Preferred monitors for mixing?

[John Macy]

I see Avantone is building a Chris Lord-Alge branded remake of the NS10 (as they are no longer made). It comes in both self powered version or a passive with a power amp. I have nothing heard them, but a friend redid his originals with their tweets and woofs and said they sound pretty much the same.

[Bill Terry]

...and said they sound pretty much the same.

You say that like it's a good thing??

[John Macy]

Yessiree!

[Mike Neer]

I know it is generally considered a no-no, but I mostly mix on headphones. I have a pair of Paradigm speakers set up in my small studio, but listening conditions are not optimal and I feel I can get a truer representation with cans, I use several pairs but mostly Grado 225e. The remarkable thing is that there are a number of really interesting and I think effective tools/plugins to help correct the headphones’ frequency response. I use a number of different plugins for this monitoring process.

My goal is not really to imitate the environment of a finely tuned studio, but just to record my instruments with clarity enough to translate the energy/performance into something listenable.

[Ian Rae]

Mixing on headphones is fine, up to the point where you need to decide on the vocal level and perspective (reverb) and the amount of bass; I believe those can only be judged accurately on speakers.

Mike is right about knowing what level to aim at. Making commercial recordings is hard work - what we do for our own amusement should be fun!

[Geoff Queen]

John, I've seen those Avantones and they seem to get good reviews from NS-10 guys. It's a more attractive idea to me than trying to get a clean vintage pair. BTW, I put my phone app db meter in my listening position and I'm mixing in the 72-75 range.
Mike N that's interesting about the software for headphones. I've been wanting to check out the Grado's after reading a different thread here.

[Bryan Daste]

Hey Geoff,

Monitors are a subjective choice (obviously), and your results will also depend on their interaction with your room. A few things I would suggest to check out are:

Sonarworks Reference - this is software that measures your monitors' (and room's) frequency response and applies an inverse EQ curve to flatten it out. Not perfect, but a definite improvement for any system. BTW, they're supposed to have a big product announcement soon, so maybe don't buy yet!
https://www.sonarworks.com/reference

Slate VSX headphones - I bought these the day they were announced, back in October, and they've absolutely improved my mixes in a not-subtle way. I noticed. The clients noticed.
They're specially designed headphones with a companion plugin that re-create studio spaces and monitors, within the headphones themselves, using binaural simulation. They're a bit tech-y, but you get a few studios with near, mid, and far-field monitors, a mastering room, two cars, a boombox, and a bunch of headphone emulations. Very very cool for those of us who are stuck mixing at home at the moment!
https://stevenslateaudio.com/vsx
Here's a recent pop tune I mixed on VSX: https://open.spotify.com/album/67JwiRWG ... LPwapr#_=_

Last, there's a new pair of "Super Cubes" that are getting a ton of buzz. I have not used these personally, yet, but they're on my radar for sure:
http://dmaxaudio.com/en/sc5
These may look similar to Auratones, but they're a different beast - they're designed to be a super accurate, full-range system.

Feel free to PM about any of these if I can be of help!
B

[Geoff Queen]

Hey Bryan, thanks for these links. That Slate VSX thing is crazy. What a brilliant idea.

[Rick Campbell]

Hey Geoff,

Monitors are a subjective choice (obviously), and your results will also depend on their interaction with your room. A few things I would suggest to check out are:

Sonarworks Reference - this is software that measures your monitors' (and room's) frequency response and applies an inverse EQ curve to flatten it out. Not perfect, but a definite improvement for any system. BTW, they're supposed to have a big product announcement soon, so maybe don't buy yet!
https://www.sonarworks.com/reference

Slate VSX headphones - I bought these the day they were announced, back in October, and they've absolutely improved my mixes in a not-subtle way. I noticed. The clients noticed.
They're specially designed headphones with a companion plugin that re-create studio spaces and monitors, within the headphones themselves, using binaural simulation. They're a bit tech-y, but you get a few studios with near, mid, and far-field monitors, a mastering room, two cars, a boombox, and a bunch of headphone emulations. Very very cool for those of us who are stuck mixing at home at the moment!
https://stevenslateaudio.com/vsx
Here's a recent pop tune I mixed on VSX: https://open.spotify.com/album/67JwiRWG ... LPwapr#_=_

Last, there's a new pair of "Super Cubes" that are getting a ton of buzz. I have not used these personally, yet, but they're on my radar for sure:
http://dmaxaudio.com/en/sc5
These may look similar to Auratones, but they're a different beast - they're designed to be a super accurate, full-range system.

Feel free to PM about any of these if I can be of help!
B

Bryan,

Do you know the cost of the Slate VSX system?


RC

[Slim Heilpern]

I've been using the Neumann KH 120's for the last several years and love 'em. I rarely have to make mix changes after checking the mix on a variety of playback systems ever since getting these, and they sound real sweet.

https://en-de.neumann.com/kh-120-a-g

Sound On Sound mag review here:

https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/ne ... 120a-kh810

- Slim

[David Mitchell]

For mixing I personally feel any decent monitor and even budget monitors work great once you learn the monitors and how they behave on your favorite records. I listen to thousands of hours of hi quality recordings learning how they sound on "MY" speakers. When my mixes sound like my favorite records I know I'm in the ballpark. I prefer monitors that are reasonably balanced across the frequency spectrum. I like big speakers for tracking so the kick drum sounds like I'm standing next to the kick in the control room. Sometimes I listen in the car to check mixes. There was an engineer in Nashville that made a small radio transmitter with a broadcast limiter chained in and hooked it to the console and would go out back of the studio and listen to it on the car radio. When a radio station plays it everything is gonna change. Whatever is loudest gets pulled down in the mix and sometimes washes out instruments that are low in volume. Back in the vinyl cdays the cutting engineer compressed it to get it to fit on the record. The more bass the wider the grooves. Too much bass and the vinyl was compressed to nothing.
Then if that didn't ruin it the radio station compressed the crap out of it. The better engineers/producera learned to out guess what the future compressors were gonna do and produced according. Mixing for digital it doesn't matter anymore. Some of those rappers have loud, loud punchy bass down to 20 cycles. Lol! Digital can take all you want to put on it. Some people's speakers can't handle it.

[Geoff Queen]

Rick C, Sweetwater has the Slate VSX headphones at $479.

[William Gausman]

I asked this question of a friend who does big time studio engineering work. He recommended that I get a pair of Event 2020 near field monitors. I've been very happy with the choice.

[Dale Rottacker]

I asked this question of a friend who does big time studio engineering work. He recommended that I get a pair of Event 2020 near field monitors. I've been very happy with the choice.

Have these myself... Like them a lot, but don't have another reference to compare them too... A friend of mine had them but wasn't using them... they were recommended to him by the guitar player in Heart... don't remember his name.

[Ken Morgan]

I had to surrender my Events…tweeter blew, and replacements are just not available anymore. Rode (who owns Event ) tech support suggested a few “that would work” but did actually endorse them.

So I got a pair of Kalis with the 8” woofer, and thus far they’ve given exactly what I want, as in they seem invisible. I’ve not detected any coloration nor horribly uneven frequency response.

Well worth the $$ for home/semi pro studio work

[Bob Hoffnar]

If I was buying sorta affordable monitors I would get the Neumanns because I know so many people that really love them. But before that I would check out the Kalis.

I haven't felt comfortable with the modeling monitor gear yet. It might be in my head but something doesn't connect. It's like eating fried chicken that looks, tastes and smells perfect but doesn't get your fingers greasy.

The mastering guy I work with here is into Dutch and Dutch speakers. They are insane sounding ! But I don't wish I had them.

[David Mitchell]

I used many monitors in the last 45 years. Everything for giant soffit mounted Urei's, Altec 604's, JBL 4430'S and most all the new little self powered monitors both expensive and cheap and they are all good but the trick is knowing your monitors and that comes by listening to well tracked and mixed sessions on any set of monitors you may have. Of course blown, torn speakers will never work. There was a guy in Los Angeles that mixed a whole string of hits by various artist using the worst sounding hi-fi speaker that's ever been made, Yamaha NS10's. He even put tissue paper over the tweeter to dull the highs. His theory was if it's an acceptable sounding mix on these junkers which is what most people listen to then it should translate to the real world and they did. I purchased the old MCI 400 recording console that was in Nashville's Sound Shop studio in the 80's and the producers desk came with a built in 6"x 9" car speaker. The same speaker that came in the dashboards in cars. MCI built one right in to the desk with a toggle switch. My suggestion is the newer JBL LSR series in 6" or 8" monitors or Genelec or Dynaudio but buy what you can afford and learn what a good sound is on them. Don't listen to your favorite songs because there is some awful sounding recorded hits. Listen to stuff where cutting edge audio was the priority and your mixes will be golden. The advice of the other comments prior to this is thumbs up by me as well.

[Mark Wayne]

Mackie HR824MKII
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail ... io-monitor


Just outside of your range at about $1600 for the pair, but worth it.
I use these and a cheap pair from walmart...tells me alot

[Edward Dixon]

I used a pair NS10m's for almost 30 years, I really liked them but gave them to a friend in Oklahoma when I bought new Yamaha HS8 pwered monitors with the Sub woofer.

Price for a pair of HS8's is $739
https://www.amazon.com/Yamaha-Powered-S ... 66&sr=8-17


and the Sub-woofer for $470
https://www.amazon.com/Yamaha-HS8S-HS8- ... 301&sr=8-1

[Dale Rottacker]

I've been using the Event 20/20 Bas for several years and like them a lot... However good they sound though they do run a little warmer than I'd like, so I just ordered these Kali Audio IN-8 V2 8-inch Powered Studio Monitor, from my favorite rep, Jonathan Casarow at Sweetwater.

I've heard guys comparing these favorably to a pair of 8000.00 Genelec's at about a 10th the price. They seem to be in pretty big demand that they probably won't ship for a few more weeks, but looking forward to hearing all the good things I've heard about them.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail ... io-monitor

[David Laveau]

If it sounds ok quiet in mono, it'll sound fantastic loud in stereo. It doesn't work the other way round.

Tend to agree...

Believe this is why some of the older recording centric units had capacity to audition Left, Right, Mono, stereo, & stereo reverse playback of tracks.

I have an old custom piece out of Sorcerer Sounds that was used to feed the tape machines from the various rooms; and that sort of functionally is certainly built in


As a side note, if you have the resources and space - maybe a multiple monitor set up could be useful (I know, not all folks advocate for this kind multi monitor sort of installation). I have an old relay switcher that was built by Acoustilog (model is SS-4) that let's you set the level for each monitor pair independently, and has an EQ loop for the 'large' monitor selection option.

[Rick Campbell]

I bought the Slate VSX system and I rarely use my monitors. It's the best thing i've done for my home studio in years.

RC

[Geoff Queen]

Thanks for the update Rick. I ended up going with a pair of Focal Alpha 65's; but the VSX system is on my want list. Glad they are working so well for you.

[Bob Hoffnar]

Congrats on the Focals ! They make great stuff. Now the problem is that you can hear the differences between microphones.....

[John Macy]

Focal’s are killer!