Truck monitors??

[GT]

Just for fun, I have been mixing my music to sound good in my Nissan pickup.

Being that most music is listened to in our vehicles, I thought I would try to make a mix that would be tonally balanced in my truck.

I never feel the need to change tone settings on my trucks cd player, when I play comercial cds, but when I would play my own mixes, they allways sounded like I needed to change the tone.

Just another possible vehicle, for mixing? (Excuse the pun)

Has anyone else tried this, with their music?

GT

 

[Track Rat]

That's where I always check my mixes. If it sounds right there, it damn near always translates around. That's in a full sized van with home made boxes around Rockford Fosgates and a 50 watt CD player.

 

[GT]

That's where I always check my mixes. If it sounds right there, it damn near always translates around. That's in a full sized van with home made boxes around Rockford Fosgates and a 50 watt CD player.

Hey Track,

Translates around, Ben Franklin couldn't have said it better!!

Glad to hear it.

I think that most people, are very familiar with the sound of there car stereos. It stands to reason, that car stereos can be used as another mixing tool.

Cars are a great place to compare one's own mixes, to comercial mixes.

GT

 

[Track Rat]

Exactly
By the way, once upon a time for shits and grins, I brought the truck speakers into the controll room to see if I could recreate the same setup but no dice. It's a combination of the space inside the vehicle and stereo. They were useless inside.

 

[GT]

Exactly
By the way, once upon a time for shits and grins, I brought the truck speakers into the controll room to see if I could recreate the same setup but no dice. It's a combination of the space inside the vehicle and stereo. They were useless inside.

Yeah Track,

It has to do with the amount of space the speakers sound has to fill, and acoustics.

Very cool that you tried it though, going to no ends, and all that!!

I tried a mix that I eq'd to match my truck, and as you say it translated very well to all the other speakers I have at hand, and phones too.

Of course I ended up cutting frequencies, NOT BOOSTING.

That's for the newbies.

This is why I'm so thrilled that I can finally burn cd's. It allows listening to my mixes, played the way they would be played in there final state, on all kinds of different stereos.

Anyone reading this that doesn't have a cd burner, get one now, they are invaluable to home recording!!

GT

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

I never feel the need to change tone settings on my trucks cd player, when I play comercial cds, but when I would play my own mixes, they allways sounded like I needed to change the tone.

This has to do with 2 things -- 1) well-balanced mixes comprised of well-structured tracks and arrangement, and 2) to a lesser degree, checking mixes on multiple systems...

1) A song arrangement, with tracks well-placed across the frequency range of the spectrum results in mixes that translate well to all systems... usually any difference is the fault of the limitations of the listening device - ie listening to a good mix on a boombox means hyped highs and lows, listening on a tabletop radio means almost no lows, but if it's mixed well, bass overtones are properly audible and so you hear less bass but not "no bass"...

2) Its always a good idea to check a mix on multiple systems - but not get hung-up on the failings specific to those systems. ie, you don't boost lows and highs of the mix to make it sound good on a tabletop radio...

This is why I say it's better to get a well-balanced mix right from the start than it is to check a poor mix on multiple systems and tweak it to death. If you're having to fuck with a mix too much to get it to translate well across systems, then I think you have to examine the characteristics of the tracks themselves and how they interact - for example: poorly-recorded bass tracks will always sound "wrong", no matter what system you play it on - or worse, it will sound good on one system, but nowhere else...

Basically, tracks that don't work well together will always "not play nicely" regardless of the monitoring system - so it's important to pay attention to all aspects of the production.

A well-recorded track depend on good arrangement and well-captured sound sources... a well-balanced mix that translates well depends on well-defined tracks that fit... a good-sounding master depends on a well-balanced mix.

Get one stage in the production wrong, and you're fucked for all following stages, resulting in a diminshing spiral of tweaks that may or may not allow you to re-capture the sound.

YMMV.......!

 

[GT]

Re: Re: Truck monitors??

This has to do with 2 things -- 1) well-balanced mixes comprised of well-structured tracks and arrangement, and 2) to a lesser degree, checking mixes on multiple systems...

1) A song arrangement, with tracks well-placed across the frequency range of the spectrum results in mixes that translate well to all systems... usually any difference is the fault of the limitations of the listening device - ie listening to a good mix on a boombox means hyped highs and lows, listening on a tabletop radio means almost no lows, but if it's mixed well, bass overtones are properly audible and so you hear less bass but not "no bass"...

2) Its always a good idea to check a mix on multiple systems - but not get hung-up on the failings specific to those systems. ie, you don't boost lows and highs of the mix to make it sound good on a tabletop radio...

This is why I say it's better to get a well-balanced mix right from the start than it is to check a poor mix on multiple systems and tweak it to death. If you're having to fuck with a mix too much to get it to translate well across systems, then I think you have to examine the characteristics of the tracks themselves and how they interact. Tracks that don't work well together will always "not play nicely" regardless of the monitoring system.

YMMV.......!

Well put Blue Bear,

I think you agree, checking your mix in your car is imparitive.

Eq'ing seems to be a kind of balancing act.

Removing coloration, to benifit playback on any stereo, to me is the proper use of eq.

I will say, I'm not a big fan of boosting frequencies while mixing, this should definately be set right during tracking.

What does YMMV mean?

GT

 

[GT]

Putting some sound where my mouth is,

Here's the little ditty I used to eq my mix in my truck.

The playing sucks, and I didn't do my usual turn away from the equiptment to reduce noise. Mistakes and all.

Track, and Blue Bear,

Let me know how bad the tone sucks, if you would be so kind.

This is my electric, finger picked with skin, and flat picked, with a flat pick.

Song: Sound test

You'll know the tune.

http://www.nowhereradio.com/gt/singles

GT

 

[GT]

Ok, on the down side..............

With the final eq I used (cutting frequencies), comes less gain, more noise.

Less signal, more noise.

The trade off is way more than worth it, but now I have to work on this.

GT

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

Track, and Blue Bear,

Let me know how bad the tone sucks, if you would be so kind.

Just got to this now........

The mids sound a bit sucked-out, but other than that, from listening on computer speakers it doesn't sound too bad at all.... maybe slightly too much bass boom and slightly muted highs.

By comparison, your Steely Dan Jam had better presence and overall balance, although more noise.

 

[GT]

Thanks for the listen Bruce,

I will pay head to your suggestions.

I think this is the best recording I have gotton so far, thanks to my truck, very weird.

This is to my ears anyway.

This is the first recording that I have made that sounds fairly good in my truck, studio, through phones, through my 35" TV, and through my 20" TV.

Just to let you know how I listen to my mixes.

GT

 

[Necromaniac]

Funny you mention how you listen to it in your truck. I do the same thing. I get it sounding the best I can, than take it to my truck and give it a listen and see what I can do to improve on it.

Here's a question for you guys.
My mix had 4 track of guitars Panned 100 L\R 40 L\R
2 track of bass 75 L\R
1 track of drums not panned at all.

Everything sounded killer thru my monitors.
So I take it to my truck and the guitars are completely buried.

I play grindcore\Deathmetal and like a huge crushing guitar sound.

How would you improve on my panning or tracking?