well ta, here's the deal:

for the past year i've been using nothing but headphones for music production & recreational purposes ie. music, movies,etc. not only is this unhealthy for my ears but it's also really frustrating when i listen to my productions with speakers and the levels are totally off; low end is too loud; bassline vanished; kick overpowers everything & what have you. because of this block, i took a 5-7 month break from the audio engineering aspect(still am) & just focused on musical composition.

but the long wait is over, or at least i thought. i was planning on going out today to look at yamaha hs80m's & hs50m's but guess the funk what? that's right, room acoustics hits me in the face. most of the rooms in my house suck acoustically(hollow walls & such) and i've yet to build any basstraps & the like.

so my question is, is room treatment that big of a deal? should i drop money on monitors if my room isn't treated properly? i mean, i could do some things like hanging up thick blankets, leave my clothes closet open, and maybe even dragging my queen size bed into the room and have it sitting vertically.

damn this shit!! didn't think this would be such a burden

short version: should i bother getting monitors if i have crappy walls and all that funk.

thanks ta

Last edited by wing on May-29-2009 at 21:18

quote:

Originally posted by hundred short version: should i bother getting monitors if i have crappy walls and all that funk. thanks ta

yes...they are pretty much just better than average speakers..and it seems you are only producing on headphones...so I ask why not?

Of course. I would say that 9/10 people here with monitors have an untreated room.

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Bruz, room acoustics aren't that important if you're only getting HS80Ms. If you're getting cheap monitors like that, just do the best with what you have - position them properly, probably get monitor stands and rearrange things in your room. Probably Mackies and above are when you should start to think about acoustic treatment.

Just keep the distance between the monitors as small as possible. This fixed most acoustic problems for me at my old place which was atrocious. It will make a smaller sweet spot but that shouldn't be too big of an issue to overcome.

alright thanks for the advice lads, i'll go ahead and purchase the hs50m's.

quick question: in the monitor thread, someone mentioned how yamaha hs80m is good for acoustic music and not edm. is this true? does it apply for all yamaha studio monitors? a friend of mine today said the same thing when i told him i was going to cop hs50m's for mixing.

don't treat the room

buy the yamaha's

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quote:

Originally posted by Stephen Wiley don't treat the room buy the yamaha's

i can't tell if you're being sarcastic or serious but thanks

yamaha is a good company, i'm sure you'll be fine

I tend to decide whether or not my room needs treatment by ear ... if when, for example, you play a soloed kick drum and you hear a lot of reverberation from the room when the sample is done playing, there's a problem.

Yes, there are frequency problems even if there's no echo/reverb in your room, but for the most part, those problems are in the lower frequencies. I definitely noticed a difference when I put in bass traps, but if there was no reverb/echo in my room to begin with, I doubt I would have heard much difference in higher frequencies.

To do a simple test, just sit in your mixing position and snap your fingers ... make loud short noises and listen to how the room sounds. If you hear a lot more than your finger snapping, there's a problem.

Try doing that test and post back with your findings ...

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quote:

Originally posted by hundred alright thanks for the advice lads, i'll go ahead and purchase the hs50m's. quick question: in the monitor thread, someone mentioned how yamaha hs80m is good for acoustic music and not edm. is this true? does it apply for all yamaha studio monitors? a friend of mine today said the same thing when i told him i was going to cop hs50m's for mixing.

I have the hs50's and am soon upgrading to hs80's. People say that because they are flat monitors. They are actually more ideal than other similarly priced monitors if you use a sub. If you don't some people don't like mixing on them because they have a lot of mid and high range in them but the low isn't as emphatic as other monitors. This is why they're called flat eq monitors. I find it much easier to mix on them but they just don't sound as pleasing while doing so. Depends if you want something to mix easily on or something slightly more difficult to mix with that sounds a little better. Just make sure you have some other references for your tracks if you get them, or as I said, pick up a sub as well. Either way you'll be fine.

quote:

Originally posted by mfitterer1 or as I said, pick up a sub as well.

this is bad advice.

if you are planning on getting a 2.1 system, you should use 6-7" monitors, not 8". 8" monitors try to be a 2.1 (or 3-way monitor) replacement, by sacrificing the mid range. to get accurate mids, 6-7" is the biggest you should go in a 2 way monitor, unless you are spending a lot of money (Genelec, Event OPAL and so on). the ideal mid woofer size is around ~3-5", like you will see on most 3 way monitors. hence, even 6-7" is a compromise.

hs50ms are too small to be of any real use on their own. likewise, they do not have the bass extension to crossover with a sub well at 90hz. i wouldn't buy them... ever. a 6-7" woofer in a 2-way monitor is the least and the most that you should use with a sub.

my advice...

1. get 8" monitors, accept the less than ideal midrange and do not buy a sub.

or

2. buy a pair of 6-7" monitors and maybe think about getting a sub later on. be aware though, that subs have their own set of problems. among other things, you are pretty much guaranteed to need some kind of acoustic treatment.

Last edited by echosystm on Jun-01-2009 at 00:49