[DogpitStudios]

I mixed on a pair of old Yamaha NS-6s (the model right before the NS-10) for about 6 months until the tweater broke. Everytime I brought a mix somewhere else, Everything sounded scooped, or undefined. I feel like those moniters had a big bump around 500 hz. After about an hour of doing anything on those monitors I fealt like I couldn't hear anything anymore, meaning they tired out my ears way to quickly. I say don't go for the NS-10s unless you have an other pair of monitors to switch around with, they are only good as reference to me.

After those broke, I went to guitar center to try out some different stuff. The guy put me in a room with KRK Rockit RP8s, M-Audio BX8s, Behringer Truth 2031s, and Yamaha HS-80Ms or something like that. The M-Audio's and the Behringers both sounded "whooshy" and undefined in the low-end, but crisp up high. The Yamaha's sounded very defined, as in every seperate instrument was very clear, and the bass was a lot softer than the Behringer's and the M-Audios. The Rockit's bass was very defined and not too loud, while the high end was "smooth". I know none of these adjectives are that helpful. I noticed that the reverb on the in flames recording I tested with was a lot louder and more out of controll on the Rockit's and M-Audio speakers than the other two. I wanted the Yamaha's but didn't have the money, so I went with the Rockit's. After about half a year and 10 projects with these monitors, I've found that time-based effects (reverb, delay) on them are a lot louder than on any home-stereo, or car system. I Also find myself in need of a sub, because I usually have to turn down the bass sufficiently (enough that I can't even hear it on the Rockits) for it to not sound overdone on other systems. I feel like the $300 5 inch KRK's would be similar, but a little worse when it comes to bass, since the speakers are smaller.

Point of the story is, I've been through 3 different monitors (M-Audio BX5s, Yamaha NS-6s, and KRK Rockit RP8s) and my mixes have not translated well on any of them. Maybe I just don't like studio monitors, or maybe I haven't given myself enough time to get used to any of them, but they all sound different to me, and none of them have been helpful so far.

Ben