Too Good Monitors?

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dorpheuz

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I've only done one track so far. I mixed it with akg k-240M headphones and it sounded good with them. But when i played it in home stereo system, it sounded crap.

So i guess i need a pair of nearfield monitors now. I've searched this forum (and many others) for guidence, but more i read the harder the desicion seems to be.

My problem is the room acoustics. I'm mixing in a small bedroom measured 2.8m x 3.3m (9'1" x 10'11"). Walls are painted concrete and I can hear a good echo when clapping hands. It's impossible to do any acoustic treatments (for wife's sake).

So, i was thinking:

1) If i bought bigger (let's say 8 inch) monitors, would i get problems with bad acoustics, boomy sound etc.?

2) Could it be better to have a smaller monitor set (let's say esi near05) with not so deep low end?

In every case i would mix at low levels. Cos i don't have any experience with monitors, i would also like you to answer following questions.

3) Does the mixing level affect the bass response of the monitor? I mean, if i had an 8 inch monitor with a good low end, can i hear the bass even at low levels or should i push it louder?

4) And vice versa: if a smaller monitor is reported to lack low end (i'm thinking near05 again), does it usually mean that bass is lacking in every levels? I'm asking this because in one old thread someone said that near05 can be used when mixing at low levels, but lacks bass at higher levels.

I don't want to buy too good monitors, if they can't perform in my room. I think i don't need a high sound pressure, but clear sound and decent low end.

This has been a very informative forum so far. I appreciate every help and opinions you can give me.

-dorpheuz
 
Sounds like the problem is not your monitors, but your room.

Put some sound absorbtion on the side walls and the back wall of your room, not too much that grabs too many highs
 
I think the easiest thing you can do at this point, is to learn how to listen to your headphones. If your room has terrible acoustics, monitors would always give you a false impression of what's going on. Standing waves, flutters, etc would just destory your mix. Just take the headphones you're using (or any headphones really) and listen to a lot of recordings through them that you would want your mixes to sound like. Then mix your project, go back and compare. If you headphones can't reference down into sub basses, or the low end of a kick, take a look at a frequency analyzer, and again compare it to commerical recordings you like, it's much less accurate than actually hearing it, but it's probably your best option. Even if you find a way to treat your room and you purchase monitors...this advise is still vital. Regardless of your monitoring system, you have to learn how to listen to records on it the right way. Hope it helps and good luck!
 
Thank you guys for your replies.

First, i won't do any acoustic treatments to room. This is our bedroom after all.

I think i won't rely only on headphones. I've read quite a lot user reviews of near05, and it seems that users are quite happy with them. At the moment i think i will buy them, even though the low end is weak. Maybe i could also get headphones with good bass response (like beyer dt 770 pro) and let them alarm if i'm putting too much bass on the mix with near05.

But i would still be interested in the bass behaviour at different levels. What are your experiences with your monitors? Does it need high levels to get balanced spectrum, or can you mix also with lower levels?

I think that lower level would behave more accurate in my room (just a common sense thinking).

-dorpheuz
 
I think using headphones would giving you a more false impression than getting monitors in a bad room. Even if you throw up some thick blankets and stuff you will illiminate alot of the problems with mixing in the room. But you will not illinate bass problems which you will need to learn to deal with and will be a pain in the butt. But i still think it would be better then trying to mix on headphones.

Danny
 
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