Studio Monitors

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TremoJem
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2014/05/01 10:15:35 (permalink)

Studio Monitors

Here is a stupid question.
 
If you take your favorite professional CD and listen to it on an audiophile system that sounds incredible and then, take it to your home studio and listen to it on your X3e, MOTU Audio Express, Mackie MR5mkII system...what should you expect?
 
The audiophile system should have color, although claiming to be accurate and the studio monitors should not have color while claiming accuracy as well.
 
I guess a better question is: Listen to a professional CD on your run of the mill stereo at a BBQ or whatever.
 
Then
 
Listen to the same CD in a multi million dollar studio.
 
What would you expect. I really don't know. I guess the studio should sound a little sterile??
 
Please advise.

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#1

7 Replies Related Threads

    rumleymusic
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    Re: Studio Monitors 2014/05/01 11:17:26 (permalink)
    That is a loaded question.  The answer really is, great monitors will sound great, fully detailed, perhaps revealing every flaw, but also providing full dynamics at the full frequency range.  Home speakers and many studio monitors will sound muffled, and sometimes either bright or boomy depending on how the manufacturer likes to promote their products.  
     
    I have tested many so called professional studio monitors and they are anything but flat and accurate.  KRK, Mackie, and Dynaudio seem to be the worst offenders.  The former offer almost no midrange detail, preferring muddy heft as a replacement, and Dynaudio seems to think bass is all we need to hear.  
     
    Mastering engineers do not use studio monitors, they use high end "audiophile" speakers systems with clean amplification.  Most of those systems use drivers by Scanspeak, Seas, or Focal which provide exceptional detail, and if designed right, a razor flat frequency response.  

    Daniel Rumley
    Rumley Music and Audio Production
    www.rumleymusic.com
    #2
    Cactus Music
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    Re: Studio Monitors 2014/05/01 13:14:13 (permalink)
    +1 to Dan's Post. It's funny if you post a song on the song forum you can almost tell what sort of monitors people have by the response. To many low priced powered monitors are bass heavy because that's what pleases. 

    Johnny V  
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    #3
    Starise
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    Re: Studio Monitors 2014/05/01 14:57:36 (permalink)
     
    I probably wouldn't have any expectations unless I knew more. 
     
    The attempt, at least, with monitors is to show every wart or good point about a mix,and to present the parts of a mix which will have good transfer across the largest number of systems. Even this depends on your mixing environment. I think Daniel covered it pretty well. The question isn't if a home/consumer level speaker will have a weakness,the question is which weakness will it have and how many. Fortunately most of these systems have a bass and treble control or slider to compensate for the worst parts.Music being subjective and ears being different this was the best compromise.
     
    Monitors make a bigger attempt to convey what's really there, so they aren't likely to sound like anything you are accustomed to hearing in the home market. If you can make a mix sound good on those then it should sound good on most other systems providing the monitors are fairly accurate. Like Daniel says though, you can't trust some monitors. If the manufacturer is honest and we can trust their Frequency curve charts , it gives a little insight into possible weaknesses with any given speaker. I went through a learning process with my monitors until I figured out how to mix with them. Trial/error and listening through other systems with the same mix, until I started to get what needed to happen down. My monitors are far from accurate. 
     

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    #4
    Rimshot
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    Re: Studio Monitors 2014/05/01 19:01:51 (permalink)
    There can be so many different points of view for this topic.  In my life, I found that the really good studio monitors in the professional studios I work in Los Angeles faithfully reproduced the audio but were not the go to for mixing.  The old auratones and NS10's (in my day) were widely used to help achieve a mix that would sound good on home systems.  I lived with the NS10's for decades and I can't use them any longer.  I want to enjoy the sound I work with and those things are not warm or full spectrum.  
    So, it is good to have monitors that can tell you all but also good to have mixing monitors that can translate well to the outside world.  It is in the outside world that music sells - not in the studio. 

    Rimshot 

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    rumleymusic
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    Re: Studio Monitors 2014/05/01 19:16:08 (permalink)
    One point I wanted to reinforce is that a great, accurate monitor in a dedicated space like a mastering studio will sound anything but sterile.  The more honest detail you hear, the more exciting the music tends to be, and the easier it will be to work with.  (The same argument does not really apply to microphones and preamps in my experience).
     
    High end audiophile monitors themselves will also not sound colored.  Most of that color comes from the hype of tube amplification, but the speakers are perfectly natural.  You don't really see tube amps in the mastering world for that reason.  Discreet class A or AB Mosfet amps tend to be the weapon of choice because they offer the lowest distortion.  There are some newer class D designs like Hypex Ncore that look very promising as well.  
     
    One trouble with a good sound system, however.  MP3's may no longer cut it for you.  I remember listening in my studio to a recording I was particularly proud of in the 24bit session.  I then immediately listened to the mp3 of the same thing.  The sudden loss of detail made me physically nauseous.  Like I had just eaten 3 McDonalds cheeseburgers.  I would never be able to hear that loss of resolution on consumer speakers or headphones.     

    Daniel Rumley
    Rumley Music and Audio Production
    www.rumleymusic.com
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    AT
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    Re: Studio Monitors 2014/05/01 19:54:23 (permalink)
    There is more there, there, with big monitors in a tuned room.  As pointed out above, bass problems can be heard, resonances in the speakers don't jump out, and the problems w/ recording mixing aren't smoothed or disappeared away.
     
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    TremoJem
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    Re: Studio Monitors 2014/05/02 23:13:24 (permalink)
    I guess it would be fair to say that if you have the opportunity to place a really good audiophile system in your studio, along side the studio monitors, with the ability to A/B the two monitoring systems, you should do so.
     
    I have seen many pictures of some really nice studios and it appears that they have multiple monitoring systems available to them, which would then reduce the need to audition the mixes in another room on another system...say your home studio or car stereo. Although it would be fair to say that your living room and car are not acoustically treated.

    Purrrfect Audio LLC Pro Studio, Sonar X3e PE X64, Win7 Pro 64Bit - Dell Inspiron 1760, Sonar 7 PE X64, Win7 Pro 64Bit - iZotope Ozone 5 & Alloy 2 - MOTU Audio Express & 2 MOTU 8Pre - Glyph & Lacie External HDs - Roland A-800Pro - Mackie MR5mkIII - Shure - AKG - Sennheiser
     
    Most importantly...not enough time.
     
    www.studiocat.com
    jim@studiocat.com
     
    #8
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