Studio Monitors

EvRy1~MaN

ILLIEN
ill o.g.
I know this might be a stupid question but lately I've been seeing alot of emphasis on them so I gotta ask.

Are studio monitors a necessity?

What are they used for besides playing the music?
Do they help in the production?

I was just thinking of using some headphones instead,but I might consider buying some.
 

Sanova

Guess Who's Back
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 9
They help you mix cuz u can hear alot more, if u have some good monitors.

i, personnaly, do not have studio monitors..... and I still manage to make decent shit, but I believe monitors would make the job alot easier.. cuz im using some old broken headphones...
 

AKP

Beatmaker
ill o.g.
Sanova is right.
They make a major difference because they have a better and balanced frequency range. I don't have monitors either and alot of times what I hear in my room sounds way off in the car or a walkman. BUT... whenever I used the monitors at the studio the levels are usually just right for a car system and whatever else without alot of tweaking.

Monitors are the one upgrade that can improve you sound dramatically. Not just the speakers themselves but the proper placement of them in your room. So you hear them lows in the right ranges and the highs also and nothing competes.

I'm using a Crunch car amp hooked up to a JVC Karaoke machine and a Sony bass amp and yes, a BROKEN PAIR OF HEADPHONES.


AKP
 

Ash Holmz

The Bed-Stuy Fly Guy
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 207
^^ what he said .. it is not only having decent monitors but the way you position your speakers in your room... and the shape and size of your room matters too... but its also always good to keep a pair of regular system speakers around as well as a good pair of headphones.. if you get your mix soundin tight in the headphones,monitors, and consumer speakers ..ur pretty much good..
 

sYgMa

Making head bangers!!!
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 26
BAsically, what good monitors are are speakers that doesn't boost or lower any frequency of our beat... In normal speakers, there is often a bass boost or a treble boost. why is it important? let's take an exemple...If you make a beat with a speaker that boosts your bass sounds, well, when making the beat, you,ll ajust the sound according to what you hear. So you'll adjust the bass so there is not too much but quite enough... after mixing everything, when you'll listen to the same beat on a speaker that doesn't have a bass boost, all the bass you thought was there (because of the speakers) wont be... and your beat will sound flat.

Monitors is like a "what you hear is what you get" sort of deal... if you have good monitors and, when mixing, you get a good sound in monitors, most of the time it will sound good in any speakers...

get me?
 

Hypnotist

Ear Manipulator
ill o.g.
For me, I can't mix without having multiple monitors. I've been accustomed to using the studio technique of the Genelecs and NS-10s, in combination with the far-fields in the wall. You'll be surprised how good your song sounds when you mix on NS-10s, where it's really good for hearing the vocals, not too much bass.

At home I just have a pair of sonys and some other shit that my roommate brought to the apartment. I use the A-B switch CONSTANTLY during my mix. I've definitely had my share of mixing in headphones, especially when the studio was at my mom's house and I was up all night. But the ear fatigue will take over real quick and your ears will not only start to feel uncomfortable, but they'll play tricks on you eventually. You won't notice how loud it is, because it sounds fine in your ears. But over a few hours, it's a pain in the ass (or ear) even if it's been playing low.

During mixing, I switch between my different monitors and then headphones, and then back to monitors several times. I used to have to burn a CD and play it in different cars, houses, etc. but that takes too damn long. I still do it, but realize that my mix is sounding much better, so I don't go back to the drawing board (mixing board) that often anymore once my mix is done.

Also, I mix at various levels. I like to keep the monitors relatively low most of the time, then turn it up when I make a change that I'm comfortable with. There have been times when I mix loud, and everything is there, and then when I turn it down you can't even hear the vocals.

But monitoring itself is an art. You need to get the the TRUEST monitors, and FLATTEST monitors that you can. If your room doesn't sound good enough, get a graphic EQ and shape your room better.

Hope this helped.
-Hypno
 

mp3

ILLIEN
ill o.g.
Also, if you're looking to get some good studio monitors, the day you go to the store, ask the salesman about acoustic treatments. A lot of people sleep on that.

I have a pair of Event 20/20BAS, $700 monitors, and they didn't sound right until I put some Auralex Studio foam up on the walls. Especially for me since I'm in a basement with cinderblock walls.
 

WhoDoneIt?

Beatmaker
ill o.g.
Get em you will be able to achieve a solid mix so when u play ur beats in the care,cd player whereever u wont hear a difference.
KRK Rokit Rp-5's
 

EvRy1~MaN

ILLIEN
ill o.g.
mp3 said:
Also, if you're looking to get some good studio monitors, the day you go to the store, ask the salesman about acoustic treatments. A lot of people sleep on that.

I have a pair of Event 20/20BAS, $700 monitors, and they didn't sound right until I put some Auralex Studio foam up on the walls. Especially for me since I'm in a basement with cinderblock walls.

Damn,I might not be able to soundproof stuff.I do my recording in my bedroom,do I have to soundproof everything or just the perimeter were the recording takes place?
 
C

ctrlzproduction

Guest
i think it's one of the main parts of the setup, the interface between the user and the sound, the final bottle neck, you could have a 2000$ soundcard and a lot of hardware but if you couldn't hear well what you're doing, you're working blind. because of the coloring (which can be solved knowing well you gear), loss of frequencies and other stuff, as an example i've spent 6 years working with hifi and low-end monitors, lately i've got the adam p22 and wow! it's like been watching the tv in black and white or in colour, i've heard the krk and the event 20/20 and i would recommend the event over the krk (whick sounds very radioish , as opposite to the event that has a fuller sound, more similar to the adam )
 

EvRy1~MaN

ILLIEN
ill o.g.
Any Recommendations?

Ok I think I get why theres such a fuss over studio monitors.If they really help in the eqing and mixing process then I shall cop!

Any1 got any suggestions for a pair of decent monitors below $200?
 

Formant024

Digital Smokerings
ill o.g.
If you dont have the space ( and I do mean a great deal of space ) then settle with small nearfields ( 6" to 8" ). Any bigger will also just distort the image. A good idea to look into the suitable environment for nearfields is to download the manual of the brand you're looking into. These mostly come with visual layouts of a room with speaker placements etc the lot.

So, if looking for small room reference, check out the genelec series, the small ones come nicely priced ( I think about 300 a piece ). IMO, the Genelec 1031a's are the créme de la créme next to a set of NS10's or Auroras, although I havent heard the new series 10" actives.
 

konceptG

ILLIEN
ill o.g.
EvRy1~MaN said:
Ok I think I get why theres such a fuss over studio monitors.If they really help in the eqing and mixing process then I shall cop!

Any1 got any suggestions for a pair of decent monitors below $200?

Not below 200, just over it and, trust me on this, the extra $100 makes a big difference. Get a set of M-Audio StudiophileBX5a's for $299 or Behringer Truth B2030A's for $279. Both are excellent active monitors (they have amps built into them).

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Recording/Monitors/Headphones?sku=603707
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Recording/Monitors/Headphones?sku=600603

I'd also get a set of backup monitors, something to do A/B comparisons with. They don't have to be as good as your primary monitors, but they should be decent. Good picks would be the M-Audio StudioPro 3's ($99), M-Audio Studiophile DX4's ($149), M-Audio StudioPro 4's ($149), or Fostex PM 0.4's ($149)

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product?sku=603709
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Recording/Monitors/Headphones?sku=603705
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Recording/Monitors/Headphones?sku=603706
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product?sku=600682


Personally, I'm getting the Studio Pro3's.


Whatever you do, DON'T use Bose ANYTHING. I've tried mixing on Bose speakers, and have tried using them for A/B reference. Bose speakers do not sound good with hip hop. I used to mix on a set of Bose Roommates years ago. I would get a mix sounding good ad hell on 'em and would always take my tapes out to the ride to roll with it for a few days. My mixes ALWAYS sounded bad. The highs would make your ears bleed, the mids were shallow sounding, and there was little, if any bass to be heard. What was fucked up about it was that the same tape played beautifully on several Acoustimass systems. I had to try to learn how to mix on those speakers and it got to the point where I simply bought an Alesis EQ and stuck it between my mixer and the speakers and adjusted the frequencies to compensate for the Bose speakers' flaws.
 

Doc Henny

Member
ill o.g.
i don't think there are any monitors worth gettin under $200....ur better off saving up for better ones.

I have m-audio bx-5's which i like and were round $300, and i consider them bare essentials. in the end, i think u need a sub that's bigger than just 5 inches....probably at least 10...in order to get an accurate bass response for mixing

and mixing mostly on headphones is a bad idea btw (although it is good to check if it sounds good on them in the end). U can't really get a great, reliable sound, and in the end, it hurts your hearing as most people can't tell how loud is too loud on headphones. Monitors are a MUST HAVE!
 

misscc803

Miss C.C.
ill o.g.
I have the BX5's also to bad u spent 300 i only spent 78 and mines were brand new but anyways i plan on gettin some bigger ones myself. I got my eye on the KRK 6's for now. But yeah once u get monitors you will see why we say they are a must.
 

CHARLIEPLATNUM

Beatmaker
ill o.g.
Doc Henny said:
i don't think there are any monitors worth gettin under $200....ur better off saving up for better ones.

I have m-audio bx-5's which i like and were round $300, and i consider them bare essentials. in the end, i think u need a sub that's bigger than just 5 inches....probably at least 10...in order to get an accurate bass response for mixing

and mixing mostly on headphones is a bad idea btw (although it is good to check if it sounds good on them in the end). U can't really get a great, reliable sound, and in the end, it hurts your hearing as most people can't tell how loud is too loud on headphones. Monitors are a MUST HAVE!




I agree with Doc, headphones are good, but it's not good to listen to them at high levels for long periods of time. Not to mention trying to mix with them ;0(

With monitors, you get to sit back crank up the levels and really hear what's going on. A' Doc, I also have MAUDIO BX-5a's(luv'em) and the Samson 80a's.....

When I only had the BX5's, I would also use a small 2.1 surround system ( 2 sats and a sub ) to run my final mix through just to see how it would sound on a regular home system or in the car before I burned it to CD. this could be done with a boom box or a shelf system that has some thump to it.

The reason I did this is I couldn't get an accurate bass level during the mix with the BX-5's alone. I would think it didn't have enough thump, so I'd boost the lows with the eq in my AW, then I'd play the CD in my car and I'd have too much low end. Now that I have the Samson 80a's.....I get a better low end response, but I still use the 2.1 speakers before I burn to CD. Them lil'joints pump to be so small. I think they're like 80-100 watts or something. I got them from the CPU section in Best Buy for $29 bux (not that anyone cares lol )...

I use my monitors like this: BX5's hooked up to the mixer that I run all my MIDI gear through and the 80a's hooked up to my AW/Multitrack since they are larger and have a better low end response for the MIX. And lastly, I hook up the 2.1 joints to the AW to hear what I'm really getting, as far as bass.....since they don't provide a strong mid, only lows and highs.
 

CHARLIEPLATNUM

Beatmaker
ill o.g.
misscc803 said:
I have the BX5's also to bad u spent 300 i only spent 78 and mines were brand new but anyways i plan on gettin some bigger ones myself. I got my eye on the KRK 6's for now. But yeah once u get monitors you will see why we say they are a must.





78 bucks.....Man I'm pissed :0).....are they active? are they the new all black ones, or the old STUDIOPHILE BX5a's with the silver ring around the woofer and the EQ on the back. I got the old active STUDIOPHILE BX5a's and I paid like $400 couple years ago. I was checkin' out some KRK Rockit 8's.....but I think I'll wait until I can afford the Tannoy's or the Event Precisions. Have you seen the new MAUDIO joints witht he dual 6 inch woofers and the tweeter in the middle?????? MAAAANNNN they want lke 600 for one joint....
 
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