What hifi systems should I get to get the mix right? Thinking of a Bose acoustimass 10 5.1 and 3 hifi headphones. What would you do to get it right?
Also I have some rokit rp 8`s which are good in my ears, but should I update this to a krk vxt 8 and a 12 sHO or get some other monitors like genelec 8050. Its a lot of money, but if its done wrong everuthing is worthless.
Need to hear track sparation and compression settings clearly. Or more clearly than on these rokits.
Well as honesty is key for this type of thing, your best bet isn’t a KRK which are often bass heavy to make them sound better. Depending on your price range, I would recommend you start looking at Yamaha’s and Adam’s monitor speakers then move to the likes of Focal, Fostex and Genelec. I doubt you’ll be able to afford “the best” monitors for this because it will largely depend on the price you are willing to pay. Any I mentioned above are very reliable monitors for this kind of work.
Lots of good choices in that pricerange, Adams, Genelecs, Dynaudios, Events etc all have very good offerings. Or at least they’re said to, I don’t own them all .
Best bet is to find a good place where you can hear them before you buy. It’s also partly a matter of taste, and what your room sounds like.
commercial radio is mostly played through low budget car stereo’s (where true stereo image is not heard) ,Ipod speakers ,ghetto blasters and low budget hifi’s . nearly every major studio has a pair of avantone or the originals auratone 5c’s for this reason . Do your research !
Genelec 8050 must be one of the best near/mid-field monitors today. Extreamly honest-sounding ones. Great bass-response for the size. Only problem may be (lack of) directivity above 2kHz, which would make them sound too bright in some cases. But this shouldn’t be a problem in acoustically well-treated control room.
As filterfreak recommended, a second pair (reference monitors like Avantones) are must. So, in your situation (your goal and budget) I would:
Sell your KRKs
Buy new monitors
2a. Main monitors: Genelec 8050s would be my recommendation, but Dynaudio BM15As are nice, too.
2b. Reference monitors: Avantones or some small not-so-high-end HiFi speakers.
If you can get your mix sound right in both of these speaker classes, it should sound right on any decent system.
If your are serious about this type of work
bite the bullet and for the rest of your life never
have to deal with this issue again.
Other hard and software gear will come and go but the final
(and IMHO the 2nd most important) piece of the
chain (yer speakers) will remain consistent.
One thing overlooked here is the impact the room or playback space will have on any monitor system. Usually, the room used for playback has a much more significant impact on the sound than any monitor speaker has. Many smaller rooms create major problems for bass and mid range playback, as the physical dimensions ofttimes accentuate frequency resonances in the worst possible ranges. If you’ve got a budget for really good monitors, also think about installing some worthwhile room treatments, if you are creating a dedicated space for production.
A dead space is useful in that it won’t color the sound much, and will make post-production a bit easier, as you can actually “add the space” back into the final mix with various tools from reverb to EQ.
Even if you don’t have a grand budget, you can usually use blankets and other thick foam to deaden or damp a room and it’s resonances, including creating gobos and bass traps.
A significant caveat: don’t smoke, block vents, or otherwise use flammable materials in ways that can make your studio into a fire trap!
There are numerous materials available that are fire retardent that will very effectively do the job. But they’re usually a bit more pricey, again depending on budget.
Finally, rarely are two listening venues are the same. So if you’re producing for radio, you might try a rough mix, and then listen to it on a number of playback sources from iPods to boomboxes to car radios to a full blown hi-fi system to ensure that it comes across reasonably well for ALL these various modes of playback.
Hope this proves helpful!