mikesr1963
Gonna walk my dog, you?
They will be used with a USB audio interface using a left and right connector 1/4 inch connectors.
Need Studio Monitors give me some recommendations that you use and like.
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Danhedonia
Noted duckfat enthusiast
I have some JBL 305's that are 'nice enough,' meaning: better IMO than KRK's. I got them on a deep discount, too, which makes them sound even better. 
***********
WARNING: Navel-gazing, dead ahead ....
My other 'monitoring' situation is my living room stereo. My stereo has some nice, custom built tower speakers. Semi-fancy, you could say. A very vanilla Yamaha amp drives them, and to me they sound very good. I do a good deal of mixing there, for a few reasons.
1. I know those speakers. In other words, sure they color the sound, BUT I know exactly HOW they do it because I've heard so much through them for so long. If the Brian Jonestown Massacre sound 'this way' through them, then I know pretty much how they'll sound through your crummy car speakers, or your amazing Polk Audio panel speakers, etc. They are my personal baseline.
2. And because I am usually mixing MY music, and this is MY primary listening rig, I'm suiting myself (I am known to do a general mix and a second mix for my own listening pleasure).
My conclusions from this (as well as many hours in pro studios half a life ago) are:
- flat freq curves are just another fetish.
- get a personal baseline, so you know how things will sound when you move them to ....
- ... other playback systems. We've all heard the stories and/or seen it, but you really DO have to listen to mixes through multiple playback systems to get them where you want them -- or know your baseline so well that you can do that via imagination.
My .02 is that the monitors aren't that important (until you're willing to spend thousands on them), it's more important to get something good (and there's a lot of that around these days) and learn those monitors.
***********
WARNING: Navel-gazing, dead ahead ....
My other 'monitoring' situation is my living room stereo. My stereo has some nice, custom built tower speakers. Semi-fancy, you could say. A very vanilla Yamaha amp drives them, and to me they sound very good. I do a good deal of mixing there, for a few reasons.
1. I know those speakers. In other words, sure they color the sound, BUT I know exactly HOW they do it because I've heard so much through them for so long. If the Brian Jonestown Massacre sound 'this way' through them, then I know pretty much how they'll sound through your crummy car speakers, or your amazing Polk Audio panel speakers, etc. They are my personal baseline.
2. And because I am usually mixing MY music, and this is MY primary listening rig, I'm suiting myself (I am known to do a general mix and a second mix for my own listening pleasure).
My conclusions from this (as well as many hours in pro studios half a life ago) are:
- flat freq curves are just another fetish.
- get a personal baseline, so you know how things will sound when you move them to ....
- ... other playback systems. We've all heard the stories and/or seen it, but you really DO have to listen to mixes through multiple playback systems to get them where you want them -- or know your baseline so well that you can do that via imagination.
My .02 is that the monitors aren't that important (until you're willing to spend thousands on them), it's more important to get something good (and there's a lot of that around these days) and learn those monitors.
sunvalleylaw
Yep.
I have some JBL 305's that are 'nice enough,' meaning: better IMO than KRK's. I got them on a deep discount, too, which makes them sound even better.
***********
WARNING: Navel-gazing, dead ahead ....
My other 'monitoring' situation is my living room stereo. My stereo has some nice, custom built tower speakers. Semi-fancy, you could say. A very vanilla Yamaha amp drives them, and to me they sound very good. I do a good deal of mixing there, for a few reasons.
1. I know those speakers. In other words, sure they color the sound, BUT I know exactly HOW they do it because I've heard so much through them for so long. If the Brian Jonestown Massacre sound 'this way' through them, then I know pretty much how they'll sound through your crummy car speakers, or your amazing Polk Audio panel speakers, etc. They are my personal baseline.
2. And because I am usually mixing MY music, and this is MY primary listening rig, I'm suiting myself (I am known to do a general mix and a second mix for my own listening pleasure).
My conclusions from this (as well as many hours in pro studios half a life ago) are:
- flat freq curves are just another fetish.
- get a personal baseline, so you know how things will sound when you move them to ....
- ... other playback systems. We've all heard the stories and/or seen it, but you really DO have to listen to mixes through multiple playback systems to get them where you want them -- or know your baseline so well that you can do that via imagination.
My .02 is that the monitors aren't that important (until you're willing to spend thousands on them), it's more important to get something good (and there's a lot of that around these days) and learn those monitors.
I have my pair of Dahlquist DQM-5 monitors that I bought with my Denon receiver and old turntable I still have (along with a long gone early CD player (Yamaha), and a Nakamichi tape deck that stopped working a long time ago and is gone). I love those monitors (they called them that even back then at Magnolia Hi-Fi, before it was bought and expanded). The cabinets have some black surface, ports, some sort of "cheeks", and whatever voodoo they used, they just seem to really sound good if you set them up on stands the right way, at the right distance from the walls, etc.
The foam surrounds were breached by my young son a long time ago, and it seemed to me one of the tweeters needed reconditioning. They have been in the closet waiting for me. I am sure my wife is not super stoked on my wanting my old school speakers/monitors out in the room (we have some sonos stuff, and there are some inexpensive monitors hooked up to my stereo now that are good enough for her), but we have a "play"/media/music room that would be perfect. I have looked into a couple places, Regnar, which seems to have old Dalhquist people, and a place called Miller Sound. Seems like you have to pull everything out, package it on a board, and send it in while they do the work (including possibly upgrading the capacitors), then they send it back and you put it back together. Other than that, no one seems cross-over/to want to deal with them. They are just two way, but I loved the somewhat less than flat response, LOVE the bass response and crystal highs, and really miss them. I think repair is worth it. Though a bit of money. Agree? Do you, or does anyone, know of any other good options to consider for getting them repaired?
Danhedonia
Noted duckfat enthusiast
@sunvalleylaw - aren't you near some sort of classic-gear dude that my Marin County friend would describe as "the Expensive Hippie?" His rationale was "every town has an Expensive Hippie, and they're wizards with old gear, with the attitude and price points to match."
They can also be great people, if faced with a challenge they enjoy. Have you explored this?
They can also be great people, if faced with a challenge they enjoy. Have you explored this?
gtrjunior
Wannabe
I have these too...I don't love them but they are still great speakers. I find that something that I mix on these that sound great, sound different (not necessarily bad) on my car stereo. So I have to do a little back and forth.
Still, I give these a strong recommendation as a first pair of monitors.
OGG
Master of the Meh
The inexpensive M-Audio monitors offer great bang for the buck. They'll get you 85% of the way there. The one CRUCIAL thing about them is break-in time. They're going to sound like garbage fresh out of the box. They require a good 8-12 hours of higher volume continuous use with music that covers a broad range before they settle in.
If you read the reviews, you'll quickly notice that the haters virtually All Based their bad review on them after first unboxed and plugged in. They all got pissed and returned them. Those who took the time to let them break-in, love them.
I've been using mine for about five years in my bedroom studio and they work great. They seem to get better with age. Their weakness is in the low end, hence the 85%. You'll get a mix that sounds great on them, and think youre done. Then you listen to your track on a home or car system and go "WTF!?"
I have a little trick I use, which is to get the mix as good as possible on them, then take my mix on my laptop out to the car and run it through the car system while I make a few EQ and level tweaks before I master the track. It's damn near fool proof (provided you have a decent car system), and you would be SHOCKED by how many big gun studio engineers do the exact same thing even when they're mixing on ludicrously expensive monitors in multi-million dollar studios.
Just because something sounds good in a perfect room, through perfect speakers, doesn't guarantee it won't sound terrible through an average, consumer level system.
Sent from Crab Nebulae via reverse engineered alien technology
If you read the reviews, you'll quickly notice that the haters virtually All Based their bad review on them after first unboxed and plugged in. They all got pissed and returned them. Those who took the time to let them break-in, love them.
I've been using mine for about five years in my bedroom studio and they work great. They seem to get better with age. Their weakness is in the low end, hence the 85%. You'll get a mix that sounds great on them, and think youre done. Then you listen to your track on a home or car system and go "WTF!?"
I have a little trick I use, which is to get the mix as good as possible on them, then take my mix on my laptop out to the car and run it through the car system while I make a few EQ and level tweaks before I master the track. It's damn near fool proof (provided you have a decent car system), and you would be SHOCKED by how many big gun studio engineers do the exact same thing even when they're mixing on ludicrously expensive monitors in multi-million dollar studios.
Just because something sounds good in a perfect room, through perfect speakers, doesn't guarantee it won't sound terrible through an average, consumer level system.
Sent from Crab Nebulae via reverse engineered alien technology