monitors
- Thread starter Nola
- Start date
heatmiser
mr. green christmas
I'm afraid I can't recommend any specific models to you nola, but I am generally a fan of Yamaha products and have been very happy with anything of theirs I've ever bought.
My guess is that no matter what speakers you buy, in a smaller, untreated room, they are going to be inaccurate to some degree, and you will have to learn them. They will no doubt be easier to mix with than headphones though!
While the very best phones available would probably trump the worst pair of speakers you could find, in general, I think any decent speakers will be more accurate than most any pair of phones. Phones are still great for fine tuning certain things, and your mix should sound good on them as well, but if you get it sounding good through a pair of speakers, it almost always sounds good through phones...not necessarily true the other way around.
But yeah, whatever you get, learn them. Play a metric shit ton of music through them to get to know how they color music. Listen to stuff you know really well...listen to your old mixes through them...listen to all genres and then listen some more. lol
My feeling is that you can mix reasonably well on almost any speakers, once you get to know them. It just takes a lot longer to get to know shitty speakers. Once you're really familiar with how they sound, you will compensate automatically for their deficiencies without even thinking about it...without even knowing you're compensating, because at that point, that's just how music sounds, you know?
I myself use bose 301's...perhaps the least recommended speaker for mixing on this site. lol But, I've owned them for over 20 years, so music to me just inherently sounds like it's coming through those speakers. Whatever issues I have with my mixes, having them translate differently to other systems isn't generally one of them. If you're on a budget and have space constraints, you can overcome those factors.
My guess is that no matter what speakers you buy, in a smaller, untreated room, they are going to be inaccurate to some degree, and you will have to learn them. They will no doubt be easier to mix with than headphones though!
While the very best phones available would probably trump the worst pair of speakers you could find, in general, I think any decent speakers will be more accurate than most any pair of phones. Phones are still great for fine tuning certain things, and your mix should sound good on them as well, but if you get it sounding good through a pair of speakers, it almost always sounds good through phones...not necessarily true the other way around.
But yeah, whatever you get, learn them. Play a metric shit ton of music through them to get to know how they color music. Listen to stuff you know really well...listen to your old mixes through them...listen to all genres and then listen some more. lol
My feeling is that you can mix reasonably well on almost any speakers, once you get to know them. It just takes a lot longer to get to know shitty speakers. Once you're really familiar with how they sound, you will compensate automatically for their deficiencies without even thinking about it...without even knowing you're compensating, because at that point, that's just how music sounds, you know?
I myself use bose 301's...perhaps the least recommended speaker for mixing on this site. lol But, I've owned them for over 20 years, so music to me just inherently sounds like it's coming through those speakers. Whatever issues I have with my mixes, having them translate differently to other systems isn't generally one of them. If you're on a budget and have space constraints, you can overcome those factors.
I agree getting to know your monitors.
This is the most important thing to do. Get to know your monitors: its your reference!!! And more: you have to like the sound coming from your monitors, if its a drag to listen to them: get rid of them, buy something you like the sound of.
And: NO SUBS, thats for home theatre.
I have some Tannoys around here, and my favourites are my Monitor Golds, and its amazing how I sometimes get fooled by my other Tannoys, getting to a reasonable final mix: Its very important to have a reference you like and also listen on all other kinds of speakers to your mixes, to finally end up again with your reference and if you are happy then after all that with the result you produced, listening on it on your reference speakers, ie your monitors, then you did your job well. Thats how it works with monitors. Yamaha's are quite good sounding monitors as well, but there are many around nowadays.
Cheers,
Hans.
This is the most important thing to do. Get to know your monitors: its your reference!!! And more: you have to like the sound coming from your monitors, if its a drag to listen to them: get rid of them, buy something you like the sound of.
And: NO SUBS, thats for home theatre.
I have some Tannoys around here, and my favourites are my Monitor Golds, and its amazing how I sometimes get fooled by my other Tannoys, getting to a reasonable final mix: Its very important to have a reference you like and also listen on all other kinds of speakers to your mixes, to finally end up again with your reference and if you are happy then after all that with the result you produced, listening on it on your reference speakers, ie your monitors, then you did your job well. Thats how it works with monitors. Yamaha's are quite good sounding monitors as well, but there are many around nowadays.
Cheers,
Hans.
jimmys69
MOODerator
I agree that 'getting to know' your monitors is crucial and solid advice. That is forever true. And as well the listening on other systems to check yourself.
The "NO SUBS, thats for home theatre" comment is likely warranted in the OP's situation, but it is not solid advice for everyone. A 'properly set-up and placed' subwoofer is only an accurate extension of the frequency range that a single speaker can't reproduce. If mixing media that has these low frequencies, then one must have the ability to hear/feel them.
Acoustic treatment of a room is the best/least expensive investment any and every studio environment will immediately hear results of. Small room, no acoustic treatment, subwoofer... Probably not a good idea IMO.
Just attempting to make your point clear.
Cheers back at ya Hans!
Martin Maniac
New member
I just bought a pair of the Yamaha HS8's. I searched the internet for reviews about many types of monitors and the HS8's came out on top in my due diligence. MIX Magazine gives them a glowing rave review. They're recommended for mixing. They are built like a tank. My 23 year old NS-10's needed upgrading and I'm happy to get a 8" speaker and the 120 watts of amplification for each cabinet. I found a used but like new set on eBay and saved about $250 bucks off of sale price. They are supposed to arrive next week.