Monitors vs. Speakers?

[Cutthoat]

So I'm building myself a studio, which I'm mad excited about, but to be honest I'm a bit of a n00b when it comes to hardware. My friend Nate (you know him as Sonika -- talented producer) told me that I gotta get myself a pair of studio monitors. When I talked to people at guitar center (they sell studio monitors as well as some decent speakers and all) they told me that monitors are good for mixing, but shouldn't be used to listen to music because the sound is too flat. That's all fine I guess, but it doesn't really make sense to me, because I feel like when you're mixing down your track you want to hear what people on speakers are gonna hear... I dunno. I'm super confused.

I guess the question here is what do I want for my studio in regards of sound? Any help would be extremely appreciated. Thank you!

[dickman69]

Some people say mix on whatever you're used to, listen with. That way differences you hear in mastered music & unmastered will sound the same

I usually mix w/ just speakers & then put the final touches & listen through a few more times w/ studio headphones (ath-m50s)

You should probably mix w/ monitors though if you have the capability

[Brothulhu]

As some speakers "enhance" what you hear, for example they might increase the bass a bit while others may reduce highs or something. Using these speakers you might think your bass is sounding really good and your top end is nice and sparkly but not too harsh but then when someone listens on different speakers that don't "enhance" the sound in the same way the bass may feel weak and the highs might be really harsh.
Flat monitors allow you to hear what your track actually sounds like without colouring it in any way so if you get it sounding good on your monitors it should sound even better on another system


Edit: As Rayman says you can just mix on what you are used to, just learn how tunes sound on your speakers and try and copy that

[skwiggo]

in my opinion I would get both monitor speakers and a pair of decent studio headphones if you can - i use both to check my mixes in more detail (not that i'm good at mixing like lol). but to begin with monitors definitely are a must buy and will serve you better than 'normal speakers' for music production. not that people cant do good mixes on normal speakers of course but they are less suitable for production than monitors.

and those folk at guitar centre sound like they are tyring to get you to buy seperate monitor speakers and normal hifi speaker systems to produce and listen to music respectively which is definitely unneccessary. as you and rayman have said if you listen to your music, other people's music, produce and mix on the same pair of monitors/speakers/headphones/whatever you will be able to make better judgements and comparisons when making and mixing your own music

[Cutthoat]

damn you guys helped quite a bit, thank you I'm definitely gonna get some monitors then. I'll probably try out the monitors they have there on some of my favorite tunes and see what it all sounds like. Thanks again

[wormcode]

When I talked to people at guitar center (they sell studio monitors as well as some decent speakers and all) they told me that monitors are good for mixing, but shouldn't be used to listen to music because the sound is too flat. That's all fine I guess, but it doesn't really make sense to me, because I feel like when you're mixing down your track you want to hear what people on speakers are gonna hear... I dunno. I'm super confused.

That's very stupid, music sounds great on monitors. An audiophile who wants pristine sound when listening to his music is much more likely to spend a few grand on high quality monitors than some hi-fi system at a stereo shop.
The difference is things like hi-fi speakers are built to sound pleasing to the ear, so there is built in EQ to make it sound bigger/better than it might be. Nothing would stop you from EQing the output in Winamp or something before it comes out of your monitors if you want.

Listening to music on monitors can only benefit you because it will help you get used to how professionally mastered music sounds on them, and will help you 'match' the same levels. You train your ear, and you learn your monitors.

I even do all my film watching and gaming on monitors. It's almost cheating in online games, I can hear every little nuance and people walking around long before I see them. (Good headphones can do that too but I don't like wearing them for long periods.)

[Cutthoat]

that was a lot of help, thank you very much

[Sonika]

Yeah Alex I'll message you this on Facebook too but monitors are necessary for production, it's true that because they're not enriched and they're a flat sound, they could start sounding a little annoying to your ears after long periods of listening whereas hi fi speakers sound nicer because theyre enriched, you want the most accurate monitoring setup possible. Unfortunately the ugly truth is that most people will probably listen to our tunes on laptop speakers and iPod earbuds anyways, but fuck it we still want the best possible mixdown

[wormcode]

Yeah Sonika brings up a good point. Make sure you listen to your music on various things. Cars, laptop, boombox, hop down to the thrift shop and buy the cheapest headphones you can find and listen on those too. If you can still hear all the elements of the tune you're on the right track.

[Sonika]

^well except for the sub obviously....?

[wormcode]

You should be able to hear a little something of the bassline yeah, obviously not strong but there should be a presence... unless it's a straight up bassweight system tune. Otherwise adding a little upper harmonic content to it should help the bassline be heard on pretty much anything.

[Sonika]

Yeah I love throwing a resonant LP or some tasteful distortion on my sub, but if you take a track like Tunnidge's "Dark Skies" or Loefah's "Horror Show", you're not going to get any sub on a shitty system

[wormcode]

Yeah definitely not a straight up sine/808.