Sheer luck, homes......
I have read tons of threads about demoing monitors in the store, at home, using a reference disc... Well what about those of us with no experience? I want to buy some nearfield monitors that will give me years of good use, allow me to learn and improve and that I wont outgrow, but I dont have experience with great monitors to compare to nor do I have a reference cd that I know inside and out after listening on such great "accurate" speakers. So, how do I pick? Any thoughts before I plop down the cash?
Ultimately it's sheer flukery if you have no experience. And even other peoples' opinions and experiences are not always that helpful {including mine} because we are not you, we are not mixing your music, we don't live with you and therefore can't gauge your mixing room, we don't have your tastes and preferences etc.........
Unless a pro or someone that is experienced lends you a set for 5 weeks so you can demo them in depth and try out some mixes, you are essentially screwed.
Having read those
it shouldn't have escaped your notice that one person's "great monitor" is another person's "bête noire", one person's zenith is someone else's nemesis, one person's apogee is another's nadir and there
isn't universal agreement, even when it comes to monitors the professionals use. Among those professionals !
I know that often the advice given is "save some more for a decent set" and don't get me wrong, it's great advice that no one should ever criticize you for taking. Paradoxically however, it ain't
that great advice because even if you save a million quid, that million quid, while buying you probably unbelievable monitors, won't buy you the experience that forms the underlying bulwark of this thread.
And it often
is sheer luck because the great monitors you might buy on 60% of the punters' recommendation, you might hate. There's no guarantee either way.
What I did, I did lots of reading about what monitors are meant to do, listened with my eyes to what people said in threads, debates and reviews then I looked for monitors I could afford. Which meant cheap ! I took a gamble and shelled out £114 or whatever it was and gambled that if they were really lousy, that £114 would be the price of an education. When I first listened to them they were very different from the stereo speakers I'd been using but I soon got used to them and I can now gauge how the kick drum will sound on regular speakers or how the bass will sound or if something will be a bit wooly or shrill. You get to know your monitors and how the mixes you do on them will sound on other systems and in other places. I think you will find that many people here have had more than one set of monitors in their lives. Why ? For the same reason many have used more than one DAW or tape recorder or amp or system, because that's just how it is. We're not born with this knowledge or experience, we acquire it. Through hard slog, some mistakes and spending some cash. And let's be honest, there's really not many here that seriously have never been able to find the money to buy gear or "upgrade".
I'm not knocking anyone's advice by the way. I think paradoxes abound in the field of recording ~ choosing monitors is simply one other.
) you just have to rely on what other people are talking.
