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worth getting studio monitors???........
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| Indavic |
is it worth getting "flat" studio monitors
IF you are using a stock onboard soundcard.
if so, how effective is it? |
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| DigiNut |
That's a really, really loaded question.
First of all, you need to ask yourself whether it's worth trying to achieve a flat frequency response at all. I feel like a broken record because I always cite the Yamaha NS10s, but it's really worth noting how such crappy-sounding monitors are behind some of the biggest studios and best-selling tracks in existence. Mainly what you should consider is:
- Many if not most appealing dance tracks have the disco smile characteristic (emphasis on the bass and treble frequencies, not much midrange), so you don't really want your track to sound "flat".
- As long as you understand and are accustomed to the characteristic of whatever system you have (i.e. by listening to other professionally-done tracks), then you don't need a "perfect" frequency response on your monitors in order to create a track with the "perfect" frequency characteristic.
Having said that, I believe the quality of my work improved dramatically when I got my AKG K240DF monitor headphones, which are not at all pleasant to listen to, but they're flat and dry and really good at bringing out problems (like screeching in the high frequencies). So even if you've got a very good ear, a good studio monitor (or monitor headphone) certainly can't hurt.
The other question, though, is whether or not you'll gain anything from studio monitors with this "stock" soundcard. You haven't given us a very good explanation of what that is, unfortunately. And this is where a lot of producers run into trouble as well - they'll buy studio monitors thinking that what they're hearing is bang on, without realizing that their soundcard is in fact artificially exaggerating certain frequencies (often the bass). So their tracks end up having no bass because they hear it on their studio monitors and think it is "just right".
Unfortunately there isn't much you can do about that. I do not believe that any consumer-level sound card actually has a perfect frequency response. You have to get ProTools cards and such for that. So there is almost no question that even if you buy studio monitors that are perfectly flat, you still won't be hearing a sound that is perfectly flat. There is a *certain* possibility that your current speakers are actually compensating for your soundcard's inaccuracies, but it is of course far more likely that they're making it worse.
The only way to really know is to learn as much about your sound card as possible. There should be some specifications on the frequency characteristics. You can try to test it by ear as well: hook up a CD player to your speakers, listen to some tracks, then rip those tracks onto your computer (don't encode them!) and see how different it sounds going through your computer.
So, in the hope of bringing some closure to this:
Will it benefit you to get good studio monitors? Yes!
Will it benefit you enough to be worth the cost of good studio monitors? MAYBE, but unless you have a lot of experience, a good sound card, and an extremely precise musical ear, probably not. |
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| Chronosis |
| Imo the point where it is worth, is when your current speakers are keeping back your production quality. You need to hear the details to benefit from expensive speakers. At this point you probably wouldn't get your mix to sound any better with expensive speakers, than you would with your current speakers (unless you're using computer speakers). |
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