new monitor speakers

[garrett21allen]

Hi everyone

its time for an upgrade with my old monitors they are the alesis m1 active 6.5
I am mixing in a small 10+10 room and the alesis sound heavy in bass
so I was wondering if a smaller speaker 4 or 5 inch speaker would give me better results
my room is treated with auralex and rockwool. just wondering what most of you guys was
using if your in a small room like me. I am looking for the flattest speaker at a fair price
without it giving extra bass or extra high end. something close to the s10s they don't sound
good so if you can make a mix sound good on these it will sound better on most other speakers

thanks for any help
joe allen

[Crash]

I mixed on the HR824's since they came out. I think those are excellent speakers for the money. I also use NS-10's and Auratones. I have just recently retired my HR's for some of these.




So far, I have only done some rough mixes with them and have been pretty pleased with them. The stereo imaging is jaw dropping freaky compared to any other monitors I have used. You can go from full attenuation to +2db on the mid and tweeter, so you can really dial in you response. Not cheap but quite a nice monitor.

So your monitors are making you mix bottom heavy or top heavy? I would think your mixes are coming out dark but I am not sure without clarification.

[garrett21allen]

thanks crash

what is the name of the new speaker you got and what size are they
they look neat I bet they do sound good. I fill like my mixes
are bottom heavy seems like they have to much bass

joe allen

[Crash]

These new monitors are the HG-3's made by Trident. They are a 3 way design and are about the size of a small microwave I would say. They go for just under $4k so they are another level of money compared to what I was using.

The bottom heavy mix is not uncommon. If you have some NS10's, a trick I use is to get a mix going and then run a mix through while listening on the Yamahas at 90db c weighted. If I see the woofer start to do any sort of excursion, something is off in the bottom end. It is not uncommon for me to do a gentle lift around 5-6k to give my mixes a bit of presence and air as well.

How much treatment do you have going on in your room? Maybe you could stand more rockwool or rigid fiberglass. I have panels in all my corners, all the walls, a ceiling panel over mix position 4 inches think and 4 inches off the surface. You can see one in one of the pics up there, black with red frame.

[Crash]

Here is another pic of some of the panels.

[garrett21allen]

wow $4 grand for a pair of monitor speakers
you can tell people with money. I don't think I will every
be able to get a set of monitors like that unless I win the lottery

crash I have bass traps in two corners from the floor to the celling
and have two 2x4 4 inch on both sides of the wall and I have some arulex
on some of the walls too. I was just thinking by my room being so small
that a smaller speaker would help me to make better mixes is a small room
without having to much bass. I had the 6.5 and I was thinking maybe
a 4 or 5 inch would do a better jib in this small room.

thanks Crash
Joe Allen

[Crash]

I didn't buy them, it was part of an ongoing project that I am doing for gear as payment.

I am not convinced that monitors are your issue. I am still inclined to think your issue is the room.

[garrett21allen]

Crash I too like you think its more a room
problem than speaker problem I am thinking this
room is just to small to mix in. I have put as much treatment up as
I can bass traps from floor to celling 2x4 four of them 2 inch gap plus arulex
I do need some new speakers because they are getting old
and I have been reading and there is so many to choose from. most everything
I read say that a small room needs smaller speakers and a bigger needs bigger ones
that's why I was asking about the smaller speakers thinking it would help
me mix better in this small room. they got all kind of monitors
and I was just wondering what would be a good speaker for around sex or seven
hundred dollars. thanks again crash for your input it helps me a lot

Joe Allen

[Crash]

If you are already bass heavy with your mixes outside your studio, I think going with smaller speakers is the wrong direction to go. If I were in your shoes, I would rid the room of all the auralex and get as much rigid fiberglass (Owens Corning 703 or 705) trapping in there as possible. I would aslo keep monitoring levels around 80-83 db c weighted. A possible relocation of your mix position may not be out of the question either.

If you absolutely want to go with a different monitor maybe the JBL LSR4326p is something that might work for you. They can probably be found for your budget in the used market.

[garrett21allen]

thanks crash for all your advice
before I saw your last post I went and got a new set of
monitors the Yamaha MS5 they are not the best speaker
but from what I can tell they do sound a lot better than the
Alesis as fare as bass wise. maybe I said things the wrong way
about the bass I meant that when I would mix on the Alesis
the bass was to much and it seemed like its hard to judge my
mixes. the Yamaha don't have half as much bass so maybe
I can get a little better mix. just wondering why would you think
its best to take all the Auralex down. maybe you know something
about aurulex that can help me. if you think it will help to take it
down then I will. I will try anything to help my mixing skills witch they
to are week too. so anything I can learn will help. thanks again crash
for your input because it really helps me a lot.

thanks joe allen