How Picky Are You About Monitor Speakers?

[Goober(s)]

Absolutely. You can get a pair of accurate monitor speakers for under a grand. More money gets you more "detail," but nothing that would make a huge difference when mixing.

 

 

i've got a pricey pair that I think are worth it. I use them / rely on them all the time. buckets of detail.

[JeffLearman]

I don`t crank the D5s. I mix at low levels' date=' speaking volume and I alternate with the ATH-M50s. For $300, I think they`re a steal.[/quote']Mixing at low levels is smart.

 

It avoids ear fatigue, and it forces you to make sure all the important elements are audible even a lower levels. It's *harder*, but harder in a way that makes the mix more versatile. At loud levels, you can hear more stuff, and if you're not experienced, you'll be likely to leave important details too low in the mix, where they'll be lost at lower listening levels.

 

I like to end a mixing session by blasting it out nice and loud. Partly for the sheer fun, and partly to hear if anything's amiss at high levels. Usually, if you do a good job at low levels, it only sounds better at high ones. But sometimes there can be some garbage in there that you're missing. It's also good to hear a nice loud mix with fresh ears every now and then. In a way, it's a lot like comparison monitoring. But instead of comparing with lesser speakers, you're comparing with a different head/ear state.

 

[JeffLearman]

 

I have a theory about why that's so...rather than repeat it here, I'll link to the article that describes it.

Great article! A few more excellent reasons to do most mixing at low levels.

[Beck]

For the last 20 years or so my advice has been to build a studio from the monitors back because I've run across so many people that see monitors as an afterthought. Years ago I went totally nearfield for monitoring and chose the Yorkville YSM-1i (AKA ART SLM-1) for my main monitors. I bought them when they first came out, replacing the original YSM-1 and I still use them.

 

I could afford monitors many times the price, but I've never had a monitor that translates so well to real listening environments... headphones, ear buds, car, boombox, large hi-fi systems, etc. I prefer passives so I can mix and match speaker and amp to taste. With active speakers you have what you have and not much you can do to make improvements. There's an art to matching speaker with amp, but I still think the right match trumps most active systems. Believe it or not one of the best amps out there for the Yorkies is the Alesis RA-100. I also use a vintage 1981 Yamaha P2050 power amp as an alternate. Oddly enough neither the Yorkville SR300 or ART SLA-1 power amps are good matches for these speakers. The Alesis RA-100 seems to be made for them.

 

So anyway, yes I'm very picky about monitors, but I've found price doesn't necessarily mean much. I put a lot of research and time is selecting the components for my monitoring system, but in the end not much cash.

 

Sadly the Yorkies are no longer made. Both the YSM-1i and the ART SLM-1 were made in Canada by Yorkiville at the same facility. Like everyone else they've outsourced to Asia and IMO the current YSM active speakers can't hold a candle to the old Yorkville stuff from Canada.

 

If you can find an old pair of Yorkville YSM-1i's or ART SLM-1's in great condition on eBay, Craigslist, etc, I would snatch them up in a heartbeat. And of course the Alesis RA-100 is everywhere. Can't beat the price or the sound.

 

P.S. I didn't care for the Yorkville active YSM1P, so I stuck with the passives.

[Ernest Buckley]

Mixing at low levels is smart.

 

It avoids ear fatigue, and it forces you to make sure all the important elements are audible even a lower levels. It's *harder*, but harder in a way that makes the mix more versatile. At loud levels, you can hear more stuff, and if you're not experienced, you'll be likely to leave important details too low in the mix, where they'll be lost at lower listening levels.

 

I like to end a mixing session by blasting it out nice and loud. Partly for the sheer fun, and partly to hear if anything's amiss at high levels. Usually, if you do a good job at low levels, it only sounds better at high ones. But sometimes there can be some garbage in there that you're missing. It's also good to hear a nice loud mix with fresh ears every now and then. In a way, it's a lot like comparison monitoring. But instead of comparing with lesser speakers, you're comparing with a different head/ear state.

 

That pretty much sums it up for me. No need to read those 300+ page books on mixing… (assuming one knows the basics of mic placement signal flow, EQ, compression, etc...)

 

 

 

 

[WRGKMC]

 

I have a theory about why that's so...rather than repeat it here, I'll link to the article that describes it.

 

 

I figured this out a long time ago. (came from being on the road full time for nearly 40 years) The mix has to block out engine and road that noise when you turn it up. Open windows produce white noise as well. Second thing is you're dealing with a fixed audio system in a fixed environment that doesn't change. Listening to a Hi Fi you may be inclined to move around and your mix perspective will change. In a car you're forced to stay in one spot. The third item is your attention to detail in sight and hearing is highly focused when you drive (or should be). Your adrenalin levels will be higher and perceptions elevated to what you'd call a hunters instinct and those small details in the background will more likely be heard.

[144dB]

Monitors are extremely important to me. I don't have great ones at the moment (Event PS-8's), but I know them pretty well and eventually I'll get some Focals or some compact Genelecs to replace them.

 

I use headphones to detect clicks, noise, and overall glitches, but I have to use speakers for setting balance and the all-critical bottom-end. Speakers are only as good as the room (and I've invested a lot of time and effort to make it as good as it can be within constraints), but as someone said earlier, you can't mix or fix what you can't hear.

 

My wife and I are going to take a trip out to the east coast, and I'm going to try and set up some time at Gateway (Bob Ludwig's shop) to hear what top-flight speakers and rooms really sound like. I've never had that experience.

 

Outside of my studio, I check a lot of mixes in the car, and I occasionally will run them through a crappy clock radio to hear what pops. My mixes have gotten a lot better since I started using Craig's pink noise trick (i.e. playing some pink noise behind the music to see what gets buried), as well as leaving plenty of headroom for mastering. I'll mix to a peak of -6 dB, and that gives plenty of room for level optimization without squeezing the music to death, or leaving unnecessary noise. I also do 85% of my mixing in Mono, and then I'll switch to stereo for final sweetening and panning.

[Goober(s)]

color me picky