808s on KRKs

[brianspencermusic]

Hey guys,

When I finally was able to afford some monitors, I chose KRK rokits because I saw them being used a lot by producers I look up to. We can argue all day that this speaker or that speaker is better but I'm not here for that..

My question is, when I listen to any 808 heavy music, the 808s don't come through as loud on the KRKs and sound pretty weak, but in the car (no sub), they knock. When I make beats, I turn my 808s up to where I think is a good level but in comparison they are way louder than the professionally mixed/mastered tracks I'm listening to. When I play my tracks in the car, they sound pretty good and the 808s knock how I want them to, so Im wondering what the problem is? Should I follow the reference tracks and keep my bass at a much lower level?

 

[localspace]

Which KRK's do you have?
From what you describe, my guess is they're not that big so you lack the bass response to get the sub out well. That's why pro stuff sounds weak, you should follow that reference though.
They probably sound less weak in your car because that system hypes the low end more to compensate for the lack of real bass... and the fact that a car interior is an acoustic nightmare.
The play in the car check is really about checking how it translates to a bad system and environment.