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Studio Monitors Necessary?

nicfargo

nicfargo

May 28, 2008
564
1
Lincoln, NE
#1
Maybe you all can tell me. I'm just starting out looking into recording for myself and my band. I picked up a Profire 2626 and it's awesome. What I'm wondering...are studio monitors really a necessity? I've got a 5.1 Klipsch speaker package for my computer. Is this not the sort of thing that would be good for playback...kind of in the same sense that gamer sound cards are usually not good for recording either. Any help would be appreciated.
 
#4
yea monitors are absolutely important. Headphones will work very well for tone in the mix but they really screw you on imaging and staging the instruments. I have a 2 channel audio system in my listening room and thats where I record so I use it as my monitors. try KRK monitors... GC has them usually at a fair price
 
#5
As always, it depends...

If you plan to do recording seriously (i.e. more than quick demos to showcase a song, where the demo quality doesn´t matter too much), a set of good monitors is of paramount importance. Remember, you´ll be making your decisions based on what you hear, and as said above, headphones only go so far...

Taking it very seriously? You should look into treating your room acoustically, because monitors´sound is highly affected by their surroundings, and poor acoustics in your mix room lead to bad decisions.
 
#6
kalle74 said:
As always, it depends...

If you plan to do recording seriously (i.e. more than quick demos to showcase a song, where the demo quality doesn´t matter too much), a set of good monitors is of paramount importance. Remember, you´ll be making your decisions based on what you hear, and as said above, headphones only go so far...

Taking it very seriously? You should look into treating your room acoustically, because monitors´sound is highly affected by their surroundings, and poor acoustics in your mix room lead to bad decisions.
Click to expand...

+alot

your monitors will have possibly the biggest impact on how your tracks end up sounding out of any other peice of gear in the chain, as everything you do is based on what they tell you!

heres an article from sound on sound, its about monitor placement and room treatment rather than monitors, but its an interesting read and may give you an insight into just how important they are, and how much time we spend getting them and the room right!

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/mar02/articles/monitors.asp
 
#8
...actually, once you've used real monitors, you might not want to use consumer speakers again for ANYTHING.

For a long time, unable to afford a decent pair of monitors (DON'T SKIMP! YOUR MUSIC WILL SUFFER!), I used a pair of studio headphones - Sony MDR7506's. Suckers cost me about $200 used. Very, very good, clean, flat sound. It gets annoying dealing with the cable though, so I jumped at the chance to snag a pair of KRK Rokits - and have never looked back.

140 watts/side, six-inch woofer and dome tweeter. My mixes have improved dramatically, simply by being able to hear exactly what's going on.
 
#9
I've had a reasonable monitor system. I agree with everyone who's saying it's important. I got rid of them because my work is really more about getting a song together, not releasing a product. It depends on what you're doing - invest accordingly.

What seldom gets mentioned is that you also have to address your room and the placement of the monitors in the room. And getting a balance between all of the speakers in the mixing position is also a must.

Good luck.

KO
 
#10
kraigo said:
What seldom gets mentioned is that you also have to address your room and the placement of the monitors in the room. And getting a balance between all of the speakers in the mixing position is also a must.


KO
Click to expand...

and what hasnt been mentioned at all, is that near field monitors are meant to be just that, on your mixing desk, in your face, and hitting you before the room even gets involved.

if your studio has a larger set of monitors, farther out into the room, then acoustic treatments are important. and as kraigo mentioned, if you are monitoring from multiple sets of monitors at once, or switching between the two, position balancing is important.
 
#12
dave_p said:
and what hasnt been mentioned at all, is that near field monitors are meant to be just that, on your mixing desk, in your face, and hitting you before the room even gets involved.
Click to expand...

But the room will still be involved unless you're in an anechoic chamber. Even if you're doing near field monitoring, it pays to get your placement right. Usually all it costs you is time and thought to do your best to make it right.

Equilateral triangle between your self and the monitors, about a meter before any surface in any direction, different distances between floor, ceiling, front and back, both monitors symmetrical in the room, orient yourself on the long end of your room, etc.

Too many people spend good money on monitors then don't put any thought into their mixing station.

KO
 
#13
if you can't , don't , or won't Treat the Room you're in .. you might as well use really good headphones ...

but you really need some monitors to check your work ...!!
i think a sub also helps ... but get some kind of Bass Traps for the corners ..!

headphones can be quite tricky until you get the hang of it ..

i use headphones, mostly because i work later at night ...

but i also use a Tactile Sub in my studio chair ... i get much more accurate bass response without blowing my ear drums out .... yes those Shaker kinda things ... or like Clark Synthesis ... etc ...

and like others said ... the more systems you have to Test mixes on the better ..!! studio monitors , the stereo , a portable stereo , the car , etc ... make sure it sounds good everywhere ..!!

DC
 
#14
use monitors for mixing, and run a line into a HiFi stereo system to make sure that you can hear everything perfectly without noise and to make sure that the bass isn't to loud.

the problem with monitors is that if you don't have them positioned right you won't get a true sound and the bass can be too loud if the monitors aren't far enough away from the wall.

most professional producers will listen to the final mix on at least two or three systems or in a car to get a good idea of what the audio will sound like.
 
#15
Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I ended up getting the Yamaha HS80Ms. GC had the wrong price listed on them, so I got $100 off each speaker. So instead of $800 for the pair, it was only $600...pretty sweet if you ask me :-) They had a ton of different speakers setup there (Yamahas, Mackie, KRK, etc), and these HS80Ms sounded the best by far. So yeah, I'm pretty happy with them. Thanks again everybody!
 

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