Monitoring on Hi-Fi

[back2onett]

I know there's a few threads out there about monitors and Hi-Fis and how monitors sound true whereas Hi-Fis sound good but at the moment I'm severly down on funds and can't afford any monitors, I've got a pair of reference headphones (damn good ones at that) but I'm just wondering if you turn down all the EQ on a Hi-Fi so the sound is totally flat how accurate can you expect the sound to be?

I'm not talking mastering quality or anything just good enough so that I won't have to redo every EQ when I'm ready to whack on my headphones and get on with the mixdown.

[staticcast]

Depends on the hi-fi. Probably not very. It's about more than EQ -- nonlinearities, weird resonances and so on.

Doesn't mean to say you can't produce with a hi-fi, but I'd get a pair of decent monitors as a priority as soon as you can afford them.

I'm not talking mastering quality or anything just good enough so that I won't have to redo every EQ when I'm ready to whack on my headphones and get on with the mixdown.

Man, you've gotta do that even with monitors. You'll *definitely* have to with a hi-fi.

[Noizydan]

I'm guessing that would depend on the hi fi - amp and speakers - bass can be a bit all over the place on hifi speakers and very hard to judge for a big soundsystem. But i would say hifi speakers are better than no speakers at all. Between your headphones and your speakers you should be able to find a reasonable average to work with. All the same, its usually sensible to check your mixes on a range of speakers and headphones before settling on a mix - whatever setup you are using.

[legend4ry]

Whatever system you work on, be it £10,000 monitors or £10 headphones - if you use it long enough your ears will become adjusted to its strengths and weaknesses... So really all you gotta do is learn your set up and then apply your monitoring/mixing techniques to it.

While I would only check my mixes on hi-fis ( i am a headphone man, myself) I wouldn't moan about only having one at my desposal.

If you have the manual for your hifi it *might* have a frequency spectrum map within it and you can adjust your EQs to get it as natural as possible.

[Noizydan]

If you have the manual for your hifi it *might* have a frequency spectrum map within it and you can adjust your EQs to get it as natural as possible.

I like that answer. i tend to forget about manuals...

the aim with studio monitors is for the eq to be as flat as possible so you can hear the music 'clean' without eq. regardless of how the amp is set up bass and treble-wise, most hi fi speakers 'colour' the sound with eq to make it more comfortable to listen to. checking the frequency spectrum map will give you an indication of where best to cut or boost to hear the 'clean' sound you would hear through monitors.

[Astral]

If you get to know your gear, anything is possible. If you learn to compensate for the added colour thats being churned out it should be fine.

Just keep those headphones handy.

[legend4ry]

If you have the manual for your hifi it *might* have a frequency spectrum map within it and you can adjust your EQs to get it as natural as possible.

I like that answer. i tend to forget about manuals...

the aim with studio monitors is for the eq to be as flat as possible so you can hear the music 'clean' without eq. regardless of how the amp is set up bass and treble-wise, most hi fi speakers 'colour' the sound with eq to make it more comfortable to listen to. checking the frequency spectrum map will give you an indication of where best to cut or boost to hear the 'clean' sound you would hear through monitors.

Indeed, I dunno if this is a regular thing but I have bought 2 hi-fis in my time, one Sony and one unbranded thing from a technology convention and they both had it! They was quite high-end models though.

[back2onett]

Depends on the hi-fi. Probably not very. It's about more than EQ -- nonlinearities, weird resonances and so on.

Doesn't mean to say you can't produce with a hi-fi, but I'd get a pair of decent monitors as a priority as soon as you can afford them.

I'm not talking mastering quality or anything just good enough so that I won't have to redo every EQ when I'm ready to whack on my headphones and get on with the mixdown.

Man, you've gotta do that even with monitors. You'll *definitely* have to with a hi-fi.

so even with a good set of headphones and a good set monitors there's still goiong to be a drastic difference in sound? these are monitor headphones btw not hi-fi

I'm guessing that would depend on the hi fi - amp and speakers - bass can be a bit all over the place on hifi speakers and very hard to judge for a big soundsystem. But i would say hifi speakers are better than no speakers at all. Between your headphones and your speakers you should be able to find a reasonable average to work with. All the same, its usually sensible to check your mixes on a range of speakers and headphones before settling on a mix - whatever setup you are using.

makes sense, it's not often I get the chance to play my stuff on other systems so I was hoping to get to a point where I could just use my setup to achieve an accurate sound but that's starting to sound a little impractical now

If you have the manual for your hifi it *might* have a frequency spectrum map within it and you can adjust your EQs to get it as natural as possible.

so there's more to it than just turning the bass/treble boost down to zero? I thought keeping the EQ flat would remove most of the hi-fi colouring

[legend4ry]

Depends on the hi-fi. Probably not very. It's about more than EQ -- nonlinearities, weird resonances and so on.

Doesn't mean to say you can't produce with a hi-fi, but I'd get a pair of decent monitors as a priority as soon as you can afford them.

I'm not talking mastering quality or anything just good enough so that I won't have to redo every EQ when I'm ready to whack on my headphones and get on with the mixdown.

Man, you've gotta do that even with monitors. You'll *definitely* have to with a hi-fi.

so even with a good set of headphones and a good set monitors there's still goiong to be a drastic difference in sound? these are monitor headphones btw not hi-fi

I'm guessing that would depend on the hi fi - amp and speakers - bass can be a bit all over the place on hifi speakers and very hard to judge for a big soundsystem. But i would say hifi speakers are better than no speakers at all. Between your headphones and your speakers you should be able to find a reasonable average to work with. All the same, its usually sensible to check your mixes on a range of speakers and headphones before settling on a mix - whatever setup you are using.

makes sense, it's not often I get the chance to play my stuff on other systems so I was hoping to get to a point where I could just use my setup to achieve an accurate sound but that's starting to sound a little impractical now

If you have the manual for your hifi it *might* have a frequency spectrum map within it and you can adjust your EQs to get it as natural as possible.

so there's more to it than just turning the bass/treble boost down to zero? I thought keeping the EQ flat would remove most of the hi-fi colouring

Well, it just depends I guess, you just gotta fiddle about with it. For instance your headphones will not be flat and I very much doubt any monitors are flat - despite the huge price tag. Theres no wrong or right just what people like to use - for instance, people love the Yahama NS10s (myself including) but they're 'supposed' to be the worse monitors ever, the myth is if you make a mix sound nice and colourful on them then they'll sound amazing on whatever..

if you're THAT worried about having a flat sounding system then how will you learn to mix down and spot things what are not right? Why do we test our tunes on as many systems as possible before we release them to the public? Why do we pay a mastering engineer to master our tracks - apart from the obvious talent/experience... Mixing is all about getting a good average so no matter what its played on, it sounds amazing.

my advice is to leave the hi-fi as it is - get a good balance between the headphones and the hi-fi so it sounds amazing on both!

[Noizydan]

so there's more to it than just turning the bass/treble boost down to zero? I thought keeping the EQ flat would remove most of the hi-fi colouring

it would remove the colouring from the amp, but there's likely to be some on the speakers too. whatever you're using you need to rely on a certain amount of guesswork and past experience to judge it. always good to check a mix on a big system if you can - it rarely sounds how you are expecting it to.

[staticcast]

I'm not talking mastering quality or anything just good enough so that I won't have to redo every EQ when I'm ready to whack on my headphones and get on with the mixdown.

Man, you've gotta do that even with monitors. You'll *definitely* have to with a hi-fi.

so even with a good set of headphones and a good set monitors there's still goiong to be a drastic difference in sound? these are monitor headphones btw not hi-fi

Yup. Every set of speakers sounds different, and speakers sound drastically different to headphones. Until you learn exactly how to mix on your gear to get mixes that translate the best to other systems, I guarantee you'll be going back and forth adjusting things. You just have to do it less with decent monitors than you would with a standard hifi.

so there's more to it than just turning the bass/treble boost down to zero? I thought keeping the EQ flat would remove most of the hi-fi colouring

Yeah, the colouring comes primarily from the speakers themselves, then the amp, then the soundcard. Any EQ on top of that is extra.

Whatever system you work on, be it £10,000 monitors or £10 headphones - if you use it long enough your ears will become adjusted to its strengths and weaknesses... So really all you gotta do is learn your set up and then apply your monitoring/mixing techniques to it.

This is true to an extent, but better (=generally more expensive) monitors will reveal details that cheaper speakers will hide, and there's no getting around this. However, your speakers might be good enough for it not to really matter, and of course, good ideas are WAY more important than a good mixdown any day.

[Basic A]

I monitor on a hifi... people tell me my mixes are really clean...

Im just used to its curve. I listen to professional tunes on it all day so my ears just kinda adapted to its flaws.

Have access to krks, use em for sound design n stuff its nice to have clarity there, but, I cant mix on em, not used to em like I am my sony/behringer mashups....

[legend4ry]

I monitor on a hifi... people tell me my mixes are really clean...

Im just used to its curve. I listen to professional tunes on it all day so my ears just kinda adapted to its flaws.

Have access to krks, use em for sound design n stuff its nice to have clarity there, but, I cant mix on em, not used to em like I am my sony/behringer mashups....

Exactly me but with my cheap panasonic headphones and NS10s hahah.

[relik]

i saw/read something not too long ago that abbey road studios uses B&W 805S and B&W 800D hi-fi speakers for monitors. they certainly aren't cheap though...

[Basic A]

I monitor on a hifi... people tell me my mixes are really clean...

Im just used to its curve. I listen to professional tunes on it all day so my ears just kinda adapted to its flaws.

Have access to krks, use em for sound design n stuff its nice to have clarity there, but, I cant mix on em, not used to em like I am my sony/behringer mashups....

Exactly me but with my cheap panasonic headphones and NS10s hahah.

Me n you just work similar in general yo, audio clips, cheap monitors... ect.

i saw/read something not too long ago that abbey road studios uses B&W 805S and B&W 800D hi-fi speakers for monitors. they certainly aren't cheap though...

Yeah was readin a breakage interview where he says essentially the same thing but about old 80's cones hes had since he was into hiphop. Apparently he had it on those, because he knew thier curve, like me with my sonygers, and leg. with his panasonic!