Putting a hardware equalizer between interface output and monitor

[The Front Studio]

The title pretty much says it all.
Various people have been saying that KRK's sometimes have a little bump in the low mid section and it influences your mixes when you mix with monitors.

Mixing with monitors is always more confortable than mixing with headphones IMO, so I thought:
What if you try to normalize the flaws in your monitors by putting an equalizer between the output of your recording interface/mixer and your monitors to solve all the problems? I mean it'll probably be cheaper to buy new monitors but has anyone tried this and does it really work?

It's just an idea I had... I'll probably buy new monitors rather than buy those hardware/rack EQ's to use them for my monitors instead of for my recordings

 

[arv_foh]

the bottom line is you just have to learn how your monitors sound... if you never do that you'll never figure out how to mix properly on them

listen to lots of professional mixes that are well balanced until you figure it out

the frequency deficiencies of your room (if it is untreated) are probably playing a lot larger role on your mixes than the deficiencies of the monitors

 

[Jaymz]

Monitors all have their own character, you can never get the perfect set. As arv mentioned, room treatment would be a much better solution to gauge exactly what your monitors are giving out.

 

[Tommy Gun]

Agreed. Check your room, monitor distance, listening position, and degrees, etc. I own the KRK RP5 G2's and I love 'em. I broke them in hard for about an hour one day, then started listening to my favorite mixes from Andy and Colin on them. My ears learned them in no time. They are flat as hell, and they translate the room sound from drums/vox really well. I can see really deeply into a mix with the KRK's. I love these damn things.

 

[AHChris]

You can correct minor room flaws with a equalizer (hardware or software). Most monitors have some filters built in but you can work more accurately with a full parametric eq.

 

[DanLights]

The Krk's have a high boost knob at the back to compensate for that bump more or less, try fiddling that. Still, room treatment and getting used to your monitors is the best solution

@Tommy: I've got them as well, I do find they have this boomyness to them but that's probably because of my untreated room, in general they are great mons

 

[Trevoire520]

Using a eq inbetween your DAW and monitors might help improve accuracy in frequency response to some extent, but without acoustic treatment you're still going to have problems in the time domain (bass notes ringing etc)

Using a 31 band eq is also going to introduce phase smear.

 

[if6was9]

People do do this though. The mastering guy I use has an old EQ in his rack, I was asking him about it and he said its what they used to use in the place he was in ( ex- Stock Aiken and Waterman mastering engineer) to correct for the room. He admitted it is just a rack filler in his new place and looks good but they did used to use it in a place where several very famous albums were mastered.