Anybody use PC speakers with their set up for reference mixing?

[setyouranchor]

Question is in the name

Considered putting some standard PC speakers on my desk alongside my studio monitors just for reference mixing. Connect them to the headphone out and then just switch between my monitors and the standard output options within my DAW

Good idea? Bad idea?

Anybody else do this?

 

[captainganj]

totally good idea, though most pc speakers are super inaccurate and would be pretty worthless for actually mixing, it gives you a good idea of how your mix is going to transfer to a more realistic listening environment cause the reality is your music will be played through something like that more often then more higher end studio speakers.

 

[Gaza]

I make sure that I have a pair of speakers with a small sub- Its also good to have to hear if your bass is getting out of hand

I use a pair of Logitec $50 speakers

 

[Morgan C]

I do this.

 

[greyskull]

yep.
Got a pair of AWFUL beige shitboxes for a real world balance check.

 

[lordofthestring]

I use a pair of Harmon Kardon speakers (the black and grey ones) and they are perfect for mixing. Cost me $10 on Craigslist for the speakers (including a sub).

 

[Skinny Viking]

yep.
Got a pair of AWFUL beige shitboxes for a real world balance check.

same

 

[setyouranchor]

Sweet. I've had a pair of Logitech speakers under my bed for ages now so may aswell put them to some sort of use. They were only like £30, they're pretty shit though. Anybody recommend some half decent pc speakers just for mixing comparisons?

 

[Uros]

^^MicroLab Solo 2. They are not shitty by any means tho, and have pretty flat frequency characteristics, so I'm not sure I am actually of any help here

 

[guitarguru777]

yup I do it too, I also have my MP3 player handy and an old boom box with a CD player in the studio for reference.

 

[kev]

I use the car. You can always trust Renaults to have shit speakers!

 

[setyouranchor]

yup I do it too, I also have my MP3 player handy and an old boom box with a CD player in the studio for reference.

I use the car. You can always trust Renaults to have shit speakers!

I also do this too. Have my ipod at hand 99% of the time, usually make a CD with a few different mixes of the track and wack it in a CD player and my girlfriends car Corsa's arnt too bad with their speakers!

 

[KillDivision]

I was wondering if cheapo pcspeakers would do the job. Been looking for a second hand portable radio/cdplayer, but pc speakers would work out fine.

 

[setyouranchor]

Seriously, the ones I have REALLY suck. I know they're not meant to be amazing but they sound nothing like any other PC speakers I've used

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/sony-srs-d21-multi-channel-pc-speaker-system-00778349-pdt.html

Considering some of them

 

[XxRobbieChaosxX]

I make sure that I have a pair of speakers with a small sub- Its also good to have to hear if your bass is getting out of hand

I use a pair of Logitec $50 speakers

we probably have the same speakers.

 

[Tommy Gun]

I check mixes in anything I have around... Besides my monitors, there's 4 totally different sets of cans here, my sony earbuds, the crappy little speakers in the iMac, and of course I'll run the shit out to the car as well.

 

[Emdprodukt]

most people I know use logitech 2.1 to 5.1 systems. I use those as reference in the studio and my Teufel 5.1 system at home.

 

[solphilcox]

i will only mix on cheap/poor speakers. tuned studio monitors just give a distorted perspective of sound to my ears, and every time i have attempted to use adams/genelec/yamaha/KRK/event speakers the mix comes out horrible on actual real speakers. you know, the ones actual people own and use for their music listening enjoyment.

why not mix everything on the speakers that are actually going to be used to listen to the music on??

if you can make it sound good through laptop speakers or an ipod dock, it will sound good anywhere. there is nothing in the world worse than spending hours on a mix only to have it sound like a fart through a macbook, which lets face, is what 90% of people are going to be hearing the final mix through. i never understood the point of high-quality studio monitors that sound 'better' than anything else.... why would you want it to only sound good in your own personal mix environment?

you could say that i just don't 'trust' studio monitors and find the concept esoteric and generally counter-intuitive and misleading for home recording.

a tuned mixing environment is a whole different beast however, not meaning to dog on decade-old professional production methods from the comfort of my garage; i'm just talking about home recording

 

[Uros]

Why mix on reference monitors? Because they let you hear stuff which you can't hear if you are using home stereo speakers. How can you possibly solve problem frequencies, if you can't hear them? Good monitors translate well, shitty ones don't, so it's not like you are mixing for yourself.

 

[Tommy Gun]

i will only mix on cheap/poor speakers. tuned studio monitors just give a distorted perspective of sound to my ears, and every time i have attempted to use adams/genelec/yamaha/KRK/event speakers the mix comes out horrible on actual real speakers. you know, the ones actual people own and use for their music listening enjoyment.

why not mix everything on the speakers that are actually going to be used to listen to the music on??

if you can make it sound good through laptop speakers or an ipod dock, it will sound good anywhere. there is nothing in the world worse than spending hours on a mix only to have it sound like a fart through a macbook, which lets face, is what 90% of people are going to be hearing the final mix through. i never understood the point of high-quality studio monitors that sound 'better' than anything else.... why would you want it to only sound good in your own personal mix environment?

you could say that i just don't 'trust' studio monitors and find the concept esoteric and generally counter-intuitive and misleading for home recording.

a tuned mixing environment is a whole different beast however, not meaning to dog on decade-old professional production methods from the comfort of my garage; i'm just talking about home recording

Uhhmmmm... No. Reference monitors are called as such for good reason. They are for use in referencing your audio material from a flat-response perspective in order to better hear the frequencies and dynamics that "hi-fi" and/or home stereo speakers color over. Well made studio monitors show all the little mistakes and scars in your music/mix that even a shitty set of pc desktop speakers will hide from you, much less what your neighbors gigantic Bose system will do to it. How you could claim doing worse on monitors like Adams, Genelec, or Yamaha than on pc speakers is beyond me. Those 3 companies alone have made some of the highest quality nearfields and studio reference monitors ever heard. Do yourself a favor. Google the Yamaha NS10M monitors, and read why they are legendary among our kind. Then you'll know. "And knowing is half the battle... Go Joe!!!"