the asp8's do in here.. but in the studio i was in, they outshined the mackies and the gen1031's..

sorry for the gear hating... most ppl bash the hell outta ns-10's.. but ppl use them and get good mixes..
 
Basically,, to each his own when it comes to monitors.

I am not comparing any of them because I have never had them in my studio. But to say that the 824s have no bass makes me wonder. The problem I had with my 824s when I first started mixing on them was the fact that my tracks lacked bass. I was hearing lows that were really from the room acoustics therefore causing me to back off the low end while mixing. I got some bass traps and now things are a lot better.


Malcolm
 
the bass from the mackies... its dirty and muddy.. its not clean..
when i hook the the mpc and triton.. start making a bassline.. the 1030's have more punch and overal more bass than the 824's..
 
c9-2001 said:
the bass from the mackies... its dirty and muddy.. its not clean..
when i hook the the mpc and triton.. start making a bassline.. the 1030's have more punch and overal more bass than the 824's..
Click to expand...


Cool.

Hey did you try the switches on the back of the 824s? The switches correlates to where the 824s are placed in a room. Just curious.

Depending on the room determines which of these settings to use.

http://www.mackie.com/home/showimage.html?u=/products/hr824/images/HR824Rear.JPG


Malcolm
 
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