Maybe this is a dumb question, but...

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oceanflame

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...when I mix a song, put it down on a final track (mixdown) and listen to it in my studio monitors; it sounds really nice, the sound is perfect to my ears.

BUT, when I listen to the same file/song on my "shitty-boxes", as I call them, the computer speakers, why does it sound so awful?

I know they are indeed awful speakers, but when I listen to, I don't know, let's say Bryan Adams, or Dream Theater, or Sergei Rachmaninoff, or Pink Floyd, it's still sounds good.

Am I missing something ? Is there a magic button called something like: "shitty-boxes option mix" ? ;)

Please someone give me the light...
 
okay, this is a weird thing i've never really shared but here it goes.

i used to have the same problem. i would mix my songs, they'd sound great on the monitors and expensive speakers...

when i played them in cheap pc speakers the song sounded like it was bleeding all over the place. like some sounds were exploding or something like that.

what i did was start mixing with the cheap speakers and it will sound weird but it worked. the songs sound just perfect when done like this, on all, monitors, cheap speaks, expensive speakers, car stereo... etc etc. the cheap speakers let me know of even the most little flaws the song has.

i'm pretty sure this is not recommended or not a common practice at all.. but it's worked wonders for me so far. i'm not saying you should do the same i'm just sharing my experience i guess. hopefully, you'll get some professional input on this and some common/recommended ways of going about it.
 
That is not a generally accepted practice, but I think I am going to try that at some point. I have also had this problem. Also, if you haven't mastered your stuff then there is a big difference in your songs and Bryan Adams and Pink Floyd. It would be like comparing the movie Avatar to Gone With The Wind. Just not the same quality. Of course, you may have mastered your stuff and everything that I have said doesn't make any sense(usually the case). Good luck!
 
I laughed at xxl comment, 'cause yes indeed, it looks like the song is destroying the pc speakers, but I'll try mixing with them, though I hate listening stuff through them. But I'll do it because, let's say I sell/give/or whatever my cd, and the guy puts it on his pc and listen through "shitty-boxes", it'll sound awful at best. So I'll try this option I guess. Thanks for the output! Haven't thought about that really.
 
imho...;)

sounds more like a room treatment issue. Or a lack of treatment.
When the room is tuned, ya hear more of what's really goin on in the mix.
Kinda hard to fix it if ya don't know where it's broke. :)

my 2 bucks...(inflation :D)
 
You need to consider the acoustics and placement of your monitors in the room first. Then consider looking at new monitors if you still can't get an acurate mix from the ones you have.

It's always good practice to listen to your mixes on a variety of sound systems. Listen to your mix in the car, on your tv, and on your computer speakers as you did before. Not many people have a great monitoring system to listen to their music on and ill go out on a limb and say no one has the same monitors in the same enviroment as you.
 
I can never get miy mixes sounding right on small computer speakers either...on MP3 players, HiFi, headphones etc but never those crappy wee things...I despair :( :)
 
And just to further the acoustics point...;)

If I were to start all over again I'd start with...

Room Treatment First. :cool:

also imho....acoustic treatment is more important than monitors

although ...
Monitors Second..... on my priority list.

luck to you...:)
 
Agreed with others.. but also, when you are mixing use some of those CD's/songs that sound great in the 'crap speakers' as references.

Your mix might sound good on the good gear, until you listen to the other songs on the good gear. Then your mixes might sound like crap on the good gear.

hope that makes sense....
 
Dogbreath said:
also imho....acoustic treatment is more important than monitors

although ...
Monitors Second..... on my priority list.
Click to expand...

This is my opinion as well. Start with acoustics then spend money on equipment.
 
Zeppe said:
This is my opinion as well. Start with acoustics then spend money on equipment.
Click to expand...

Yup. Chances are, it doesn't even sound good on your big speakers either. You just think it does because A) Everything seems to sound better loud. B) You're used to the way your tunes sound coming out of them.

Read up on room treatment. It's the most important part of the equation (besides good ears, talent, mic placement, proper gain-staging, mixing skills, etc......). :)
 
Mixing on computer speakers and hoping it sounds good on real systems is dumb, ass-backwards logic. If your monitors, room, and ears are right, your monitor mix will sound good everywhere.
 
No that I mind....but why is this in the MP3 Clinic? I think it should be in the Mixing/Mastering or Recording forum.
 
I know that the acoustic in the room may be the real problem here. My mixing room is kinda... small...

But for the "earing" thing, I mean, my mix travel well, even though my mixing place/acoustic isn't the best place in the world. I burn a CD and listen to it on my home system, car and it still sounds amazing. It's just those damn pc speakers.

When it comes to mixing, I usually have some cds I listen to for reference, and these cds are playing right in my studio monitors. So let's say when I want the drum to sound like Genesis, I put my Genesis cd, and try to EQ my whole set. And then my drums sounds (not a 100% like), but almost identical to the Genesis cd in my studio monitors. And this applies for all the other instruments I do. So my mixes and the cds sounds almost the same in my studio monitors.

So I don't think the problem is my "hearing", or my studio monitors, it's probably the acoustic then. Just so you can get a picture, my mixing room is really a "dwarf-place", it's a 20' x 5'. Yes, 20' x 5'. Like I said, it's not the best place on Earth to mix.

But I'll try, even if it looks dumb, to mix through the pc speakers, just to see what it sounds like.

Hope this make sense... whatever...
 
the room treatment myth. jesus christ.

it's valid for recording but not for mixing. it's one of the most stupid arguments i've seen.

ocean i've mixed from studios with treated walls and enviroments to my own bedroom and it all comes down to simply having healthy ears. forget about room treatment, it's a waste of money for mixing purposes.

try my method and see how it works. also the cheaper the speakers... the lower the volume. so when you turn it up just a bit you might hear bleeding... so try using some cheap speakers with at least these specifications:

Satellite Speaker Power: 2 Watts RMS per channel (2 channels)
Subwoofer Power: 5 Watts RMS
Frequency Response: 40Hz ~ 20 kHz
Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR): 70dB

that way you get decent loud volume without it bleeding or sounding exploded when it's not supposed to. i'd recommend the a200 by creative:

http://asia.creative.com/products/p...category=27&product=16973&nav=0&listby=config

i use those as the main sources .. then everything else (expensive speakers, monitors, headphones) as reference.

with this info you're ready to go and you'll be loving how smooth it'll be from now on. it'll be hard at first because they will let you know of every little flaw and overlapping frequency there is on the mix but it'll pay off in the end. good luck!!
 
xxl said:
the room treatment myth. jesus christ.

it's valid for recording but not for mixing. it's one of the most stupid arguments i've seen.
Click to expand...

That's got to be the stupidest thing I've read in a long time.

If anything, it's the other way around.:rolleyes:
 
xxl said:
the room treatment myth. jesus christ.

it's valid for recording but not for mixing. it's one of the most stupid arguments i've seen.
Click to expand...

This is easily, and by far, the stupidest post made on this entire BBS since it's inception. Congrats, you raised and lowered the retard bar at the same time.
 
xxl said:
the room treatment myth. jesus christ.

it's valid for recording but not for mixing. it's one of the most stupid arguments i've seen.

ocean i've mixed from studios with treated walls and enviroments to my own bedroom and it all comes down to simply having healthy ears. forget about room treatment, it's a waste of money for mixing purposes.
Click to expand...

JUST for the sake of argument, could you please post us some of your mixes so we can HEAR what you are talking about?

I didn't notice any link to your work.

Oh...and by the way..have you by chance listened to any of RAMI's or Greg_L's work?...you really should.

Thanks

True
 
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