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Forums - Music techology
Subject: New Monitors
Viewing all 40 messages - View by pages of 10: 1 2 3 4
Original Message 1/40 21-May-03 @ 09:42 AM - New Monitors
So. I have about £800/£1000 to spend on speakers and amp. I make hip hop and dancehall stuff mainly with lots of attention to the b-lines which is the main reason I am upgrading. Oh, and it's all made to be played out live in clubs where they have ridiculous bass-bins which showed up how little I could hear of the bass end of things in the studio.
I currently use a pair of Soundcraft Absolute Twos powered by a 170w amp. Their bass rolls off quite high up though.
I want something that will allow me to hear and therefore work with the low end as well as the treble. Ideally I'd like to get a sub as well but I don't want something that is going to overkill the bass - I just want to be able to hear it.
Any recommendations? Last time I looked into this (about four years ago when I bought the absolute twos) there were a pair of Genelecs that came with a matching sub which I quite like....
Thanks
Will
bill@plig.net
Message 2/40 21-May-03 @ 10:14 AM - RE: New Monitors
or...me? I would go with KRK V6s and the S10 or S12 sub. I LOVE my V6s and am looking to score the sub, soon!
Tannoy makes a good sub, too
if you dont want a sub, well then...HR824s are pretty much the standard, and can DEFINITELY handle bass!
Message 3/40 21-May-03 @ 10:12 PM - RE: New Monitors
ago and im still ravin about them to everybody they are
FUKIN wicked one of the best purchases for my studio i
have ever made.
strangely enough i had a pair of A2's before the Gene's.
I still got them if anybody wants to buy em with a servo
amp included!
Message 4/40 22-May-03 @ 04:26 AM - RE: New Monitors
Mackie HR824's have titanium tweeters that rock but will fatigue your ears quicker. Go with silk domed tweeters (like V4s or Event stuff) if you'll be mixing for 3 hours + at a time.
Also so many hiphop guys are on the HR824s, and they like to PUMP their mixes -- so Mackie ran into some trouble with too many blown woofers under warranty...So what do they do? THey make them now with built in limiters that kick in at a certain trigger dB trigger level...This saves Mackie woofer repairs, but the problem is you have no idea when the limiter switches on so after a certain volume level your mix could be off if you're one of those loud mixers.
I use 20/20bas and a 20/20/12 sub and the setup rocks for me. Although if I could do it over I'd go KRK. But you get so used to whatever you're using over time that it doesn't really matter THAT MUCH, I mean there's still people swearing by old NS10s
Message 5/40 22-May-03 @ 04:36 AM - RE: New Monitors
fact is the V6s sound the best out of all of them, regardless. the 8s are crap and the 4s, well...just a bit too small.
Message 6/40 22-May-03 @ 05:35 AM - RE: New Monitors
On a budget, I'd look into Digital Designs monitors, and maybe a Bryston amp. Http://www.ddaudio.com Still, I think I see a pair of HD-1s in my future. Then I'll REALLY have to sonicly deaden my room. *shrugs
Ape
Message 7/40 22-May-03 @ 05:37 AM - RE: New Monitors
Meyer Sound?!?!?!
jesus pongoid...for a grassroots fella you sure have some lofty wants!
Message 8/40 22-May-03 @ 06:06 PM - RE: New Monitors
I just got a job at Meyer. (WWWWOOHHOOOOOOO!!!!)
NICE employee discount.
;)
You should be able to find a used Bryston and a pair of DD's for under a thousand. That's less than the Mackies, as good or better sound, and NO LIMITER!
Food for thought.
Ape
Message 9/40 22-May-03 @ 06:09 PM - RE: New Monitors
doing what? thats dope that you got a JOB even! but...seems like that could be really cool!
ok. Ill take a pair of HD-1s then
Message 10/40 22-May-03 @ 06:14 PM - RE: New Monitors
Message 11/40 22-May-03 @ 07:14 PM - RE: New Monitors
overload indicator to show that the amp was clipping. a
light comes on to indicate when this happens, so it's not
like you don't know it's on or anything. i didn't think it
was to protect the woofer though. don't know. i don't
have my manual with me.
i got a sub for my mackie's and it's made such a huge
difference. everything's clearer and sounds excellent.
Message 12/40 22-May-03 @ 08:47 PM - RE: New Monitors
Influx, you sure you don't want a pair of x-10s?
Still, even with the discount the HD-1's are going to be a few grand, but if you want the sound...you pay for it.
I am grassroots in that I feel like you should DIY, and I've always professed that it's about what you can do with it, not just having the gear, cuz a room full of nice gear with an idiot at the controls is sacrilage as far as I'm concerned, but I've never said that there is anything wrong with having nice equipment that you know how to use and do use on a regular basis. I've also got a LOT more respect for a guy that has shit and makes gold with it, than the other way around, especially if it's with stuff I don't particularly dig workign with. Grassroots does not have to mean lo-tech or low quality. To me, it means just learning how to to do things, how things work, and realizing that anybody CAN do it, and it's just a matter of how one directs ones' energies in making a dream into a reality while trying to balance, utilize, or simply deal with the energies that come their way that they don't have control over. It's by that same token that my patience may seem thin. Certain tools will make certain tasks easier, like having good monitors will allow one to hear different characteristics in sound easier to differentiate, but using that perception effectively, and manipulating that sound into music lies within the human, and not the machine. For now at least (thanks to whatever one wants to call those intelligences that may have a hand in our destinies) machines do not have the abiloty to create. They just do what we tell them to do. We are trying to make them create these days, but it's a rather dangerous prospect. Better to have them as fast calculation devices to enhance our own input and output abilities, like good monitors without limiters.
Ok, back to composing more house music for tonight's set.
Ape
Message 13/40 22-May-03 @ 08:55 PM Edit: 22-May-03 | 08:57 PM - RE: New Monitors
X-10s? Way out of my range, too
Id honestly like to get some Dynaudio BM6as and maybe a sub. but the truth is...Im actually happy with the KRK V6s Im using
Message 14/40 22-May-03 @ 09:55 PM - RE: New Monitors
Ape
Message 15/40 22-May-03 @ 11:20 PM - RE: New Monitors
Message 16/40 22-May-03 @ 11:49 PM Edit: 23-May-03 | 12:51 AM - RE: New Monitors
psy
Message 17/40 23-May-03 @ 12:28 AM - RE: New Monitors
Message 18/40 23-May-03 @ 12:59 AM - RE: New Monitors
Message 19/40 23-May-03 @ 01:10 AM - RE: New Monitors
Now i got to go look at genelecs website to see what the fuss is about and start ditherin again
spinback
Message 20/40 23-May-03 @ 01:28 AM - RE: New Monitors
thing is...EVERY website is gonna make their own product look good!
Message 21/40 23-May-03 @ 01:34 AM - RE: New Monitors
Ape
Message 22/40 23-May-03 @ 02:03 AM - RE: New Monitors
I got the HR624's (the 824's bastard little brothers) and I'm VERY happy with them. They fit perfectly for me because I wanted a big sound with solid low end but I didn't need all the volume (I have a small studio). So the 624's fit the bill. Take a look at those if you're on the Mackie thing. Personally, I never run them loud enough to kick in ANY sort of limiter.
Message 23/40 23-May-03 @ 01:38 PM - RE: New Monitors
Those interested might wanna check the link above, its a roundup of current nearfields that I thought was really well written and informative.
I was considering those Mackie 624's aswell but after reading bout those limiters not to sure....
Message 24/40 23-May-03 @ 04:54 PM - RE: New Monitors
about the overload protection in mackies then you'd
better be more concerned about saving your hearing!
they're studio monitors, not PAs.
Message 25/40 23-May-03 @ 05:29 PM - RE: New Monitors
Message 26/40 23-May-03 @ 08:50 PM - RE: New Monitors
Message 27/40 23-May-03 @ 08:58 PM - RE: New Monitors
a sampson amp to Dynaudio BM6A Active
monitors about a grand but absolutely brilliant
flat down to about 45- 50 hz give or take 3 db
but also let you hear everything below that
anyway, active monitors behave much better
than amp / monitor combis , and something i
heard is some speakers do compress or limit
which is naughty as its not real. these do not
they go incredibly loud if you wish but more
importantly they still have excellent bass
response at low volume!
Message 28/40 23-May-03 @ 09:06 PM - RE: New Monitors
Message 29/40 23-May-03 @ 09:12 PM - RE: New Monitors
and keyboard shop Brighton, i know thats a
good price.
Message 30/40 23-May-03 @ 09:23 PM - RE: New Monitors
the concensus was that the big mackies 824
where good if you had a big room other wise
they wher very boomy the little 624 are a better
choice, and i heard it said that genlecs
compress the sound so every thing does
sound nice, i went with the BM6A because
Dynaudio have spent 30 years making drive
units and speakers plus paul whites review in
sos a few years back said "i would gladly mix
all of my work on these litle beauties" so i had
to have them, they are gorgous i now have all
the bass i didnt have and whats more you can
hear the difference in bass sounds rather
than it just being bass,
Message 32/40 23-May-03 @ 09:34 PM - RE: New Monitors
a bit less
Message 33/40 23-May-03 @ 09:55 PM - RE: New Monitors
One is the fact that at least to some degree it is important that the music be be put sometimes into the context in which it is meant to be played i.e. if it's dance music, it's probably supposed to be played pretty fuckin loud at clubs/shows. How many dance clubs do you consider as being successful with a quiet, but clean system? Most of the quiet dance clubs/parties I've ever seen did not have a real big turn-out or packed dancefloor, and after all, isn't that what dance music is supposed to be about?
The 'accurate' bass you hear in that semi-idealized sonic space you compose in may give you a thumbnail sketch of what you're working with, but until the sound level itself is up and bumpin, you really don't know what kind of energy you're pumpin out with your tune. It may sound dope nice and quiet, but you get it up to volume, and your ears change their perception curves, the rest of your body responds to the vibrations in a different way, and all of a sudden, that same piece you were workin on is a different beast entirely.
Think about it.
Ape
Message 34/40 24-May-03 @ 07:38 PM - RE: New Monitors
[image file]
i hear you, ape.
i like to play tracks loud when i'm writing for just that
reason. all i'm saying is that the mackie's are pretty
damn loud as it is.
i actually added a mackie hrs120 sub to them a few
weeks ago and it's incredible the difference it made. not
only does my room sound better (it's pretty big) but you
can actually turn up the volume a bit more since the sub
frees the near field's from having to pump out bass.
Message 35/40 24-May-03 @ 10:05 PM - RE: New Monitors
Message 36/40 25-May-03 @ 02:37 AM - RE: New Monitors
Originally I was convinced the HR824s were flawed with the limiting, but maybe it's a good thing afterall...I'd rather have a mix that's a little off than have to wait two months for my warranty-covered repair to come out of the shop.
Even so, I'm a big fan of silk-domed over titanium tweeters because of ear fatigue; I'd hate to be stuck in a 10-hour session with nothing but titanium. A cheap second-hand pair of SP5Bs or BX5s to A/B along with the HR824s might be a nice combo for prolonged mixing sessions.
Message 37/40 25-May-03 @ 07:12 PM - RE: New Monitors
argh. i keep saying that the limiting doesn't affect mixing though! you can here and see (little red light) when it kicks in! it's obvious so it doesn't happen without you knowing it's on.
Message 39/40 28-May-03 @ 01:43 AM - RE: New Monitors
Ape - I understand your argument about trying to listen to your tracks the way you would expect to hear them when out in a club, but I don't think that you're comparing apples to apples here. A pair of mackie studio monitors and a club PA system at bleeding ears levels are 2 completely different things. If you NEED to have that PA level sound, you need a PA, not some high priced reference monitors. The sonic characteristics of the typical club systems make mixing loud in your studio irrelevant.
Message 40/40 28-May-03 @ 01:26 PM - RE: New Monitors
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