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Top quality sound monitoring


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Guest squirl magnet slapper

I have monitors. I have heard other peoples monitors.

 

I do not find them much more impressive then very high quality computer speakers.

 

 

My question is:

 

 

What makes a professional set of studio monitors better then a high quality set of computer speakers?

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Guest Spindrift

Most consumer hi-fi sytems have a response that is more coloured, and designed to sound good rather than accurate.

Apart from the requency response being different, they can also be less truthful when it comes to small clicks or glitches, that might pass unnoticed.

Many produces i the trance scene actually use hi-fi systems, like the blue-room speakers, and belive that since most people will listen to the music on a hi-fi system in the end, you might as well mix on one.

Professional studios always refence listen on hi-fi speakers (the yamaha NS-10 was designed as a hi-fi speaker), mostly when mixing levels, and then use big pro monitor's during production.

A pair of computer speaker's can be very good to have as a complement to a pair of studio monitors.

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yes spindrift,

 

top quality studio monitoring aims for what is called 'flat response'. which is basically the speaker producing equal amplitude levels at all frequencies.

 

if flat response is achieved through your speakers then all your mixing and eq adjustments are perfectly justified to how yor ears percieve the sound.

 

hi-fi speakers are biased in certain frequency ranges to 'flatter' the sound - (ie. making it sound better than it actually is). consumer hi-fi speakers tend to emphasise the 1-4khz range - the preferred frequencies of the human ear, so the music would sound louder, nicer, better......but they lie.

 

but it is good to cross reference your mixes, cause like spindrift said it is the most common listening format and it is how most people listen to their music at home. but if you wanted to get a pumpin bass line that kicks arse in a club then you're gonna run in to a lot of problems.

 

my advice is - if you're gonna be mixing on shit spekers then play as much music on them as possible and get to know where they emphasise certain frequencies. my tannoy reveals kick out alot of hi mid, so when i'm mixing i have to compensate for that.

 

if you're using a standard hi-fi system then avoid using any low / high boost/cut on the hi-fi (especially any bass boost/loudness function) because this will just make getting a true mix all the more difficult.

 

if you wanna be anal, and go for the flat response with top of the range monitors, you're still gonna have to adjust about your room acoustics if you want to achieve as close to true flat response as possible. and this can be perhaps the most expensive studio addition.

 

as i have said before it is possible to get a great mix using hi-fi speakers and i know producers that have achieved this (although this is the more difficult - yet cheaper way of doing things). just get to know what your speakers can and can't do and compensate.

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... and remember that the response of your own year is flattest around 85 Db so that should be the ideal volume for producing... Personally, I have a pair of Videologic Sciroccos and, like you said, compared with some inpressive industry-standard Genelec 1030s they come in pretty close... (but then again, I don't plan on making music on them either...)

 

SMI²LE

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