Headphones VS. Cheap Monitors for recording?

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Demoniac_Industries

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Jun 25, 2008
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Hi guys, I'm pretty much new here, but have been directed here by more than a few members over at 7string.org (JBroll and Darren), and they seemed to think i'd be able to get a couple of questions answered :)

I'm only really about to start recording, so nothing flashy at this point, and am looking to get either a set of monitors (a friend has recommended (for my budget) either KRK Rokit 8's, Behringer B3031A's, or the Yamaha HS80's), or a really good set of headphones (AKG 272HDs or something like that).

Now i've not really done any recording before, only MIDI/sampled stuff, so this will be a first. Mst of what I do is very Industrial in flavour if that makes a difference, with very little guitar and mostly noise/synth/percussion.

Thanks in advance for your help :)
 
On the topic, I have a set of Behringer monitors and they are so fucking bright its ridiculous, good for the money, but I recently had a friend listen to one of his mixes on my system and he was shocked at how different it was. So I would say not to go for the behringer anyways. You may find someone who likes them though.
 
Cheers mate. Yeah I've heard a couple of things now about the Behringers being really bright... hell, i think Harry was one of the people who told me that.
 
The trick with the Behringers is using the switches at the back for compensation. I roll the high end off all the way, -4dB and after I did that, my mixes cleaned up a lot and sounded clearer and more defined. It also makes them a lot less fatiguing on the ears that way.
 
That audio engineer friend of mine, Harry, reckons that a set of headphones could be better for the kind of stuff i do as it is, so now i'm totally thrown again :lol:
 
Buy monitors, asshole:loco:
Seriously though, unless the acoustics of your room as so intolerably bad it's not funny, buy monitors.
Fuck, you have an even bigger room than me dude, 6m by 6m is easily big enough to warrant purchasing monitors. Down the track you can start investing in room treatment
 
In which case I need some more rec's :) The KRK's and the Yamahas are both pretty much out due to lack of fundage, and the fact that they have to get shipped from the US to Australia. The Behringers I can get here, but going on what people are saying I'd like to try for something else.
 
It wouldnt kill to go for the smaller version of the KRK or Yammies and save a bit of money. The Rokit 5's are good (I have them) and a lot of good things are said about the yamaha Hs50's.
 
Do the smaller versions have enough headroom? It's a hard call for me because i do want the volume as well as clarity, i'm just not sure it's going to happen for the budget i have :(
 
Demoniac_Industries said:
That audio engineer friend of mine, Harry, reckons that a set of headphones could be better for the kind of stuff i do as it is, so now i'm totally thrown again :lol:
Click to expand...

What is the kind of stuff you do?

I do everything on headphones, cos I cbf buying monitors and my room is so small and shitty that I seriously doubt it'd be worth it.

Anyway, I mix on headphones that are fairly cheap and while there are some things I can't rely on them for, I usually get pretty decent results. I don't think there is a huge difference between headphones and speakers, but there are subtle differences, especially in the centre channel, so you have to watch when setting the volume of the snare and vocals.
 
At the moment i'm doing vocal-less industrial stuff with a bit of guitar (think of NIN but more noisy, and less "rock" oriented). The reason i'm really interested in headphones is that it means i'll have 5 sets of speakers in the house to test everything on. I have the headphones, a set of bass-heavy logitechs attached to my computer at the moment, a laptop with Harmen Kardon speakers, and a small "mini hi-fi" system (like your generic 2 speaker Sony kits that every teenager shouldn't be without), and a set of slightly shittier Sony headphones. So while nothing (bar the headphones) is a phenomenal quality, it means i know how everything will respond to the mix.
 
Demoniac_Industries said:
Do the smaller versions have enough headroom? It's a hard call for me because i do want the volume as well as clarity, i'm just not sure it's going to happen for the budget i have :(
Click to expand...

They can go plenty loud, yeah, you won't have any problems with volume unless you really do want to go deaf pretty fast.
 
Check out the Wharfedale Diamond 8.2 they are supposed to be really good for the price. (300$ a pair for 6.5" monitors/100w)
 
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