Studio monitors, but why do people always say this…

**litteleskimo** · 09-05-2004

I have been reading reviews about monitors and dont understand why people keep saying (about certain monitors, HR824 one in particular) they find it really difficult to translate their mixes onto other systems, mainly normal hi-fi players, car stereos etc. I don’t understand the purpose of this or see how it could be of any benefit?
The reason people buy studio monitors is so they can get an accurate representation of the real sound they are mixing, so what would be the purpose of playing that mix back on regualr cd player speakers, when they are obviously not going to give you an accurate mix like proper studio monitors will. Im new to monitors and just trying to learn, am I on the right track or am I missing something here?
Thanks for any help with this question.

Tane

**krushing** · 09-05-2004

The answer is actually pretty obvious - your average listener doesn't have studio monitors. Instead, they have the crappy stereo system. Get my drift?

**lil_slip** · 09-05-2004

yup you are gonna want to check the mix in the car or wherever because thats where the listener will listen to it

**Carnage** · 09-05-2004

If "we need to know what our mixes sound like on coloured speakers" then we would need to install every single speaker on the market in our studio to 'hear' that vast range of 'colours'. Clearly not very practical! Far better to install one neutral pair that will enable us to create a single, balanced mix that will hopefully translate reasonably well to all the 'coloured' pairs out there.

That, in a nutshell, is the logic of buying a decent set of neutral monitors and generally speaking that is the Holy Grail of what designers of such monitor speakers are aiming for too.

**jasedee** · 09-05-2004

You will find most pro studio's will have 2 pairs of monitors.

Translation Monitors- ie NS10's or similar that "translate" well into the "real" world.

Accurate Monitors - Which provides a flat frequency response ie no "colouration" of the sound. These monitors will let you hear the sound you recorded in most detail, so any decisions you make to affect that sound is based on truth and precision.

Good luck!

**Tim20** · 09-05-2004

Think of it this way. We all know that home and car systems will blur or color the sound.

The mix needs to be done in an environment that is as accurate as possible. Imagine if you had a bad spot and bad speakers in your mix position and it was in the 60-100 Hz range. Also suppose that bad spot nulled the sound.

In your effort to hear the 60-100 you boost it too much and then it translates to BOOM BOOM MUD in the car.

Near fields came about in an effort to overcome bad rooms, but bad rooms will still cause bad mixes.

**CubaseRox** · 09-06-2004

Some good posts here.

**H. Wallbanger** · 09-08-2004

Originally posted by Tim20
Think of it this way. We all know that home and car systems will blur or color the sound.

The mix needs to be done in an environment that is as accurate as possible. Imagine if you had a bad spot and bad speakers in your mix position and it was in the 60-100 Hz range. Also suppose that bad spot nulled the sound.

In your effort to hear the 60-100 you boost it too much and then it translates to BOOM BOOM MUD in the car.

Near fields came about in an effort to overcome bad rooms, but bad rooms will still cause bad mixes.

couldn't have said better.

**litteleskimo** · 09-10-2004

Thanks everybody that replied to my question. I think I am getting my head around monitors now. Well a bit more research on the different models and then the fun part…I have to decide on which one to get. I will post my research to the forum soon.

**DReal** · 09-12-2004

Just to put my $0.02 in

Nearfields also came into use so that engineers could have a speaker that was more representative of what the average person listened to music on.

That is the main reason you see NS10s in studios. Think about it. NS10s are probably one of the crappiest sounding monitors in existence. You can get a pair for $300. And common wisdom suggests that if you can make a mix sound good on the NS10s, the mix will generally translate pretty well to other systems.

Remember, the mix has got to come across well on clock radios, t.v. speakers (not the booming home theaters guys, you know what I mean), basic stock stereo systems in automobiles etc. Not to mention Walkman headphones and the like.

It's funny sometimes to see an engineer mix his a$$ off in a million dollar facility and run the final mix through the 3-inch speaker on the half inch machine before printing it.

Okay that was more like $0.37...so, sue me.

Peace