Are my monitors any good????

[Frankie]

Hi friends, I want to mix, nothing complicated, backing tracks with vocals added. I will use Sonar Producer 7 and will master with T-rackS. Are my Edirol MA-150 micro monitors and Audio-Technia ATH-M40fs studiophones suitable? This will only be for my benefit, and any friends who want copies, but I want to do the best I can. Thank you. Frank.

[Malius]

Well there is no reason why those speakers won't do the job for you, especially if you are not mixing for commercial purposes. You may consider the possibility of using a different set of speakers after mixing, to 'reference' your mix. This may help point out some problem areas (if any) of your mixing speakers.

Hope this helps.

[terminal3]

Indeed, if it's for you and your mates, and you're happy with the mixes you're getting, why worry?

I'd be a bit concerned about a lack of bass response with those, but if you know where the deficiencies are and you know how to compensate it then no problem. Compare some of your favourite CDs to your mixes through them and see how they sound on the monitors.

Check the mix on other stuff if you can - CD players, iPods, in a car if you can... all that will help.

[Dave Boulden]

I'd be a little concerned about the lack of bass response too... but if you employ a few rules when mixing, you can limit the problems without actually hearing the full extent of the bass frequency range. On all tracks recorded with a microphone, roll off the bass below 50Hz... on some tracks, like vocals, you can roll off everything below 80Hz. This will ensure you have no "mic rumble" cluttering the bottom frequencies. Also roll off the bass frequencies on any other tracks that are not part of the bass sound... this will ensure that only the bass is living and breathing "down there". This will also give you more headroom... you'd be surprised how much headroom is sucked up by inaudible bass frequencies!

Finally, use some sort of bar graph spectrum analyser plugin on your stereo master buss and by muting and soloing combinations of tracks ensure that the bottom few bands only jump when you are expecting bass sounds to be there and also that they visually correspond with activity in the upper bands. This will get you close to a good bass sound without hearing it.

Better yet... buy a sub woofer

... and just to echo the other coments... listen to your mixes on as many other systems (car stereo, mp3 player, HiFi etc...) as you can and compare it to commercial CDs in the same genre that you know well.

[Frankie]

Thanks to everybody who helped me. I take note of it all and will use what I have with caution. This forum is a great help. I will no doubt be back. Frank

[DjRo]

Hello Frankie,

I have found the KRK's fantastic...the RP8 especially you get an amazing bass response as well as accurate monitoring and mixing. The frequecy response is 53Hz to 20kHz. Hope this helps


DjRo

[sphelan]

I've got KRK 6's and KRK RP-10S subwoofer. I find them good but I have to say that I don't have any other speakers to reference with...apart from speakers on Kenwood Radio/CD system. I notice that on the CD system my tracks can be a bit bassy.

What does this mean in regard to compensation on my KRKs? Do I simply need to have less bass in my mix? Will this solve the problem or do I need to buy a second set of monitros for referencing?

[TrevCircleStudios]

I notice that on the CD system my tracks can be a bit bassy.

What does this mean in regard to compensation on my KRKs? Do I simply need to have less bass in my mix? Will this solve the problem or do I need to buy a second set of monitros for referencing?

It means that you aren't hearing how much bass is actually in your mix (suggesting they are light on bass) and you are over compensating.

Monitoring & acoustic environment/treatment is the number one reason that home/project studio users find it much more difficult to get a great mix than pro studios: if you aren't hearing exactly what's going on in the mix you can't deal with the problem. Simple as that.

As a related aside, someone above mentions getting a subwoofer. I'd start with acoustic treatment first (and I don't mean foam). It isn't sexy. It doesn't have flashing lights or buttons but your mixes will improve instantly. Guaranteed.

[Dave Boulden]

Originally Posted by TrevCircleStudios

As a related aside, someone above mentions getting a subwoofer. I'd start with acoustic treatment first (and I don't mean foam). It isn't sexy. It doesn't have flashing lights or buttons but your mixes will improve instantly. Guaranteed.

Within the context of the level of equipment that was quoted, I thought a sub-woofer would be the best bang-for-buck solution for a "guessed at" budget. But if Frank can stretch to some professionally advised room treatment, then yes I completely agree, that would indeed be a much better solution.

[sphelan]

So does this mean that it is impossible or very difficult to get professional results in a home studio...or in the corner of your living room?

Am I wasting my time thinking I could produce a gem without splashing out on acoustic treatment?

[terminal3]

Originally Posted by sphelan

Am I wasting my time thinking I could produce a gem without splashing out on acoustic treatment?

It's not impossible if you know the limitations of your system and the faults in your room/monitoring. But it's waaaaay harder. Even a few well-placed bass traps will help you out a little.

[Dave Boulden]

Originally Posted by sphelan

So does this mean that it is impossible or very difficult to get professional results in a home studio...or in the corner of your living room?

Am I wasting my time thinking I could produce a gem without splashing out on acoustic treatment?

It's not impossible, just harder to do. Your ultimate judge is going to be your ears, and as Trev says, if what you're hearing is not what is actually recorded, then that makes things that bit more difficult. It can be mitigated to an extent by being *very* familiar with how a good mix sounds in your space and good metering can also help to an extent. But a bad space will boost some frequencies, and mask or lose others and no amount of knowing how a good mix sounds in your space is going to help if the problem frequency is inaudible.

[sphelan]

And how do you learn the limitations of your system?

I play MP3s through iTunes and it comes out through my KRKs. They sound fine to me. My music sounds fine to me too, to an extent.

Finding the limitations...does it come from comparison? Or should I immediately become aware of the limitations?

[terminal3]

Originally Posted by sphelan

And how do you learn the limitations of your system?

I play MP3s through iTunes and it comes out through my KRKs. They sound fine to me. My music sounds fine to me too, to an extent.

Finding the limitations...does it come from comparison? Or should I immediately become aware of the limitations?

You won't become aware of the limitations until you've heard your mixes on different systems, and lots of them. Mix translation is ultimately the key, and your stuff needs to sound good not only on your system, but on your iPod, on your car stereo, through your TV, at your mate's house, through your mobile phone speaker, the list is endless, really. If you're finding for example that on big systems your mixes are too bassy it's probably because you're overcompensating, that's just one possible example.

If you only do one kind of music and you can get it to sound good on anything, that's great too, but the moment you might try to do something different it may not work as well. Experimentation is key, and the better your room/monitors (and experience!) then [ideally] the less comparing you'll need to do.

[Dave Boulden]

What he said.