Are monitors a waste of money for me?

octatonic

They are great.

What model do you have?

Evildurka

BM6 MKii's. I had always envisaged buying a set of Genelecs and then I came across the BM6 in a couple of different places and was sold on them.

octatonic

Evildurka said:

BM6 MKii's. I had always envisaged buying a set of Genelecs and then I came across the BM6 in a couple of different places and was sold on them.

I like the Mark II's. 

I've had the Mark 1's since they were released- they have served me well.

I now mix 2:1 and have a matching sub, which sounds amazing.

ecc83

Get the current issue of Sound on Sound and read the review of the Pioneer (yes! I did say that!) monitors before buying anything else.

But, you will probably not improve things much until/unless you are in a position to rearrange the room.

Look at back issues of SoS for their "studio sos" articles. These make much of absorbents at the "mirror" points and to some degree bass trapping. The latter can be as simple as buying some bags of f'glass or rockwool and LEAVING them in the plastic and piling it in odd corners. A some point, if you can do a proper job you can make it into panels but it will still work as is.

You have probably done that which we are all told to, learned your monitors and room and you then apply that learned response to make decent mixes.

Dave.

Nerine

My mix room (above) is quite small, (apologies about the mess, had a production session today with an artist), but I've treated it pretty well using GIK products. Sounds great. I still need some extra soffits, which I may purchase very soon, but it's possible to make a small room work. My monitors are Genelec 8240a's and I have the Genelec GLM/AutoCal system and the correction graphs come up pretty favourably.

Also. It's VERY easy to build your own panelling.

Get some Rockwool and some Cara. Some MDF sides and you're pretty much there. Lots of online resources about how to build your own.

octatonic

That is an intelligently designed room!

I have a few GIK products as well, I've made my own panels in the past too.

sweepy

Those Pioneer speakers certainly seemed to cause some ruckus

Evildurka

@nerine that's one sexy looking room complete with kemper

Nerine

Thanks.

The Kemper gets used on 99.9% of my recordings.

Sometimes it's to profile the mic'd amps if I need to come back to a sound, sometimes it's exclusively.

Brilliant bit of gear.

No one would be able to tell in a mix whether it was real or Kemper, and I stand by that.

Same with a lot of plugins nowadays too.

I've worked on and mixed albums on SSL 4K's and the such like, and to be honest, I'm not sure the cost of owning something like that is a wise move nowadays. I mix with plugins pretty much exclusively now, but have an analogue back end to add a bit of colour. I may add to it soon with a Rupert Neve master bus processor, or Pultec or GML style EQ. Having said that, I sold my SSL Bus compressor after A/B ing it with Slates VBC. Couldn't tell the difference... If anything the VBC sounded closer to the 4K console than the SSL hardware unit did!

And it's only going to get better...

octatonic

Agree. I sold my console about 8 years ago and have never looked back. Some plugins sound as good as the hardware equivalent, and Slate are one of the best at it.

domforr

My two penneth worth: I'm in a similar situation, basically recoding and mixing in my lounge with minimal acoustic treatment. I've previously done this using a decent pair of decent headphones and my Denon stereo - which works fine for writing. Recently aquired some Equator D5's and I find them significantly better for mixing, although I probably still prefer to use the Denon's for the creative process. I suppose that's to do with the more analytical nature of the studio monitors, whereas the stereo speakers are more attuned to listening for pleasure. Would be nice to have some studio monitors that could also be pleasurable for listening, but I suppose they fulfill different needs.

Nerine

See, it's weird.

I find studio monitors very enjoyable to listen to. I'd sooner listen to music on my Gennies than anything else. I like to be able to hear all the foibles and get "inside" the mix.

Plus it all helps with the learning of a pair of monitors, which in a lot of cases can take months/years.

Put a good pair of monitors in a good room and suddenly everything "clicks".

Some hifi speakers are reportedly very very good, but they're designed to cosset and massage the sound a little more. They're maybe less honest than studio monitors. Having said that, a lot of high end hifi guys also treat their rooms considerably.

If the room is crapola, it doesn't matter if the speakers cost £50 or £5k. You'll hear the room more than the speaker.

And bang goes your translation.

Same applies for guitar amps really. We can't accurately tell what anyone's room sounds like, so largely, how do we know if that amp actually sounds as is being reported??

frank1985

Nerine said:

My mix room (above) is quite small, (apologies about the mess, had a production session today with an artist), but I've treated it pretty well using GIK products. Sounds great. I still need some extra soffits, which I may purchase very soon, but it's possible to make a small room work. My monitors are Genelec 8240a's and I have the Genelec GLM/AutoCal system and the correction graphs come up pretty favourably.

Also. It's VERY easy to build your own panelling.

Get some Rockwool and some Cara. Some MDF sides and you're pretty much there. Lots of online resources about how to build your own.

Nice looking studio...what are the dimensions?

Cirrus

frank1985 said:

Nice looking studio...what are the dimensions?

Looks like it's about 6 inches across?

Dave_Vader

In my new shed/studio I've put rolls of carpet underlay in all the corners, and another one stuck in the gap between ceiling and wall above the monitors.

(No photo at the moment, will try and add one later)

I've also got three sets of monitors linked to the saffire output, Old Technics amp into two big old panasonic ones in the top corners of the room, like a normal person might have in their house. My behringer NS-alikes, and a set of shitty computer speakers. That way I can do a load of referencing without leaving the room (like a lazy person might).

Don't know the room that well yet, and need to throw a blanket or two over the guitar storage at the back of the room, and some other bits, but it's getting there. And all mixes are sounding better than when I just had my old NADs through my 70s wharfedales in the old garage studio (they are better in the living room for annoying the neighbours).

koneguitarist

A few years back I went in Sun records, vinyl floor hard walls, weird shape etc, sounds weird but they have made some great recordings there with just one mic that stand up today. Still doing great albums there now, the recent Margo Price album sounds awesome.

Nerine

Cirrus;1143216" said:

frank1985 said:











Nice looking studio...what are the dimensions?





Looks like it's about 6 inches across?

About 11-12 Kempers.

thomasross20

You call that a small room @Nerine ? Lol.
I mix I'm the corner of our living room. So, total crap. But getting monitors has definitely helped!