Monitors and headphones

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lukicore

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Hi all

My wife wants to buy a monitors for me for x-mass. She asked me question about it and me stupid i did not know what to say She can spend up to 300$. I have seen some M-audio monitors for 250 $ and others in the same range of price My question is What should i consider while buying monitors and headfhones for monitoring what specs Thanx for help
 
Pretty much any self-powered monitors are going to have FLAT RESPONSE - that's the key to monitoring, same goes for headphones.
 
mjbphotos said:
Pretty much any self-powered monitors are going to have FLAT RESPONSE - that's the key to monitoring, same goes for headphones.
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That would be nice were it the case. Unfortunately, not all self-powered monitors do have a flat response. Flatness of response depends, in part, on how much you spend on them.
 
Truly flat monitors would sound awful to most ears.

(in that price range)
 
Well...not really, since you aren't listening to the monitors...you're listening to the music coming from them. :)

And if the monitors have a flat response...then they won't color the music in some strange way and they will let the music sound as it was recorded.
 
Most of us are more used to listening to stereo speakers (most of the time anyway) so listening to studio monitors will be likely to sound bad untill you get used to what you are listening for, note I said listening for instead of listening to. Headphones act similar to stereo speakers in that they color the sound a little. Headphones are great for tracking but can decieve your ears when mixing. I've heard some very good mixes done with headphones and I've heard some bad ones too. The point I am trying to make is you need to be familiar with how your monitors or headphones reproduce the sound and then learn what to do so that sound will be reproduced by a stereo system. It takes a little practice, patience and carefull listening to become familiar with any gear.
 
yeah it is all nice but what should i look for? how i will know that monitors let say alesis activ 520 are better then others for 300$ im not proffesional so right now i dont need stuff for 1000$ Please give me a straight answer Thanx
 
I'm thinking shopping for monitors is probably the hardest thing to do in the Gear Acquisition phase. You can listen to a few side by side in a store, but none will sound the same in your own room. You can read reviews and forums all day long and they'll just take you around in circles. It's basically a crap shoot.

Find the most popular monitor in your price range and go with it. They are the most popular for a reason. Acoustically treat your room so you are putting the monitors in the best possible environment so they will give you what you need; your mix. Then listen, listen, listen to everything you can play through them and learn your monitors and your room.

If I were to give any advice on selection, I would say avoid 5" monitors. They just can't reproduce the low end good enough.

Good luck.
 
Ok thanx Now can you tell me what brands are the best ,good and bad ??? Is M-audio, alesis good brands for monitors ???? By the way Sorry about my english :P
 
lukicore said:
Ok thanx Now can you tell me what brands are the best ,good and bad ??? Is M-audio, alesis good brands for monitors ???? By the way Sorry about my english :P
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Now problem with your english.

I see mostly KRK's, M-Audio and behringer for that price range. Like I said, it's a crap shoot, roll the dice and take a chance.

Search through the forums, you might find a poll. Use the search function on the menu at the top of the page.

good luck.
 
If your wife is willing to increase the monitor budget to say, between $370-385, JBL's LSR 2325 actives is a excellent choice for monitoring that's un-flavored & un-colored offering a nearly accurate flat-freq'y representation of your recordings.I'm ol' school (& poor)using Tannoy Proto-J's & Event 20's, decent & serviceable for judging recorded tracks, but after hearing my crappy-@ss mixes thru my son's JBL LSR's (he got 'em fr Sam Ash on sale for $360) it's time for an upgrade!
A more detailed audio "picture" is presented by the JBL's than my current set-up hi'lite-ing
signal-dynamic flaws & various audio "screw-ups" in my crappy-@ss mixes I barely noticed in my "monnies!

If possible, audition as many monitors as you can in your price category(as well as head-phones if thats your choice). Bring a cd(s) (or whatever portable format you mix down to) of your music along with 1 professionally recorded by your fave artist as a reference point/comparison to determine which unit best presents a clean, clear & color-less audio representation of the recorded material. No boost or cut in eq freq'y levels whatsoever during auditioning (keep your eye on that sales/con-person who mite boost the lo/hi end sayin it's to "sweeten the sound"); you don't want "sweet"; you want a pair of monitors that provides the flattest/0-response translation of your mixes and mixdowns.

Wise advice on "learning" your monitoring system and audio enviorons has been
touched upon by others in this thread. Don't get "lazy-ear-i-titus"; (a disease caused by lazily judging & listening to your songs on only 1 format, rather than auditioning in various formats such as car cd player, home stereo, IPOD/MP3 player, etc) but most of all, have fun!

If you get a chance, check out those LSR's from JBL....them joints are the REAL DEAL!!!!!! IMHO of course!
 
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