finally decided on some monitors... yup.

[fuzzking]

i've been pondering for years... which make, what price... mixing on hifi sytems all the time.

couldn't take it anymore and coincidentially just found a set of wharfedale diamond 8.1 pro monitors.



they were on sale for € 200.- and, based on intuition ( ), i decided that i couldn't live without them.

maybe i'm just going nuts... GAS all the time... but i'm trying to mix down a demo on my hifi and it's a pain in the arse again.
had to do a little soundtrack for a short movie lately, did it on headphones til my ears started bleeding.

hope they'll get here next monday.

question: best would be if i set em up in the middle of the room right ? :-\
it's about 18 square meters, wooden floor, stone walls, tiny window in front, no other major reflecting surfaces...

[mezcalhead]

Hey, I use those!

Not bad speakers, although I don't think I use them as intended - they're set up at head height either side of the fireplace (I tend to roam around the room while listening/recording).

[fuzzking]

you like them?

i suppose you're at least sitting still when mixing, right? 

[mezcalhead]

Mixing?





I don't do too much messing around, I tend to record, set levels quickly and then leave them .. I like to think it's because I'm after a raw and immediate sound but it's probably more because I'm lazy and have a tin ear so the more I fiddle the worse things get.

(Actually, I can't sit and mix, there's no chair in front of the laptop - stops me wasting time playing with the computer and not the guitar).

And yes, I like the speakers. A friend recommended them as the best of the budget speakers .. a pro or someone with a good ear might not like them but they suit me fine. Obviously from the above I'm not the right person to advise you on speaker placement though ..

[fuzzking]

now that's a healthy approach to recording. i tend to record as rough as it can get, but then i never want to let anyone hear my stuff because it doesn't have that "golden shimmer", ha ha.

i'll just drop in some reference cds and isee if the placement is alright.

just got a mail saying they shipped... should arrive on tuesday. hope i'll like em, too.

[BenHagerty]

now that's a healthy approach to recording. i tend to record as rough as it can get, but then i never want to let anyone hear my stuff because it doesn't have that "golden shimmer", ha ha.

i'll just drop in some reference cds and isee if the placement is alright.

just got a mail saying they shipped... should arrive on tuesday. hope i'll like em, too.

Let me know what you think, I was thinking of investing in real monitors, I usually use my practice amp hah

[fuzzking]

definitely will. 

[øøøøøøø]

monitor placement is a big subject.  Where you put them depends on the dimensions and shape of your room, what else is in your room, and what (if any) acoustic treatment is in there.

but the quick and dirty rules of thumb are:

1) form an equilateral triangle between the monitors and your head, and toe the monitors in slightly (experiment to find the right angle).  Monitors should of course be at ear-level.
2) if your room is rectangular (or longer in one dimension than another), have the monitors 'fire' down the longest direction of the room.  In other words, put the speakers in front one of the short walls.
3) try not to have the monitors equidistant between the floor and ceiling.  Slightly higher (or lower, if you have high ceilings) will do, it doesn't have to be drastic.  Putting a rug on the floor or a diffuser on the ceiling is also a good idea.
4) do not put the monitors close to any boundary (wall, corner, floor, ceiling).  Have them out a few feet from the wall and definitely not in a corner.
5) download a free 'sweepable' frequency generator, sit in mix position, and set it to sweep from low to high fairly slowly.  Listen for anything weird, particular areas or frequencies that are too loud or 'disappear,' or move to one side or the other, and make slight adjustments to the position of your monitors to try and minimize it.  You will probably have to live with some weirdness in an untreated room, especially unless you do a bunch of math and charts and graphs.
6) decouple the monitors from the surface they sit on... Auralex makes little foam thingies for this, even a mouse pad is better than nothing. 

Good luck.

[fuzzking]

seems like i did it all (or almost) right by intuition/half-knowledge. i'll think about getting a rug - i think the floor is a bit reflective, but nothing major. after setup, i played two of records i know best: coltrane's "sun ship" and nick drake's "bryter later". damn i like them.
i did some quick mixes for the new demo and they seem to translate well to other people's hifi sytems. i wish i had gotten them earlier... like years ago, haha. they're a bit week on the ultra low end, but i like that - i don't need it anyway.

only strange thing is, when the power supply is plugged into my laptop, i can hear computing noise on one speaker, as it happens with cheapo built-in sound cards. HD rattle and everything. i changed cables, had no noise on headphones, and it's not there when the ibook is running on battery. might that be a weird sheilding issue? jesus, there's always something...