Edirol / Roland MA-5D

[tplyons]

I was wondering if these monitors were any good. I just need something cheap and powered for my 4-track. Just loud enough to hear when I'm mixing something. What say you?

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[complexprocess]

I've heard some not-so-good things about those. The more powerful ones are a little better from what I hear. A lot of people may argue with me on this, but I think a good investment for you would be a decent set of pc speakers (one of the 2.1 systems with the powered sub.) They work quite well for mixing demos and jams. From you're other post I take it you're not looking to put out polished tracks or anything. In addition to a decent enough monitoring system, you will get a good set of speakers for your pc.

Some people have trouble getting the subwoofer to the right level with these speakers. The way I suggest getting around that problem is to hook them up to my computer and listen to a bunch of music I'm familiar with. Get the sub adjusted so it sounds right to you, and leave it set that way when you mix. When you get something that sounds good to you again, you've got a good mix. Hi-fi production it's not, but it works for me.

[edit] as others suggested, a decent set of headphones will help find any strange audio anomalies. again, something moderate and consumer oriented will do here. I can tell you're not looking for professional studio recordings, so why waste money on professional studio equipment?

 

[Petebass]

I'm not going to argue with you complex. I've always said the best studio monitors are whatever speakers you do most of your listening on. If you're already familiar with the way the speakers sound when your play your favourive cd's through them, it makes for a better reference point when you're doing your own recordings. I monitor through a 2.1 system I built myself which doubles as my main Hi-Fi system. My ears have had thousands of hours of istening on those, so I know what everything should sound like. Put me in front of some foreign studio monitors and the first thing I do is play my favourite CD through them. Once my eaars have re-tuned, I'll try and get to work. But the end result is usually better when I use the speakers I'm familiar with. Make sense?

 

[complexprocess]

I'm not going to argue with you complex.[ snip ]

By all means, argue away. I'm no authority. Using what your familiar with is the way to go. I'm just suggesting a pc oriented 2.1 system because they're simple, affordable, and sound decent. Another advantage of buying them for monitors is (suprise) you have a decent set of computer speakers now too.

tplyons, if your four track has RCA outputs for monitoring, you can get an rca>1/8" adapter and switch from four track to computer very quickly, by unplugging the rca adapter from the sub and plugging in the computer audio cable. That is of course, if you're going to be recording near your computer.

If that's the case, you might consider mixing down to a computer. If that's something that might be interesting, we can discuss it in another thread.

 

[tplyons]

Well, I went out on a limb and bought them for $35 shipped so I couldn't complain. They arrived today and they sound pretty good! Not quite as good as something more, but off of tapes, it doesn't make a huge difference. When I have the money and feel like going digital, I'll get nice monitors. Until then, I like my little blue ones