Unknown Artist
New Member
- Joined
- Aug 1, 2015
Huge wall of text incoming, TL;DR version on the bottom 
I had some questions regarding reference monitors. I am looking at getting a pair, but I live in Alaska and I have found exactly 0 pairs for sale here, new or used. It appears I will have to order some online, and the shipping will cost me damn near as much as the monitors will, depending on which pair I get. I'm going to have to make sure I get a pair that i'll be happy with, because that's a huge investment, and it will be too late to change my mind once I pull the trigger on a pair. I have been producing on headphones for a long time, and with the free time i've had as of late, i've finally got an album close to finished that I am happy with for once. I have had just about every popular pair of headphone under 500 bucks but the ones i'm using currently, and that have the flattest response i've found, are the AKG q701s. As much as I love the q7s, I don't think I'm doing myself any favors going through the whole process with headphones like I always do. I just moved into a new house, and now that my noise output isn't as much of an issue, I think that I really need to mix down the whole album on a real pair of monitors. Before I even consider a pair I have a few things I need to sort out.
-Do I need a sub? I have noticed that many people selling monitors attempt to pair them with a sub. Rokits, Yamahas, etc have their own model sub that go with the monitors. I wanted to get a pair of 8" monitors because I thought I wouldn't need a sub if I did, but I see that the sub is often sold together even with the 8 inch. If that's the case, why do people buy the 8 inch at all? from what I understand, the bass is deeper, and clearer with the 8 inch versus the 5 inch cones, but why bother with that if you are going to get a sub anyway? Something I have read, is that a sub needs to be calibrated in order to get proper functionality in line with your monitors. That could be a whole can of worms in itself... I know that some people don't use a sub, so I'm not even sure if I need one.
-Do I need an audio interface for monitors? from what I have read, everyone seems to be plugging their stuff into an interface. I might need to get one anyway, in order to record electric guitar, and make it easier to have my devices connected in one place, but the microphone I use is USB. From what I understand, it also helps lighten the load on the sound card? *shrug*.. Monitors I was looking at had a 1/4 inch jack, so if I was going to use them without an interface, I guess I would need to put a 1/8 converter on them, which might be a problem also.
-I'm concerned about acoustic treatment of my room. The room i'm going to be occupying for my audio equipment is a pretty huge room, something like a U shape and a total of about 450 square feet maybe. It's like 25 feet wide, with an A frame ceiling (It's the loft room). The only position available to me to put my desk and monitors is going to be in one of the corners. I assume that bass traps, foam, all that kind of stuff, if needed, would be totally wasted on a space like that. Does anyone have any experience mixing in a huge room with slanted ceilings?
-I'm not sure which monitors to get. After reading tons of forum threads, articles, and reddit posts, over several months time, I still don't have any clue which ones would suit me best. I think that any pair I get will be something my ears will get used to, and I'll eventually be able to mix properly on them once I have experience with them. Based on some things i've heard, and my price range, some that have looked like possibilities to me were the Yamaha HS8s, the KRK RP8G3-NA Rokit 8 Generation 3s, and the JBL LSR308s. My price range is pretty flexible, as I have some money set aside for this, but I was hoping to spend under 1,000 or so for my first pair, especially factoring in that shipping will be so much, although I wasn't sure if I was going to be getting a sub or not.
Very sorry for the huge wall of text... TL;DR..
-Do I need a sub even if i get 8s? If it is recommended to use a sub, why get 8s at all if it's only for bass definition? Is there any other benefit to having bigger cones?
-Do I need an audio interface? Is it recommended to use one even if I'm just using monitors for now?
-Do I have to worry about treating my huge room? If so, how could I even go about it, being a weird shape, and being stuck in the corner?
-Which monitors do you guys recommend? What do you think of the ones I listed?
Thanks so much for any input, sorry for the massive read, and sorry if some of my questions were stupid / uninformed. Theres so much to know about all of this, and I know so little, despite having been a bedroom producer for the last 15 years. I guess I just have a weird way of doing things, and I was in a pretty tight spot for a long time as far as noise level / income. I hope that I can learn something, and maybe someone can help steer me in the right direction. Thanks for reading!
I had some questions regarding reference monitors. I am looking at getting a pair, but I live in Alaska and I have found exactly 0 pairs for sale here, new or used. It appears I will have to order some online, and the shipping will cost me damn near as much as the monitors will, depending on which pair I get. I'm going to have to make sure I get a pair that i'll be happy with, because that's a huge investment, and it will be too late to change my mind once I pull the trigger on a pair. I have been producing on headphones for a long time, and with the free time i've had as of late, i've finally got an album close to finished that I am happy with for once. I have had just about every popular pair of headphone under 500 bucks but the ones i'm using currently, and that have the flattest response i've found, are the AKG q701s. As much as I love the q7s, I don't think I'm doing myself any favors going through the whole process with headphones like I always do. I just moved into a new house, and now that my noise output isn't as much of an issue, I think that I really need to mix down the whole album on a real pair of monitors. Before I even consider a pair I have a few things I need to sort out.
-Do I need a sub? I have noticed that many people selling monitors attempt to pair them with a sub. Rokits, Yamahas, etc have their own model sub that go with the monitors. I wanted to get a pair of 8" monitors because I thought I wouldn't need a sub if I did, but I see that the sub is often sold together even with the 8 inch. If that's the case, why do people buy the 8 inch at all? from what I understand, the bass is deeper, and clearer with the 8 inch versus the 5 inch cones, but why bother with that if you are going to get a sub anyway? Something I have read, is that a sub needs to be calibrated in order to get proper functionality in line with your monitors. That could be a whole can of worms in itself... I know that some people don't use a sub, so I'm not even sure if I need one.
-Do I need an audio interface for monitors? from what I have read, everyone seems to be plugging their stuff into an interface. I might need to get one anyway, in order to record electric guitar, and make it easier to have my devices connected in one place, but the microphone I use is USB. From what I understand, it also helps lighten the load on the sound card? *shrug*.. Monitors I was looking at had a 1/4 inch jack, so if I was going to use them without an interface, I guess I would need to put a 1/8 converter on them, which might be a problem also.
-I'm concerned about acoustic treatment of my room. The room i'm going to be occupying for my audio equipment is a pretty huge room, something like a U shape and a total of about 450 square feet maybe. It's like 25 feet wide, with an A frame ceiling (It's the loft room). The only position available to me to put my desk and monitors is going to be in one of the corners. I assume that bass traps, foam, all that kind of stuff, if needed, would be totally wasted on a space like that. Does anyone have any experience mixing in a huge room with slanted ceilings?
-I'm not sure which monitors to get. After reading tons of forum threads, articles, and reddit posts, over several months time, I still don't have any clue which ones would suit me best. I think that any pair I get will be something my ears will get used to, and I'll eventually be able to mix properly on them once I have experience with them. Based on some things i've heard, and my price range, some that have looked like possibilities to me were the Yamaha HS8s, the KRK RP8G3-NA Rokit 8 Generation 3s, and the JBL LSR308s. My price range is pretty flexible, as I have some money set aside for this, but I was hoping to spend under 1,000 or so for my first pair, especially factoring in that shipping will be so much, although I wasn't sure if I was going to be getting a sub or not.
Very sorry for the huge wall of text... TL;DR..
-Do I need a sub even if i get 8s? If it is recommended to use a sub, why get 8s at all if it's only for bass definition? Is there any other benefit to having bigger cones?
-Do I need an audio interface? Is it recommended to use one even if I'm just using monitors for now?
-Do I have to worry about treating my huge room? If so, how could I even go about it, being a weird shape, and being stuck in the corner?
-Which monitors do you guys recommend? What do you think of the ones I listed?
Thanks so much for any input, sorry for the massive read, and sorry if some of my questions were stupid / uninformed. Theres so much to know about all of this, and I know so little, despite having been a bedroom producer for the last 15 years. I guess I just have a weird way of doing things, and I was in a pretty tight spot for a long time as far as noise level / income. I hope that I can learn something, and maybe someone can help steer me in the right direction. Thanks for reading!
