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.

you will not be adjusting your ears to your monitors...
 
you will be adjusting your ears to your room.
 
be very clear about this, and it will get you miles down the road.
 

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.
 
 

Agree with Bat. 
You have to listen to your speakers and then listen to the same stuff in your car to compare.
It is not that hard to get your low and high end together once you know them. 
Some people never learn that!
I have a Amazon Prime account and it comes with lots of music. I can dial in an era and just listen to all the playing and mixes. Flipping from one song to another really starts showing you how different productions can be. 
Then as you learn the sound of your room, you will at least have a clue. 
 
All the best.

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%
 
 

Here's the big "problem" with an untreated room, any room really.
Any frequencies that create a "null" at the mix position will always be "problematic".
Yes you can listen to the "best" mixes ever, and "learn" the room.
BUT, if say 250Hz - 350Hz nulls, your mix will never get it right; because you can't "hear" it.
If it's "weak", it nulls; if it's too "strong", it nulls.
Run a frequency "sweep" test, and find the "nulls"; focus on treating them.
Dave (bitflipper) "opened" my eyes to this when the "locals" used to meet for a "Sonar Users Group".
Dave had a cwp file that was a "sweep" test; mic at the mix position and record the sweep; analyze.
I think the original wave file came from the bass traps guy Winer; is that right?
Do I agree; listen, listen, listen (kind of like location, location, location in Real Estate), hell yes!
But a "null" will always remain a "null", 0 dB SPL or 120 dB SPL; you won't "hear" it.
Just my nickel 98 here.
T

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

DeeringAmps
...But a "null" will always remain a "null", 0 dB SPL or 120 dB SPL; you won't "hear" it.
Just my nickel 98 here.
T

I had my ears "opened" when I attended a technical session at last year's Sweetwater Gearfest. The instructor had us walk past a monitor set for a specific frequency (I believe 250Hz) that was fairly loud, but when you walked through the null point, the sound disappeared. Nice demonstration!
 
Walt

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.

I told you Dave had this "dialed" in.
THC or CBD for the 10-20 hours of listening?
 "Sorry, Tom, I missed your serious question"
I've been "spanked"!