So with this in mind, would it be unfair to conclude that you don't feel good solid translatable mixes can be achieved on nearfield monitors ? Or is that putting conclusions in your mouth that you've not reached ?
GOOOOD question!!!
If a mix made on nearfields translates to a larger, full-range system,
it's partially an accident. If you mix to the lowest common denominator (in this case, smaller speakers), then it might sound fine on larger speakers, but it might be "limited in scope" (for lack of a better term). It could potentially sound better (again, lack of a better term -- I should really finish my coffee before trying to answer things like this).
Example -- SCENARIO 1: You've got a mix where there's tons of crap
for some odd reason down at 30Hz. A constant rumble due to a UPS truck idling outside the studio. The NF's roll off at 44Hz so that rumble isn't audible in those speakers. Put them on full range speakers and there's a giant crappy
rumble. Sure, you could just roll off everything under what the speakers can handle, but then:
SCENARIO 2: You've got a mix that has wonderful amounts of low end energy from a kick drum that sounds like a cannon. Can't hear it on the NF's, so the engineer rolls off the lows to the point where he can hear it (roll off). Sounds great on small speakers, sounds "okay" on big speakers (but could have more lows).
SCENARIO 2a: Same mix on big speakers has awesome thunder down under that the smaller speakers can't reproduce. Mix sounds great on big speakers, mix sounds
as good as the small speakers allow (that's the key there) on small speakers.
This goes back to Rule #1* of audio -- No matter years of experience, no matter 100's of $1000's in gear, no matter how well-tuned your listening skills, you will only ever hear what your monitoring chain allows you to hear. Top end...? Arguably less of an issue. Some great mixing engineers I know can't even hear video whine (which drives me batty, because video whine cuts through my brain like a hot knife through butter and it floors me that something with such a simple fix can get past entire production teams -- That said, again, it's a simple fix). But most "harshness" doesn't really live up there. Low end is entirely different -- and when the speakers being used can't accurately recreate a
huge amount of the energy that makes up the entire mix, you're leaving a huge amount to chance.
*
Rule #2 being -- No matter how accurate and consistent your monitoring chain may be, it will only ever be as accurate and consistent as the room they're in allows. If you're in a space that has a peak or a null point at 82Hz at the mix position, have a nice day if you're working on a song in 'E' --
All that aside -- Combine less-than-stellar in the low end rooms with less-than-stellar in the low end speakers and you can expect less than
stellar low end in the mixes. If it happens to come out great, it's hard to say why.
And in the end, the people who are affected by it are the ones that care the most about it -- The people that put the big $$$ into high-fidelity ("real" high-fidelity -- not "HiFi" if you know what I mean) are the people who really appreciate how good something sounds - and are turned off the most about how bad something might sound.
True story on my blog about an engineer with NF's who brought some mixes over to try on my D1's...
Tyler Acoustics Decade Series D1 Loudspeakers | Gear Review The stuff in question below the "factory" shot (near the photo of Dramatic Look Gopher).
If there's any phrase I'm actually just sick of hearing, it's (say with a sense of horror and disgust) "Oh... Wow, I didn't hear any of that in the studio..." (Referring to things like noise, clicks, pops, clocking errors, VDO whine, hum, bad edits, noise gates popping in and out, etc.)
Care to elaborate?
headphones, and small rooms can have bass' (good bass.