Monitors.

[modey]

It can also be that I have stopped being anal about the sound and just assume that since all other stuff sounds good at home, there's no problem with the room either.

 

Yeah, I think a lot of it is about getting used to your setup, and having that knowledge of how the speakers/room/headphones affect the sound, adjusting accordingly. Having said that though, the quality of my mixing increased considerably once I got the JBLs. Not much of a surprise considering I upgraded from a set of Logitech speakers haha Edited May 30, 2018 by modey

[thawkins]

 

My monitors are a pair of Yamaha HS8 on some adhesive rubber pads (like 3mm). I think the tweeters are probably at ear level.

 

It seems though that recently I am mostly mixing on headphones and the monitors are there just for listening music, and I don't really hear any weird out of place resonations or frequency bumps when I am listening, so I don't know maybe things just work. It can also be that I have stopped being anal about the sound and just assume that since all other stuff sounds good at home, there's no problem with the room either.

 

Anyways I live in a Japanese rental unit where my "studio" is a shelf around 240x50cm so besides putting tennis balls cut in half under my monitors (and watching them fall to their death in the next proper earthquake) I don't really know any easy solutions.

What are your headphones ?

 

 

Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro 80 ohms. I carry them to work and back each day as well so I spend a lot of time wearing and listening with them throughout the day, I think this probably helps with "knowing" their sound. So since I already enjoy listening to music on these headphones, all I have to do is mix my own music so it sounds as good as my references, I guess this gets me 90% of the way there.

[thawkins]

 

It can also be that I have stopped being anal about the sound and just assume that since all other stuff sounds good at home, there's no problem with the room either.

Yeah, I think a lot of it is about getting used to your setup, and having that knowledge of how the speakers/room/headphones affect the sound, adjusting accordingly. Having said that though, the quality of my mixing increased considerably once I got the JBLs. Not much of a surprise considering I upgraded from a set of Logitech speakers haha

 

 

I mean I remember having issues with the room or stuff resonating or some frequencies being messed up in past places where I have lived, but nothing really comes to mind now. I can play bass heavy things like Ageispolis or James Blake's Limit To Your Love and there's no issues.

 

I also have a pair of cheap Sennheiser in-ears which I also listen to my rough stuff on to see how it works on non pro-audio gear. For the last couple of years I haven't really had anything serious enough to release physically (hopefully this will change this year) so I have not had the chance of listening to my stuff in a pro audio mixing room or something like that.

[YEK]

 

 

My monitors are a pair of Yamaha HS8 on some adhesive rubber pads (like 3mm). I think the tweeters are probably at ear level.

 

It seems though that recently I am mostly mixing on headphones and the monitors are there just for listening music, and I don't really hear any weird out of place resonations or frequency bumps when I am listening, so I don't know maybe things just work. It can also be that I have stopped being anal about the sound and just assume that since all other stuff sounds good at home, there's no problem with the room either.

 

Anyways I live in a Japanese rental unit where my "studio" is a shelf around 240x50cm so besides putting tennis balls cut in half under my monitors (and watching them fall to their death in the next proper earthquake) I don't really know any easy solutions.

What are your headphones ?

 

 

Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro 80 ohms. I carry them to work and back each day as well so I spend a lot of time wearing and listening with them throughout the day, I think this probably helps with "knowing" their sound. So since I already enjoy listening to music on these headphones, all I have to do is mix my own music so it sounds as good as my references, I guess this gets me 90% of the way there.

 

 

cool, i'm thinking about picking up the 990s

[thawkins]

 

cool, i'm thinking about picking up the 990s

 

 

Good luck, I am really happy with mine, hope you will be too!

 

I have had them for 5-6 years now and am really happy. Biggest issue is that by now I have physically worn through the foam covers inside and I had to jump through some hoops in order to get some replacements to Japan.

[Guest Chesney]

Don't know why images wouldn't upload at home

 

This was just as I was setting up the monitors. New year time.

 

 

[mcbpete]

God how I wish I had even half that space for my setup.

[Guest Chesney]

That is half, there is a drumkit behind me now.

I am lucky, it's an amazing space to play in. Although I do have to start paying my Mother in law back for the loam to build it.

[Nil]

I went for some IsoAcoustics stands to raise and tilt the monitors right, and decided to keep the sorbothane bumpers I had in my former studio, as it's in my opinion the most effective and affordable way to decouple monitors from any surface. I can't recommend them highly enough. 

You can see the fabric of one of my DIY acoustic panels (120cmx60x10). I went for this insulation material : http://www.gikacoustics.com/product/knauf-rigid-fiberglass-3-lb/ which simply works.

I still have a couple of panels to build. Two are already standing behind my desk / monitors, and the other ones will be on stands, so that I can put them wherever I'd need.

[Guest Chesney]

same, as you can see above. They really do make a difference. I tested on the table top, on metal stands, sat on foam, polystyrene then the Iso stands and they just sounded so much better straight away. You wouldn't have thought it wold make that much difference but it did.

[TubularCorporation]

God how I wish I had even half that space for my setup.

Hell, that's bigger than my last apartment.

[thawkins]

same, as you can see above. They really do make a difference. I tested on the table top, on metal stands, sat on foam, polystyrene then the Iso stands and they just sounded so much better straight away. You wouldn't have thought it wold make that much difference but it did.

 

Now you got me GASing for the stands, but I am pretty sure if I set them up like Nil has, I will one day come home to my speakers laying on the floor, assembly required.

 

Going to check out those Isoacoustics though, seems like something I could use...

[thawkins]

same, as you can see above. They really do make a difference. I tested on the table top, on metal stands, sat on foam, polystyrene then the Iso stands and they just sounded so much better straight away. You wouldn't have thought it wold make that much difference but it did.

 

Is the last album on your Bandcamp made in that studio space? Sounds pretty good to me. :)

[modey]

lol my monitors are currently sitting on a bunch of books and CD cases, which I told myself was a temporary solution until I got some proper stands

[Guest Chesney]

 

same, as you can see above. They really do make a difference. I tested on the table top, on metal stands, sat on foam, polystyrene then the Iso stands and they just sounded so much better straight away. You wouldn't have thought it wold make that much difference but it did.

 

Is the last album on your Bandcamp made in that studio space? Sounds pretty good to me. :)

 

 

Nah, that was made in a barely treated small bedroom with the Adam monitors and mixed on an old noisy Studiomaster console. Listening to that album in this new room and on the Focals highlights so many issues it's unreal. I want to do a full remix of it in the new room and on the new console.

Edited May 31, 2018 by Chesney

[TubularCorporation]

Ironically, a month before I moved last year I traded a set of trashpicked klh7 hi go speakers with blown tweeters for a set of basic but functional metal ole stands, but when I moved it turned out there wasn't a good spot in my studio area to set them up so they've been in the closet ever since.

[thawkins]

There's only 13cm of clearance from the top of my monitors and the ISO-L8R200 has a minimum height of 12.5cm. Hmm...

[YEK]

So I bought the 990s. Only issue I have is while adjusting each ear piece to fit to my head one seems to have less resistance than the other. Probably just the they're made, and it's not like they're falling off my head.

[Nil]

If you want to have a more pleasant and reliable experience when using headphones, give Goodhertz CanOpener a go!

 

https://goodhertz.co/canopener-studio

 

It’s worth every penny IMO. It helps getting a much better consistency between cans and monitors, and reduces ear fatigue with my K702 drastically.

[TubularCorporation]

Toneboosters Isone works well for that, and with some work you can dial in your headphones to sound VERY close to your monitors, which definitely helps make mixing on headphones easier. In the end, though, I went back to just getting used to how things sound on a particular pair of phones and them sticking with those. I've been referencing mixes on the same pair of thrift shop Sennheiser hd590's since like 2008 or 2009, even after I got a nicer pair that I'll use for sound design and tracking DI stuff (because they're open backed, I've still never tried a pair of closed back headphones that sounded at all natural to me and I only use closed back if I'm tracking an acoustic instrument or doing editing work in a coffee shop or something). The 590s aren't the greatest headphones in the world (although I doubt I'll ever find anything that nice for $8 again) but I'm so used to them that they're always really helpful.

Edited June 4, 2018 by RSP

[Nil]

Correct me if I'm wrong, isn't Ozone / Morphit mostly about EQing headphones? CanOpener is really about crossfeed while keeping the freq response as untouched as possible. You can use its super smooth baxendal EQ on its own too if you set crossfeed to 0. The monitoring section is pretty useful as well.

[thawkins]

Hmm, I have never thought about EQing my headphones or trying to simulate crossfeed. In fact I never thought of crossfeed at all and this is completely new to me, except of course now it makes sense that this exists on monitors and not on headphones. I think I do not trust any VSTs or EQs that alter the sound coming out of the master bus in principle - I have always tried to just buy gear that takes care of all frequency responses and DAC etc.

 

I should have never clicked on this thread. Yesterday I was listening to some rock and I think it was the first time when I heard some frequency start resonating in my room. And now you tell me I got to have crossfeed emulated in my headphones and my speaker stands are shit. And here was I thinking at least the monitoring part of I got nicely set up.

 

I could not find a video specific to that Can Opener Studio thing, but is this a good demonstration of the effect?

 

[pcock]

wow, 4 year since i got my genelec m040s. i have them on a set of sand filled floor standing speaker stands. literally love them. as ive gotten older, and my enamour for gigantic 100,000 pound club setups has waned, nothing pleases me more than occasionally having a few beers and blasting albums from my past loud enough to make the neighbours hate me. also pretty great for production aswell. 

[Nil]

thawkins: I can’t watch the video now, but I’d highly recommend demoing it yourself (I believe they’ve refined their code quite a bit since that iOS app version).

 

I’ve chosen to be 100% ITB for various reasons but am quite absurdly obsessed with monitoring. I remember how puzzled / disappointed I was when I first played a nice venue with a nice PA years and years ago, hearing my tunes sounding so different from what they sounded at home... then spending an insane amount of energy remixing them prior to releasing some / playing another live set. Now I trust what I hear, and get much better results (closer to what I want/like anyway) with less efforts. Actually I’m stunned that my rough demos now sound better than anything I’ve released before (and painfully mixed).

[TubularCorporation]

Correct me if I'm wrong, isn't Ozone / Morphit mostly about EQing headphones? CanOpener is really about crossfeed while keeping the freq response as untouched as possible. You can use its super smooth baxendal EQ on its own too if you set crossfeed to 0. The monitoring section is pretty useful as well.

 

Corrected the original post, my phone changed "Isone" to "Ozone"

 

 

I haven't used the new version but when it was Isone its main thing was using a adjustable HRTF's to simulate head shadow, so like crossfeed but binaural.  There was also a (bypassable) set of tools for matching speakers (EQ, stereo adjustment, simulated driver dimensions) but I usually kept it relatively flat, and also a simple reverb that I never used.  The idea was that you would sit in the sweet spot of your monitors and A/B between monitors and headphones until you had matched the sound of your monitors in your room as closely as possible, and then you could use Isone to simulate your monitoring setup (and your head size and shape) on headphones no matter where you were (or what time of night it was), so you could dial in a mix pretty well on headphones from your laptop and then finish i off on your main system.

Edited June 4, 2018 by RSP