What do I keep missing?

[pM of impk21.co]

Sup, I invested into some decent monitors, Alesis Monitor One MK2s. I did a little mix testing using various environments, a crappy car strereo, car with good system and subs, home stereo, but when I mix my beats, there is something always wrong. I will lay a beat out and make the bass line that sounds a little less powerful than it should, or aleast thats what I thought I heard, but then my guys are like, "pm, what the @#%^ are you doing, the bass is way too loud" I dont know, I thought the monitors would give me a flat and accurate sound. I know they are not subs woofers by an means, but still. Its like the bass hides or something. Any suggestions?

pm

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

Well - one problem is that they're not really "decent monitors"......

Another problem may be the room you're mixing in or even the way you placed your monitors -- the room or the placement may be causing boominess making you think there's more bass than there actually is....

 

[GhettoWayz]

i got some yorkvilles ysm10's and although there no 20/20's i find them very good for my needs.

anyone else using these puppies?

 

[pM of impk21.co]

Well - one problem is that they're not really "decent monitors"......

Another problem may be the room you're mixing in or even the way you placed your monitors -- the room or the placement may be causing boominess making you think there's more bass than there actually is....

Thanx for your reply, but obvious its a "quote", the monitors are far better than what I had, for real, I have to work with what I've got And its not just an issue of a "lack of bass ". At times its too much baSS. But I do know I get what I pay for, $175 for monitors compared to the studio who knows how much $, but I'm not them.

@Blue Bear, maybe I should of quoted my income. Im sure you've been there. But its all good, advice is advice, I still say they are decent monitors reguardless, compared to what I had they are a heaven sent, LOL.

Some advice you point out is placement. Again though, my deal is there is too much bass. Good call to adjust placement though. I might just have the monitors in a dead spot, I dont know, but where they are placed obvioulsy isnt doing me just. Thanx for you reply, peace...................pm

 

[regebro]

Yeah, try changing the placement, make sure yout head are in the right level, maybe you are positioned so you head mostly the tweeters.

Also try isolating the speakers from whatever their standing on. You can buy little rubber thingies in that do that. This can often help to clear up the bass.

As a last effort if your mixes still consistently have to much bass you may need a subwoofer. It couls be that you simply need that lower end for your music that small monitors like this doesn't have.

 

[Qwerty]

What sort of frequency response do the monitors have from 100Hz down to 20Hz?

If they are like most nearfields, you will lose response in that lower end simply because they can't reproduce that bottom end accurately. Have a look at the frequency response diagram for the monitors and see what sort of response they have in this area.

You are most likely compensating for their lack of response and thereby boosting the bass levels so they sound OK to your ears when you mix.

If this is the case, (and any of the above suggestions could also be correct), then you might actually be better served putting the monitors closer to your back wall so that you get the proximity effect boosting the monitors natural low bass response.

Doing this will exacerbate the effect of room modes/standing waves in your mixing environment which you will need to recognise and account for in your mix.

Radio Shack sell a pretty good and cheap SPL meter - get one. Get a tone generator and pump out some pure tone in 5Hz intervals starting at 40Hz and going to 250Hz. Use the SPL meter with a C weighting to see exactly what is happening in your room.

Graph the results and keep them handy to your PC. Refer to points which have really big peaks and dips and take this into account when setting your levels and making EQ decisions in that lower bass area.

Q.

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

Thanx for your reply, but obvious its a "quote", the monitors are far better than what I had, for real, I have to work with what I've got And its not just an issue of a "lack of bass ". At times its too much baSS. But I do know I get what I pay for, $175 for monitors compared to the studio who knows how much $, but I'm not them.

@Blue Bear, maybe I should of quoted my income. Im sure you've been there. But its all good, advice is advice, I still say they are decent monitors reguardless, compared to what I had they are a heaven sent, LOL.

Some advice you point out is placement. Again though, my deal is there is too much bass. Good call to adjust placement though. I might just have the monitors in a dead spot, I dont know, but where they are placed obvioulsy isnt doing me just. Thanx for you reply, peace...................pm

Hmmm... seems you put more stock in my "one-liner" than you did in the actual informative part of my thread -- mentioning the room itself and possibly the placement. Or both...

The first thing to check is your room -- find out what it's doing to your sound.

The best monitors in the world will sound like so much ca-ca in a bad room.

 

[grinder]

...The first thing to check is your room -- find out what it's doing to your sound.

The best monitors in the world will sound like so much ca-ca in a bad room.

Yup. After you take care of the placement and room, you might consider a sub, if you do much hip hop and dance music.

 

[Track Rat]

You need to "learn" your monitors. Play back a ton of commercial CDs through your system to get a feel of how they resolve music. If you know your system is bass shy refere to these reference CDs to see where the bass sits, and so on.

 

[pM of impk21.co]

Cool, this is all good feedback, thanx, for real. We were kinda of thinkin about getting a sub woofer, it makes since, yes, all my beats are hiphop/rap. I have my monitors going threw my old home stereo reciever. I just set all the settings on the reciever flat, everything! It does have a bass boost on it however. I dont mix with it on or during playback, but if I were to turn it on, maybe that could simulate the deeper bass response it would get, like in a car, etc? Maybe? It really enhances the bass, big.

Yeah, I just started testing some commercial cds, again I am seeing a pattern. I play a commercial cd, the bass seems minimal, but then you play it in a car with a system, the bass magically appears. Again, I I turn the bass boast up on the reciever, you hear it all. I dont know just a thought. For real though, thanx for your thoughts and replies, I will be implimenting them as I go and I will let you know.............................pm.............................

 

[geet73]

I think that the receiver might be a problem too.

What kind of amp are you supposed to use for passive speakers? Would I be able to just use a rackmounted power amp? Or would I need to purchase a "reference" amp?

Would I be better off just buying powered monitors?

If anyone knows where I can get a pair of powered Yorkvilles, I'd like to know. Ebay only seems to have passive.

Might I be alright just purchasing some of the Behringer Truths?

 

[Scottgman]

I got my Yorkies here:

http://store.yahoo.com/gear1/yorkvilleysm1p.html

 

[cellardweller]

Gear1music= good service.

They were also the cheapest place on the yorkvilles when I bought mine.

 

[regebro]

Biamplified actives seem generally to0 be the best bang for the buck. And I wouldn't use a power amp, they are ment to play LOUD not good. Exceptions exist.

 

[distortedrumble]

gear1music...is that a website? I'm always looking for a good place to buy stuff from.

 

[cellardweller]

I got my Yorkies here:

http://store.yahoo.com/gear1/yorkvilleysm1p.html

gear1music

 

[distortedrumble]

ok i checked it out....i thought they'd have more choices than crate, yorkville and kustom

 

[cellardweller]

Why you be all hatin' on custom...err...kustom?

 

[distortedrumble]

i dont hate kustom.......nearly bought the kustom head for my rig

 

[grinder]

Even with the Yorkies, you would probably want a sub for mixing Rap/Hip Hop.