Don't Buy Studio Monitors Until You Watch This Video
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ต.ค. 2020
- Watch this video before buying Studio Monitors. To achieve great Mixing & Mastering results, you need to make objective decisions. But to make objective decisions you need a good monitoring environment that objectively represents what's actually going on in the audio.
I describe what I've learned in Part 1 of the "Mixing Secrets" book by Mike Senior. Frequency response is not the only thing to pay attention to when selecting monitors, but also time decay of those frequencies, whether they are ported or sealed monitors, or whether they have single or multiple drivers.
More over, you need to have an objective monitoring environment, and acoustic treatment is key to achieving this. You should spend as much on acoustic treatment as you do on studio monitors.
Then you need to place your studio monitors and listening position in an optimal location. If you want to go even further I suggest measuring your monitoring with software like Sonarworks Reference 4.
Mixing Secrets book:
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Speaker Placement Calculator:
noaudiophile.com/speakercalc/
Yamaha NS10M: 20yrs a Reference Monitor. Why?:
docs.cambridge-mt.com/MSFTSS/...
Yamaha NS10 Story:
www.soundonsound.com/reviews/...
Room Freq Response Before/After Acoustic Treatment:
indierecordingdepot.com/t/room...
Studio Monitors:
Mackie MR824:
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Mackie MR524:
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Yamaha HS5:
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Yamaha HS8:
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Avantone Pro Active:
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KRK Rokit 5:
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Adam Audio T7V:
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Genelec 8010:
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Focal Alpha 65
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Headphones:
Sennheiser HD650:
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AKG K240 mkii:
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Sonarworks Reference 4
www.long-mcquade.com/94730/Pr...
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The golden rule of mixing that I often hear is 'reference, reference, reference'. Get a whole bunch of tracks and really listen to them on your monitors and get to know the signature. Then when mixing your own tracks use those references and keep bouncing between them to see if your track sounds close to your references that you are trying to emulate in audio space.
That’s the answer.
Here is a good example of the beauty of human kind : you've spent many years learning, and doing mistakes on how to choose and use monitoring speakers.
And now, we will avoid all the mistakes and research time you did, only by watching a really well explained 30min speech, and begin our journey with better knowledge, so we can go even further on this way🙏🔥🔥🔥
I mean, thank you man, this is helping a lot !
Thanks! I'm happy to hear you found it helpful :)
Solution, mix in your car. 😅
Or bring the car inside the studio😂
Been doing that as I still don't have monitors. Just earphones and my car !
Best reply 😂😂😂
It's a great video, but I'd never use any car speakers as reference. It's impossible to get proper acoustics in a car.
Toyota, Hyundai or Mercedes? 🤣👍
Wow -- cool! Thanks for the shout-out, and the extremely kind words!
Legend!
Music artist Nelward recommended to read your book- I have learned so much from it!
I've got that book. It's one of the best i've read and always recommend it. so, thanks!
Thank you !
I owned a copy of your wonderful book as a teen. I remember having a hard time progressing through the book because every couple of pages I would have to get up and go try everything out! Now that’s a good book!
While having good room acoustics and some decent monitors is necessary, there's something to be said about chasing the perfect room and priciest, flattest monitors out there. Any pro mixer could get pro results in a less than ideal situation. Practice really makes perfect.
I've been there. Thinking the mixcubes were going to give me pro results and translation. They didn't. The problem was me, I didn't know how to use EQ correctly or balance a mix. But once I started really using references and kicked the ego out of the window my mixes made a huge improvement.
You made some good points there. The reference track is important as well as kicking out the ego.
all good answers, but if you can afford good tools and the tools save time and effort then it's worth investing a bit of research and money into a custom setup of your liking
Save some money. Learn your room. Learn what your current speakers are doing. Upgrade if you can. Treat your room if you can. Use references to help you understand what is happening in your room. I appreciate these tutorials and I believe in all the advice this one is selling but it truly comes down to practice and training.
@@regularkc I recently did some Sonarworks stuff, which was really an eye (ear) opener. So if you try their software, and copy the results into your DAW (by using the free ReaEQ for example), you can have both: saved money and an honest pair of speakers 😉
The APO equalizer allows you to implement an VST systemwide in your windows OS to hear the same monitoring EQ as in your DAW.
For me…the cheapest solution for now.
@@thomasw1865 Absolutely.
30 minutes of pure unadulterated information. Other TH-camrs should learn from your excellent example.
Thank you very much.
Exactly. no BS just all practical stuff. the guy is really a wonder. I think he can create a video version of the book and sell as course ofcourse working with or get permission or give credit to whom from where the inspiration came.
I think there should start to be a video version of books. where they speak and explain and show real life examples and then guide the audience to try stuffs. that would be a game changer.
Its hard for me to watch youtubers without them talking fluff or unrelated stuff but not this guy. would be nice to have a friend in real life like him.
Man, you did dig deep into what for many of us is just a big question mark and this video turns all the question marks into answers - thank you very much, with each sentence you speak I hear hours of learning and you managed to put it all in one video. I got more from this video about studio monitors than from any other video period. Thank you very much and greetings from Germany :) Dirksón!
I've been through pretty much identical series of unfortunate events trying to get the actual monitor output to be reflected across other audio systems and you are the only one that revealed the sound delay aspect :) ty for this
Awesome video! I'm literally sitting and looking for my first ever monitors and togheter with my friends building a new studio when i found this video. It just helped me realise that i haft to dig deep into all of the diffrent factors that goes into creating the best creative space. I never had the opportunity to have expensive gear because of my age and now that i'm growing up i feel blessed that there are people like you that share their struggles and knowlege so that i can get a headstart in mine. Thank you and i appreciate you!
You can't use the auratones as an example for the time decay on the low end.
The graph speaks for itself, but it basically doesn't have the low end ringing because it also doesn't produce any audible low end at that frequency range. 😉
In other words, it can't excite frequencies that it doesn't reach. 🙂
Even if Thriller by MJ was really mixed only on auratones (which it wasn't, because all big studios had several monitors, including the huge far field), and that mix would be mastered after that by a different engineer and on a different room, and it would go back to mixing if it couldn't be corrected at the mastering stage.
Case in point, the whole Thriller album was longer than the final version, but it sounded like crap when they pressed it on vinyl, so they had to actually reduce the length of some tracks (look for it 🙂).
In any case, Bruce Swedian was one of the best at tracking and mixing, and just like any other big engineer of that era, he would spend most of his days doing it, and practice does make a difference.
Look at many other big names of audio engineers, and you'll see that they all found what worked best for them, and Andrew Scheps has been mixing mainly with headphones for years, using his long time thrusted Tannoys to check from another perspective.
Headphone mixing isn't easy, but he managed to get it right, and I tend to believe someone that mixed the most sold album of the last decades (Adele).
He does use _always_ the same make and model of headphones for years (some relatively inexpensive Sony), which give them what he needs the most:
- Consistency! 🙂
This is not to say that good monitors, a good room and something like Sonarworks isn't going to help, because it definitely does.
But it's not going to solve anything magically, and there's also another fun fact about audio engineering back in those days:
- they would often check their mixes in their car! 😃
Those multi-million dollars studios we're not even consistent between them, even when they had the same monitors.
The NS-10s have an artificial bump in the high mids, which would act as a magnifying glass for that range (at the expense of the low range).
It's easier to focus on the midrange if you have little bass response.
Back on the day, they weren't mixing music with the same amount of low end that EDM and other genres use these days.
Even in MJ "Earth song", I don't believe that Bruce Swedian could do the whole mix on Auratones or NS-10s, because that song has some bass notes that none of them could reach, and no one can adjust something that is not being reproduced by the monitors.
In the end, find what works best for you, bearing in mind that practice is going to solve a lot more issues that constantly replacing monitors. 😉
At least give a speaker recommendation
@@yaadiiboy9429 Genelec all the way.
great book , I bought the kindle version of the book as soon as it was published, finished it a few months ago ...but ill buy the paperback as its a studio bible esp its the 'Cut To The Chase' section. Mikes a great guy. I bought a single active Mixcube to complement my old Tannoy Reveal Actives ( with a pair of rolled up clean socks to seal the portholes) with a TS10 sub,. Thank you for being real and voicing your thoughts on mix translation hurdles. glad I subscribed
This is probably the most honest advise about monitors I have heard...Thank you !!!
Great video! I'm building my studio in a room that is all block so still working on acoustic treatment. I've watched a lot of video on speakers and looking like the hs5s are where I'm going. You really did a great job of breaking down sound dynamics. Thanks for the links as well!
Since I changed my setup to match "Cardas Option 2" (19:52 / speakercalc, use same length for main and side wall, then scroll down for 5th option) and switched to KSD C88 (extremely tight/hard/fast bass membrane) I don't need to get into the car anymore. The bass sound compresses right at the place where my chair is because the wall is behind me (with a thin carpet and some foam mats, as well as on the ceiling). The subwoofer (7060B) is at the other end of the room at a very low loudness. I correct the time lag between sub and nearfeald with a Behringer Ultracurve and I could correct frequencies with it but I don't need to. Now the bass frequencies are extremely good in my 4x4 meter and (almost) square room, which makes it much easier to determine all other frequencies. Since then my mixes no longer suck.
As long as I sat in front of a wall with my speakers like you do, I had no chance. You have to be able to perceive the low frequencies, otherwise your mixes will not work.
Thank you for sharing your experiences with us!
This book was a game changer for me too! Great vid.
I'm currently working through Ethan Winer's book, The Audio Expert. Very objective as well. Especially in regards to gear and studio equipment. Highly recommend it.
Kevin holy mackerel buddy this is studio changing info. I’m in the ‘something isn’t working with my KRK’s’ phase and looking at Focal and Adam Audio speakers but your info has halted all that. I ordered the Mixing Secrets book before I buy anything and thank you so much for putting this out there from your own hard earned research. I’ve already recommended to several friends also in the “I need new speakers” phase to watch your info first.
Can’t thank you enough brother. This should be required viewing for anyone interested in audio Mixing , Mastering and I’d even say Tracking.
Thanks!
Thanks for the information and the way you present it. Most people should be able to understand what you're talking about. Acoustic treatment of the room comes first, then more expensive speakers (if you even need them, depending on what it is you do exactly).
Also, don't forget that monitor speakers are unforgiving and put out the sound like it is.
I have Mike Senior's "Mixing secrets for the small studio". Fantastic book, helped in so many ways!!
I went through your whole explanation and I learn a lot about the Monitors and sound, Thanks a lot for sharing the knowlege!
Great video! It was an awesome quick refresher of all the stuff I learned about acoustics, room treatment, speaker placement a long time ago when I formally studied sound. I always recommend if you want to get into sound/music seriously do some type of study first, at the very least learn about room acoustics. Mixing Secrets looks like a great book! It amazes me how many people have 0 room treatment, I mean you might as well mix in the bathroom. If anyone on TH-cam is recommending specific speakers with 0 treatment, I take their opinion with a grain of salt. Another point is room treatment can be much cheaper if you make everything yourself. I mean, even a few old mattress is better than nothing (buy some cheap black/grey material to cover them if you worry about looks).
I loved this video! This is my first and only comment anywhere. I now have a decent understanding of what seemed out of my range of technical info. Thank you.
Brilliant! thanks for taking the time to make this vid.
Thanks for sharing your experience.
Looking to upgrade my monitoring system, your video came up!! Thank you for all this information
I come here to see the video,and then i finish with the reading of the book. Well done! :))
More than anything you need to be able to hear in your head what you want it to sound like. A few listening options available are handy so that you aren't biased by one listening system.
Man.. THANK YOU for this video. Really glad I watched it. If I haven't watched this video I would waste so much money and time, its crazy. Completely prevented from buying monitors. Will try to mix with headphones only for now.
Great video, thank you for this technical knowledge.
I've only got half way through the book! its not light reading, but very informative.
The decay isn’t short because it’s a closed design. The Yamaha ns10 and auratone cannot provide anything below 200Hz. In other words, they lack in sound pressure levels in the low end and low mid range.
I have to agree with you, for example on the A7V the bass frequencies are over-represented and a bit muddy, the bassreflex probably plays a role in the long decay of low frequencies that is so annoying. With modern DSP it should be possible to create imperceptible crossovers with Q>=100 or so.
Great video! Thank you for doing this.
Thanks for a great informative video - I stumbled into this video looking for monitors for my beginner home studio setup - as many beginners my main problem has been making a decision from lots of advice from audio experts when in reality I need to probably just get started. I will be buying AKG headphones you mentioned + some cheap but effective monitors as the basement room I am using is an acoustic nightmare and follow your advice at a later date regarding the perfect mixing setup. My main aim is the composition, creation and recording but like most beginners setting up a DAW I am getting lost in the tech/research aspects of midi interfaces, audio interfaces, mics etc . I am just not at the sonic comprehension level or capacity to take in all your great advice.
dt880 pro is better. very natural . but it is 250 ohm. and its better to use a great sound card to drive it. dont go for buying amp . just get a appolo twin + beyerdynamic dt880 pro.
This is the kind of video I'm always trying to find. An experienced speaker with great info material. Big THANKS. I learned a lot! Cya XD
Almost half way through the book and have learned a lot.
My car speakers boost the treble and produce sibilance. So annoying 😂
I mix with MDR7506s and Titan S IEMs. Getting some Sennheiser 560s headphones soon as well as some Presonus 3.5BTs.
I feel like mixing is a lot of compromising to get an “average” between all your systems. So I figure just get all of the options (monitors, close back headphones, open back headphone, and in ear monitors) and I can always upgrade later if something seems to work better or if something is lacking.
Thanks for the plug brother. Ill also send some hardware for you to check soon.
Amazing information as I'm in the process of buying a set of studio monitors. Thank you for taking the time for making this video and sharing this information with us.
Glad it was helpful!
Very very helpful vid man. Thank you!
I would like to add that the group delay caused by most reflex port designs (that is presented as low end decay time in thos video) is not as important as this video states. Because room modes and reflections cause much larger deviances and contribute to the much more significant decay times. In a perfect room without low end reflections (outdoors) any if these monitors could provide reliable low end information. So obsessing about anechoic measurements of decay times isn’t nearly as important as this video and book would like to let you know. NS10s and Auratones don’t portray such low LF decay times in an actual room only because they are sealed design, but simply because they are unable to output any serious LF information due to the high roll off. So there is always a trade off question: is it better having low end information which will unfortunately interfere with the midrange clarity in a small lousy room (most home studios with speakers capable of low end information), or not have any real LF information and having midrange clarity (NS10s, Auratones). Since midrange is the key to translation to consumer devices not capable of real LF reproduction, the second option might me better. But in reality it is not, it is just a compromise. So the conclusion is: you have to have good enough room to begin with and need to have acoustics knowledge to treat it well. Than you can obsess less with monitors and any of these will be able to provide reliable translation.
Well put
Exactly, thank you! Especially with the quality of gear available to us these days in almost all scenarios the biggest problem factor will be the room and not the speakers.
Most people don't realize that the Yamaha NS10 were terrible monitors. There were in the studios because if you could make a mix sound good on those, then it would sound good any any other monitor. Go an investigate it.
Bingo
Not Really. NS10 excellent time domain response (clean waterfall), low group delay and low crossover made them very revealing (cheap and portable too). ATC replaced them and became a studio standard by following similar design principles with a much better overall frequency response, better power handling and greater bandwidth (ATC are more costly too). The problem with most speakers is their time domain response (phase), dispersion, power handling and waterfall plot are ugly because designers pursue mostly bandwidth and flat frequency response. A muddy resonant ported one note bass goes a long way to making a pleasing heavy bass that covers up mid range deficiencies (masking) very well - cheap designs that sell so well these ported designs form the majority of monitors.
You’re way off about the NS-10. It’s got nothing to do with making it sound good on a crappy speaker means it will translate better. The NS-10 was manufactured to poor tolerances. Any two were never close to being matched. They became a cult following because one guy had a hit record on them…then another…and another. Then others picked up on this and soon they were everywhere. They became a poor reference monitor. But by virtue of the fact they were everywhere, people got used to them. Kind of a sink or swim phenomenon. 1031s also had a similar kind of appeal from the higher end direction. For a while there were basically two sets of monitors on the meter bridge. One that was clear and distinct while the other was distorted with no bass. Take your pick.
Fun fact, the NS10s were initially intented as hi-fi speakers. And yes, the ‘myth’ was indeed that if it sounds good on the NS10s then it it’ll sound good on ‘anything’.
Actually ns10 are a great speakers, I enjoyed their sound quite a bit
Incredible Video, I learned alot, I will apply this.
Thanks for the video. Same store, same monitors you ended up with.. Although I work with entirely different genres in a beginner capacity... Here is my two cents: there are other, often not-so-easily measured/charted variables than freq. response, transient response and distortion. That's why there are there are so many completely unaffordable (new luxury car money...), and hundreds of expensive (used car money) hi-fi loudspeakers. Yes, flat freq. response is desirable with monitors - but there is more to the picture. I think I need to agree with all the comments which put a lot of weight in 'getting to know' your tools well... Cheers!
Hey Man Nice! A Lot of things to think about ...I moved on from the last home studio...and tried to do my best to the new one...soon you gonna receive new album to mix...i get happy that u improve even more your work!!
Awesome can't wait to hear the new stuff! How's the new studio?
@@VintiqueSound oh it's ok...just some adjustments...and now I am at the same city that my brother lives! It is easy to be with him... Cheers!
Really good info!! And the way you broke it down, easily understandable!
Thanks!
Never watched an honest, detailed video. You explained objectively and professionally without compromise. I love it keep it going and keep being genuine in these videos
This is Pure gold informative video!
Big thanks man
Thanks for all the information!!
It's really weird thing but I worked with professional studios( equipment and room treatments) , the songs sounded way different out of the studio, less excited, as I worked whit a guy whit a basic home studio set up and his mix's are really good and translate better anywhere I play them, I did see some great records was made in non professional environments that makes me wonder a lot, I know a beat maker that produces and mix whit airpods and his beats are really good .... I think the engineer play a big role, there is just some guys out there that will make you a good mix where ever the condition..
Great video, thank you for the advices really appreciated!
This is something of great value. Thank you so much for this info. For adding this value. Subscribed🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳
Very informative. Thank you 👍🏽
Keep up your study great to see you learning. Succinctly, you study room acoustics and room isolation sources so you know that a room made of brick or stone will contain and overly reverberate, A weatherboard house with timber lining will let all the low end thru and if you are on a farm your good. (The open back headphones) The stone wall needs alot of expense to soak up the sound. A car which is a metal shell and glass is not the best place to "approve" a mix and you should listen on a number of environments, like a PA for EDM for eg. Powered speakers, requires understanding the slew rate of it's amp, the speed of the amp is what you also pay for with expansive speakers. The NS10 and Auratones have no bass response and the charts reflect this. So you are passing on miss info here. The speakers need to be flat with fast slew rate, the cones need to be able to match this and the cab resonance needs to aid the flatness in a flatest response room you can make it(no such thing as perfect here) Now hearing is what you get and you listen to a bunch of reference material alot and learn your room and speakers. You want a mix that will translate on a phone to a Club PA and this is always a compromise without wrecking you mix. Auratones are good for a mono mix check. When you are new to mixing you are heavy handed with everythng especially your latest toy so dont change this too often get good with what you have utill you can justify the expense of better and eventually your mindset will be,: what is the least I can do to make it sound good."
Many thanks for doing this. Very helpful. I'm not sure how feasible this is now, but it would be really interesting to hear two mixes - one A mix based on your prior knowledge, setup, lack of damping/absorption, etc, and a B mix, having made all those changes, so that we can compare them.
That's a great suggestion. I guess what I could do is pull up an older mix of mine, and do the entire mix from scratch. I'm not exactly sure what you could conclude from comparing them though, because one would be done with several years more experience, not just the acoustic knowledge, but just all around more knowledge and experience. I'll see what songs I can dig up that would be great candidates and hopefully make such a video :)
This is great, thanks for making this!
I like how you explained this!!!
Great video, if you can keep it in context. Advice is a bit muddy depending on your current level of gear. I would personally mix at low volume on great monitors before spending cash improving a room without speakers.
Solid gold! New sub. I was on my 3rd set of monitors before i realized my room was the culprit. (oddly shaped 40m² room with lots of glass and high ceiling) The best decision i made was buying a pair of DT880s and putting in the hours concentrating on getting better instead of worrying about speakers.
borrowed this book from my friend...blew my mind...bought the book myself later...still "looking" for the right monitors. GREAT BOOK!
I have been a Dj since the early 80's and i have had all kinds of setups and always low class because i could not afford the good stuff. I did have the technics 1200's and a GLI mixer in the 80's but after that, it was always rigged up parts and now finally i was able to afford better things and i will you this that the RK G4's... why did i wait to ever get them. They sound killer and give me clear audio to listen too. I record my mixes and take them with me on the go so i can listed on what improvements i could make and no matter where i take my recordings, they sound awesome. Car audio is very different. If you don't have the proper highs, mids and lows, your music isn't going to sound the same. Back in the 90's i used to have all rockford fosgate system and it was killer. If you want really good sounding sound there is a company called canton and they made the best mids and highs back in the 90's. I had a friend who was becoming a state trooper and he had all cantons put in his car and man i will tell you this... you could hear his music loud and clear a half a block away. His subs would tremble a store window a quarter of a block away. Not sure if canton is in business anymore but i am sure you can still find used stuff. I have a pair of canton home speakers on my home theater system and it sounds great!. Car audio if you don't have the right highs, lows and mids, your audio is not going to sound very good.
Awesome vid, thanks Kevano!
Much thanks living room boyz
Man, you're the inspiration. Thank you for all your videos!
Excelkent advice, thanks
Wow, I have never worked in a treated room. While I expect that it helps, truth is after, getting my Hedd-headphones I was impressed that my mixes sounded pretty much the same as they do in my car, on consumer brand headphones, and even through cellphone speakers.
You can clearly hear the lyrics and the lows.
I was surprised, but I've been at this for decades and listen over and over and overagain.
Nice! I would be pretty pissed off if i had bought those headphones of yours and they didn't translate well to other sound systems! They cost just short of $2000 😮
I had all these same issues. I broke the rules and started mixing on home stereo speakers with the exaggerated eq most people use and problem solved. Mixes sounded the same in my car, on my phone, over blutooth speakers..
Love the video. It’s nice to see someone talking about this stuff without all the fluff. I might buy that book but damn it’s expensive!
I’ve spent the last week working on my room and I gotta say it’s made a huge difference
OMG you darn right. the guy is real and not fluff and non practical stuff. I like this kind of people. very humble and extremely open minded. dude he is.
serious does it work
The book can be found for much cheaper on Abebooks or ebay.
Agreed not talking down to us passes the info without saying I know better than you ,I’ve watched a lot of not saying what vdz and thy all I have and I did and I’m and you are not I followed and I thanked him
maybe this is the most honest opinion and the best suggestions! Thanks !
NS10s and auratones were reference monitors. I couldn't imagine anyone basing their entire mix on them, but to each their own I guess.
Thank you for the excellent video
Avantone are also great because they require less acoustic treatment. It's better to get a single avantone and run it in mono through a y-cable.
Avontone which model or presonus 4 or 5??
Thank you very much. Great work.
Thank you, very useful!
Hi! Thanks for the video. Do you think the Focal Shape 40 would be a good alternative with its technology as it does not have a bass reflex, but a kind of passive cone? I await your answer! thank you very much!! 🔥🔥🔥
Great video. The original Yamaha NS-10s were everywhere back in the 80s - I've mixed on them a bunch of times. It's funny to see the prices on these get so high, because they actually sounded pretty bad. If you could make your mix sound kinda good on them, you were doing well. For budget engineers, it really is about getting used to your speakers and your room, but today's budget monitors are so good compared to what we used to have. I just got a pair of Kali LP-8 V2s and I'm very happy with them - they do a good job with the low end. Meaning if your low end is whack, they'll let you know.
Even after all of these trouble set up we have to go through and spent all the money there is still NO guarantee your mix will be spot on. It’s all in YOU and your head. Knowing how the room, the speakers, the compressor and EQ work is far more crucial to achieve a pro result. Hell you can mix with Headphone to avoid all these problems.
My room acoustic is far from perfect but but I’ve grown to know how they will translate in the real world and it makes my life so much easier. Cheers !
Thank u so much this was really helpful
I produce/engineer music ;but bought my pair of KRK Rokit8 monitors (paired with a Denon 10 inch powered sub) more to listen to all music properly, gaming and watching movies with superior sound versus the BS sound bar setups most people use for home entertainment these days. I've never been disappointed with my use case. I also prefer to do a headphone check versus the run to car check myself ;but used to do that a lot too lol.
Wow. That point about speaker decay was mind-blowing. Thanks so much for sharing and Mike for his wonderful research!
I have the Avantone in Mono and always wondered what was so magic about them and it's so cool to get a small insight into why!
Does presonus 4 or 5 have good decay for mixing??
best monitors for professional usage have dsp built in.
my favorites are: genelec sam monitors, ik multimedia iloud precision series, neumann KH150.
Mid range mid-range for mixing....Headphones are evolving but mixing on mid-range speakers is most definitely a must. Adam Audio T7V are my go too.
I made two 5 inch monitors with flooring as the box and A single driver . Flooring is made to absorb sound , no ports and they sound terrible when the mix is bad and oh so good when I got it right .
I feel like these should be addressed in reverse order. 1) Speaker and Listening position placement, 2) Acoustic treatment, 3) Potential speaker upgrade (I'm assuming anyone interested already owns some type of monitor). I addition to Sonar Works, there is another (free) tool called REW (Room EQ Wizard) that performes the same acoustic measurement tools
Stuff foam rubber into your speaker holes. As soon as I purchased my Yamaha 8" speakers, I did this and noticed a better clarity. Use Sonarworks and you're good to go.
@4:35 I could not help but laugh, i cannot tell you how many times I’ve run out to my car with the mix 😂
I was looking at the ATC SCM20A here at 13:39 and was like, "Thats a very good frequency response" then I looked up the price 😆
I was actual on my way to get the Eris e5 xt changed my mind lol this room acoustic thing would be the first thing to work on
Nice video! This is my journey and was planning on getting me Yamaha HS5 monitors. You have really done lots of research and this is such a great help. You summarized it well!!! Just one question though that I think that you perhaps left out in summarizing it all...does your mixes translate well now on your car system or other playback devices after you mixed it compared to before? And yes I know every little bit of change helps, but I'm not talking about that 2% change...I mean like drastic changes? And if you should percentage-wise rate what you personally think helps your mix translate very well on other devices, what would you say makes the biggest success percentage? Monitors, room acoustics, speaker placements or Reference software?
Thanks, and good questions. It's hard to quantify in percentages, but I'd put it somewhere at, Room Acoustics 35%, Monitors 25%, Speaker Placement 25%, Reference Software 15%. An improvement in each one will compliment and compound one another, so if one of the big 3 (room acoustics, monitors, speaker placement) are lacking in some fundamental way then your monitoring will suffer. The goal is to try and maximize the objectivity of your monitoring output as it hits your ears. The reference software is more of a bonus in this context. But of course none of this really helps when it comes to the psychological biases and other pitfalls we can still fall prey to even with the best monitoring setups.
Yes I hear what you'r saying. Thanks for the feedback and the tips. It's much appreciated. Regards.
Legend, convinced to invest some money in knowledge and books!
Thinking about this it doesn’t make sense to me. Avatones and NS10’s don’t have any bass so you’re basically using the midrange to balance the tracks which is what they are meant for. For the low-end you need a sub, near fields are not going to give you any indication what happens between 30 and 50 Hz. If you happen to get it right without it’s because you know how your system translates or just a lucky coincidence. The decay time is definitely important but this needs to be addressed with speaker placement, room size, bass traps, absorption and diffusion. Removing the bass from your monitors isn’t going to solve it imo 😊
Thanks for the book recommendation, i had been looking for one for a while now. Any other books you would recommend?
Very nice..so what shield monitors you suggest apart of avantone ? Where can we find data of decay of speakers ?
Don't close any tabs until you watch this video!
don't upgrade your RAM until you watch this video 😂
Very nice vid buddy ty very much
Hi man, great video ! Thanks ! I read this book, not a long time ago, but before seeing this video and I had the same "aHa" moment that you had ! This book worth the money. If you know a website where I can find the waterfalls of every current speakers, I'd like to know ! Mike seniors's book have a quite a few but I'd like to expand my researchs. Have a nice day ! ;-)
When looking for monitors, actually mixing on them and seeing how the mixes translate before pulling the trigger is a great idea. When using a compressor can you actually hear the changes you're making? When using an EQ, can you hear the changes you're making. If you can't hear these things its an absolute deal breakers!! No matter what monitors you end up with consider pairing them with 1 mixcube and your chances of translation increases considerably because you'll be better nailing the midrange. Room acoustics are important too. It doesn't have to be "perfect" but you do need some thicker acoustic panels on the surrounding walls. Theres a lot of info out there about how to do this. Room treatment isn't as appealing as gear, but it is very important if you want to take mix translation seriously.
Port plugs. Diy with foam. Simple solve for decay time. Just have a sealed subwoofer as well.
I wondered that but you have to remember that the cabinet amp driver combo was designed with a port in mind. So you will drastically affect response of the speaker. ATC and Barefoot make sealed speakers.
Seems like you're just starting to learn about speakers. Just wait until you hear about phase response and distortion + the extra info about distortion caused by passive crossovers. Then you'll learn that the frequency responses are very vague representation about the sound.
Also about those waterfall-graphs: It is true how sealed enclosure doesn't ring as much. But also it doesn't go as low and drops for a long time instead of keeping it straight until the lowest frequencies. Therefore Avantones and Ns-10's are really tinny sounding speakers when comparing to modern ported speakers. People nowdays use them more as a tool to check out mix instead to fully mix with them. Avantones especially have reputation as a mix test speaker in mono.
Thank you for opening my eyes.
Finally. This info has been around for decades.
Auratone monitors are still in producing, and they have an Auratone amp now, which is powerd by Bettermaker company (Poland). In Europe pair of Auratone monitors is 389€, and the Auratone amp A2-30 cost 343€
Yeah I think I misspoke, I meant to say they stopped making the original 5C's that everybody raves about. The new ones are supposedly not quite the same. But I didn't know they made an amp, good to know :)
Aueatones are just boxes withoud low and high end mostly mid like ns 10s dunno why they are so prased
Auretones hosed to be popular around the '80s because they represent a more or less " bad sounding" consumer speaker, NOT because there so good, just like the Yamahas Ns10, both ( the Yamahas where better) are " B" monitors to give an simulation what the " average" consumer would here of your mix...in the 80's on a midi system or in a loud car...so as speaker nothing special....I would rather use a set of affordable BOSE companion two speaker, wich actually sound way BETTER ....
Maybe I missed as I was skipping around but were you using reference tracks? This is the key to adapting to any studio monitor, room or seating position. Testing your mix against a professional mix in your space and comparing your work will always be our greatest tool to see if our mix will hold up on other sources. You can mix on almost anything.....If you learn how what your mixing on relates to professional mixes.
What also helped my mixes immensely was better sound selection in my production. You don't have to tweak a million things if the sound dit together from the start...gain staging...a little compression here and there... sprinkle some reverb and you are done.
Eq the master bus to flatten things out a big and you have a solid mix. Also mix and low volumes...this is the number one key for a good mix. Low volumes.
Just my 2 cents.
Referencing is essential to get to know your speaker signature and sound within the audio space.
The "extended decay" has to do with wavelength. Lower frequencies, have longer wavelengths, meaning if all frequencies are played back at a similar SPL, the bass frequencies will decay more slowly. This can be mitigated by the correct (and yes, correct, not just any) acoustic treatment of a room. A lot of people simply buy any random set of acoustic panels, because "it looks pro." Having acoustic panels, makes it look like you know what you're doing and all that. But you need panels that will absorb the frequencies where your issues occur.
So, why does the NS10's have so short decay time for the bass register then? Well, simply because it doesn't produce much bass. They start dropping off very high up in the bass register. This means that the bass frequencies will have lower energy, and hence they drop off quicker. If you look at the graphs again, you can see that every speaker with a more extended bass register, also has longer decay...almost like these two things are directly related. Neat, huh? If you add a subwoofer to the system, well, then you'll have those issues with long decay again.
Then comes the big question: Are you certain that the sound in your car is anywhere near correct? I mean, it might sound enjoyable, or what you might perceive as "good", especially if you've gotten really used to listening to music in it. But is it accurate? Especially if you're doing EDM, I would imagine that the kind of sound you want in your car is on the, ehh, let's say "more cheerful" side. This is very common. If your ultimate goal is to get a sound that is identical to what you're hearing in your car, then start mixing in your car. Bring the project on a laptop into your car, hook it up, and do the final mixing there. Most likely, your mixing room sounds a LOT more linear and ideal in terms of audio reproduction, than your car does. Meaning, the problem isn't with your mix, but with the playback in your car.