Monitors for recording beginner

[Mr Wolf]

Hi all I hope everyone is well.

Despite quite a few years of playing guitar, playing in bands (gigs are off for now sadly), for the first time I am getting into recording. With temporary absence of said gigs, I have decided to switch my free time with music towards recording to aid with band stuff, but also for my own amusement of course.

What monitors would you recommend for someone starting out?

Cheers all

Jeff

Sent from my H8314 using Tapatalk

 

[devastone]

Re: Monitors for recording beginner

These are insanely good for the price - https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/LP6--kali-audio-lp-6-6.5-inch-powered-studio-monitor

Note, the price is per monitor, but still a steal for a great sounding set of monitors, I bought a set and love them, a little googlin' and you'll find lots of people raving about these.

DOH, just noticed you are in the UK, not sure who sells them there but shouldn't be hard to find.

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Monitors for recording beginner

What is your budget and room setup like?

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Monitors for recording beginner

These are insanely good for the price - https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/LP6--kali-audio-lp-6-6.5-inch-powered-studio-monitor

Note, the price is per monitor, but still a steal for a great sounding set of monitors, I bought a set and love them, a little googlin' and you'll find lots of people raving about these.

DOH, just noticed you are in the UK, not sure who sells them there but shouldn't be hard to find.

Never heard of this brand before, but they look intriguing.

 

[devastone]

Re: Monitors for recording beginner

Never heard of this brand before, but they look intriguing.

From what I understand they are ex-JBL engineers. I was looking at the JBLs but these are supposed to be flatter sounding, and lots of setup options for the space, not to mention, a great price.

 

[NegativeEase]

Re: Monitors for recording beginner

Not sure of your budget for "Cheap" but for a reference point, here are the most used speakers in the history of recording at 369 each.

8" Yamaha NS 10 -they are not the most accurate, nor are they the best -but almost every studio has them for their primary or a reference point if only to A/B between them and their super accurate set -if you are familiar with these speakers and your mixes, you can take your stuff into professional studios and be comfortable. even the 6.5 are good.
`
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/HS8--yamaha-hs8-8-inch-powered-studio-monitor-black

another good thing is they retain a high % of value and are easy to sell

 

[dystrust]

Re: Monitors for recording beginner

Not sure of your budget for "Cheap" but for a reference point, here are the most used speakers in the history of recording at 369 each.

8" Yamaha NS 10 -they are not the most accurate, nor are they the best -but almost every studio has them for their primary or a reference point if only to A/B between them and their super accurate set -if you are familiar with these speakers and your mixes, you can take your stuff into professional studios and be comfortable. even the 6.5 are good.
`
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/HS8--yamaha-hs8-8-inch-powered-studio-monitor-black

another good thing is they retain a high % of value and are easy to sell

If the OP is in a small, untreated space I would recommend the HS5s over HS8s. Low end buildup can be a real problem without proper treatment, especially if the speakers are too big for the space.

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Monitors for recording beginner

From what I understand they are ex-JBL engineers. I was looking at the JBLs but these are supposed to be flatter sounding, and lots of setup options for the space, not to mention, a great price.

I have older JBL 8” as my mains and have zero complaints. I would like to hear the 8” version with some references.

 

[devastone]

Re: Monitors for recording beginner

I have a really small room and not really any treatment (small old house that I rent). I had an old M-Audio BX8a set but they were too much in there and the bass was very hyped. I was shopping for 6" monitors and was down to these and the JBLs. I checked out some online reviews and talked to my sales engineer at Sweetwater, he basically said the JBLs were a little more hyped in the highs and lows and probably better if you are listening for for enjoyment and these were flatter and probably better for critical listening. I'm not that critical or anything, but thought I would give these a shot. I'm using the switch settings for close to an untreated wall and I am still using the bass roll off too in my little room.

I would think the 8" versions would be awesome in the right space.

 

[Mr Wolf]

Re: Monitors for recording beginner

What is your budget and room setup like?

Best way to describe... Small box room / office / practice room.

Budget... If justifiable I can be somewhat flexible to a reasonable extent. I am making my mind up on that as I get my head around:

a) my actual needs
b) what is in the market, and the inevitable gains as you go up in price, and aligning those with point a)

As I am new to recording, I don't want to go absolutely mad. For now I have been using a small stereo whilst I figure out how to work the DAW.

The primary goal is to produce better quality output for my band on social media, but also for plain and simple fun for myself as well. All that said, I don't want to get anything that I will be wanting to move on from after a month.

In summary, what is a good place to start that should serve me well for a decent amount of time? I am not adverse to upgrading to something more serious in future if I really get into it.

Thanks all

Sent from my H8314 using Tapatalk

 

[DavidRavenMoon]

Monitors for recording beginner

I use a good set of headphones to track and even to mix. I have an old set of Monsoon speakers (which aren’t made anymore), and I check mixes through different systems, like in my singers car and through my iPhone earbuds.

For headphones you don’t want the kind with the hyped bass response. Same with speakers. Studio monitors are very flat response.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Mr Wolf]

Re: Monitors for recording beginner

I use a good set of headphones to track and even to mix. I have an old set of Monsoon speakers (which aren’t made anymore), and I check mixes through different systems, like in my singers car and through my iPhone earbuds.

For headphones you don’t want the kind with the hyped bass response. Same with speakers. Studio monitors are very flat response.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I guess the main thing I am looking for is something that gives a flat enough response to mix things well. Headphone wise I only have those that add on a fair dollop of bass. My stereo isn't bad I guess, but I am aware I am not getting a brilliant reference point for anything right now, plus that gets moved about the house a lot so I would rather get something here primarily for this purpose.

Sent from my H8314 using Tapatalk

 

[NegativeEase]

Re: Monitors for recording beginner

Best way to describe... Small box room / office / practice room.

Budget... If justifiable I can be somewhat flexible to a reasonable extent. I am making my mind up on that as I get my head around:

a) my actual needs
b) what is in the market, and the inevitable gains as you go up in price, and aligning those with point a)

As I am new to recording, I don't want to go absolutely mad. For now I have been using a small stereo whilst I figure out how to work the DAW.

The primary goal is to produce better quality output for my band on social media, but also for plain and simple fun for myself as well. All that said, I don't want to get anything that I will be wanting to move on from after a month.

In summary, what is a good place to start that should serve me well for a decent amount of time? I am not adverse to upgrading to something more serious in future if I really get into it.

Thanks all

Sent from my H8314 using Tapatalk

What kind and location of bass porting and the distance from the wall you can place the speakers are big factors in smaller rooms.

 

[NegativeEase]

Re: Monitors for recording beginner

I guess the main thing I am looking for is something that gives a flat enough response to mix things well. Headphone wise I only have those that add on a fair dollop of bass. My stereo isn't bad I guess, but I am aware I am not getting a brilliant reference point for anything right now, plus that gets moved about the house a lot so I would rather get something here primarily for this purpose.

Sent from my H8314 using Tapatalk

There are some pretty flat heatsets available for 200.00

That's probably the cheapest vs effective route to go depending on your budget.

 

[Mr Wolf]

Re: Monitors for recording beginner

What kind and location of bass porting and the distance from the wall you can place the speakers are big factors in smaller rooms.

I guess chances are the walls will be quite close behind the speakers. Around a foot ish

Sent from my H8314 using Tapatalk

 

[Mr Wolf]

Re: Monitors for recording beginner

There are some pretty flat heatsets available for 200.00

That's probably the cheapest vs effective route to go depending on your budget.

That's not unreasonable money for a monitoring solution, whether speakers or headphones.

Sent from my H8314 using Tapatalk

 

[devastone]

Re: Monitors for recording beginner

What kind of interface are you using?

I'm in the same kind of space, and I stick with the Kali monitor recommendation, you won't outgrow them anytime soon, and they are front ported so you won't get the boomy bass from having a rear port close to a wall. They also have an EQ settings for the "close to wall" and another bass rolloff if you need it.

https://www.kaliaudio.com/lone-pine-studio-monitors

See page 11 - https://static1.squarespace.com/sta...LP8_Studio_Monitors_Users_Manual_May_2020.pdf

A nice set of headphones is good to, but they get tiring to me for too long.

 

[Mr Wolf]

Re: Monitors for recording beginner

What kind of interface are you using?
.

Right now I am just using my line 6 hx stomp and going direct with that. In amongst all the other things I find it useful for, it seems to work well as an interface.

I have a mic and an amp that I am very happy with as well, so a dedicated interface will probably follow in due course, particularly if recording the band

Sent from my H8314 using Tapatalk

 

[devastone]

Re: Monitors for recording beginner

So you would be running the monitors from the HX?

 

[Mr Wolf]

Re: Monitors for recording beginner

So you would be running the monitors from the HX?

I guess a small disclaimer in that I am only getting started in this world of recording so I am still finding out how everything works.

Intention is to monitor from the computer, of course part of it is to assist for mixing and so on. Flexibility if it could go via the stomp directly is potentially nice I expect.

Sent from my H8314 using Tapatalk