Using A Subwoofer For a DAW?

I think what you are mixing comes into play too.  There are genres of music that use so much sub-bass that even quality monitors wit h8 inch woofers will come up short.  I realize that genres like that are highly specialized  and not that popular, but figure I would toss that out there just in case.

Thanks everyone for your help thus far.   Wow Bitflipper, $3,000 huh?  I  was looking into these bad boys:

http://www.guitarcenter.com/ADAM-Audio-A7X-Powered-Studio-Monitor-105953897-i1563069.gc
 
if I buy these, you think I will need the sub huh?
 
What about mixing/mastering with a sub?  I heard so many people say that the golden rule is to NEVER mix/master with a Sub Woofer.
 
Thanks,
Adam

GuitarhackerOnce you get it set up and adjusted properly ...

I guess that would be my biggest concern.  How do you do that?  How do you accurately get set the level so what you're hearing is truely flat and uncolored?  I don't recall ever seeing a comprehensive and reliable methodology for doing that.

dmbaer

GuitarhackerOnce you get it set up and adjusted properly ...

I guess that would be my biggest concern.  How do you do that?  How do you accurately get set the level so what you're hearing is truely flat and uncolored?  I don't recall ever seeing a comprehensive and reliable methodology for doing that.

David, I think this will most likely be a trial and error thing for most people unless you really go ballistic and custom tune the room and have things done by a professional. Like for example, a buddy of mine just had this incredible studio built that cost insane amounts of money. He doesn't even know how to use the stuff yet. He came into some money and just went nuts on a dream studio. He had it all build by guys that are in the acoustics field and the room was designed by an architect that builds studio's.
 
When they built this room and tuned it....they really tuned it. I've been going over there showing him how to use the stuff a bit and will be using the room for myself as well on the side. But the one thing I noticed was, this room is so dialed in, you don't miss a trick when you listen to something. He's got that really nice Event rig that's built into his walls, some JBL's with the correction.....it's just nuts. But whatever they did to tune that room and build it, there was no experimenting that the engineer would need to do. I can't find a fault with it other than the poor guy doesn't know how to use it yet.
 
In MY personal situation, it has been my exeprience to mix in a little sub until you start to feel it and hear it equally. When you feel too much and you find it exciting...that's when you are usually using too much. If you can hear too much of it....it's usually too loud also. So when I get to either of those thresholds, that's when I know I either have to back down the volume or change the frequency in the sub.
 
To me, selecting the right frequency was the hardest part because most times when we do self analysis stuff, you could totally mess things up unless you really do the research, use the right tools to analyze and of course, have the right mic that paints the correct picture. For me, you know my answer here....ARC was my personal weapon of choice.
 
It doesn't help with room issues (it may for some people) but the one thing it does do (at least for me) is flatten out my monitors. AND...this is especially useful in tuning your sub. So my advice in a sub situation would be to turn it up loud so that you can select the frequency/crossover in the sub that best accentuates your room. Once you find it, back the sub volume down until you get that 50/50 in hearing it and feeling it. Correct it with some sort of analyzer that will give you the good results and then try a few mixes.
 
The worst case scenario, you may mix bass light. If so, you lower the sub which will force you to mix bass heavier. See how it sounds after that. If you like the amount of bass you hear but think your frequency selection is skewered, you can always try messing with the sub frequency a little.
 
If you find you're mixing bass heavy, you raise the level of the sub which of course will force you to mix a bit more bass light. Do a few mixes and see how you fair. I had to do this in both of my rooms. In my home studio, my sub was a bit low which was making my mixes a bit bass heavy. I RAISED it an increment and it totally fixed me.
 
At my real studio we were a bit bass light when we first started mixing, so we lowered the sub a few increments and mixed until we felt we were getting the right results. So there will still be a little trial in error unless you really go through the pains of hell to analyze the room professionally and have it fixed the right way. At least that's been my experience. :)
 
-Danny

Thank you for the help everyone.   If I use seperate output ports on my audio interface (1 for monitors and 1 for sub), I will have to make sure the levels are exactly matching on both outputs, right?

That's why I was asking if there was a way to hook them up in 1 chain.... something like AUDIO INTERFACE > SUB > MONITORS or something like that.

All my speakers have volume controls on them including the sub. I set the monitors to the 50% point and the sub is "to taste" ......balanced according to my ears.  Like Goldilocks.... not too hot and not too cold, just right.
 
The way it's wired.... as I adjust the volume in the DAW with faders, everything moves together in the world of speaker volume. Monitors get louder and sub gets louder..... and vice versa.
 
The sub has a crossover that took a bit of playing with to get it's adjustment right.....again, based on what I perceive to be right.