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Monitors question

Could someone please tell me why it's so important to have a flat response speaker system to write music on?

The reason I ask is this, I use to write heavy metal music, I use to mix and record on a hardware DAW using a standard set of stereo speakers, my mixes always turned out real good, not too much bass, not too much high end, everything seemed pretty good.

Than I pick up a computer and some 'flat response' monitors to try making some EDM type music and my mixes have been nothing but shit since.
The bass doesn't translate well at all, it's always way too overwhelming and extremely muddy, with these monitors I can't tell when too much bass is just that...too much bass.

I feel like I've wasted about a year and a half trying to figure out how to do something that really doesn't hold a lot of logic for me.

Can someone please explain why flat response monitors are so important?

Speakers that have flat frequency responce show how your mix really sounds, without adding their own colorations to your mix. It is better to have studio monitors that reveal as much of the audio spectrum as possible with least amount of added coloration and distortion of their own. Good monitors cost big money too. You can find a long article that explains your question in depth somewhere on goodle. Look around.

You just need to get used to your new monitors. IMO, it's a bit more important to know, and get used to the equipment you have, than have the best stuff on the market. So that's why you have hard time with the flat response monitors.

I don't have very good monitors for producing, and I only thought about listening to music when I got my speakers (that was before I really did any DJ'ing or producing). I have thought about buying some better monitors, but I just don't have enough money to spend, or just don't want to save money for monitors when I have tons of other things I'm saving for right now.

imo its much more important to know what your system sounds like. I'm running on some thift shop speakers I modded up and I've been mastering peoples tracks for the last year or so, and it always turned out great. as long as you know how your system sounds, and in comparison to how others sound, you'll be better off.

homebrew monitors ftw

and besides, you guys are so worried about how your monitors color the sound, have you though of maybe your ear itself coloring the sound? or maybe position of the monitor, or maybe just the room the monitors in?

you can have the most badass monitor out there, but if your room, like mine, resonates @ specific frequencies "which i counter with an EQ", or any of the other coloring reasons, your monitors will be wasted.

Get some decent speakers with full range,
Learn them,
make music
sentinel

james holden uses tannoy reveals and these are real non flat monitors. but his mixes rock. and its cos he has been using them for years and years.

unless you have very good large scale monitors then bass will always give you a problem becuase smaller units will not give you a representation of how the bass sounds. really you need a big pa system to test your mixes on to give a good idea of how the bass etc sounds..

Part of it probably also has to do with the fact that Heavy Metal music is supposed to be highly distorted and "dirty" sounding in the first place. I'm sure that the sound is a lot more forgiving than a lot of forms of electronic music which are supposed to sound clean, airy, full, etc. I wonder how much of it has to do not with your monitors, but with the change in genre.

To DJMiakoda:

What's the brand and model number of your monitors?

I was using the M-Audio Studio Pro 3's, hated them (they're pretty cheap), recently went out and bought the M-Audio BX5A's, not really impressed with them either, now I'm presently looking at the Alesis M1 active MK2 monitors and wondering if I'm going to run into the same problem.

quote:

Originally posted by david.michael Part of it probably also has to do with the fact that Heavy Metal music is supposed to be highly distorted and "dirty" sounding in the first place. I'm sure that the sound is a lot more forgiving than a lot of forms of electronic music which are supposed to sound clean, airy, full, etc. I wonder how much of it has to do not with your monitors, but with the change in genre.

Initially I thought this too, but I did do a couple of mixes in the industrial-techno-sample based loop genre on my old system as well and they translated really well from sound system to sound system.

If your mixes sound nice on your old speakers, why are you looking for another monitors? I was never fully imressed with M-Audio's monitors myself. I had a chance to hear Alesis M1's at the store, back when i was shopping for monitors, and then heard HR-824's and the shopping was over for me
About M-Audio BX5A's, i heard them at my local pro audio store and initially was very impressed. I could not believe all the bass they were putting out. But upon later examination of their setup, i discovered a nicely hidden 10" subwoofer far under the desk. When i bypassed it, all the wow was gone. M-Audio BX5A's had poor bass responce. Not enough bass needed to mix EDM properly in my opinion. Thats why i think your mixes come out too boomy. You crank up the bass too high to make your mix sound good on those BX5A's.

You can get a small subwoofer to extend your rig's bass responce a bit, or you can save up for a pair of real monitors. But once again, if your mixes sound good on your old set of speakers, why not just stick to that?

wat abt the event alp5s?

ALP5's got 5.25" Low Frequency Driver
cant expect much from that..

It's important to make sure your mix sounds good on other types of systems of varying quality.

However, with quality flat response monitors, you'll notice that you can hear more details of the sound, and sculpt them appropriately.

Keep in mind that the way you make music will probably be based on how you hear other people's music coming through your speakers. It's how we normalize the subjective nature of it all.

Listen to enough music on a crappy pair of speakers, and you might be able to painstakingly make well mixed music on it... but you're seriously adding a lot of hassle

okay, definitely some great advice here and I appreciate it

so, someone recommend to me some true reference monitors that don't actually mask certain frequencies and emphasize others.

I need a set of monitors that translate well to stereo systems not just sound pretty on their own, but only their own.

Let's pretend money is not an issue, barring really really expensive speakers, meaning, be realistic.

Mackie HR-824
Havenot heard anything better for the price yet.

I looked em' up already when you first mentioned them, price isn't bad at all, hows the low end on them?

I'll probably look for some place I can listen to them before I decide, but if you have a pair can you give a little more detailed description?

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