What Monitors to buy for a beginner?

[himalaya]

disagree with the advice to spend all of your $1000 on monitors or to get super picky about it at this stage of the game. Cyphersuit is giving you excellent and SPECIFIC advice.

We only live once, so getting the best monitors for the budget is a wiser choice. Enjoy quality now, even if one is a beginner. Good monitors are the key in music production. Have the budged? Treat yourself to the good stuff. It does make a difference.

[CT]

Good point by Aiynzahev about the monitor stands.
Also, I fully agree with the advice given by Compyfox and cyphersuit about not spending the entire $1000 on speakers.
I'd add to this by asking about your room setup, and suggest you spend the $1000 on a combination of the speakers, stands and basic acoustic treatment.

[himalaya]

Get a couple of heavy bricks and put the monitors on them (bricks on your workspace obviously). Get some cheap acoustic felt fabric so that the monitor does not touch the rough surface of the brick. Save $$$ on those stands.

For acoustic treatment read about the DIY approach as shown and described in most music mags. Sound On Sound runs an excellent series where they help people set up their studios and there's lots of advice. Also they have published very detailed diagrams on how to make your own acoustic panels on the cheap.

Save those $$$ on stuff like this and get the best monitors your budget allows (after auditioning some suitable models using music you know very well).

[Lotuzia]

Himalaya is right imho : The global sound chain will be as weak as the weakest part of it.

All the music you'll do, you'll hear with your monitoring system.

Acoustic treatment should definitely not be neglected, but to hear not so stellar monitors in stellar conditions will not help you that much either.

Your system has be to coherent actually.

Btw I'd recommand Dynaudio, or H&M monitors for regular rooms. ANd Blue Sky systems for smaller places. Dynaudio are very good to work with for long hours withour ear tiring.

[CT]

Which is the same reason I'm advocating a balanced approach.

If 80 percent or more is spent on monitors and 20 percent on basic treatment and stands, whether DIY or not, then thats a good balance imho.

Its true that not-stellar speakers in a good room is not so helpful, but it is similarly useless for stellar speakers to be in a bad room, unless they have a dsp trick up their sleeve. Either way, it doesnt help to generalize, because the room will NOT be stellar with basic acoustic treatment, and its also vague at best to define the line at which stellar speakers start.

I can't comment on the Yamaha HS-80, but I reckon most $1000 won't be that much more stellar than several brands of $700-800 speakers. There will be a more noticeable difference when you talk about $1400-1500 speakers, like focals for example.

Having said that, there is a pair available for $1000, the Pelonis Model 42, which may just be stellar. Another slightly cheaper option is the Event 20/20, which seem very electronic music friendly.

[Aiynzahev]

I'll add a few more things from my limited experience. Don't get set on buying so quickly, take a CD or something you know very well and have a good listen to as many speakers as you can that would suit you.

Some speakers are tight and in your face, others laid back. I like laid back even though I make dance music. But a lot of others don't. It has to suit you.

And I'll also say spend as much as possible on your speakers. You really don't get great quality speakers for cheap from my experience.

[ksandvik]

And I'll also say spend as much as possible on your speakers. You really don't get great quality speakers for cheap from my experience.

Yep and quality reference monitors last for a long time, in case you think you could replace them 10+ years later due to wear and tear, as I have found out with my old Event TR-8s that refuse to die.

[rockstar_not]

Don't forget to also get a great set of isolating earphones. If you are doing home recording, chances are most of your music will get listened to with earbuds more often than on any other type of playback system.

I should mention that my employer is Westone, makers of the finest custom and universal fit in ear monitors on the planet - been at it since the beginning of in-ear monitors.

Some benefits of having these over good ol' speaker monitors:

1. You can use them anytime without bothering your significant other and/or the neighbors - don't start out your music hobby/career by making enemies with your music.

2. You can use them to help place microphones for recording - hear what the mic hears. Can't do this even with most circumaural headphones - too much leakage.

3. The room doesn't matter - it can be your 'studio', a hotel room, your desk at work at lunch, etc. Take you monitors with you. They fit into a shirt pocket.

4. It will allow you to mix for headphone playback much better than traditional monitoring systems.

5. They will be the best portable music player headphones you've ever listened to. Bye Bye Sk*llcandy! See ya white piece of junk iPwn earbuds.

This isn't to say that it's not important to have monitor speakers, but if you are working on constructing tracks, composing, etc. - the main point is to be able to monitor while recording. If you are like most home studio folks, you will use cans to do this anyways, so go for something that has much more multi-purpose use.

You can even use ISONE or similar to simulate different monitoring systems/rooms.

Go ahead and buy some great monitors. Budget also for some great isolating earphones as well.

[Kaine]

Now the problem with speaker questions is that it's all subjective and everyone has different views on it all.

GENELEC are too "muddy" sounding IMO, and don't represent a good stereo image.

They have a fairly narrow perfect position but set them up right and they are awesome. Unless you go for the huge ones they tend to be more near to midfield in design and this is intentional for small studios/post production suites. They are certainly duller than some of the other names on the list, but then some of those are very hyped sounding to start with and I view the Gene's as just being flat rather than dull.

I have just gone through an update recently and have auditioned several monitors amongst them the Dynaudio BM5A and Adam A7.

Both, very nice monitors, has to be said.

I would say that to my ears the BM5A'sbass response is slightly overstated. I played all types of music through these, and for example, the acoustic guitar was 'enveloped' in too much bass for my liking. It was a sound I didn't associate with a well recorded acoustic guitar. Whereas, the Adams were more natural. However, dance tracks were grooving very nicely on the BM5A's.

I've read comments that the Adams don't have enough bass. I think they do. The Drum&Bass and Dub reference tracks I played were reproduced with deep and solid bass. Can't complain. I also had a few specialist test tones on my reference CD which helped to confirm what the music tracks already told me; and the bass on the Adam is there ( they go down to 48Hz at -3dB, BTW).

Now to me the BM5A's are speakers that I've never liked to work on(and it wasn't because my last flat mate, ran them too loud!). I could never set them up in a position where I didn't find them dull and uninspiring, but then I know a few people who work well on them, and many people over the years that have released tracks written on them.

The A7X I disagree with Himalaya in that I don't personally think they have enough low end reach for DnB and other such bassmusic without a sub, although the A8X's do and if I was to upgrade from my Genelec 2.1 system right now I'd buy the A8X's without a doubt and probably do so minus a sub.

That's not to say that the view points expressed by the other gents here are at all wrong, or that I'm right in anyway other than my own personal preference, as everyone tends to look for different things in speakers... if they didn't half of them would be out of business by now!

So pick a few suggestions and if you can go somewhere and test them out, do so. Also it's well worth spending £100 on some base traps and reflection diffusion panels to bring the sound under control. It doesn't matter how much you spend if your acoustics are naff to start with.

Oh and my suggestion for your price point? Adam have a new budget range out in a few weeks. Watch out for those, as you should be able to pick up a 2.1 solution for around your budget that will be pretty sweet.

[Compyfox]

And I'll also say spend as much as possible on your speakers. You really don't get great quality speakers for cheap from my experience.

Wrong IMO.

Spending as much as possible is total nonsense if you take a closer look (and have a closer listen) of the mid-range priced active monitor ones.

Most important is the room acoustics - put all (most) of your money there, then apeakers. The weakest link is your room, not your speakers.

I can speak from experience - I mixed for years on measured in passive ones, now on active ones. Fixing your room with acoustic treatment DOES add more to the equation rather than getting uber-highend and overly high priced monitor speakers.


For one grand, you can get a decent acoustics starter kit, either HS80s or Truth 3031A (both with stand!), suitable cables to connect them and IK Multimedia ARC on top of it (or use Room EQ Wizard with the room correction system, which gives you values for a linear phase EQ to do the correction yourself).

Don't waste your money on monitor speakers alone.


Oh and... most music is still listened on 2" (max) speakers in home stereos or earbuds. Having a stereo pair of passive 2" speakers for reference listening is always a good way to go. And they're what? 20 bucks?

[cyphersuit]

I know many people using those and releasing records on beatport.

Ah yes, the crucible of excellence that is Beatport releases.

i don't know, never usef beatport myself. just happen to know that many newcomers will aim for success on beatport first.

[himalaya]

The A7X I disagree with Himalaya in that I don't personally think they have enough low end reach for DnB and other such bassmusic without a sub, although the A8X's do and if I was to upgrade from my Genelec 2.1 system right now I'd buy the A8X's without a doubt and probably do so minus a sub.

Perhaps I need to clarify a bit...I also wouldn't choose the A7 if I was only producing D&B. I'd want bigger monitors, or perhaps a sub to go with the A7. However, at the same time I found that the A7s reproduced the reference D&B and Dub tracks perfectly. The bass is very controlled and never overpowering, a characteristic I like a lot. I found that the Adam A7 reveal bad commercial mixes very quickly.

[himalaya]

I can speak from experience - I mixed for years on measured in passive ones, now on active ones. Fixing your room with acoustic treatment DOES add more to the equation rather than getting uber-highend and overly high priced monitor speakers.

I think most of us can speak from experience.
It's about a balance of good room acoustics and good monitors for your chosen budged. But my point is, you don't need top spend lots of money on acoustic treatment. With some lateral thinking and lots of advice from various sources this can be accomplished for very little outlay. Sure, if the OP was planning to open a commercial studio, or earns big bucks from music, then spending lots of money on pro acoustic treatment is a must. Otherwise save the money and get nice monitors.

[Uncle E]

My favourates were the PMC's, but they are very expensive. The new Dynaudios at the time were really good too, forget the model, 6 or something?

I don't rate KRK's very highly from my memory, but they might do you fine. For cheap I'd recommend Genelec, they are relatively cheap.

Personally, I'm using B&W's, PMC's, and Tekton's these days. The B&W's are the most pleasant to listen to, the PMC's are the most accurate, and the Tekton's are the most real world. My favorite monitoring setup of all time is my Tannoy System 1000's mated with a JBL sub but that was when I was in a 24' x 20' showroom. A big setup like that doesn't work in the bedroom I'm currently working out of.

My writing partner uses Dynaudio BM5A's. They sound surprisingly good for the money. Then again, if the ADAM A7X's were around at the time, I probably would have steered him toward those. He's saving up for Focal's now.

[rockstar_not]

I'm guessing none of those arguing about which of these top-shelf monitors are the best for a BEGINNER got started using any of those.

I might be wrong.

Today's Musician's Friend Stupid Deal of the Day would have been a great investment for a BEGINNER: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/stupid/?icid=200510

$150 for a pair of Fostex 6.5" active monitors.

The BEGINNER has to understand if this hobby or career is something to pursue with further time and investment, and I submit that they can do that without purchasing very expensive kit, whether mics, preamps, monitors, mixing desks, etc.

Sure we all would love to mix in a room designed by Russ Berger's company, and have our choice of SSL/Neve/etc., with monitors from Genelec/Focal/Blue Sky/, mic lockers stocked with the best from Neumann/Royer/etc. etc. etc. etc.

IMO , this shouldn't wade into a discussion about what are the best period, but how to help a BEGINNER get into this great hobby/career.

One of the other reasons I suggested a pair of great isolating earphones is because the room acoustics ARE so important to nearfield monitoring, and to kit out a brand new studio in the home/flat/office with proper acoustic design and treatment can quickly swamp any expenditure on monitors.

And if the BEGINNER decides to walk away from the hobby/career - the isolating earphones lose zero value - they just become that person's incredibly enjoyable personal listening device earphones.

Whomever posted about saving up for acoustic treatment is right on the money - There's a lower threshold to what one can do even with DIY gear that does run into the hundreds of dollars, to treat rooms that have acoustic issues. One that is rarely discussed but quite important is what to do with the HVAC. In the parts of the US that I have lived in, forced air systems are employed and these are perfect conduits for noise in other parts of the building/home/etc. It's quite expensive to handle how to kill that transmission path with a tortuous HVAC inlet/outlet in the tracking/monitoring room (in my case - the same room).

Before one gets into the minutiae of which nearfield system(s) should be used, the room acoutics almost always need handling and management.

Today's beginner has great starter kits to help them out from the primary manufacturers, Auralex/Primacoustic/others?. But that beginner should be prepared to spend easily up to $1000 on those kits.