6th July 2008
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#1 | | Gear interested
Joined: Jul 2008 Location: NYC
Posts: 2
Thread Starter | Monitors for making music (and then mixing)?
I have been researching this on the boards (and off the boards) for a while now and at this point my head is spinning. I would really love some help...
I need to get a pair of monitors. I primarily track and write my own music in my studio. I want to be inspired by their sound when creating music and, eventually, use them to mix. I need a good balance of inspiring sound (good low end, FUN to listen to, etc.) and accuracy, but I don't want to sacrifice the "fun" part for the "accuracy" part too much. And I really don't want to spend too much on these if I can avoid it. I have been using the same passive KRK K-Roks for over 10 years now (since I was in middle school)...time to get some new monitors.
Requirements:
- Active near-field monitors
- I want good bass without a sub for when tracking hiphop, electronic, and dance rock.
- I want them to be pretty loud
- less than $1,700 for the pair
- I don't want them to be so harsh and accurate that I can't have fun listening to them and making music on them easily.
Monitors I have researched and listened to so far and am considering(not in my home studio):
Mackie hr824mkII and hr624mkII:
Pros:
*They are a lot of fun to listen to
*They are affordable
Cons:
*I have read a lot of negative things about them on this board in terms of mixing on them.
*The bass seems a little out of control-- this has been fun to listen to, but scary when I think about mixing on them.
*The mids seemed a bit lacking when I last listened to them.
Dynaudio bm6a mkII
Pros:
*I have read only good things about them
*They seem to be very accurate sounding
*Price is pretty good
Cons:
*I am concerned that the bass in these monitors isn't that great for doing dance stuff.
*Compared to the older bm6a and the mackies, they seem to be underpowered in terms of wattage and I like a pretty loud volume to get me excited in the studio from time-to-time. Also, I am not so sure how the wattage number ends up translating into loudness along with other factors in these speakers.
*The boards seem to love the older bm6a but I would like to avoid spending ~$1700+ on monitors.
- Focal Solo6 (sorta out of the question based on price):
Pros:
*My friend just got them and he LOVES them
*Everyone on the board here loves them
Cons:
*They are just too much for me
*I am not a pro mixer/masterer or training to become one, so I feel like they are a bit overkill for my needs.
I dont know too much about Adams at this point, but I will research more if people suggest I do so.
There you have it. Any suggestions?
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6th July 2008
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#2 | | Gear maniac
Joined: Feb 2008 Location: War-Town, Ma
Posts: 257
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I would suggest taking a look at the Events ASP8's... They are very flat and true.... Giving that your room is some what treated, What you hear is what you get..... And you defenitley would not need a sub with these puppies ( or should I say big dogs ).... The low end is very tight and great for bass heavy genre's.... not to mention the Sweet spot is very wide, making it a pleasure to mix with, without having to keep still in the Sweet spot.....
Check em out....... Event Studio Precision 8 Powered Monitors and more Monitors at GuitarCenter.com.
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6th July 2008
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#3 | | Gear maniac
Joined: Feb 2008 Location: War-Town, Ma
Posts: 257
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Sorry about that.... As I re read your post I seen you mentioned your styles so I edited my original post....
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6th July 2008
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#4 | | Gear interested
Joined: Jul 2008 Location: NYC
Posts: 2
Thread Starter |
Oh yea. I have heard some great things about these events. A friend of mine is a hiphop producer and swears by them. Great price also.
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7th July 2008
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#5 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Oct 2003 Location: San Antonio Texas
Posts: 1,881
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There are lots of guys doing fine mixes on all the monitors you have listed. You gotta find whatever blows your skirt up and get 'em. Be aware of the "trend" on this forum and many others to have a particular piece of gear be the new whipping post, i.e. Mackie monitors. Used to be that Genelecs were the cats pj's, then those fell out of favor with a lot of folks. Next year, this years hot (insert name here) will be the worst piece of crap ever made. It is the nature of many forums.
I would treat your monitor quest as if you were shopping for a tool. Find the 'hammer' that feels best to you and go for it. While I get gear lust and envy, all this stuff is just a bunch of tools to help do the job.
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7th July 2008
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#6 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Jan 2008 Location: Houston, Texas
Posts: 2,562
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I think at some point, some one will point out the best thing to do is get as much as you can afford and them whatever it is you end up with, learn them. In the end, if you know your monitors, you can mix on anything.
Of the ones you mentioned, I have seen the Adams and Dynaudios talked about as being in a class above the Mackies and all the other lowend offerings at 1K or below and poeple being split between the two.
The focals seem to be seen as a step above those two.
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7th July 2008
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#7 | | Gear nut
Joined: Jul 2008 Location: Fort Wayne, IN/ NYC
Posts: 144
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$1,700 is really not a bad budget. I would just keep on listening to various types and make a decision based on your comfort . I would check out the Adam Audio A 7's.
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T.J.
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8th July 2008
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#8 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Dec 2006 Location: Nashville
Posts: 1,302
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Adam A7's. Agreed all the way. They will be the most accurate out of all of those if you are going to want to mix. And you can save the extra $700 for something else.
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8th July 2008
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#9 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Apr 2006 Location: australia
Posts: 1,008
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i preferred the sound of the Dynaudio BM6a's to the Adam A7's. there was definitely more power in the bass region. though the adams may have had a crisper top end, the Dynaudios sounded alot nicer to me...as a composer that was important for me too. i think there is enough bass in the BM6a's for electronic music and they are right on your budget at $1699 thumbsup
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8th July 2008
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#10 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Aug 2006 Location: Western MA, USA
Posts: 3,435
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I know you want active but consider this:
Something you could use in your monitor chain that might help get you to that place in between production and re-production listening is to power your (passive) monitors with an old console amp like a Marantz or McIntosh.
I saw a ProAc clone kit for about 600 bucks, that and an old Marantz 2252 (reconditioned, of course) and some kimber kable and you have a VERY nice and friendly monitoring setup.
__________________ Little Studio
"Run to the hills, run for your lives."
-Iron Maiden
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8th July 2008
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#11 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 1,610
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If you want vibey monitors to create dance music on listen to a pair of genelec 1031s. They have that sound that will help you will the creation part. Of course they will do for mixing it too as they are much loved monitors with a lot of gold/platinum hits.
Here I have JBL 4311s for tracking and event 20/20s for mixing. Don't get PA speakers for tracking the horns will twat out your ears in a hurry.
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10th July 2008
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#12 | | Gear nut
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 114
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+1 for the ASP8s. i compose and mix hip hop (although I have to say I'm pretty novice in the mixing area) and I find the ASP8s not only very "accurate" (when I say accurate I mean the low, mid, and high levels are at a ratio that I feel is honest when listening to hip hop and other songs that are somewhat bass heavy. also the bass is very tight, and the highs are very clear which I noticed right away when listening to hi-hats) but they are also a pleasure to listen to (I produce music for hours on these and my ears are still fresh to go on and mix).  | |
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10th July 2008
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#13 | | Gear Head
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 55
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the yamaha HS80m's are nice and flat (w nice clean bass punch)
700 for a pair..
the rest can go towards a sweet ass chair..
a good chair is priceless
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10th July 2008
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#14 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Aug 2006 Location: No longer participating here.
Posts: 6,705
| Quote:
Originally Posted by sluttiedude the yamaha HS80m's are nice and flat (w nice clean bass punch)
700 for a pair..
the rest can go towards a sweet ass chair..
a good chair is priceless | Good advice, though they aren't flat, they are nice. As is a superior ass harness. | |
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10th July 2008
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#15 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Jun 2006 Location: Savannah, GA
Posts: 4,339
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I have a pair of JBL LSR4328's here and love 'em. Just turn the silly "room correction" feature off.
Frank
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Frank
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10th July 2008
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#16 | | Gear nut
Joined: Oct 2006 Location: Jakarta
Posts: 118
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Hi, just got a pair QUAD (studio) L12 Active  , give it a try if You search for monitor in $1700 range (actually way below $1700 street price.....  )
Regards
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11th July 2008
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#17 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Dec 2004 Location: Hotlanta
Posts: 2,120
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Jbl lsr4328
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11th July 2008
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#18 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 941
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I will second (excuse me, third) the JBL LSR4328s. As good as it gets.
For me I had the tiniest bump at 140 that the Room Correction Mode took care of very nicely. The room was treated acoustically to begin with but it did the trick taking out that tiny bump that remained.
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