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Yes I can switch from exact to low latency mode with the press of a switch.
It is controlled from a control box which connects to the monitors via ethernet.
Active cardioid bass is brilliant for less than ideal rooms, although my room is acoustically treated it is not acoustically designed.
Studio: https://www.voltperoctave.com
Music: https://www.euclideancircuits.com
Me: https://www.jamesrichmond.com
Generally in a studio you have a least 2 sets of speakers and normally 3
The Mains - these are generally big and good for tracking and blasting the mix in progress to the band on the sofa. Building them into the sofet was all the rage at one point as that created a very large baffle front and extended low response.
The Consoles - these generally sat on the console and are what most engineers mixed on. Generally book shelf sized speakers like NS10's or Genelec 1031. You can't shake the room with these speakers but they had what's called "translation" ... if you mix sounded good on those it would "translate" well to other speakers. They aren't nice to listen to .. being a bit harsh and shouty but that fact they were kind of made you work hard to lose that harshness.
The last pair was generally something small and shit sounding like modified getto blaster or in our case little computer speakers. Basically to see how the mix sounded on really shit hardware.
So basically no speaker has a flat response regardless of what the manufacturers state. I could say my guitar speaker has frequency response of 50Hz to 14Khz and negate to say it's 30dB down at those extremities so completely pointless. But in general a Hi Fi speaker will be flawed but enjoyable to listen to over long periods. A studio monitor will be flawed but will "translate" well ... that's the difference
Then of course there's mastering speakers which is another level up and they are probably the closest thing made in terms of flat frequency response
Ian
Lowering my expectations has succeeded beyond my wildest dreams.
The type of speakers used in the amps you mention, are chosen for the way they affect, or filter the sound produced from the particular amp. They accentuate or attenuate certain guitar frequencies, which are also modified by the amps circuit-depending on drive levels. This all together produces the sound we recognise as the typical Vox or Fender sound. This is all manipulated in creative ways to produce the track that will be used in a mix. This is a creative process and there are no rules-your ears dictate what is good.
At the other end of the line, this track, along with others has to be mixed together to produce a final product. To do this effectively requires a system that is neutral, or as neutral as possible. The key thing here is that the person who is mixing will be aware of the areas that are missing from his 'neutral' system.
Allowances have to be made, there is little point mixing a track to sound great on the best speakers in the world, if the final product will be consumed on ear buds, or tinny laptop speakers as there will be frequencies present in the mix that can not be reproduced by these low end speakers- the mix will have glaring holes in the spectrum.
As described above, current studio practice is to mix on the most accurate speakers, but also check these things on more consumer grade equipment. The NS10 was a useful shortcut for producers and engineers as it was a fairly standard platform that allowed them to concentrate on the most important, or rather congested areas of frequency, the mids.
These engineers got to know the characteristics of this speaker, and could mix in frequencies that they could not hear through the speakers, and it generally worked well. Tissue paper was used to tame some of the tinny highs, and the movement of the cone would give a visual of the bass frequency content, it took a lot of practice, but they became a studio staple.
There is no reason your home HiFi speaker X can not perform the same function, but it is always useful to hear a mix in as wide a variety of environments as possible.
All of this used to only be possible in a dedicated recording studio, as corrections could be made on the fly, by checking through various monitoring systems, and was necessary to get a mix across the finish line, at least to the mastering stage.
At home, we now have the luxury of being able to use gear that is on a par with high end recording equipment, at least virtual versions, and there are solutions to most problems, room correction and studio simulation is not quite there yet, but it is close and is a valuable tool to making our space close to neutral. At least it can show us areas that will need compensation.
It takes many years to build up the experience and confidence to mix music for a paying customer and to know what will make them happy.
There is a lot to learn, and really there is no competition, only evolution. Try listening to a track you mixed a year ago to hear how your knowledge has expanded and your mixes improve over time, as you gain experience.
Mixing on Hi fi equipment will soon reveal it's problems, unless you learn what has to be allowed for, and at first it will be confusing, a shortcut to learning all this is to use the best open backed headphones you can afford, and use these as the first mix comparison tool, immediately you will hear what the speakers cannot reproduce, or what they enhance, and you can get half way there straight away.
This all takes time, and there really is no short cuts.
Many will tend to use FRFR active speakers if speaker emulation or IRs are part of the modelled signal. They attempt to be flat, but there are still variations in how they sound - hence a qsc K10 will sound a bit different to a Yamaha drx10, although both in the same ballpark.
Also, an ac30 won't always sound exactly the same anyway depending on the room it's in, the mic that's on it, position of that mic etc, so it isn't a case of being able to sound "exactly the same as" in my view.
I think some people like to remove the power amp modelling and speaker emulation / IR from their modellers and then play through an actual power amp section and cab for an experience that is closer to a traditional amp in the room (as opposed to listening to a mic'd up amp)
Ian
Lowering my expectations has succeeded beyond my wildest dreams.
In between I've owned a few other sets of monitors but my current Focal Shape Twins (still not really high-end, more like decent midrange, about £1,300 a pair) make my mixes sound good on anything I play them through.
I'm not a pro and before I spend any more on speakers I'd need to treat my studio. I mix-check on AKG K712s. I used to dual-monitor with Yamaha NS10s but for all their hype and expense they didn't really help. YMMV. For my dirty/mono monitors I use a Sony solid-state amp and speakers from the 70s which don't reproduce anything below 250Hz or above 5KHz. Great for clearing midrange clutter.
You should absolutely use what you have until you can afford better. It's better to put out a hundred shit mixes on hi-fi speakers than do nothing until you've saved up for dedicated monitors. You'll be a 100% better mixer for having had to make do.
Nine times out of ten someone else mixing it is the better option anyway. If your just making projects for yourself then I can understand not wanting to spend money on external mixing ... but then again if no one is going to hear it the end result isn't that crucial.
If you are wanting radio play, sales on Apple music and streams on Spotify though then you are better off finishing tracking and let someone else mix it for 2 reasons. They will have fresh ears to the project and they won't have emotional attachment to any recorded part.
There's many a talented musician and mixer who just can't bear to do this .... non one knows your music better than you right ?
Trouble is your not selling your music to yourself, you are generally wanting others to like and buy / stream it and as an artist your not the one in the best position to do it.
So have a go on monitors, hi fi speakers, listen in the car and on earbuds but keep in mind there are plenty of good freelancers doing £100 mixes too
It really depends on the speakers. There's probably as much difference between crap hi-fi speakers and good hi-fi speakers in terms of fidelity as there is between any hi-fi speakers and flat-response monitors.
My first set of speakers were on an Akai midi system but I was just starting out with my cassette 8-track and didn't have a clue. I eventually got a much worse Alba system (didn't know that at the time, it was bigger and more powerful so I thought it was better) and probably spent about five or six years attempting to produce anything decent on that.
When I got my first set of "real" monitors, cheap as they are, the quality of my mixes skyrocketed immediately, which demonstrates if nothing else that trying to mix on bad kit will hold you back.
I will listen to commercial music on my monitors too, and I like it, but it does get a bit tiring after a few hours, compared to hi fi. Hifi is more of a cossetted listen, easier on the ears, whereas I can only describe listening on monitors as a bit more brutal - maybe the increased range of frequencies is a bit overwhelming for the auditary system after a bit, dunno.