Is your mixing space acoustically treated?

I am very satisfied with the acoustics my mixing space. The KRK monitors sound more like speakers designed for "consumer listening" than professional quality mixing. As a separate note, one of the two monitors stopped working while under warranty and the service experience was terrible ... another reason I am sorry I purchased these.

Well, the Rokit range is the entry-level product. The Rokit 8s in particular do not work well in a small room. KRKs start to get serious with the "VXT" series.

Every monitors have optimal setups where they perform well. Some are better on stands or hard surface, in small or large rooms. Some ask for a distance behind them to develop some frequencies accuratly. I don't own the KRK and they don't say much about that in the manual.
Of course at 249$ (sweetwater special) http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Rokit8G3 they are kind of apealing if you have a small budget.

If you can have at least 1 meter behind the monitors and return the krk, I'm enjoying the Yamaha HS8 for about 8 months and they were a nice upgrade from my former YSM1 I had. More detailed and accurate. But you see I don't have the 1 meter, so that's why I'm using them with a sub.
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/HS8 at 349, they are not far from the KRK and I find them detailed and true enough for my small studio.
But they are still entry level... if you can stretch the budget, I'd look for some Genelec, sonodyne or Dynaudio, they have budget monitors and hi-end ones.
Or if you are lucky with the lotery, go with Focal's ;)

Of course the style of music and a plan of your room would help us to evaluate which would be the best choices.

BTW, I'm not related in any way to sweetwater, I just used them as price reference...

Andy Parzit, post: 425056, member: 48874 wrote: I have been using pro audio gear for over 25 years. I made a big mistake. Based on in store listening and recommendations, I bought KRK Rokit 8 monitors. Based on daily use, I believe that these are very poor for mixing audio (range / poor sound quality). I should have done more homework There are many, many great options out there in the same price range.

these kinds of monitors are intended to be used in small rooms so they can be a bit shy in the lows. nothing below 50 Hz. as has already been pointed out, most offerings @ this price point are rear ported which limits use in small rooms where they need to be up against a boundary. personally, i like KRK's. i have a pair of the 6" ones. love them.

DonnyThompson, post: 425080, member: 46114 wrote: Is your mixing space acoustically treated?

Andy Parzit, post: 425081, member: 48874 wrote: I am very satisfied with the acoustics my mixing space. The KRK monitors sound more like speakers designed for "consumer listening" than professional quality mixing. As a separate note, one of the two monitors stopped working while under warranty and the service experience was terrible ... another reason I am sorry I purchased these.

you still don't say if you have a well treated space ...... :rolleyes: i'm guessing not. it's difficult at best to take any ones word on something so subjective with out all the information.

studio monitors aren't supposed to "sound good". they are supposed to make you mix recordings that sound good. you can't do that on monitors that flatter. sometimes the truth is ugly.

Perhaps we should ask what his previous monitors were....?
I've owned KRKs before, they weren't Genelecs, but they translated pretty well for what I needed them for...

I thought they were forward in the mid range, and a little overblown in the highs, but not the worst ever, and in the price range or any, it's whatever you like. I could see if you mixed on ns 10s a lot were these would sit nice. Is this at all true Kurt Foster in your experience? I know personally me putting I didn't hear what my 8" speakers could do until they were in a room almost twice the other bedroom sized one. I shoulda listened to the sales person and got the 6's, for that purpose.

yeah i got real used to the ns10's. good observation.

@Chris Kurt Foster Boswell kmetal pcrecord moonbaby @Andy Parzit

I went back and forth trying to decide on speaker sizes when I was setting up my mixing space here at home. I already had several different pairs with both 5 and 6 inch speakers, and I thought very seriously about getting into a pair with 8" speakers, but in the end, I thought it would probably be overkill for the room that I was in. I am moving my mixing space to a larger room in the house this spring, so I haven't yet ruled out a powered sub at some point, just to check mixes with - I don't think I'll ever actually mix with the sub active, though... but as an occasional reference, it might prove useful in the room to which I am relocating.

I've never had much luck with KRK's... but, I do know a few guys - whom I respect - that use and like them. I couldn't tell you the model numbers of the ones they use, though.
(I think Pensado uses them, no? NS10's too, I think...Or, do you think they're just there for show when he does vids, because he's endorsed by them... and maybe he's really using Focals, Adams or Genelecs?)

While I've certainly not had the opportunities to mix on every KRK model available, the times I have mixed on them, I always found KRK's to be too hot in the mids, with both the 5" and the 6" models - but that's just my own perception on them. **

The models I have used in the past sounded similar to NS10's... not exact, but they had the same type of mid-forward thing going on as NS10's do.

**I should interject here that in the past 6 months or so, I've been hearing everything as mid hot - even with commercial releases, in all types of playback systems. I've actually been working with Bos and Chris trying to come up with a way to compensate my master monitor EQ, to help me mix without feeling like I have to cut mids out all the time... -d.

Although, I do recall mixing on one particular pair of KRK's that sounded kinda "phasey" to me, similar to how I thought older Tannoys sounded, back when they were using the coaxial setup (the ones with the tweeter in the center of the speaker) ...
(I never really could get used to those).

The odd thing was, the model of KRK's that I heard that same kind of phasiness on weren't coaxial... I have no explanation on that, I wish I could remember the model number of those...

My main go-to's these days are Alesis Monitor One's (passives), Yamaha NS10's, and an ancient pair of Auratone 5C's (passives)... all powered by a Hafler Trans-Nova and an ancient Crown 2020.

I don't currently have any active near fields - I'm certainly not against actives, I just don't have any.

FWIW :)

d.

I currently own a pair of Yamaha H8s. I can't say they are the best because I haven't tried more expensive ones,
But I know they have step up my mixes greatly compare to the Ysm1 I had before.
The HS8 need space behind them to build bass (which I don't have) so having their sub the HS8S is a must at least for me because I like to hear a lot of bass and so I can calibrate the monitoring system to make the sound just the way it needs so I'm not tempted to put too much bass in my mixes. Now I don't own the HS8S yet but I will soon. I use a cheap sub for now and know that I need one to get the job done.

For me good monitors don't sound good, they just make you mix right. If you hear every thing with too much mids, learn how to reconcile yourself with it by doing a lot of A/B with your mix VS commercial songs that you trust are sonicly solid. On last resort, reseach for monitors that are known for being a bit weak on mids.
But I'd rather just get used to it and relearn how music is suppose to sound. ;)

Hey, I know this sounds like a sales pitch but I have a pair of Dynaudio BM6A here (mosfets!), new, that I don't use because they are too shy in the mids. I always add too much mid with them!
Good suggestion from Marco!
I bet those would be perfect for you, Donny. If you are ever in the market for another pair and had a chance to demo those, I'll sell these at cost. They are beautiful and definitely a step in the right direction. I have a sub but don't recommend them unless you are using a good monitor control system that deals with subs like the Dangerous Monitor ST.

I love Dynaudio's.

I have mixed through several different models, loved them each and every time. IMO they are one of the best - if not the best - NF's out there... and not "just for the money" either. I'm saying, they are great - period.

Genelec's got nothing on Dynaudio. Having mixed on many different models from each company, I don't think that Genelec monitors are anywhere near as nice.

IMHO of course.

Sorry Chris, wish I had the dough...

I think I'd like the dynaduios low end. They've sounded good on demos. But after hearing the detail of the Meyers it's now the bar for minimum requirement of clarity in whatever new monitors I get in 5 years. I think a tastefully used sub is a viable option. I think it gets a bad wrap because people mixing hip hop and dance, just having them loud like in a club, not to reinforce in effiencies in speakers.

I've brefly owned the hsm 8s, and brought them back. My bossy has a 5.1 set of them and used them steroe for a while. He likes them better than his questeds. The hsm sub is nice. It's now like loud like an entertainment hyped way. I used it w the Myers to mix so hip hop stuff to get a better feel of the bottom octave. i set it by ear to some familiar tunes, mixed with it and shut it off once in a while. I was happy with it, so was the client, was otherwise missing the bottom end. Which if your unfamiliar with a studios speakers ect I can understand.

I'm becoming obsessed with large main style speakers. Like a nice floor standing thing. I'm start to move my imaginary mix room into a very open eviornemt. Equipment somewhere else. Just a wide open sound field.

I feel this way, because obviosly jm excited to work on the "new to me "setup at the big studio. But more importantly, the difference of hearing the same speakers two ways.

Wide open, no desk. No racks. Speakers, chair. iPod staright to hafler. Then, fully equipped, and the difference was not subtle. Gradually as more stuff moved in, the dauntingly large life like sound, diminished. "I'm melttttiinnnnnggggggg."

The big knob being the largest stealer of mojo, along with the consoles physical footprint. im starting to think that a mix room should be as accurate as a mastering room. The cr doesn't nessarily have to have windows or house tons of hot mechanical gear. I think something along the lines of a mastering / post type room, makes more sense, than a typical traditional control room. If, I was limited to just one type of listening room, which im questioning is even a limitation. Just throwing thoughts around.

Back in the bad old days, there were some studios where the only things in the control room were the console, PB and the monitors. Power supplies, power amps, tape machines - and sometimes even OB racks - were often located in separate rooms.

I recall asking an old veteran engineer about this once, many years ago when I was first interning, as to why they did it this way, because it seemed like such a royal pain in the arse to have to get up and go into another room to change processing settings, spool tape, etc.

His response was simple: "Heat".

All that old analog gear did give off some serious heat, from the console to tube limiters, to power supplies and power amps... plus, it could clutter the hell out of a control room, depending on the size of the room.

At this moment, in the space that I am in, I feel so cramped with everything around me. I'm moving my location to a large room in my house in the spring - much larger - and I'm really looking forward to it, for many reason, but if for no other reason than me being able to turn in any direction without bumping into something. LOL... but, I think it effects creativity, too.

It's tough to get that spark to turn into a flame when you're hemmed-in tight.

:)