Studio monitor speakers

[WarHead]

Ok, here we go. I've had a mackie 808S for some time now and I figure Im gonna get some use out of the expensive bastard. So Im thinking of purchasing a Creative Audigy 4 Pro sound card in order to hook up with the mixer and record some tunes (with acid music studio 5 or something).

My question is what speakers should I purchase to process the sound from my computer? Should I get studio monitor ones like the Jbl LSR6325P or should I just get logitech Z-5500 Digital. The logitech is about half the price but I want to know if there will be a loss of sound quality by not getting the studio monitors.
Help me out man.
-_-Chris-_-

 

[Bryant]

In a professional studio, studio monitors are typically upper-middle to lower-upper model speakers, but are usually "bookshelf" size. I wouldn't skimp on the speakers and get some good ones, but "studio monitor" is nothing more than a marketing ploy to sale some speakers. There are some true studio monitors that are designed to be mounted on brackets and hung above the sound board etc. but they are aither pricey are don't sound that great. The true "studio monitor" delivers as flat a frequency response as possible. Because of limitations of cabinet design, (particularly so in smaller speakers) driver design and crossovers, no speaker can truly give a true flat frequency response.
If I were going to find some speakers to use as mixdown monitors, I would go to a pawn shop and look at some bookshelf size speakers like Boston Acoustic, older JBL, Polk, Infinity etc. I would try to get at least an 8 inch woofer or you may not have a good sense of the bass response. If you get a speaker without adequate bass response, your final product could sound "boomy" in larger home speakers or that crap people use these days with the seperate "sub." It is very easy to adjust your lows to compensate for a speaker that doesn't have adequate bass response.


Bryant

 

[Bryant]

Hey dude !! I went to HH Gregg today and was browsing around and it made me think of this post. They had some nice Boston Acoustic 2 way bookshelf speakers with a 6 1/2" woofer in it that looked pretty nice. I think they were about $150 a pair. Not dirt cheap by any means, but they sounded pretty nice for the price.


Bryant

 

[Melodeath]

Pretty much any studio will use studio monitors. Noone in the world uses hi-fi speakers for mixing, unless it's a basement home studio type thing, for which if it sounds good to you, it's good enough. Powered (i.e. no external amplifier required) studio monitors are getting rather cheap lately, you could look into stuff from Phonic and Behringer and other low-end brands like that in the $250-300 price range, or the Alesis M1 is very common... I suggest you look into these for example:

http://www.music123.com/Behringer-Truth-B2030A--Pair--i119458.music
http://www.music123.com/Alesis-M1-Active-MKII-Powered--Pair--i14530.music
http://www.music123.com/Samson-RESOLV-50a--Active-Studio-Monitors--Pair--i96369.music
http://www.music123.com/KRK-V4-Series-2-Powered-Monitor--Single--i12769.music

These WILL have a more flat frequency response than any hi-fi speaker will give you. When mixing in hi-fi speakers, the mix might sound good to you but chances are that it will sound like shit on other systems. Therefore, it is rather important to mix on (more or less) neutral monitors when doing more professional stuff. That said, if you're just recording a few demos at home then don't bother with the monitors -- if it sounds good to you, it's good enough for now.

No one uses hi-fi speakers for mixing? What do you mean by "hi-fi speakers"?

 

[Bryant]

No one uses hi-fi speakers for mixing? What do you mean by "hi-fi speakers"?

"hi-fi" are basically nice home speakers that would be used on a nice home stereo.

Studio monitors are designed to give as flat a speaker response as possible. In layman's terms, they don't accentuate a certain frequency in the music. Some speakers, may produce too much highs like cymbal crashes. Some may produce too much mid-range which would be guitars and vocals, and some could accentuate the lows which would be bass drum and bass guitar.

My suggestion for using bookshelf speakers is simply if the original poster doesn't have the money for true studio monitors.

Large floor standing speakers, besides being big and bulky, are also bassy and boomy.

Those surround speakers are nice and spacious, but to me they sound like shit for stereo music.

That leaves "bookshelf" or smaller floor speakers for faux studio monitors. I'm sure Mutt Lange doesn't have bookshelf speakers in his studio, but I don't know how much this guy has to spend. I also disagree with the fact you can't do a mixdown with hi-fi speakers. It won't give you perfect results, but doing mixdowns are as much trial and error as anything anyway.


Bryant

 

[Melodeath]

How do I find out how flat my monitors are?

 

[Bryant]

How do I find out how flat my monitors are?

Well, you can look them up online. If your speakers are considered "hi-fi" then usually there will be some tests out there performed by the "hi-fi" magazines and web sites which show in graphical form the response of the speaker to different controlled audio inputs compared to the outputs of the speaker. Those graphs don't take a rocket scientist to decipher, but they are intended for hi-fi enthusiasts and would mean very little to someone who is not.


Bryant

 

[Bryant]

I didn't really "answer" your question. My suggestion for finding alternatives for studio monitors and the performance of your particular speakers are to bring the question up on a hi-fi message board. Many audiophiles are like wine connoisseurs and are wealthy and pompous, but each one would love to show they are more knowledgable than their comrades and if you give them a budget of what you want to spend on speakers (if they think the ones you have suck,) they will be more than happy to give you suggestions. These audiophiles aren't going to be able to help anyone pick out a great speaker for their guitar amp or PA, but if you explain your application of the speakers, they will probably be very helpful.


Bryant

 

[WarHead]

Hey dude !! I went to HH Gregg today and was browsing around and it made me think of this post. They had some nice Boston Acoustic 2 way bookshelf speakers with a 6 1/2" woofer in it that looked pretty nice. I think they were about $150 a pair. Not dirt cheap by any means, but they sounded pretty nice for the price.


Bryant

Hey man, thanks alot for responding to this thread. I haven't been on here that much.

Haha Im so glad I procrastinated on buying the speakers. Damn 150$ a pair you say? I shall make a note of that. Oh yeah. I was told by a friend to get this sound card, (Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS Platinum PCI Sound Card) for recording. Dunno if the external hook up will sound to good recording though.

K after that, I was wondering if you could recommend recording software that is roughly in the 100$ range. I know of sonys version of acid pro, but yet again Im oblivous as to how it handles/records.

Thanks alot.

_Chris_

 

[sumairetsu]

Haven't tried the Sony recording software, but Magix makes a decent recording program for less than $100 (Magix Music Studio 2005 Deluxe).

For the soundcard, make sure that it is "full duplex." This means that you'll be able to play the material and hear it at the same time that you're recording. I've seen the soundcard you're talking about but couldn't find anything on the box that says if it's full duplex or not. If it is, LET ME KNOW! This way, I can get one because if I remember correctly, it's got MIDI ports, too.

As for speakers, don't bother with the studio monitors. Recording studios are designed a certain way. The architecture of the building's rooms can affect the sound quality as well, accentuating some frequencies and cutting others.

 

[Erik]

Avoid Sound Blasters if you're going to do recording. Check into low-end "professional" sound cards instead, like the M-Audio Audiophile or the ESI Juli@ (should cost you about the same as the Audigy and be far more suited to home recording -- the Sound Blasters are computer gaming cards more than anything, and their driver software, noise and latency levels aren't really suitable for home recording)

 

[USMC0341]

I have these in my home studio, and they kick major ass:

http://www.riksmusic.com/event/tuned_ref8.htm

 

[Melodeath]

Avoid Sound Blasters if you're going to do recording. Check into low-end "professional" sound cards instead, like the M-Audio Audiophile or the ESI Juli@ (should cost you about the same as the Audigy and be far more suited to home recording -- the Sound Blasters are computer gaming cards more than anything, and their driver software, noise and latency levels aren't really suitable for home recording)

My soundcard is an SB Live!
I don't know all the technical stuff about it, but it gets much better sound quality than I would expect.

 

[Silver Incubus]

nearfields are pretty decent for hearing how it will sound on most stereo systems after mixing