Newbie-Digital Recording

[stratosaurus]

I just bought a Boss BR-1180CD, which is my first Digital Recorder.
I'm not new to recording, but I've never took it serious, other than to make a few cassettes to just keep a record of things I've written. Just basically Tascam Porta one & 488, Shure Sm58, multi-effects for guitar, plug it all in direct & cheap, very cheap headphone.
I guess I'll take it a bit further now. I just purchased a some Sony MDR-7506 headphones, which is the 1st time I've spent over $5 for headphones. I'm doing some research on studio reference monitors & believe I'll go with actives.
The problem I'm having is the for recording, I've always leaned toward the cheap side & I'm still having a BIG battle with the thought of putting $300+ or even $200 into studio monitors. Knowing me, I'll probably just get a set of Roland MA-8's....which leads me to my 1st question...
Roland makes some pretty decent stuff & if you go into the typical music store, you see Roland & Mackie monitors all the time...yet out of all my reading on HR, I'll never seen anyone even mention Roland Studio Monitors....what gives?

 

[Rokket]

I think most people want what the pro studios use, and at the moment they are not Roland monitors. Doesn't mean they are not any good, just that they are not used by the folks on this board. I've seen recommendations for Yorkvilles, Wharfedales (which are the monitor of choice here), Fostex and Alesis. I don't know why no one uses Roland Monitors.

 

[SPINSTERWUN]

Okay, stratosaurus....

I'll try to explain your inquisition in an around-about-manner.

Speakers (as well as headphones) are created to make music sound good.

In a producers aspect, you want a speaker that will represent the true sound of the music you are creating, not a colorized version of it.

Your monitor choice will depend on what you are trying to accomplish with your music AND on what type of system/s your music will be listened.

You would notice that if you make music on the Rolands, your mixdowns will sound greatly different from what you hear in your home studio compared to how it sounds in your car, your friends car, club #1, club #2, the music directors office at radio station, and the A&R's desk at the record label.

Your monitor selection will also depend on the type/s of music you are creating.

For example, if you are making commercial R&B, Rap, or Hip-Hop you will need a monitor with a larger woofer (and probably an additional sub-woofer) to reproduce the lower frequencies that the genre necessitates.

Anyway..................

I could talk all day about this subject, so I will let someone else expound on your question.

 

[spectrescape]

Sort of off-topic - I've seen Rolands used in film/video editing suites. Probably not the most accurate speakers, as most film sound is done in a separate room, but apparently decent enough to use for simple monitoring.

I am also aware that this post in no way helps anything.

 

[stratosaurus]

Sort of off-topic - I've seen Rolands used in film/video editing suites. Probably not the most accurate speakers, as most film sound is done in a separate room, but apparently decent enough to use for simple monitoring.

I am also aware that this post in no way helps anything.

Well it kinda does, since I looking for an excuse not to spend the big $ for reference monitors.

 

[spectrescape]

Well it kinda does, since I looking for an excuse not to spend the big $ for reference monitors.

I just remembered - check out Tapco - I have no experience with them myself, but Mix gave their 2.1 monitoring setup a positive review, and as I recall they weren't too pricey. Tapco is also a subsidiary of Mackie.