11 replies to this topic

[djdiggla]

I been thinking of using my Pioneer entertainment system as my monitor because it has a sub. Is that dumb?

[Jimmy]

photo?

sounds fine to me tho

[doppelkorn]

let me get in here before some of the more cleverer...what's that word...men? not quite men but...operatives.

Stereo speakers are designed to sound "nice" while studio monitors are designed to sound accurate and flat so I think the general consensus would be no.

[Jimmy]

bellend.

it depends on the use, when you say monitor do you mean to monitor your djing? or monitoring like production.
if its for djing, i say do it cos it makes things more pleasant, but yeh if its for producing probly best not, unless you can just steal the sub from it.

i got the impression you were talking about djing.

[djdiggla]

photo?

sounds fine to me tho

Mostly for production. I just feel like I can never hear the bass good on my monitors and then it's always way different when I take my stuff to somebody's' house or play it in a club. I can set the EQ as flat and turn any audio boost off. So I thought maybe do that and it would work ok? It's a surround sound setup, but you can set it to just be stereo (which is how it's set now anyways).

This is it:
http://www.amazon.co...m/dp/B000H683YC

[Symatic]

i would recommend using proper monitors rather than that system, dirk

like dopp said, those will make it sound a certain way, where monitors are there for you to analyse the sound.

but you should always play your stuff on other systems like that so you get an idea of what it will sound like on the average home setup.

ideally you'd have a pair of monitors you can get familiar with, then compare them to club systems so you know what to look out for. eventually you will get to know your monitors well enough to predict how your tunes will sound on big systems.

[djdiggla]

Good advice, guys. Thanks. Symatic, do you think I should get a sub too or just stick with the monitors. I've heard people say they don't like using a sub for recording because then you expect more bass than most stereos will deliver.

[Symatic]

yeah in alot of nice studios you'll see a pair of nice near-field monitors (smallish speakers with 5-7 inch cones) for general music making, and a set of shitty monitors like yamaha ns-10's.

people like to have a shitty set so you get an honest critical version of what youre making.

as far as subs, yeah its a nightmare getting subs to sound right from a production point of view. theyre generally unrealistic, but i know plenty of people producing with them. thing is if you get used to making phat basslines on it, when you listen back to your tune on normal speakers you wont hear all the bass.
its like making a tune on decent monitors, then wondering where the bass went when you listen back on your laptop speakers.

also ROOM TREATMENT is probably worth doing before getting a sub, or even as part of the process of getting a sub.

[djdiggla]

What exactly is involved in treating a room. Obviously its not just slapping up foam and egg crates.... I got tile floors so I'm probably fucked anyways...

[Symatic]

acoustic foam and bass traps for starters i would think. moving as quickly as bank accounts will allow towards getting special layers built into your walls and making it all assymettrical. wait.... you did say you had a few hundred grand lying around didnt you?

[djdiggla]

lol. I did have a sweet tax refund but all went to debts!

I ended up moving my monitors to a good position. They had been setup to monitor at my desktop but a switched to my laptop a year ago and never thought to move the speakers. Slowly changing my whole studio. Looking good.

[ericuk]

some people might say you can use almost any speakers effectively if you know them well enough and how they translate on other systems.

Generally speaking though, you might be better to invest in some studio monitors. My Mackies sound kinda phat without a sub. I guess it's just what you're used to.

:-)