Is there a point to small, inexpensive near-field monitors?

Get that song on tape! Errr... disk?
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Re: Is there a point to small, inexpensive near-field monitors?

Post by northern_dirt » Thu Apr 03, 2008 5:34 am

If you have a mixer, id use one of its outs or an Aux send to feed the headphone amp..

Which mixer do you have?.. itll help determining what options you have
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Re: Is there a point to small, inexpensive near-field monitors?

Post by northern_dirt » Thu Apr 03, 2008 5:36 am

Orang Goreng wrote:
soundhack wrote: ultrasone pro 650s are my favorite headphones... before that i've used akg 240, sennheiser 280, and beyerdynamic dt770. those are all good , but i really love the ultrasone. wide range and open enough sounding to even use mixing.
Dang! Pricey though!
Yup.. these are even worse, Sennheiser HD 650
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Re: Is there a point to small, inexpensive near-field monitors?

Post by Orang Goreng » Thu Apr 03, 2008 5:46 am

northern_dirt wrote: If you have a mixer, id use one of its outs or an Aux send to feed the headphone amp..

Which mixer do you have?.. itll help determining what options you have
It's actually not a proper mixer. I use my Yamaha MT-120 4-track cassette recorder as a mixer ;). But again, how would I hear the recorded tracks if I connect the phones to this thing? Don't I have to get the output of my soundcard into that thing somehow? Or is that where a real mixer comes in?
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Re: Is there a point to small, inexpensive near-field monitors?

Post by soundhack » Thu Apr 03, 2008 5:58 am

sorry bout the expensive headphone recommend.... but i record enough sessions a year that i need a good pair. i have heard some good things about grado headphones as well as sony. i think they are both under $100.


you should be able to plug the m-audio card line out into 2 of the yamaha inputs and use the yamaha as your headphone amp.

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Re: Is there a point to small, inexpensive near-field monitors?

Post by northern_dirt » Thu Apr 03, 2008 6:28 am

I just checked out the Owners manual for the MT120..

You could use to of the inputs.. but if you want to keep them
clear, Im thinking you could also feed the output of your card
into the AUX return (if its not being used) for monitoring..
I see the recorder also has a phones out, so youd plug into that..
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Re: Is there a point to small, inexpensive near-field monitors?

Post by Orang Goreng » Thu Apr 03, 2008 6:28 am

soundhack wrote: sorry bout the expensive headphone recommend.... but i record enough sessions a year that i need a good pair. i have heard some good things about grado headphones as well as sony. i think they are both under $100.


you should be able to plug the m-audio card line out into 2 of the yamaha inputs and use the yamaha as your headphone amp.
Oh, don't be! I'm happy with all the recommendations I get. But I'm not aiming for anything professional, I just want a decent project studio for the stuff I put out. If that ever surmounts to anything, I'll re-record it with a band in a proper studio.

Here's a typical thing I did: http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_so ... ID=4270441 ; obviously, I could do with some recording.mixing/mastering lessons (yes, and instrument lessons. And singing lessons. Shut up, smartasses!)

But actually, I even recorded something at home (a background vocal track, with my old Sounblaster 16 PCI card, LOL) that made it unto an official release last year :).
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Re: Is there a point to small, inexpensive near-field monitors?

Post by soundhack » Thu Apr 03, 2008 6:51 am

that was great... love the organ and vocals... keep going in that direction.

i guess if i were mixing i'd try to tighten the drums up a bit.... and give the vocals more definition.  but i hate to be critical, i loved the track.

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Re: Is there a point to small, inexpensive near-field monitors?

Post by Orang Goreng » Thu Apr 03, 2008 7:35 am

soundhack wrote: that was great... love the organ and vocals... keep going in that direction.

i guess if i were mixing i'd try to tighten the drums up a bit.... and give the vocals more definition.  but i hate to be critical, i loved the track.
Thanks! The typical thing is though, while it sounds great on my stereo set at home, it sounds pretty naff everywhere else (like on my computer speakers here at work). There seems to be some strange thing going on with the lower mids...it's like there's some "cushion" over the overal sound. Probably because I compressed the hell out of it.

I don't think I actually did anything to the drum sounds... it's just a few samples from the Hammerhead program, triggered by LeafDrums. What would you suggest?
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Re: Is there a point to small, inexpensive near-field monitors?

Post by soundhack » Thu Apr 03, 2008 8:24 am

i'm about to do a session now (9:30am session  :( ). i'll take another listen later and say a little more....

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Re: Is there a point to small, inexpensive near-field monitors?

Post by soundhack » Fri Apr 04, 2008 9:54 am

i listened to it again a couple of times, and i still like it for a thick crazy lofi mix. how to change it? really depends on what kind of sound you're after.

if you want more clarity... the sampled drums could be improved - they are too washy and interfere with other sounds. i'd go with a shorter, higher fidelity kick and snare. the distorted organ seems essential to the sound. in the center it may be competing with the vocal too much. also (and i'm not sure of this) the vocal or the vocal effect (delay? reverb?) is getting a low-mid breathing sound occasionally which isn't adding to the song. this could probably be cleared out with a high-pass. and finally, some way of having a less effected vocal up front center would clear up the mix a lot. there's a lot of left-right movement in the vocal and vocal fx that could be reduced (on the other hand it gives a nice off-kilter feel). once its clearer, it might also allow you to bring other elements into the foreground (guitar).

a few caveats. these suggestions may or may not improve things, its hard for me to tell unless i hear things track by track and unless i'm able to isolate the sounds which might be interfering with each other (occupying the same frequency space at the same time, or not rhythmically complementary). also, a clearer sound isn't necessarily a better sound (but that's the world i come from). hope this helps....

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Re: Is there a point to small, inexpensive near-field monitors?

Post by northern_dirt » Fri Apr 04, 2008 10:05 am

I love that tune..

Only thing Id do is push up the lows on the Bass track..
And the vox id push deeper into the track.. maybe wash
it out a bit with a vintage sounding verb/delay combo..
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Re: Is there a point to small, inexpensive near-field monitors?

Post by noirengineer » Fri Apr 04, 2008 10:53 am

speaking of which.  i don't have any speakers set-up yet, but
sounds great out my lil' apple laptop speakers! my gear is all
disconnected currently (moved recently).  But great song!  i dig
the organ sounds too!  very nice touch!

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Re: Is there a point to small, inexpensive near-field monitors?

Post by Orang Goreng » Sat Apr 05, 2008 5:38 am

I REALLY appreciate you guys taking the time to do this, thanks a whole lot!

Yes, a thick crazy lofi mix is pretty much what I'm after. I'm heavily inspired by 60s garage and early Motown stuff, so that's sort-of the sound I'm after, although the music of course doesn't necessarily fit those styles. One day I will make something that sounds like drum&bass recorded in 1965, with the instruments of the time. On day, Gadget!

This is actually the first song I ever recorded digitally, about four years ago. There are hardly any effects on it... the vocal is actually double-tracked, the old fashioned way. THere's just some reverb on everything to glue it together.

Now I'm setting up a bit more of a proper project studio, I think I'll completely re-record it, with drums played on my MIDI keyboard instead of step-sequenced, like it is now.

THanks again!
Z.
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Re: Is there a point to small, inexpensive near-field monitors?

Post by Pingu » Sat Apr 05, 2008 8:31 am

The link won't work!  :(

The only useful tips i can come up with for achieving that 60's sound is HARD panning, loads of tinny reverb, the "vintage" preset on your compressor of choice and this free plugin: http://www.izotope.com/products/audio/vinyl/
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Re: Is there a point to small, inexpensive near-field monitors?

Post by Orang Goreng » Sat Apr 05, 2008 9:09 am

My link? That's odd... maybe you need to be a sounclick member to see it. It's on my Myspace as well (see the little globe button under my avatar); the song is the first one that will play.

Yeah, the singer of my prvious band gave me the Izotope thing, so I should still have it somewhere. I should look it up! Thanks!
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