Home Studio Setup HELP?

[vault]

people seem to really sleep on the event 20/20s for midprice monitors. take a look and listen if you can, I fucking love mine.

Just checked it out, frequency range from 35hz to 20khz, that's pretty awesome, seems like a great competition for the yamaha 80's.

IIRC there a 7" speaker. Not sure if that makes a difference to you or not. But i used a pair of my buddys before and they took up a SHIT ton of space on my desk. Also bassy as hell. Which might not be a bad thing.

Well the low end is good for mixing the subbasss and kick correctly, I don't think the space would be a problem, I'll get stands anyways haha

[Icetickle]

About the headphones. Are bayerdynamic a must for production?
Because now I feel bad for using these cheap "studio headphones" Presonus HD7.. Those can't be used for production?
I really liked them but I never got a chance to hear some of the higher end headphones because you couldn't really find a good pair here in Serbia (Paypal came recently).

[vault]

About the headphones. Are bayerdynamic a must for production?
Because now I feel bad for using these cheap "studio headphones" Presonus HD7.. Those can't be used for production?
I really liked them but I never got a chance to hear some of the higher end headphones because you couldn't really find a good pair here in Serbia (Paypal came recently).

Nah man, I just like them because it's a personal preference haha. There are lots of other good headphones out there.


About the monitors: What's the difference between HS80M and H8? Seems like h8 has a freq ranging from 38 to 20khz, pretty good, and I really like the reviews. Seems like you won't really need a separate subbass , unlike H7/H5

[Vanity]

Don't get KRK Rokits man, they colour the sound way too much! Everyone always falls into the trap off buying them because they sound 'nice" and they're cheap, you don't want studio monitors to sound nice, you want them to sound true. Remember you're monitors are your window into sound, chose carefully. There's know 'best' monitor out there to buy, its all down to personal preference. For bass music however the Adam/Mackies are too off the best out there in my opinion. Look at the Adam F series, there a lot cheaper than the AX series.

I've just gotten a pair off Mackies and i'm really pleased with them! Make sure you get your room acoustic treated as well though mate, the best pair of monitors will cause you to make bad mixing decisions if the room isn't tamed acoustically. It's not a big expense either, i just got a pack off the Universal Acoustic tiles for £100.

For headphones i would say either AKG or Beyerdynamic. The interface depends on what you want one for, if its just for connecting monitors and headphones too the one you suggested would be fine. If you want to use outboard gear, i.e, need more input and outputs, go for either a Focusrite Saffire 40, or the Motu 8Pre.

Also eBay is fine mate, getting second hand gear off there is a good idea if its in good condition, will save you some money which can be spent on more equipment!

Hope that helps mate!

[vault]

I'll leave the Acoustic treatment for later, first I need to hook me up with some gear then later when I'm stopping from moving, I'll definetly get some acoustic treatment.

Beyerdynamic DT770 pro 80 ohms looked nice, but are AKG better? Or it doesn't really matter? Haha.

And nah, I'm definetly getting either Yamaha HS8 or HS80M, can't decide at the moment!

[Vanity]

Why? The Yamaha don't sound that great, we've got a pair at my uni. If you're going to ignore everyones advice why bothered posting on the forum? Don't buy cheap monitors, you get what you pay for.

[vault]

Why? The Yamaha don't sound that great, we've got a pair at my uni. If you're going to ignore everyones advice why bothered posting on the forum? Don't buy cheap monitors, you get what you pay for.

I didn't ignore any advice man, I took the advices like buying from ebay, seems like people were diggin the yamaha's, can't really trust the events 20/20 since I didn't really hear of them... I checked your comment out but I really can't afford Adam A7X, do you think you can link me your Mackies?

Yamaha's aren't that cheap, there's a budget I have and mentioned above, that's why I can't afford Adams or Mackies :-/ (Plus there's lots of people who like and recommend Yamahas, that's why I thought I should be considering buying those.)

Plus the whole topic isn't just about monitors haha. It's about the whole setup

[fragments]

I don't think the Yamahas are terrible for that price range--if I didn't make that clear, that's my opinion. I'm not sure how much Equator Audio D5s monitors would end up costing you in Romania, that's what I would recommend otherwise.

Do check eBay though for the Adams, never know what kind of fantastic deals you can find. I ended up letting some really nice gear go for pretty cheap recently and I've picked up plenty of absolute bargains.

[vault]

EDIT: They were a pair, so basically they both cost as much as one Adam A7X

[fragments]

Equator D5 costs as much as an Adam A7X seems like. The thing with ebay is that I've seen that the shipping can cost up to 80 euros, like what the hell?

Wow. That's a lot more than they would cost in the states! The D5s are 399 a pair here. But I know they charge more to get them in other countries. You are seeing they cost 1,400 a pair for you in Romania??? That's what the A7Xs cost new here.

Monitors are heavy man! 80 euros doesn't seem totally unreasonable depending on where they shipped from. I just mailed a 24 channel mixer a few states away and the United States Post Office wanted 95 USD to ship it (went with another service for cheaper).

[vault]

Equator D5 costs as much as an Adam A7X seems like. The thing with ebay is that I've seen that the shipping can cost up to 80 euros, like what the hell?

Wow. That's a lot more than they would cost in the states! The D5s are 399 a pair here. But I know they charge more to get them in other countries. You are seeing they cost 1,400 a pair for you in Romania??? That's what the A7Xs cost new here.

Monitors are heavy man! 80 euros doesn't seem totally unreasonable depending on where they shipped from. I just mailed a 24 channel mixer a few states away and the United States Post Office wanted 95 USD to ship it (went with another service for cheaper).

Well http://www.thomann.de/ro/equator_d5.htm, I'm not sure if it's a pair or just one, but still... $653
EDIT: I think they're a pair, 'cause I checked ebay, and found them for $600 + free shipping

[Genevieve]

Equator D5 costs as much as an Adam A7X seems like. The thing with ebay is that I've seen that the shipping can cost up to 80 euros, like what the hell?

Wow. That's a lot more than they would cost in the states! The D5s are 399 a pair here. But I know they charge more to get them in other countries. You are seeing they cost 1,400 a pair for you in Romania??? That's what the A7Xs cost new here.

Monitors are heavy man! 80 euros doesn't seem totally unreasonable depending on where they shipped from. I just mailed a 24 channel mixer a few states away and the United States Post Office wanted 95 USD to ship it (went with another service for cheaper).

Well http://www.thomann.de/ro/equator_d5.htm, I'm not sure if it's a pair or just one, but still... $653
EDIT: I think they're a pair, 'cause I checked ebay, and found them for $600 + free shipping

Yep, and Adams are about that price A PIECE :p

[vault]

I've heard of equator d5 as a good pair of monitors to be honest, including them into the list... so far Equator D5, Yamaha HS8, and HS80M, also waiting for Vanity's Mackies, haha. Didn't thought it'll be this hard to decide!

[fragments]

Well, if you are considering the D5s then I'd say forget the Yamahas. The only issue with the D5s might be the low end response, they don't go down as far as the Yamahas. I don't find this problematic personally--I love the D5s, I won't sell them even if I upgrade.

I think you'll be thankful later, I didn't do nearly enough thinking/research when I bought my first pair of monitors.

[vault]

Well, if you are considering the D5s then I'd say forget the Yamahas. The only issue with the D5s might be the low end response, they don't go down as far as the Yamahas. I don't find this problematic personally--I love the D5s, I won't sell them even if I upgrade.

I think you'll be thankful later, I didn't do nearly enough thinking/research when I bought my first pair of monitors.

Wouldn't that be an issue for mixing the subbass/kick/eq-ing it or so on which you might not have to deal with on the yamahas?

I really like the D5 too, and I'm looking for something that I won't really have to upgrade until the very future (or I just might get a sub with it, and done, haha)

[fragments]

I don't have any sub/bass/kick mixing issues on the D5s that I didn't have on bigger monitors with more low end response. But yea, the D5s are only rated down to 56hz or something like that. If I can ever convince my girl friend to let me hang treatment in our guest room (my studio), I'll make the decision on a sub then.

I just check my mixes on systems with more low end, then adjust in the studio. The accuracy of the mids, the stereo image and the clear non-fatiguing highs coupled with the over-all unforgiving clarity of the D5s are all worth more to me than monitors that go down to 40hz, especially in an untreated room.

Not to mention we have so many visual aids for mixing these days.

Disclaimer: Nothing will ever replace a well treated room with the best monitors you can afford--but I'm just a hobby musician with no huge aspirations of fame, fortune or recognition so I'm happy to work imperfect conditions. I just take the limitations of my gear into account and compensate as best I can.

[SunkLo]

I just check my mixes on systems with more low end, then adjust in the studio. The accuracy of the mids, the stereo image and the clear non-fatiguing highs coupled with the over-all unforgiving clarity of the D5s are all worth more to me than monitors that go down to 40hz, especially in an untreated room.

Not to mention we have so many visual aids for mixing these days.

Yep. 25-50 hz is only an octave anyway. It's pretty easy to get the low end right after referencing on a couple other systems and checking your spectrum analyzer. Don't even bother with that lowest bass range unless your room is treated really well. In a bare room you're better off with monitors that have a sub roll off. In my opinion it's better to know there's a gentle bass slope and account for it, than to have a bunch of bass resonance contributing to the room's decay and muddying up your monitoring environment.

[Genevieve]

People will shit on this little rule of thumb I have. But generally, if you can hear your entire kick drum on your monitors, but can't hear your sub, they at least sit well together in the mix >.>

[SunkLo]

Makes sense, that means they're both sitting in their own range.

[Genevieve]

Yeah. It's not all you need to know when mizing a sub, because it doesn't monitor the overal volume of it, but it makes for good separation.

Tbh. Mixing sub is the easiest thing in the world and I never understood the deal people make about it. Hi-pass everything, boom. The kick may take some fiddling, but just find yourself a punchy/snappy low-end kick and tune it above the sub and just layer the high end of another kick on it.

Enough derailing, though.