Now.. To the Monitors!

[L-1011Alpha]

The monitors that I like are the M-Audio Bx8a because they have the Bass integrated. (I like them also because they are 8'')

The are pretty expensive though. ($500).

What monitors do you recommend me. (Not so expensive please!)


THANKS IN ADVANCE

[Andrew07]

There's not a whole lot of differences in monitors, all that really matters is that you listen to them and get really really used to them and how they translate. It took me probably over a hundred mixes to get used to my NS-10's and how they were REALLY translating onto other systems ex-car stereos, ipods, etc.

I started out with BX-5's but they kept crapping out and I decided to toss them. Be wary of subwoofers too, although they make everything really thumping and fucking cool sounding, they tend to lie and in a non-perfect room it could make you make wrong judgements in your mixes(I was doing this until last week). Also phasing and such leads to more problems than two monitors. Hopefully the other guys will chime in

[richiebee]

Originally Posted by Andrew07

There's not a whole lot of differences in monitors,

While this may be somewhat true at the rock bottom end of the market, it is not an accurate coverall statement.

$500 for a pair of studio nearfield monitors is cheap. That's the bottom end of the market.

I have a set of KRK Rokit 6's and absolutely hate them, but zzSounds has a pair of Rokit 8's for $500 and I would think they'd be better than the M-Audio's even if only in build quality. At this end of the market, you're not going to get the clean, non-fatiguing, accurate sounding monitors that a couple of grand will buy you.

Of course the room they go in will make a difference too...

R.

[brandondrury]

There are several sides to this issue.

The idea that studio monitors are more accurate than X speaker is total bullshit.

For one, studio monitors sound drastically different from speaker to speaker. I was at a mixing session in a mega studio in Nashville and couldn't believe how poorly the NS-10s translated to the outside world...of course, if I was used to them, this would be a different story. About 100 zillion platinum records have been mixed on NS-10s.

Secondly, the average home recording guy doesn't have a $30,000 control room (just construction and acoustic treatment) so even if the studio monitors were more accurate, the room would wreak so much havoc on the frequency response (especially in the low end) that the difference between speaker X and speaker Y is less significant.

Third, the entirely most underrated part of the whole mixing thing is your ears and style of mixing. You have to find studio monitors that display the music in a fashion in which you can combine that with your tastes / preferences and come out with a great sounding mix.

Some guys love super pretty sounding mega hifi speakers. I consider my Mackie HR824s to be this way. The problem is the mids are clearly scooped in certain places. Actually, I think many major label cds sound quite thin on them. Well, the inverse theory kicks in. Since the monitors seam to be scooped in the 400-600Hz region, my mixes are often too heavy in that region.

It's clear that after doing this a while, that the Mackie HR824s are not the right monitor for me (but may be great for others). So I need a studio monitor that is a little dark, boxy, and a little muddy sounding. From there, I will fight to take the mud and / or boxiness out of my mixes and the end results will be closer to the bright / thin sound that is expected in modern music production.

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Now as far as your situation is concerned, if you are on that tight of a budget, I would go with some used studio monitors, I guess. I buy everything used because that means as long as I don't break it, I get it for free (when I get my money back from selling it down the road).

There may be issues with buying used studio monitors, but I'd take a look. You may be able to get $800 monitors for $500.

I'd pick up Mackie or Yamaha or KRK before I bought M-Audio, but that's just a gut feeling. The M-Audio speakers may be amazing.

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Ideally, you'd get to try out your monitors for a week or two and then give them back if you don't like them. If you don't have this luxury, you are going need to make a blind guess.

Brandon