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Joined: Dec 2015
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HI All
Can you tell me what speakers you use for monitoring your audio projects?
And if there are any other amps involved other than say using active monitors from the pc.
I use Behringer MS20 near field monitors, but find they can sound a bit boxy around 500 Hz.
Does anyone use any of the Yamaha range they seen quite well thought of?
I am rather old school hi fi myself having worked in the trade, and believe in trying to get a flat mix and let the listener adjust their own tone controls and EQ to their liking, and equipment, be it in car, or top quality hi fi at home.
Your comment appreciated
Mike
Last edited by Mike Head; 10/07/20 02:11 AM.
BIAB2021 UltraPlus,AsusN55S1Tbssd, W10/64,Akai EIEpro Yamaha CVP405,SquireStrat, CoolsoftVMidSynth Novatation Impulse61 Ctr kbd, Cwalk blab Kontakt http://mikesmusic.byethost16.com/
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KRK’s all the way. If I get my mix “right” on them it sounds good on our living room system with a subwoofer and in the Subaru with a sub. Of course YMMV  Bud
Our albums and singles are on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Pandora and more. If interested search on Janice Merritt. Thanks! Our Videos
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Adam A7, not to large and work pretty well. Typical German quality. Used ones on reverb go for three to four hundred dollars.  Billy
“Amazing! I’ll be working with Jaco Pastorius, Charlie Parker, Art Tatum, and Buddy Rich, and you’re telling me it’s not that great of a gig?
“Well…” Saint Peter, hesitated, “God’s got this girlfriend who thinks she can sing…”
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I use Mackey MR-5 speakers with a 10" Polk Audio 100w sub.
But here's the thing about those small, cheap speakers we all use.... None of them are going to be exactly flat across the spectrum. Especially the ported ones. The ports are there to try to compensate for some deficiency in the design but every time you make a gain in one direction, you introduce a loss in another. Read the first 3 chapters of Mike Senior's book Mixing Secrets For The Small Studio and it will explain it in better detail.
Another option you might want to look at is a software plug in program called ARC...Advanced Room Correction system. I use this.** It gets installed as a plug in on your system. Once it's in, you have to spend a little bit of time setting it up and letting it listen to your room. It sends calibrated noise to the speakers. You get a calibrated mic and place it around the room in numerous positions as the software tells you to do.... yep it tells you where to place the mic.... and after it samples the sound in several dozen positions, it calculates the room deficiencies and compensates by the audio is sends to your speaker. You remove it or shut it off for your export and the music is supposed to be a more accurate rendition for the real world.
** I have to recalibrate it to my studio here. It was calibrated in the former room but not in this one. I need to get the initiative to do this. Yeah.... I'm slack. Note: this software is pretty decent and lets you hear the music like it will be replayed factoring the room inaccuracies out of the equation. Maybe I'll do this recalibration in the coming week....... making myself a note now.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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Have to agree with Bud...KRK 8's have been excellent for me. The 5's required a sub, the 8's not so much.
Jeff
Win11, Intel i7 7700K 4.2Ghz, 32Gb RAM, 2x1Tb HD, 500Gb NVMe, BIAB/RB 2026, MOTU 828MK3 audio, MOTU Midi Express, Yamaha Montage 7, DX7II, TX802, Motif XS Rack, Roland Fantom XR Rack, Oberheim Matrix 1000, VoiceLive3 Extreme, Kontakt 6, SampleTank 4.3
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eddie1261
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I have KRK Rockit 5s down here and Wharfedales upstairs.
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I have a pair of Yamaha NS40M units which are quite extraordinary.
But I also use a pair of Pioneer S-DJ50X Active Reference Monitors which are also hard to beat.
I wonder of the issue you are witnessing is related to a resonant harmonic frequency caused by the surroundings in your studio. Can you relocate to see if that makes a difference?
BIAB & RB2026 Win.(Audiophile), Windows 10 Pro & Windows 11, Cakewalk Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Session Keys Grand S & Electric R, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M, Pioneer Active Monitors.
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A++ on the Behringer MS20 you mentioned in your post.
Had a pair of ProSonus Eris e5 that were fantastic. Very flat response, but also very clear bass and highs. I was really impressed by them.
Cheers,
Deryk
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I use a combination of my JBL LSR 4328 8" Powered Monitors and Sony MDR-7506 Headphones but my real secret is..... These are both used with the following software: Sonarworks Reference 4 - Sound Calibration SoftwareWhat it does is tune my room to be a flat response for my speakers and it also tunes the headphones flat. They have a ton of headphone presets so it's usually not difficult to find your set of cans on their list. Once I started using Sonarworks my mixes sounded much better. I'm not a paid spokesman, just a happy user. Mike, your boxy sound would probably be remedied by running through the room tuning app of Sonarworks if you decided to purchase. I believe they also have a free trial.
 Steve BIAB/RB 2022, Pro Tools 2020, Korg N5, JBL LSR 4328 Powered Monitors, AKG/Shure Mics.
PC: Win11 PRO, 4 TB M2 SSD, 2 TB HD, 128 GB Memory
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Another option you might want to look at is a software plug in program called ARC...Advanced Room Correction system. I use this.** It gets installed as a plug in on your system. Once it's in, you have to spend a little bit of time setting it up and letting it listen to your room. It sends calibrated noise to the speakers. You get a calibrated mic and place it around the room in numerous positions as the software tells you to do.... yep it tells you where to place the mic.... and after it samples the sound in several dozen positions, it calculates the room deficiencies and compensates by the audio is sends to your speaker. You remove it or shut it off for your export and the music is supposed to be a more accurate rendition for the real world. Herb, cool stuff. This sounds very similar to what I use in Sonarworks.
Steve BIAB/RB 2022, Pro Tools 2020, Korg N5, JBL LSR 4328 Powered Monitors, AKG/Shure Mics.
PC: Win11 PRO, 4 TB M2 SSD, 2 TB HD, 128 GB Memory
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Adam monitors and sub in my production studio. Beyerdynamic 770 headphones. Presonus Central Station monitor controls.
KRK 8" with KRK 10" sub in the playing room.
KRK 4" and 8" sub in the backup studio.
And when you think it's right, you check your mix on earpods, a boom box, YouTube, an Alexa-type device, and as many cars as you can ride in.
Special note: Trevor (Videotrack) mentioned Yamaha. I often see in studios old Yamaha NS10 monitors that are the gold standard because they were dreadful sounding, although they gave a reasonably flat response. Engineers discovered if they could make those Yamahas sound good, a mix would work on anything!
BIAB 2026 Win Audiophile. Software: Fender Studio One 8, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Fender Quantom HD8 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
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For my own studio I've got a set of Mackie HR824 MK1 nearfields - fantastic speakers, very underrated even with their $2000+ price tag, and hold their weight against the Adams and Genelecs I've put them against. I likely would've gone for the Adam A7's if I hadn't found the Mackies for cheap ($350 because the guy thought they were broken).
I previously had KRK Rokit 5's, and like MountainSide said, they really need a sub. I used to work for a local music shop selling all manner of gear - KRK, Adam, Genelec, Yamaha etc. I personally never "liked" the Yamaha's as they were too bright and a bit harsh, but they were more accurate than some. KRK's get my vote for the lower end price range, and Adam's for the mid to upper end.
Getting to the higher end, the main studio I had access to when I went to school had a matched set of 5 Adam S4X-V's (plus matching sub), and at $5k per speaker and a matched calibrated 5.1 setup they were utterly fantastic. The secondary studio had a 5.1 set of Genelec 1032C's that were also fantastic (2.5k per speaker), but not as accurate as the Adams. And the third studio had a monster pair of Genelecs, like 15" woofers, don't remember what model they were but they didn't sound nearly as good as the other two rooms as they were much too big for the room.
And further, the studio I worked for a couple years ago had a pair of passive Dynaudio M2's that I think above all were my favourite speaker, mostly for the absolute smoothest mids thanks to that monster dome midrange driver. They were absolute heaven.
I work here
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Yes, the NS40M's are dead flat. You are exactly right that they don't add any unnecessary color to the mix, which can be very useful in knowing that once the mix is right, it will work anywhere. It was a technique that Quincy Jones used.
BIAB & RB2026 Win.(Audiophile), Windows 10 Pro & Windows 11, Cakewalk Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Session Keys Grand S & Electric R, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M, Pioneer Active Monitors.
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