Money on monitors or interface?

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A.D.Ryan

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Hey guys!
Let`s say you have 600 bucks to spend on monitors and interface. Would you spend 400 on monitors and 200 on interface, or 400 on interface and 200 on monitors? Are monitors more important than interface in a home studio?
Cheers
 
I'd spend the money on room treatment before dropping a dime on monitors. If your room is not good it really doesn't matter what you are listening on
 
The room looks good but it can be improved. So... first the room and then the monitors? I would have chosen a more expensive interface over the monitors! I still don`t understand why monitors are more important than the interface....
 
A.D.Ryan said:
Hey guys!
Let`s say you have 600 bucks to spend on monitors and interface. Would you spend 400 on monitors and 200 on interface, or 400 on interface and 200 on monitors? Are monitors more important than interface in a home studio?
Cheers
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For $600, I would get the Emu 0404 USB ($200) and the KRK RP6 G2 monitors ($200 each).
 
A.D.Ryan said:
The room looks good but it can be improved. So... first the room and then the monitors? I would have chosen a more expensive interface over the monitors! I still don`t understand why monitors are more important than the interface....
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You need to be able to hear accurately what you are mixing. generally PC speakers have a limited frequency response and are tuned to sound good as are HiFi speakers
You also want a fairly nuetral room sound for recording live instruemnts and vocals so you don't get too much of the room reflections in the recording, especially in a bedroom studio where room acoustics are not a design priority. If you are using Abbey Road's live room then it is desireable to have some room sound in there too.
For mixing you want as flat response from the monitor speakers as possible to accurately hear what you are mixing. This will ensure the mix works well on a wide variety of playback systems not just sounds good right in front of your computer.

However...
If you do not have a well treated room you get all kinds of problems in the lower frequencies. Waves either combine to over emphasize or completely null each other so you really have no idea if the bass/low end you are hearing is coming from the monitors or being reflected and magnified or decreased by the room itself. The stereo image can also be misleading if you don't tame these reflections.
END RESULT: you walk out of your mix room with a CD fire it up in the car ready to impress you friends and the lowend is non existent, can't hear that funky bass line and the kick drum is totally wimpy, not thumping and driving the music along(if your room is emphasizing bass causing you to turn down the low end to compensate) or alternatively you are overwhelemd with bass and the whole thing sounds like a muddy mess(if the reverse is happening in your room) the stereo image is all messed up and the whole thing sounds like crap.

Room treatment while not at all sexy, covered in flashing lights and VU meters will by far have the most significant impact at the outset.

A more expensive interface will normally get you more inputs/outputs and a Firewire connection instead of a USB connection (Unless you are talking about some really serious money where better converters and pres will start to factor in to the equation) which if you are doing a track or two at a time recording in a hom studio won't really make any significant quality difference at all
 
I respectfully disagree with bristol. Dont get me wrong, room treatment is important, but in my experience, it should not be overemphasized when on a tight budget.

In my experience, when there is a strict budget, it becomes a matter of what is essential vs. what you would ideally have.

Bottom line, an interface is top priority for any beginner home studio. Think about it like this, If you could only have one of the three (interface, monitors, or treatment) which would you choose?

I say focus on getting a decent interface first, then focus on monitors, and you can slowly start treating your room once you start to identify specific acoustic problems with your personal rig.

I do have a question, why is it 400 vs 200? why not just divide it right down the middle, I reckon you could get a pretty good beginner interface and monitors for 300 each and even better if you go with used equipment.

Did you have any specific products in mind?
 
rnelson said:
I respectfully disagree with bristol. Dont get me wrong, room treatment is important, but in my experience, it should not be overemphasized when on a tight budget.

In my experience, when there is a strict budget, it becomes a matter of what is essential vs. what you would ideally have.

Bottom line, an interface is top priority for any beginner home studio. Think about it like this, If you could only have one of the three (interface, monitors, or treatment) which would you choose?

I say focus on getting a decent interface first, then focus on monitors, and you can slowly start treating your room once you start to identify specific acoustic problems with your personal rig.

I do have a question, why is it 400 vs 200? why not just divide it right down the middle, I reckon you could get a pretty good beginner interface and monitors for 300 each and even better if you go with used equipment.

Did you have any specific products in mind?
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That's fair enough I'm just one opinion.

The reason for my opinion is generally on these getting started threads we are all gung ho for the shiny new gear but then in a few weeks the proud owner of all this new gear then comes back to the forums with a post about how they have all this gear with the word "Pro" in the product name but their mixes sound like sh!t and don't translate to other systems, waht's up with that and what are the secret tricks the pros aren't telling us

If I were starting over I would at the very least build or buy 4 bass traps and take care of the room corners before I even took the interface out of the box

Again just one opinion YMMV
 
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Gehauser, thanks mate! It was just an example. I have about 1200 bucks to spend on monitors and interface. So that would be 600 for the interface, 300 and 300 for the monitors.
 
Bristol Posse said:
If I were starting over I would at the very least build or buy 4 bass traps and take care of the room corners before I even took the interface out of the box

Again just one opinion YMMV
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and now two opinions. ;)

Spot on BristolDude :D
 
Bristol, the room is more like a wardrobe! And it`s really small. The 30 jackets, 40 towels, 7 blankets etc pretty much take care of the sound. It would help if I could isolate the window with something, but that`s pretty much it.
 
Rnelson, Thanks mate. I kind of feel the same way. My "wardrobe" seems pretty good for recording so I`m tempted to invest the money in interface and speakers.
 
A.D.Ryan said:
Bristol, the room is more like a wardrobe! And it`s really small. The 30 jackets, 40 towels, 7 blankets etc pretty much take care of the sound. It would help if I could isolate the window with something, but that`s pretty much it.
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Yikes!
Will you be mixing in there too? any other options for space?

Small room = generally much worse than big room and jackets and towels will not work very effectively as bass traps.

Recording in there is probably going to give you a really boxy sound and mixing would be a nightmare I would think but try it and see
 
Bristol Posse. To tell you the truth, I will only be recording the vocals here. My friend back home will record the instruments in a studio. As I said, the room seems to be swallowing the sound. But I can hear some birds chirping outside. That can`t be good. So.... I need to do something about the window, right? I`ll look into the bass traps too.
 
A.D.Ryan said:
Bristol Posse. To tell you the truth, I will only be recording the vocals here. My friend back home will record the instruments in a studio. As I said, the room seems to be swallowing the sound. But I can hear some birds chirping outside. That can`t be good. So.... I need to do something about the window, right? I`ll look into the bass traps too.
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I live in the countryside and have birds and stuff chirping around outside too
Here's some of my tried and tested methods in my situation

1) go outside and throw rocks at the birds before I record to see if I can't scare them off (kinda like airports do to try and reduce bird strike incidents, although maybe they use automated shotguns..hmm not sure how my neighbors and the cops would feel about that)

2) if the birds won't go away try and record at times of day when it is quieter outside

3) Use a dynamic mic for recording vocals (personally I lke the SM7b but there are tons of great dynamics for vocals) and keep the recording end pointed away from the area where bird noise originates. The cartoid patern of the and lower sensetivity mic means that sounds from behind the mic (non recording end) are pretty effectively rejected

4) Put two or three layers of heavy, heavy, moving blankets over the window to help cut the external noise a little

Me personally, I'd rather risk a tiny bird chirp and record vox in a big space where I can be more expressive (wave my arms around and stuff while I perform), not feel claustraphobic and have it show up in my vocal (which I'm still working on trying to be more confortable with) and not have to deal with a boxy, wardrobe sounding vocal.
 
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A.D.Ryan said:
Bristol Posse. To tell you the truth, I will only be recording the vocals here. My friend back home will record the instruments in a studio. As I said, the room seems to be swallowing the sound. But I can hear some birds chirping outside. That can`t be good. So.... I need to do something about the window, right? I`ll look into the bass traps too.
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Along my recording journey (a pretty short one, I might add, lol) I've passed through this stage; recording in a closet and mixing in my room.

The truth is, sometimes, its all you can afford, and it makes less sense to keep buying new interfaces and monitors as your ears get better, as opposed to treating a room little by little as money keeps coming in, and a good 400 interface will last you for a good while.

Closets or wardrobes with enough stuff in them will provide a good environment for vocals I think, yeah there are no bass traps, but voice recording is not something that gets terribly loud and presents problems when room treatment is not 'professional'.

Obviously Im not saying it is a perfect vocal booth, but I can understand where youre coming from, and we all gotta start somewhere. Again, spend more money as your ears start to develop and notice various audio quality problems, til then, have fun with what you have.

EDIT: as far as the windows go, you could always seal it with gypsum or plywood, and that would probably give you good enough isolation to record, then again birds chirping isnt really an unpleasant or easily notable sound on a recording unless it is really pronounced, which I doubt. If there were a lot of trucks passing outside your window then you'd have a bigger problem.
 
Bristol, it`s not a wardrobe! It`s like half the size of a normal room. So I can play the guitar in here. Hell, I can even play the drums if I want to:) There is enough space.About 4.5 meters long and 3.5 meters wide. I got it, a dynamic mike. Yeah i like the idea of killing 2 birds with one stone:)) The neighbors might be against it though!
 
Rnelson. Here in Japan, where I live, it`s very quiet. No trucks. Just the trucks and the Buddhist monks (at 5 in the morning). We have 5 temples on the street where we live. Go figure. the chirping isn`t very pronounced. So maybe the dynamic mike would do the job. I`d rather spend more money now and get a 5 or 6 hundred buck USB interface, some good monitors and headphones.And a mike. I guess I`ll have to get rid of my Shure 58. The ironic thing is that I`ve never even used it.
 
Bristol Posse ( Interface)

So you`re saying that if I don`t need a lot of inputs and outputs ( which i don't) spending 200 or 400 bucks on an interface is the same thing? What`s your favourite 200 to 500 dollar USB interface?
 
Bristol, the room is more like a wardrobe! And it`s really small
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Bristol, it`s not a wardrobe! It`s like half the size of a normal room
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Well now I'm really confused :confused:

time for a drink I think and then off to scare away some California Quails so I can try out some scratch vocals :drunk:

So you`re saying that if I don`t need a lot of inputs and outputs ( which i don't) spending 200 or 400 bucks on an interface is the same thing? What`s your favourite 200 to 500 dollar USB interface?
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Personally I had great luck with an m-audio fastrack Pro (usb) staring out, 2 preamps, 2 outs for monitors and even an insert if you want outboard FX and SPIDF for digital connectio to chain with other gear. for the money I thought it was very acceptable.

Eventually I had to upgrade to a fire wire interface (stuck with m-audio, profire 610) because I needed to be able to stream 8 outputs to a summing mixer and 2 inputs back in for recording simultaneously and USB didn't have the bandwidth to do that for me.

That's just been my experience however and since I really haven't tried other products I don't have a point of comparison to say these choices were a better or worse quality than any other brand. And on a home recording forum that is likely to be the case with most opinions you get about gear. most of us like what we have but don't know if it's significantly better/worse/different than similar specced/priced competing products
 
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