learning your monitors

scorpio01169

scorpio01169

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Aug 6, 2006
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San Antonio, Texas
Well I am sure most of you knew this, but for those who didn't. Anyways for the longest time although my mix sound great on my monitors I was getting bass heavy mixes. So I started pushing the faders of the more treble tracks. In doing this I found that not only does it fix my bass heavy problem it also fixed my loudness problem as far as the final ready to master. I have a pair of Fostex PM2 but I haven't been using them because I am in a really small room right now so I am using a friends M-Audio bx5, so I had to learn his monitors. So for all those new to this, it shows how important it is to learn and pay attention to your monitors.
 
Spectrum analyzers are great for this as well, you have to be careful with that treble, otherwise it may come out too bright. Usually I kill everything below 40 hz, because most people can't hear it anyway. I always mix with a subwoofer and notch the bass guitar where I bring up the kicks, and visa versa so they each sit in their pocket. I always like to bring the kicks up just a nudge above the bass guitar on the subwoofer, and the bass just slightly below it, so it sounds like the bass and the kicks are complimenting each other. It's sort of like the kick brings out the punch, and the bass guitar is like an extension of the thud from the kicks.
 
Yes you are right they can be too bright but I mean I push them up in relative to the actual mix. And yes an anylizer will help but I don't track nor mix in the box I use a multitrack recorder instead of a daw so I guess I should have said that. But for those who don't mix in the box or don't know how to use a spectrum anylizer, I still think it is important to learn your monitors.
 
i'll say it again, but treating your room w/a few bass traps/broadband absorbers will solve many of these problems the right way.

i can't see how boosting treble can possibly fix a messy low-end, besides making it harder to hear and causing even more havoc within a room (assuming you have minimal treatment).

i recently decided to 'invest' in some room treatment and wound up with 6 broadband absorbers. best piece(s) of gear i've bought in a long time. made a huge difference for me..

just IMO..
 
I think the best way is to A/B different sources ON different sources. (if you're still trying to figure them out)

What I did was take one of my favourite (sounding/produced) albums and played it through the monitors, then some crappy Cd player/radio, then went to the car (where it's normally bass heavy) and noted (mentally) the difference.
Then i did the same with a mix I did that i thought sounded decent on the monitors. Then took it to the crappy CD player/radio to hear if any higher frequecies are too obvious or ear piercing which was fine. I then took it to the car to hear how much the bass guitar/kick/low end of the snare stood out.
Immediately i noticed the snare, that was almost buried but still audible in the mix on the monitors, stand out quite a bit in the car's (standard) setup with no added EQ's to the player.

I also noticed that it wasn't just my mixes, Nevermore's TGE snare on "Born" (not the very first hit of course) was pretty buried during the heavier parts. So I just adapted to it and learnt that the snare on my monitors don't have to be as audible as i think it should be.
btw I'm using shitty 6 inch KRK rokit's, both on Auralex Mopads, and room has a good amount of treatment to it.

Just thought i'd share one example in my experience :)
 
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