Monitor$ and Mic$ - and your ears...

[funsongs]

Howdy music recorders & mixer/producer types.
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So - yesterday's Sweetwater mini-brochure came in the mail. Some of the huge differences in the prices of gear prompted a few QUESTIONS:

1) is the FOCAL Solo6 Be 6.5 Powered Studio Monitor at $1500 really 10 times better than the JBL LSR305MK2 at $150?

2) which do you think would produce the best-quality sound:
a $3000 pair of monitors + a $300 mic - or a $3000 mic + a pair of $300 pair of monitors?

3) what are the limitations of a pair of ears, and their discerning the difference?

Curious minds want to know.
Your mileage may vary.

[AlanHall]

I'd pick the $300 monitors, the $300 mic, and use the remaining $1700 for electricity and heat. Oh, and Taxi submission fees

Last year I did upgrade my hodge-podge studio monitor setup to JBL 306s and the 10 inch sub. I am very happy with the purchase.
I do have a couple mics above the $300 range. But I haven't had the chance to record a $3 million violin yet

[funsongs]

Hi Peter,

We use monitors all the time to listen to everything, but only record some things with a mic some of the time. Therefore, I'd say put the money into monitors. We shouldn't forget the room though if we want to get the best from our monitors, and also our recordings. With a voice like mine, any old mic in any old room would be more than adequate. Also, a lot of great music has been recorded using the good old Shure SM57. However, without decent monitoring to show what the recording really sounds like, we're sunk.

Most of us are convinced that better gear would help us make better tracks, and it might be true for some, yet less so for others (and I might be beyond help ). It makes expensive items highly desirable, but we can usually expect diminishing returns for our money beyond a certain spend. Also, some of the nuances of such things could be indistinguishable for those of a certain age (including me after too many years standing in front of loud drummers). It doesn't mean we shouldn't try to do our best but I might not be able to tell the difference between a lot of the more expensive kit. You might test your own ability to discern mic differences here.....
https://www.audiotestkitchen.com/

Just my thoughts though.

Well - you bring up a point I wasn't considering, which is the role of monitors for music using few or no live mics. WORKING IN THE BOX, in other words.
A legit point - but not where I was going. Good food for thought.

Maybe I should have narrowed my question down to the RELATIONSHIP of music - i.e. LIVE INSTRUMENTS being recorded - to the monitors that will be used to MIX those recordings.

Thanks, Alan & Graham for chiming in.

[AlanHall]

Maybe I should have narrowed my question down to the RELATIONSHIP of music - i.e. LIVE INSTRUMENTS being recorded - to the monitors that will be used to MIX those recordings.

Mics and mic placement is definitely a whole topic by itself. Will you record more than one instrument in the room at a time? What instruments are you likely to have featured in the recordings? How good is the room you'll be recording in? Will you want to put up a near-coincident pair (XY, Ortf, MS or other stereo array)? The number and kind of mics you choose depend on the usage. A pair of small-diaphragm condensers can be versatile.

And someone you know posted this not long ago
post584768.html#p584763
which shows how pretty a single small-diaphragm mic can sound on an acoustic guitar.

[AlanHall]

And as if you couldn't shut me up...
If I owned the master rights to a piece of music, I'd much rather have a great recording poorly mixed, than a great mix of a poor recording.
I could always have it re-mixed and re-mastered for a few hours' time in any studio in the world, but re-recorded? Not so easy.

[funsongs]

And as if you couldn't shut me up...
If I owned the master rights to a piece of music, I'd much rather have a great recording poorly mixed, than a great mix of a poor recording.
I could always have it re-mixed and re-mastered for a few hours' time in any studio in the world, but re-recorded? Not so easy.

Well - that's sorta why I'd probably answer my own question: start with recording through the best mic you can get/afford.
If it's not captured well - you can never mix it 'better', IMHO. After that, a good capture SHOULD sound great on ANY device.
Your mileage may vary.

[Kolstad]

What is the best mic depends on the room you record in.

It makes no sense getting a U87 for a room that doesnt sound great or is acoustically treated. If that is the case, a less sensitive dynamic mic makes much more sense, and then spend more on a preamp to get the levels proper for it.

Same goes with monitors, if the room is bad or untreated, spend less on monitors and more on good headphones, because that is what you will need to hear through how your mix sounds like.

Be honest with yourself about the state of the matters, and select appropriate gear. Dont buy into commercials, influencer marketing or peer pressure. They know nothing about your situation.

A good sound is something you can hear properly with no noise. If you can get that, you can do everything else in your daw.

[cosmicdolphin]

1) is the FOCAL Solo6 Be 6.5 Powered Studio Monitor at $1500 really 10 times better than the JBL LSR305MK2 at $150?

I've not heard either of those but I've mixed on everything from Kef Cresta 1's ( bookshelf budget HiFi Speakers £99 from the 90s ) to the APS speakers I have now which were 10 times more expensive.

Depends how you look at it. When I had the Kefs I was just mixing for fun , I wasn't competing with other people to get music on TV and I was maybe making one or two mixes per month. There's a huge difference in what can be heard on the cheaper speakers Vs the expensive ones and being able to hear all so much more clearly takes much of the guesswork out of mixing.

Nowadays I mix 100+ tracks per year, I listen a lot more critically to stuff and I need the mixes to translate once they leave my own studio without the need to take my mixes out to the car to test drive then. I have an acoustically treated room as well which wasn't the case when I used the Kefs.

So are they 10x better ? Not really...are they worth 10x more ? Definitely because they allow me to work much more quickly and reliably to deliver what I need to. YMMV

[irthlingz]

With mics, it also depends what you're recording. For instance, are you buying a mic specifically for your voice? If so, consider booking time in a recording studio that has all the mics you're interested in, and overdub vocals on one or more of your tracks with each mic. Then go home and listen. And maybe post here and ask your TAXI friends to listen. It's possible that a cheaper mic could work better, or at least just as well, for your voice. Same for instruments, if you're going to be regularly recording a particular set of instruments.

===
Michael

[Merryband1]

On a similar topic, is this JBL 3MK II the set you were mentioning, Peter? I found them on sale on Amazon, but I'm always hesitant to spend a lot of money, even when it is a fairly good sale...
Thanks.
Merry