When to ugprade equipment?

[Quintin]

I know having differnt microphone is always good, but what about monitors? I have M-Ausiod BX5's that seem preety good, but they were the most affordable at the time. Why should you get new monitors. Also what do you think about studio headphones? Do differnt ones get you differnt results. I guess its just those two thing I was wondering about

[MonoStone]

I have the BX5's too. They're pretty good.... but lately I'm using headphones more because.... my room isn't treated so I think the headphones work better. The monitors are my 2nd check rather than the other way round.

 

If you have a treated studio then go for it and get the best monitors you can.... but if like me you're just in an untreated room then I reckon it's a waste of money.

 

Btw I'm using Samson SR850 headphones for mixing (after a tip from Hobosage a while back). They're super cheap and extremely good.... I ditched my AKGs. I guess there are probably better headphones if you spend a fortune but these are way better than their price and better than AKGs that are 3 or 4 times the price.

 

The one reason I might get more monitors is that the bass isn't great on the BX5's and it would be fun (and useful to some) to listen louder on bigger monitors with better bass too sometimes. But I think that would mean bigger as I say, and that's just too much to spend for my needs.

 

 

 

 

[Richard Tracey]

I agree with both Dek and David. The BX5’s will do you for a while unless you want to treat your room. I have them and they are pretty decent for the price bracket. I use Senheisser headphones most of the time and check back on the monitors to make sure the levels seem correct as using headphones alone can give a different feel for the panning/volume levels etc.

[Quintin]

My room is Treated but not professionally so I dont know if that would count. The M-audios seem sturdy and I have had very little problems with them. I guess I all depends what your mixing for, but i feel something finished would sound good on anything know problems and I'm far from that point (I'm wondering if netter monitors will have a part in that). I also read that the good monitors should not enchance the sound, but give you a true feel of how things accually sound. I have a pair of Sennheusers HD 280 pros's. The sound ok to me.

[TCgypsy]

The AKG K-92 headphones work good for tracking (almost no bleed) and are only $50. But, yeah, you will need semi- or open- for mixing. A word of warning though, you can't EQ very well through headphones although I prefer them for other things like pan. It's best to use both.

 

The quickest 2 ways to improve your monitor performance is to treat your room, and add a sub. Taking those lows out of the smaller cones makes a world of difference. My room is not professionally treated either, and it's not worth getting a pro job done if you are in a small room like most of us are. Don't just treat the walls, put carpet down and put some treatment on the ceiling between you and the monitors to catch that reflection off the top. 

 

Keep in mind that the 'pro' suggestions for treating your room warn you not to make it too 'dry' - this is bullshit because in a good studio they want the room itself to have a good sound. For small project closets...errr studios..., we want to take the room out of the equation more than harness magical properties of a room. If you have a big room you might be recording bands in, it's a totally different story.

 

In any case, some food for thought.

 

--TC