Monitors - eye opener, or maybe ear

[cwight]

I just got myself some M-Audio BX5a studio monitors. Cool price and what a sound compared to the standard speakers that came with the computer that I've been using. However, I now realise that I need to go back and remix everything. Where'd all that bass come from? But these sound great to my ears, and are they loud......... Does anyone use them and is there any difference in the inputs to them....?

[gatorjj]

Going to monitors is a good move as you've seen! It flattens out one huge part of the equation that makes it tough to get good mixes.

In regards to the inputs, I don't think you'll find much difference between them though the balanced (XLR or TRS) is theoretically better and less susceptible to noise.

[fooks]

i just got the msp3 yamahas, best thing ever is to use them. i've been remixing like crazy. dropping some mb's from the song size,(unnecessary dupelicates, one of the "less is more" lessons) finding out what comp and eq really do and adjusting them to open the music up more.
vocals always have been a problem for me to fix up, the presets are good if your voice is pro quality lol.
they are pretty amazing to use, now i need a new stereo and speakers!


gator, thanks for all your info on mixing and recording. i can understand much better, when i can "hear" what i am doing with the knobs (uh-oh).
also each tune has different dynamics which a pre-set might not be exactly right for every tune, which is frustrating (timewise) but really cool to understand and work at.

riffworks is cool coz it has tools to adjust all this and i have been getting lost sometimes between choosing between multiple settings that sound good.

cw, you will be pretty amazed at what you will hear. big difference for me anyway!

everyone who doesn't have them should get some, msp3's were about $280 USD. alot of bucks but i am glad i did it. they are alittle smaller than my bookshelf speakers but heavy!

question gator, i am using the monitors with the high and low on 0, what do you think?


edit; i meant monitors in general!

[gatorjj]

Fooks I'm glad to see that Page 1 rant on the Mixing Overview was worth the trouble! You'd think I was a monitor / acoustic treatment salesmen

question gator, i am using the monitors with the high and low on 0, what do you think?

This could be a long answer to nowhere, as it really depends on what your room is doing to what you hear how you should tweak them if at all. So, to make it shorter...throw on a few of your favorite CD's and listen. Tweak those knobs on the back and see what sounds best to you. When you do your own tunes you're going to pick tones and mix based on what your brain thinks sounds best, hopefully it will match up.

Sometimes it's handy to play a commercial CD before you mix anyway, to give your brain some guidance. Also, since they are new, play lots of stuff through them to let them break in a bit, as they should get better over time.

[fooks]

ok, cool. never thought about the cd thing. just might get depressed tho.

the knob tweak i will try. breaking them in, ok, they are getting used about 1/2 the time i have music on.

[GuitarSlinger]

I used to check all my tones and mixes against commercial cds, but now I forget what commercial music sounds like.

[cwight]

Thanks for all the advice guys. Just wish I'd taken the leap earlier. They are certainly going to take some getting used to though (I've kept my others connected as an additional check). Particularly the extra bass and I feel I need to roll the bass of a lot of my guitar sounds as well as drums etc, but that's maybe just a case of getting used to them....I can certainly see I'm going to be using the equaliser a lot more than I have done.

[gatorjj]

Bouncing your mixes off the old speakers is always a good idea. Your monitors should help you get to a "translatable" mix, i.e. one that sounds good on everything. In the past you've been mixing so they sound good on your particular PC speakers, which can blow them up on other devices.

Bass can be very tricky without acoustic treatment (which I won't attempt to explain here, not yet anyways!), but with a 5" monitor it shouldn't be too overhyped. FWIW I've found the Instant Drummers are usually pretty close "out of the box" and hardly ever need much EQ. If you feel things are too bassy you may have a room problem to deal with. Again a commercial CD can help a little here as a reference.

[cwight]

Thanks Gator, your advice has always been spot re this stuff so I'll def test against some commercial CDs. I've already done it a bit and already can see how that helps. I also like to test stuff in the car as well - why does everything always sound good in the car - must be the movement . But I'm really enjoying listening again. Don't know how well rated these BX5a are but they sound sweet to me, pack a punch (when the wife is out - now!!!!!) and were a steal at £99.....

[gatorjj]

It depends on the car I guess!

[cwight]

oldish beemer 5 series.....mmhhh! I could live in it......come to think of it, I sometimes do....

[gatorjj]

Yes, I bet everything sounds good in that! A Ford Taurus stock stereo makes a better mix reference though

[Wedgebill]

What happened to the Roller then Cwighty ????

[fooks]

who was that i heard, that would mix on something like car or portable radio speakers?

anyone remember?

[cwight]

I'm surprised you could hear the music in that once you get above 30..... But anyway, there's no way I could sell my wife the idea that we should change the car just so I can have better mixing reference.....she already thinks I'm having a midlife crisis buying the speakers....