Why do you need near-field monitors ?

most speakers are designed to project/focus the stereo image out in a typcial
living room ( 6 to 12 feet out). near -field monitors are designed to focus the
stereo image nearer than that .. which varies on the speaker but is
usually 3 to 6 ft.

jeff

also, studio monitors on the whole can handle faster and larger transients than hifi speakers.

Colors or flat I don't think is relevant in monitor type. You can get flat response in many hifi speakers. I guess then with a close-in listening position, the room's acoustic has less of an effect than the hi-fi speakers. But if the room is treated properly then it shouldn't be a factor. So the main need for the near-field is room size ?

So I've always listen to my mix and mastering through a pair of B&W 801 since in the end this is where I listen to all music.

Those aren't too bad at all and should compete well with many 'budget' monitors (perhaps around the <$500 range). Nearfield is regarding the positioning of the speakers nearer to the listener than any room elements mostly.

I do walk around to different possition from time to time to avoid the 'too close to the tree' syndrome.
If room effect and accuracy is important then wouldn't a vey good pair of headphone or in-ear also do the trick ?

do walk around to different possition from time to time to avoid the 'too close to the tree' syndrome.
If room effect and accuracy is important then wouldn't a vey good pair of headphone or in-ear also do the trick ?

headphones are nice as well-to check things you just don't hear on speakers-little clicks, length of reverb, minute panning, instruments in the same spectrum, etc. Trying on many different speakers, etc. is important. You should see my studio-speakers are everywhere, and in the next room. But to answer your original question, if for no other reason, and this could sound lame to you, wouldn't you want some studio monitors just for the fact that that's what every pro and enthusiast in the world uses? If hi-fi were good enough, do you think we would spend the money we do on speakers? There are numerous articles in music mags, etc. that address this very point, and have specifically mentioned that speakers is the thing that is overlooked the most when setting up a studio-that and a good mic. They are just so "mundane"-kind of like an amp. But oh so important. I have tried hi-fi speakers at many times over the years and I would say one of the main things is that they just don't translate the lo's tight, and the highs accurately. You don't know what you are tweaking because it's not accurate. They are purposely designed to sound good. Now there is a balance. I have auratones, NS10M's and JBL 4412's. One guy (in all the years that I have worked with people) didn't like the JBL's because he said they sound too hi-fi. I understand his meaning, but I like to have one set of speakers that you can really hear everything and gives some personal gratification. I love it when I switch from my 10M's to the JBL's-it's like somebody took the music out of the box. I would suggest that you get in touch with jasras (jonas) and he can give you some ideas of some lo-priced excellent speakers. He spends his days off listening to speakers-kind of like me---I love them. (uh, like them a lot.)

The concept that a near field monitor is less affected by the acoustic qualities of the room is fundamentally flawed. It is critical when building a studio that money be budgeted for proper acoustic treatment.

no argument there .. but the problem is simpler to deal with using near-fields .. not that it should
be ignored.

jeff

ps: you're cat looks like a maui-wowie smoker.

i wouldn't stress too much over your room. it's kind of comforting to know that
many of the great records of the past were mixed on stuff a lot less capable
than your setup .. and in probably about the same room conditions. .. and you've
got ears just like they do .. so take advantage of people like jsaras and chaz ..
(search through their posts and you'll find some jewel stuff).
jeff

ah ... neighbors screaming at you problem ... well, if you record them screaming
at you, you can make a noise print and noise cancel them ;-)
jeff

Ah yeah i think i jus need to find my way out then, thanks for the replies.

Nope...

Doesn't matter how good... headphone will not give a good sound to judge frequencies on directly.

Using your logic we would all be using headphones instead of monitors !

good try though

ORIGINAL: bermuda

Doesn't matter how good... headphone will not give a good sound to judge frequencies on directly.

Why is that ? Can you elaborate. I'm just trying to understand the technicality of things.

ORIGINAL: micv

I do walk around to different possition from time to time to avoid the 'too close to the tree' syndrome.
If room effect and accuracy is important then wouldn't a vey good pair of headphone or in-ear also do the trick ?

I will check panning with headphones and that's it -- here is a good article of why NOT to use headphones during mixdown and why monitors should be used -- here's the link ------->> http://www.bluebearsound.com/articles/headphones.htm

Lets take the room acoustic out of the equation and assume that we have high quality or reference speakers, and you adjust the listening position accordingly. How is a hi-fi stack up against near field ?
I know that no two pairs of speaker sound the same. All claimed that they re-procduce the most accurate and "natural" sounding.
Or really they are just the same but tuned to different application ? and one must be familiar with the characteristic of whatever monitor he uses.

If you want to mix on headphones (and there are many valid reasons why you would... like poor room acoustics, poor monitors, you're using your laptop in the mountains...) it's entirely possible. You just need to learn how to make headphone mixes that translate well to other systems. We test our loudspeaker mixes on many different systems (most of us anyway...) to hear how they translate. Just do the same with your headphone mixes. It takes just as much time to learn how to mix on headphones as it does on speakers. Besides which, you'll get much better at listening to the details if you are always comparing your headphone mixes to other mixes on various systems.

I say it's perfectly ok to mix using headphones, as long as you know the pitfalls (such as the ones pointed out in the link in Mooch4056's post) and can learn to deal with them.