[HELP] Home studio - Monitor speakers

AUT

New Member
Joined
May 28, 2014
Location
Italy
Hi guys!
I'm creating an home studio and in addition to the audio card I need two monitor speakers.
A friend of mine has the Yamaha HS7 and another one has the ADAM X7.

Can you help me in this choice?
Which are the specifications I should pay attention to?

Thank you

AUT
 
the response curve is one of the most important aspects, you want it to be as flat as possible, so it responds equally to bass, mid and high freqz, with no added color at any freq band (the manufacturer wil supply a response curve in the technical specs or manual, which should be available on their website)


you also want to listen to the monitors before making up your mind, and audition them with professionally mastered music if possible, to get a feel for how they color the sound (all monitors color the sound to some degree)


but having said all that, learning how your monitors are different to other systems (for eg club rigs), is just as important as the quality of the monitors, do they throw out allot more bass, or perhaps they are a bit weak in the mid range? all things you will learn as you progress...go with a pair of speakers which you like, and which have the flattest response curve you can afford


also think about your studio space, you will almost certainly need bass traps and other treatments to get the best out of your monitors, depending on how far along you are into learning production this may be essential
 
Thank you for your answer.

I think I will buy it online so I do not have the possibility to hear by myself the quality.

Do you suggest me a specific model?
 
Thank you for your answer.

I think I will buy it online so I do not have the possibility to hear by myself the quality.

Do you suggest me a specific model?

find a shop that sells studio equipment, and listen to as many as you can, you can always buy online later on (or ask the shopkeeper if they can do a Price Match, and give you them at the same price as you would pay online)...listening to them before is probably the most important aspect of buying monitors imo

I haven't used either of the ones you posted up, so couldn't give you an opinion other than my general experience with the 2 makes, both have their strengths and weaknesses, Yamaha are not famed for being flat response (even their NS10 for eg, their most famous ones, are very popular, but not flat response at all), the Adams that I have used haven't been to my taste, but that doesn't mean they arnt good...sorry, that's not really very helpful lol buying speakers is quite a personal thing really

If you really cant find a shop to try some out, do you know Sound On Sound? they do detailed reviews of audio tech, that would be the best place to check on whichever models you are interested in, and they may even recommend others which are better quality or better value

put the models you are interested in the search here... http://www.soundonsound.com/
 
I thought I'd mostly read that Yamaha's were too flat and really difficult to use but great once you learned them? Now I need to do more research!
Vespers did a video on the Adams that might be helpful. I thought they were a lot more expensive than Yamahas though. The A7X looks to be about twice the price of the HS7 on Amazon. I've heard a lot of good things about the Adams, just out of my price range currently.
 
never heard monitors described as "too flat" before! perhaps whoever said that meant something slightly different to what it really means - although many new producers do find it difficult to enjoy monitors in the same way they do hifi speakers, which intentionally color the sound

learning how monitors sound in comparison to other systems is very important, you can work with any speakers you like, as long as you understand their response curve
 
Totally dependent on what your budget is. Are you looking for just a pair of studio monitors? or are you wanting to have a sub monitor as well?

To be honest though, it's not entirely about the amount you spend. I've heard my music on monitors that cost in excess of $20K and yes, they sounded amazing, however, it was almost too good. Sounds weird, but, you just gotta get a pair of speakers you think sound good, and stick with it... Train your ears to them, it's a relationship between the speakers quality and your ability to hear what is going on.

I've been using Alesis M1 active Mk2 for around 8 years now, they are very nice in a small studio for the money (around $400AUD) - I like them so much I bought 2 pairs..
They are no where near the quality and price tag of ADAM Monitors, but they are what I am used to.
 
Thanks for the answers guys!
I was thinking about 300 eur. for the pair, or something more.
I have started producing from a few months, so I do not really know if this will last for a long time, I hope so but it depends on the quality and the visibility that my tracks will achieve. At this moment I have enought money to buy more expensive monitors but I don't know if it will worth it.
I think that for now I may need 2 good monitors for reaching a good quality of mixing, and than let make the mastering to an external studio.
I have to buy also an external audio card, and I want to spend about 500 eur. in total.
 
Thanks for the answers guys!
I was thinking about 300 eur. for the pair, or something more.
I have started producing from a few months, so I do not really know if this will last for a long time, I hope so but it depends on the quality and the visibility that my tracks will achieve. At this moment I have enought money to buy more expensive monitors but I don't know if it will worth it.
I think that for now I may need 2 good monitors for reaching a good quality of mixing, and than let make the mastering to an external studio.
I have to buy also an external audio card, and I want to spend about 500 eur. in total.

if you are sure that you want to dedicate yourself to learning production, then spend as much as you can afford on monitors, its definitely worth it

regarding audio interfaces, you don't have to spend allot on these, because unless you are looking for a very high end interface (pro tools, cranesong etc, which can cost thousands), you arnt going to notice allot of difference in the quality - as long as its a pro audio interfaces (m-audio, focusrite etc), with native 24bit 96khz Digital-Analog/Analog-Digital convertors, and reasonable preamps (if needed, for eg recording from mic's), then it'll do fine

Latency is always an issue, but unless you want to spend allot of money on an audio interface and studio PC, its just something you have to learn to adapt to, so adjusting the buffer to give better latency when recording, and then adjusting again to prioritize resources for more complex projects when things start to crackle and glitch...unfortunately you wont find an audio interface in your price range which will allow you to have true Zero Latency with very complex projects, 3-5ms is about average, you might get 1-2ms with simpler projects; its not to bad really unless you are recording live instruments or vocalist with lots of live effects in a very complex project, in that case you would probably want to look at a pro tools setup, but as you have just started out, that option is probably a way off yet...monitoring is by far the most important thing to think about right now, that is where you will get the most benefit while learning to mix down (but don't forget about room treatment aswell...this hobby gets expensive lol)
 
I always found the best thing was to create a few different mixes and bounce them down. Then I'd stick them in a new project so that I had the lowest latency possible. I would save my reverb channel strip though and apply a tad to the vocal so that the vocalist can hear themselves in the same sonic space.
 
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