Why "flat" monitoring?

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dalley

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You always hear about tracking/mixing with flat monitors ... seems to be a major selling point for many monitor manufacturers. However, the one thing I never understood (logically, anyway) is that wouldnt mixing flat cause certain frequencies to not be heard while monitoring that would translate on consumer audio systems? I think I would have a tendancy to overcompensate low end or high end ... wouldnt you want to hear as much of the frequency range as possible? It seems an ideal monitoring system would sound mimic the systems the audio would eventually run on.

I guess this is one of the things about recording I never fully understood the logic of and if someone could explain it to me that would be great!!!!!
 
Problem is, there is such a variety of different playback systems that people are going to use it on, you can't just pick one, because then you would be off on all of the others. The best way to get it to translate to as many systems as possible is to mix it with a flat system (or as close as us home-rec'ers can get), and check it on as many other systems as possible (car, boombox, and whatnot).

Just my two cents on the issue. :)
 
When they say flat, they mean an even representation of all the frequecies.No one stands out more than the other. If you started at one end of the spectrum,say15Hz,and go up to,say 15KHz-20KHz, there would be no extra emphasis on them or any frequency in between.As an example...speakers with a mid range bump in the 500hz range. You would hear 500Hz already boosted(on those monitors), but when you play back on something else, you might not hear it the same.Flat is to keep you from getting a false representation of what you recorded.
 
good points ... I guess you still want to use a reference disc of sorts on your system to A/B as well as playing your mixes on other systems to make sure they translate well.

I would think the most important thing would be to train yourself to know what your monitoring system is supposed to sound like. I just went from the Alesis M1's to the Event 20/20 BAS monitors and already I notice myself boosting the lows on the Events to make up for the overly-bassy M1's...
 
dalley said:
...I would think the most important thing would be to train yourself to know what your monitoring system is supposed to sound like.
Click to expand...
Yes, even in the best possible monitor condition. That's the other half of the equation. Flat and true (to whatever extent) is just your best shot at hearing things from a more reliable neutral point on the hardware side.
 
In addition to what others have said, say your speakers that you're mixing on have a dip in a certain area. So when mixing, you eq that area up to make it sound balanced to your ears. So if a listener listens to your mix on another system which has a boost in that certain area to begin with, playing your mix will make the boost larger than it needs to be.


So if mixed on a flat system, the problem won't compound.
 
Another thing to consider is that a decent pair of monitors is a much, much better set of speakers than most stereo speakers. You won't need to hype the high end, because you can actually hear it! Average stereo speakers have tubby, muddy bass and little high end response over 10 to 12kHz.

So you can boost the lows and highs (a stereo system high boost is probably somewhere around 4-8kHz), and it will still sound like poo on cheap speakers.

On good monitors, your cravings for that kind of ear candy are greatly lessened.
 
dalley said:
I would think the most important thing would be to train yourself to know what your monitoring system is supposed to sound like. I just went from the Alesis M1's to the Event 20/20 BAS monitors and already I notice myself boosting the lows on the Events to make up for the overly-bassy M1's...
Click to expand...

I locked myself in my control room for about a month listening to nothing but commercial CDs I was familiar with when I was breaking my ears in to my new Wharfedale 8.2A's before I even attempted a mix on them.

I'd say 95% of the first mix of any song I do now translates well to any listening enviroment
 
LemonTree said:
I locked myself in my control room for about a month listening to nothing but commercial CDs I was familiar with when I was breaking my ears in to my new Wharfedale 8.2A's before I even attempted a mix on them.

I'd say 95% of the first mix of any song I do now translates well to any listening enviroment
Click to expand...


Well you need to lift ya game then Lemon!!!........Only 95%.... :D :D :D :p :)
 
Yeah, if you produce 100 songs, then 5 are a mess? Jeez, nothing to brag about!

J.

(OK, I'll admit that I'm only at 60%, dreaming of 65%...)
 
If he produces a 100 songs, then he is at 100 more than a lot of people on this board :)
 
Just curious LemonTree. How many bands do you think you've recorded?
 
to expand some on what mshilarious was saying.......

consumer stereo speakers are designed to make the music sound good. they're designed to appeal to the listener, and all consumer stereo speakers have an eq curve inherent in them. that's why some folks like Polk, and some folks Infinity, etc--the different eq curves appeal to different people.

studio monitors are designed not to sound "good" but rather to sound "true". usually the approach to doing this is to make the monitors flat across the spectrum.

the logic is that when you are mixing, your goal is to make it translate across a number of playback systems--not just the ones you're listening on.

this is also why it is extremely difficult to use a set of consumer stereo speakers for mixing.....b/c you have no idea what you're actually hearing. that low end that sounds good on the polks you're using may sound like total ass when someone with a set of infinities listens to it. and b/c of the "sound" of the polks, you have no idea whether there's a problem with the bass on the tracking or in the mix....or if it's the polk speakers that you're mixing on that are causing the problem.

it's totally concievable that someone can "learn" a set of home stereo speakers well enough to compensate for "their sound" in mixing. however, using a set of monitors designed and built for mixing makes this task a LOT easier.


cheers,
wade
 
mrface2112 said:
to expand some on what mshilarious was saying.......

consumer stereo speakers are designed to make the music sound good. they're designed to appeal to the listener, and all consumer stereo speakers have an eq curve inherent in them. that's why some folks like Polk, and some folks Infinity, etc--the different eq curves appeal to different people.

studio monitors are designed not to sound "good" but rather to sound "true". usually the approach to doing this is to make the monitors flat across the spectrum.

the logic is that when you are mixing, your goal is to make it translate across a number of playback systems--not just the ones you're listening on.

this is also why it is extremely difficult to use a set of consumer stereo speakers for mixing.....b/c you have no idea what you're actually hearing. that low end that sounds good on the polks you're using may sound like total ass when someone with a set of infinities listens to it. and b/c of the "sound" of the polks, you have no idea whether there's a problem with the bass on the tracking or in the mix....or if it's the polk speakers that you're mixing on that are causing the problem.

it's totally concievable that someone can "learn" a set of home stereo speakers well enough to compensate for "their sound" in mixing. however, using a set of monitors designed and built for mixing makes this task a LOT easier.


cheers,
wade
Click to expand...
Well, HI-FI speakers are designed to be flat.
What you are referring to, are MID-FI speakers.

I doubt the pairs of HI-FI B&W and Energy Veritas that mastering engineers Ted Jensen and George Marino use at Sterling Sound are colored.

You are falsely spreading the word that high-end audio is not designed to be flat. Well, I'm sorry but it's the opposite. I would prefer a pair of Energy Veritas and a good old Bryston to ANY $5000 monitor.
 
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