Adjusting ears to monitors

Hi, folkens,
I'm at my home studio with my Alesis Elevate 3's - not SUPER great monitors, but for my conditions and budget, they should VERY well do the job for a couple of years until I'm really in need of something better.
 
But what I'm wondering is what I can do to get my ears adjusted to the sound of these monitors. I haven't done a lot of mixes, and actually I tend to work on a lot of non-conventional musical styles. I can say for certain that this year, I'll be doing a lot of big band and classical-type stuff.
 
I'm planning to add in a cheap subwoofer from a Logitech 2.1 system... but I'm not sure it'll actually do the trick. In any case, getting the right balance is its own nightmare.

also,
listen to hours and hours and hours of pro mixes thru your setup....
 
that is how to learn your speakers in your room, without doing serious room treatments.
 
 

davdud101
I'm planning to add in a cheap subwoofer from a Logitech 2.1 system... but I'm not sure it'll actually do the trick. In any case, getting the right balance is its own nightmare.

 
i would not go for the sub. it could be a lot more misleading than beneficial in that combinatiom (cheap sub, untreated room, not knowing room/monitors without sub) ...

batsbrew
also,
listen to hours and hours and hours of pro mixes thru your setup....
 
that is how to learn your speakers in your room, without doing serious room treatments.
 

that's it ... 100%
 
 

tom's right too..
 
but without spending big bucks on room treatment,
you can't fix the nulls.
 
you can look into room eq software, like IK Multimedia's ARC2, or Soundworks

Best way to prepare for ear training is to take objective measurements first. That will inform you about specific resonant frequencies that are going to be a problem, including nulls at the mix position.
 
You can get fancy with such measurements, but even a very simple test can be informative. Set a microphone up at the mix position, locating it where your ears would normally be. Generate some white noise or import a white noise test file into SONAR, which you'll then play back and record via the microphone. A simple spectrum analyzer on the recorded track will reveal the biggest problem frequencies.
 
Because the worst problems will be in the low frequencies (< 500 Hz) you might also use a swept-sine or stepped-sine test file. Ethan Winer used to have a SONAR project posted on his website (realtraps.com) that had stepped-sines from 40Hz to 500Hz in 1Hz increments. That one works quite well for identifying problem resonances, and will allow you to zero in on exactly which frequencies are most problematic.
 
The reason measurement is the first place to start is that you might not be able to discern all problem frequencies by ear. As noted above, any resonance that happens to result in a null at the listening position is undetectable except by graphical representation. Knowing in advance which frequencies your room has made unreliable will prevent you from making subjective EQ decisions that are counter-productive.
 
Once armed with that knowledge, you can now kick back and spend a few hours listening to your favorite records. You don't need to do anything special - your brain will train itself automatically. After a 10-20 hours you'll just instinctively know what a good recording sounds like on those speakers in that room, and more importantly, you will know when your own mixes aren't cutting it.

bitflipper
Once armed with that knowledge, you can now kick back and spend a few hours listening to your favorite records. You don't need to do anything special - your brain will train itself automatically. After a 10-20 hours you'll just instinctively know what a good recording sounds like on those speakers in that room, and more importantly, you will know when your own mixes aren't cutting it.

This is something I might need a more specific, short tutorial in. Any links?
I've got everything set up just right, as far as I can say - minus the sub, but that will likely be factored out after all anyway. I can barely get it to work as it is now, and for what it can do, it's pretty darned weak.
 
(I will be needing to invest in a sub in the future, however. Suggestions? I'm a budget-guy who works only for fun and for church, so I'm not looking for any pro-line stuff, but for the home studio.)

DeeringAmps
THC or CBD for the 10-20 hours of listening?
 

Sorry, Tom, I missed your serious question. I think THC, to avoid falling asleep. OTOH, I have heard of people learning a foreign language by playing tapes while they sleep. So maybe dozing in front of the speakers might have some benefit.
 
Regarding subs: if you have 8" woofers, skip the subs. Even if you have 6.5" woofers, a sub still might not be worth the hassle. Smaller than 6.5", then yeh, the sub will help. But in any case, extending bass response down below 60 Hz will likely emphasize acoustical problems that you didn't even know you had.