Suggestions for Good Studio Monitors.

i have alesis m1 active mk2s. i like them . tannoy reveals pretty good too but i reckon my m1s are flatter and slightly more accurate. the reveals don’t quite have the clarity in the bottom end and the top end is just slightly too shiny to be ‘real’

housefly88 wrote:

NS-10 are shit speakers that is why they are so frequently used. They are not accurate at all, which works out good because 98% of the speakers your tunes will be played on are not accurate (ie Car speakers,home stereo speakers,most club PA) that is the reason the NS-10 became so popular. If you can make it sound good on NS-10 then it will probally sound good anywhere. I dont believe they even make NS-10’s anymore. something about the woofers (the white ones)are made from some extinct rainforest tree.

Disagree with this comment completely. There is an ongoing discussion between the two different ‘believers’ in monitoring techinques, obviously the first group being the above, that you should use the worst monitors so you know your song sounds good anywhere. The second is the group I am in.

Let me explain, firstly poor monitors and monitoring conditions (poor acoustics, etc) mean that your mix completely misses out certain frequencies, and you tend to boost, cut, or even not hear the mistake/note in the mix. On a good monitoring system you can hear everything, and you also get used to how your mixes sound on your monitors and then in different situations, i.e. clubs, car stereos, etc.

I use a set of Mackie HR824 Nearfield monitors, which although pricey, about £1100 for the pair), are worth their weight in gold. I can hear everything going on, and also have become very accustomed to their sound, making it easy for me to be confident that my mix will sound good in any place.

The first thing you should spend your money on is your monitoring. Get the best speakers you can afford (most expensive doesn’t mean the best though) and make sure the room is correctly insulated, i.e. early reflections absorbers behind the speakers and on the ceiling above the listener, plus to the left and right wall, bass traps in the corners of the room, and diffusers on the back wall to spread the sound.

Hope this helps…