Floor Monitors / Studio Sound System: Help!?!?!

[itsOtto]

Hello,

I am looking for some advice!

Here is a link to all the equipment I have: http://ourforums.royalfamilia.com/vi...bd2b4bec918cac

I am in the process of trying to get some subwoofers and floor monitors. I currently am building a soundproof studio but I also plan to do some live shows in a medium size venue. Is there any recommendations of some subs or floor monitors that I should get?

Thanks!

[4mal]

Originally Posted by itsOtto

Hello,

I am looking for some advice!

Here is a link to all the equipment I have: http://ourforums.royalfamilia.com/vi...bd2b4bec918cac

I am in the process of trying to get some subwoofers and floor monitors. I currently am building a soundproof studio but I also plan to do some live shows in a medium size venue. Is there any recommendations of some subs or floor monitors that I should get?

Thanks!

Try Bernie at www.bltsound.com for floor monitors. I have a set coming from him that have p.audio neo drivers. They are plywood boxes and use truck bed liner coating. They should be pretty strong and should be here late next week. Just over $400 landed for the pair. Note: those monitors aren;t on hsis website yet. They are brand new. You actually have to call him. He's in Atlanta and is a real sweet guy.

IMO floor monitor's have no place in a studio setting. I'm a firm believer in tracking through phones. In my case Sennheiser HD-280's. I use a presonus HP4 to drive them. For mix down, I'm using the phones first, then a set of Hafler's on top of a paradigm sub. It's not an optimal setup but then again it was a 500 solution and optimal is 4000 to 5000 ...

IMO the mix down monitors don't really matter as much as how familiar you are with them. I listed to a lot of program material with them, then listened to the same stuff in my car, on the home stereo, on a boom box and slowly gained an understanding of how the hafler/pradigm setup's sound translates to other systems.

Having said that, like George Thorogood - I work alone ... for the most part there are only a few folks that I work with. If I were renting myself as a facility I would go for the ns-10's and genelec setup as that is what folks are either familiar with (or impressed by which is sometimes good enough...)

I try to avaiod monitoring systems that sound impressive and go for the stuff that sounds natural. I'm working in Roots Rock - not hip hop so I guess htat makes sense. There are a boatload of approaches. What is most important is that you gain an understanding of how your equipemnt, in your environment relates to the outside world. Then and only then, can you adjust your mixes for those other environments. It's funny - I know thatmy setup is bass shy, so I always mix bass light - and the first mix is always way bass heavy.

It's definately a learning process. I will say that it has gotten faster now that I've migrated to doing the initial mix through the phones. I fought that for a long time...

[Ben Harmless]

Originally Posted by 4mal

I try to avaiod monitoring systems that sound impressive and go for the stuff that sounds natural. I'm working in Roots Rock - not hip hop so I guess htat makes sense. There are a boatload of approaches. What is most important is that you gain an understanding of how your equipemnt, in your environment relates to the outside world. Then and only then, can you adjust your mixes for those other environments. It's funny - I know thatmy setup is bass shy, so I always mix bass light - and the first mix is always way bass heavy.

+1 on that stuff.

Honestly, I'd keep floor wedges and subs out of my studio completely if I were you. Especially subs that are designed for live work, as you'll almost never be able to balance them with your existing monitors for accurate monitoring.

I prefer mixing in stereo - no sub. No matter the genre, the vast majority of listening still takes place in stereo. MP3 players, boomboxes, most cars, etc don't have subs. Make it sound good with two speakers, and it'll sound good with subs too - so long as idiots aren't abusing them. Most of the time, subs in a control room just give you an inaccurate representation of your mix.

So, with wedges and subs IMHO out of the equation in the studio, we might be able to point you in a direction for the live gear, but I'm not really sure what "medium sized venue" means. There's a lot of room between 50 and 50,000. A rough budget might be a good idea too.

EDIT: After looking at your site, I have to add that yes, what I've said above applies even to dance music. Subs are great for adding energy in clubs, but in the studio, unless you are very specific in their use and setup, they'll never let you hear what's really going on down in that range. Remember, control room monitors are for analysis of sound. After that, reference the mix on whatever crazy system you can find.

[Telakaster]

Quincy Jones used to mix through a 9 inch oval car radio speaker because most people listened to the radio in their cars. He considered the target audience. Mixing through headphones is probably not a bad idea considering today's listening habits.

[lowdown1]

The best way I have found to mix....is thru a pair of true near field monitors. Even headphones tend to color the sound. If your budget will stand it, buy the best nearfields you can afford. They won't color the sound, and rest assured, when you get it to sound good on the nearfields, it will sound good on anything else. Or you can spend time mixing on whatever, just to take it outside to listen on the Alpine in the car, and find out it sounds like junk.
oh! btw...subs and floor monitors IMHO in a studio, are as usless as a screen door in a submarine...if used they will cause you more problems than you want.

[woodman]

+1 on the best nearfields you can afford, but it's also useful to have a cheezy set of small speakers you can punch in and out to tell you when the upper midrange (especially guitar) is getting too screechy in the mix.

[lowdown1]

ya know woodman, I knew I kept those ole Realistic external speakers for something...thanks