Monitors

[aubreyz]

Quote:I use a set of Mackie HR 824. I'm quite happy with them. They were a huge step up from my last set (6" Events) and they recently dropped in price, too. I know some people poo poo them, but they're certainly worth looking into.ZFor the money IMHO the HRS824's are some of the best out there. I was between those and Genelecs and for the money difference it was Mackie hands down. By spec, they are flatter than most anything and I find their imaging great. They are not as "pleasing" to the ear as my old favorite Tannoys, as they have a little more brittle high end (somewhat like JBL's to me, but not as tiring), but for a what you hear is what you get monitor system, I love them.Accurate, flat, tight bottom end. Of course my opinion is tainted because I have been using them daily for nearly 4 years, but I would choose them again without question.

[kouly]

Quote:Here's how Neil Young mixes!Neil's got a mountain ranch above Santa Cruz, CA. He's got a huge sound system in his house, and one in his barn.The property has a lake on it, and when it's time to mix, Neil goes out on his lake in a boat.The house is channel R., and the barn is channel L.He speaks to this engineers through a walkie talkie. "More house! More barn!" He adjusts levels, eq, and panning from his rowboat.Ah, Neil ---- One of a kind! Ern That is so funny, and I would not doubt that it is true. This sure would eliminateany reflections as long as his place is not situated between some nearby hills.Of course Mr Young would probably have those relocated.

[edteja]

Ern,I read "Shakey" too. Made me laugh. I used to live in Santa Cruz (across from Natural Bridges school) and Neil and I had the same chiropractor--but he needed him more than I did.

[grandmatarkin]

Yes, instead of Neil having to think about the room he puts his monitors in, he's got to consider what monitor to put his rooms in When I made my actual professionaly produced CD (read: I didn't produce it), they used the Mackie HR824s. I really liked them. They sounded clean and full. Part of the problem I think is that I don't exactly know what to listen for ... they are on my consideration list though. But to what extent is it true that, if you really KNOW the sound of a set of speakers, that they will do you fine, like that Zappa thing about how he used cheap speakers but he KNEW the sound? Sorry for THE random caPITalizaTIOn I didn't really pose that question eloquently, but I think you know what I mean. And, not having a lot of knowledge of Zappa, I wonder how those mixes turned out. Hmmm...

[mazz]

Zappa's music always sounded amazing but usually unlike anything else out there. A great one to get, IMO, to get an introduction to his music is Apostrophe, recorded in the 70s with one of his great bands. A great one from the 80s is Sheik Yerbouti with Terry Bozzio and Patrick O'Hearn and Adrian Belew. If you know your speakers, what frequencies they lack, what frequencies they over-emphasize, and how your mixes translate to other systems, then you can truly mix on anything. Some of the great albums that you know and love were mixed on Yamaha NS10s which were pretty low end, some might say "crappy" speakers. They happened to give the mixers that know and love them a pretty good average of what their mix would sound like anywhere else. If it sounded amazing on NS10s, then it would pretty much sound fairly good in someone's car or living room. I personally never liked NS10s but what do I know, hundreds of top hits were mixed on them! Which goes to show that speakers are a matter of taste and once you get used to the ones you have, if you know what you are doing, you can make great mixes.There is no such thing as a perfect speaker. Speakers are measured in anechoic chambers, a "perfect" acoustic environment which has no relationship to the outside world. It's great for measuring speakers but it sucks for telling how they will perform in the real world.Lots of people like the Mackies. Lots of people like NS10s. Some people use barns as subwoofers. Get what sounds good to you and make great mixes!Mazz

[brennanhester]

I have the BX5a's too, and when I decided to upgrade I didn't have anywhere near $1500 to spend, so I went on Craigslist and found some used BX8a's for $300. Y'know, they sound great! (to me, anyway)

[grandmatarkin]

Actually, I have the BX5's ... before they added the letter. I wonder how big the difference is. I think this calls for a google search. Glad to hear you like them though Dave

[mixopenta]

The choice of speakers are a very personal subject, and are directly dependent on your ears, as already wisely been pointed out. Having said that, some ground rules as an aid in making these choices can apply.The speakers and the room should live in symbiosis. And I'd like to think, that the flatter the response of the speaker (as measured in an anechoic chamber), the easier it is to calibrate the room according to them. If your speakers and room are not tuned together, at least to some basic degree, your mixes will invariably translate poorly, and you will have a hard time making your mixes "One size fits all" (which btw is yet another great F. Zappa album, among many). If there are plenty of uncontrolled peaks and dips in a speakers frequency response, it will be very difficult - if not close to impossible, to tune the room to compensate. It gets even worse as normal hi-fi speakers are prone to show varying frequency response at different levels. Another aspect of having studio monitors, as opposed to normal hi-fi stereo speakers, is that the studio monintors are more rigid, and are better in handling spikes from sudden bursts of sound emanating from plugging cables in and out, or accidentally run the taiko drum through your latest destroyer plug-in.Other than that, I'd say anything goes, whatever makes you happy. Best option though, is to have several sets of different speakers. If you are sensitive to mid-range, like I am, you'd want a pair of speakers (or your room tuned) having a slight dip in response in the mid range, so your mixes won't be too soft when played back on other systems. In the end it also depends on what your music is targeted for. If you do club music, get a pair of speakers to reflect that. If you do music for television, have a TV set to check it in. Radio, and so on and so forth. I won't go into scoring for film...

[nickbatzdorf]

"The only people that poo poo the HR824's are the gear snobs. And they poo poo everything but the kitchen sink."Well, I don't poo poo the Mackies, but I do have problems with them. They've come out with new ones, so maybe they're an improvement."These are the same morons that spend 7 grand on a volume knob."High quality monitor controllers tend to use resistor arrays so the image doesn't shift at low volumes. They're in the mid-$2k range sometimes, and to me that's not insane for a mastering studio.As to tweak cables, I can tell you that I've heard an expensive as hell Tara Labs mic cable swapped with a standard Mogami or Canare star quad studio cable make as much of an improvement as a tweak mic preamp - with an SM57. I've also heard a difference with those cables on a Rhodes patch on a Kurzweil.Again, this is something I've *heard*.I also agree that 100% treating your room is a very good idea - I've done so myself - but there's no question that good speakers are very important too. The worst is arbitrary room treatment, such as covering the entire room with foam. It doesn't have to cost a fortune to make a room sound good, depending on what the problems are.

[stick]

I'm about THIS close to dumping my old trusty (well, not so trusty in this case) Genelec 1031s for these. I hear good things about them, and they should bring the mid-range that the Genes suck at. They're a little more than your budget, but I think WAY more speaker for the dough. But, far above all, the room MUST sound decent. Otherwise the speakers don't matter a lick. Can you say BASS TRAP?