Need something to replace my monitors + help with future acoustic treatment

[ahjteam]

Okay, The thing that I've noticed is that excluding a few exceptions, all of my mixes sound dark, really low end heavy and low mid muddy. If it is just "low end heavy and dark" problem, it most likely could be saved in mastering, but the muddy part makes it a bit harder. I've come to a few conclusions for the reasons: bad/lacking acoustic treatment and monitors. I have a pair of Genelec 8030's and if you are not familiar with the model, they are 2-way speaker with 5" woofer with 58-20khz range. I also have an 8" subwoofer behind an aux-send on my mixer so I can adjust the level as needed.

The muddy part most likely is caused by the bad acoustics and my not-yet-totally-awesome mixing skillz, but the low end heaviness is most likely caused because I just CAN'T HEAR the low end properly. I also heavily blame the acoustic treatment (or the lack of it) here, but I have a subwoofer to cover for the 0-80hz area, but because of the placing and size of the table (1m away from the backwall (there is also a 60cm wide wooden "windowsill" that I can't place it on as it will resonate like fuck) and 50cm away from both of the sidewalls) it is on the side of the table and I am not able to put it in it's sweet spot in the center behind the table. When I move my head ~50cm to the right, the low end like 10dB louder and thus I think it is bouncing off the walls and thus it is most likely going haywire on the room and making the low end I hear sound like shit. If I would want it on the sweet spot, I would have to place it on my bed, which is not an option. I also think I have a dip in the room response in the ~150hz area (might be caused by the sub too), so before I move out of this house at the end of the year, I can't do much about it. or won't either.

The dark mix most likely because the tweeter on the Genelec 8000-series sounds really present and at loud volumes it is really hard sounding, but it's even worse on the older 1000-series. So when the mix sounds pleasing to me with the Genelecs, it's really dark everywhere else. I also have Sennheiser HD25-II headphones for reference, which are really bass heavy, but because they are closed headphones, my ears get tired to them pretty fast.

So what I need is something with bigger woofer so I can hear the low end properly without the separate subwoofer, and something with more pleasant or darker sounding treble tweeter, or alternatively a pair of reference monitors (NS10's or similar?). I have really learned to like the sound of the Genelecs so I was just thinking of getting the bigger model, Genelec 8050, that has the 8" woofer and as the 8000 series Genelecs can be found in many pro studios in Finland, "knowing" them would be beneficial.

Do note that I am moving out of this house at the end of the year, so I won't be doing any treatment here, but I will do some proper acoustic treatment to the next place. What kind of treatment would you suggest knowing this back story you just read?

Any suggestions or better ideas?

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

So what I need is something with bigger woofer so I can hear the low end properly without the separate subwoofer, and something with more pleasant or darker sounding treble tweeter, or alternatively a pair of reference monitors (NS10's or similar?). I have really learned to like the sound of the Genelecs so I was just thinking of getting the bigger model, Genelec 8050, that has the 8" woofer and as the 8000 series Genelecs can be found in many pro studios in Finland, "knowing" them would be beneficial.

In the price range, Focal Twins or Event Opals are alternatives. Perhaps the new Adams, but it'll take a while until they get enough use to form an opinion. But honestly it sounds like your problem is mostly in the treatment. As you probably know, a crap room doesn't just affect the low end. You're getting tons of shit to your ears in the upper range from early reflections and flutter. Not a fan of the 8-series myself, though. I've worked on the 8030's, 8040's and 8050's.

Do note that I am moving out of this house at the end of the year, so I won't be doing any treatment here, but I will do some proper acoustic treatment to the next place. What kind of treatment would you suggest knowing this back story you just read?

The usual. Superchunks in all corners, broadbands in the early reflection points. Don't go overboard with material that affects just the high frequency range or you end up with a dull sounding room. Get a cheapo measurument mic and RoomEQWizard to get an idea of the problem areas.