mix down poll
- Thread starter jasgav
- Start date
Some well respect persons in this field have suggested that untill the room/environment is in good shape, any reasonably accurate monitor of your taste can work about as well as another.
From there, it's up to us too learn how to work with the system we have.
How 'neutral' is the high-end home system?
Wayne
From there, it's up to us too learn how to work with the system we have.
How 'neutral' is the high-end home system?
Wayne
I'm not sure of the answer to your question. But I can say that a trusted mastering engineer friend of mine had a mastering setup using high-end, consumer klipsch speakers to do his work... I suppose to each his own. Test them out and see which you are personally getting better results with.
I would not recommend either if you are at all serious about your recordings. Consumer stereos are generally “colored” in the low end and somewhat in the highs too. That is to say that they tend to boost the lows more so than what is actually on the original recorded material. They do this on purpose because most living rooms are dead with carpeting, drapes, wooden furniture, etc. If their speakers sounded too bland, not many consumers would fall in love with them.
On the other hand, cheap studio monitors may not be flat. That means that they do not play each and all frequencies at equal volumes. In other words, they are not reliable for a good analysis of your mix. While mixing, you may feel that certain frequencies need cut or boosted and then during playback on another system you find out you should have done the opposite. They can be frustrating to work with.
To get the most bang for your buck, you can always turn to the cans. Some headphones are designed to act exactly like decent studio monitors. They are tested and very reliable at providing a good near-field environment. They reproduce frequencies much closer to flat than cheapo monitors in a poor room ever could.
Some engineers will argue the matter to the ends of the earth. They say you should never mix down in cans. But hey, if you only have $99 in your budget, it works in a pinch. I once used a $99 pair of Sony MDR-7506 to mix and master a song. My friends were quite impressed. It translates beautifully to every stereo system we’ve ever played it on. They sound open, spacious, level, and silky smooth. They are easy on the head and don’t cause hearing fatigue.
I also hear good things about the “Extreme Isolation” headphones.
I don’t know what your budget is but, for $200 or $300, you could have studio cans that will surely blow away any low budget near-field monitor on the planet.
On the other hand, cheap studio monitors may not be flat. That means that they do not play each and all frequencies at equal volumes. In other words, they are not reliable for a good analysis of your mix. While mixing, you may feel that certain frequencies need cut or boosted and then during playback on another system you find out you should have done the opposite. They can be frustrating to work with.
To get the most bang for your buck, you can always turn to the cans. Some headphones are designed to act exactly like decent studio monitors. They are tested and very reliable at providing a good near-field environment. They reproduce frequencies much closer to flat than cheapo monitors in a poor room ever could.
Some engineers will argue the matter to the ends of the earth. They say you should never mix down in cans. But hey, if you only have $99 in your budget, it works in a pinch. I once used a $99 pair of Sony MDR-7506 to mix and master a song. My friends were quite impressed. It translates beautifully to every stereo system we’ve ever played it on. They sound open, spacious, level, and silky smooth. They are easy on the head and don’t cause hearing fatigue.
I also hear good things about the “Extreme Isolation” headphones.
I don’t know what your budget is but, for $200 or $300, you could have studio cans that will surely blow away any low budget near-field monitor on the planet.
Massive Master
www.massivemastering.com
Rev E said:
I dont' know of a mastering engineer that works through studio monitors... It'a almost always high to audiophile quality monitoring.
That being said, I can't mix worth a darn through my mastering setup. I have to either use my nearfield reference monitors, or (more likely) I swap out my mid-fields with JBL S-38's, which are sort of a hybrid studio monitor / hi-fi unit. Wonderful speakers... Too bland to master with, but fantastic for tracking and mixing...
John Scrip - www.massivemastering.com
musikman316
New member
Emily Lazar (The Lodge) doesn't use audiophile speakers, she uses Genelec 1030A's, but yes, it is true that most mastering engineers use audiophile speakers, I'm looking at building a mastering suite in my new studio and I'm thinking of using B&W Nautilus speakers...
Later,
musik
Later,
musik
Blue Bear Sound
New member
Not a bad choice at all - the B&W Nautilus speakers are very very nice!musikman316 said:
MISTERQCUE
Not Just Anutha Brutha
chessrock said:
What he said!