Studio monitors

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Gps
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Re: Studio monitors

Post by Gps »

That desk looks awesome. Will use it for reference.
Fun fact my monitor is now on top of an old wooden (33rpm) record case.

I am laughing about the cleaning up comment.
I had to clean up my desk so I could even place the adams. :lol:

Also planning on a photo, and wondering if I first should do some more cleaning up, or just say screw it and just show the not so clean desk.

Already have some wood here, and with a few more planks, I can make a desk like the one on the photo. :)

Although a different brand, those foam pads are like the ones I have.
https://www.bax-shop.nl/studio-monitor- ... orisolatie

As we type I am not using all pads, so my adam are leaning a bit backwards.

Gps
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Re: Studio monitors

Post by Gps »

I just realized, I forgot to tell the most important part about that music store.

It had a metal sign, like a traffic sign.

Now guess what it said ?

No Stairway To Heaven. :lol:

For those missing the joke, there is this internet rumor, that if you play the intro of Stairway to heaven, they will kick you out of the music store.
It seems Waynes world started this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsRqC0kOywI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bE0vYHl5fxo

tseaver
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Re: Studio monitors

Post by tseaver »

@Gps:

Several open-mic sessions I have attended in the past had an explicit "No 'Wagon Wheel'" rule: performing that song, originally by the Old Crow Medicine Show, and made wildly popular by Darius Rucker, would get you not only removed from the mic for that evening but banned permanently.

Sessions without such a rule might have three or more (seven, once!) performers performing their own renditions, each one worse than all the others. :)

Ubuntu, Mixbus32C; acoustic blues / country / jazz
Gps
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Re: Studio monitors

Post by Gps »

Yeah I can imagine store owners getting fed up with people butchering Stairway to heaven too.
(or just having to listen to it all day)

I never understood why its so popular though, its not in my personal top 100, not even close.

To some extent I might be more into disco and house, but you can wake me up for child in time, smoke on the water and paranoid any time.
Aces of spades too.

Gps
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Re: Studio monitors

Post by Gps »

Image

Gps
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Re: Studio monitors

Post by Gps »

I think I found an answer about connecting your gaming headset to a focusrite (solo)

The focusrite does have a 1/4" line in, so you could connect your guitar. But the microphone of a gaming headset is probably not gonna work.

Connecting is not the problem, I now have two 3.5 > 1/4" adapters.

(there seem to be headsets with 1, 4 ring plug, those will def not work, the focus line in expect a 3 ring plug)
The Sennheiser gaming headset has 2, 3.5 3 ring plugs.

It's not a problem to connect the GSP 300, the speakers of the headset work fine.

I started audacity and tried to record my voice, and it seems it failed.

I might give it a last try, but also found an article about gaming and the focus.
You can even buy a focusrite gaming set (which has the solo) and a separate mic and separate headphone.
That mic you connect to the the XLR socket, not the 1/4" line in.

I am still very happy, I did not buy the dac and speakers for gaming, and this minor issue does not come as a total surprise.
If I want to game with the solo, buying a mic with an XLR connection is an easy option.

Another solution is off course to connect the headset to my pc, like I did before I had bought the focus.

Gps
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Re: Studio monitors

Post by Gps »

Listening to music with my headset connected to the focus, I notice more stereo then with the headset connected to my mobo.
I did not see that coming.

This reminds me a problem I noticed after building this pc.
On top of the case are two usb ports, and two headset connections. (mic and headphone)

I was never able to find the problem with those 2 sound connections, the problem being sound from them was very poor.
Online I could only find, I was not the only person complaining about this.
The work around solution was to connect the headset directly to the mobo.

The focus is only a small step up from the mobo dac chip, but the sound is definitely a bit better and there is more stereo.
This more stereo is even more noticeable on the speakers.

Need to do some testing in LMMS with the Calf plugins.
Can I get my stereo just as wide with Calf plugins, as I am hearing in the commercial mixed tracks.

Might have to look for different plugins. I never liked how the Calf stereo widener in LMMS messes with the left right balance.
There is no full LV2 support in LMMS yet tough.

On the bright site, I was able to install and use ample guitar M lite in LMMS. (wine needed)

Should I take a gamble and buy the ample electric guitar one ? Its far from cheap, but it can do this:
https://soundcloud.com/ample-sound/good-times

But will the strum part also work in LMMS ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kO4wHkbs0h0

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Impostor
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Re: Studio monitors

Post by Impostor »

Gps wrote: Sun Jan 15, 2023 11:40 pm

There is no full LV2 support in LMMS yet tough.

Maybe you can use Ildaeil vst (a sort of mini Carla) to wrap lv2? Works fine in Renoise. Automation is not yet possible though.

Gps
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Re: Studio monitors

Post by Gps »

Now you mention this.

One of the LMMS devs said it should work through Carla (lv2 plugins)

That was last year when I asked about the Calf plugins gui not showing.

Gps
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Re: Studio monitors

Post by Gps »

I solved another issue.

When shutting down my pc, the dac stayed on.

For asrock:

Go in to the bios, advanced , deep sleep mode.

Change it from disabled, to on for S4+S5.

Although I hardly understand what that is about, my solo does now switch off when I shutdown my pc. :)

Thanks to an Youtube vid about usb thingies staying on after the shutdown of your pc.

Gps
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Re: Studio monitors

Post by Gps »

I learned a few thing from watching this vid.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8liy6Z3_Ak

The tweeter need to be at ear height, is the part I wanted to share.

Now I also understand why Adam TV5 are considered a budget option.
That does not make me less happy with them, but here are studio monitors of 1000 euro a piece and even a lot more.

It reminds me of motor racing, another bottom less thing to spend money on.
The question is much more about what can you afford, compared to what you need.

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sunrat
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Re: Studio monitors

Post by sunrat »

Gps wrote: Sun Feb 26, 2023 4:40 pm

Now I also understand why Adam TV5 are considered a budget option.
That does not make me less happy with them, but here are studio monitors of 1000 euro a piece and even a lot more.

It reminds me of motor racing, another bottom less thing to spend money on.
The question is much more about what can you afford, compared to what you need.

ADAM T5Vs are quite a good budget option. I own a pair of A5X which was the range above the T series and about double the price (now discontinued). I liked the sound of the A5X when I bought them but over time found they suffered in component quality. After 4.5 years both the amplifier modules failed, one completely and one had a buzz. Fortunately they had a 5 year warranty so these were replaced by the dealer, but another 5 years on and both have a buzz at switch-on although that vanishes after a couple of minutes.
In the time I was waiting for the A5X repair, I went to the local retailer with intention of buying T5V or T7V. These sounded good for the price and better than most they had including JBL, PreSonus, M-Audio etc. But then I had a listen to a pair of EVE SC205 and bought them after about 15 minutes of listening. They were IIRC $AU1799 compared to the T7V $799. The EVE has more powerful amplifiers, a slightly larger bass driver and larger cabinet resulting in a more full-range response and noticeably better clarity.
I've had the EVEs for 6 years now and never regret buying them. The components just seem more robust and higher quality.
So sometimes one should stretch the budget to achieve better outcomes in the long run in terms of quality, reliability, and sound!

What you say about studio monitors costing €1,000 - that's still low mid-range in price. There are some which cost 10s of thousands of euro! Even higher-end models of off-the-shelf brands like ADAM, EVE, or Neumann are over €5,000, while for custom monitors the sky is the limit.

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Re: Studio monitors

Post by Death »

My monitors were about £350 new and I always get comments about how nice my mixes are. I think my mixes are decent but there are people who can do way better in my opinion, but I do know I'm not producing bad mixes which is pretty cool with my budget and mixing environment considered :)

Getting to know how good, commercial mixes sound on your monitors & headphones is really useful and probably more important than the quality of your playback system, unless you have a bad playback system of course. Lots of good mixes have been done on budget setups. It's just that if you want to get to that really high level then aside from the skill to do it, you'll also need the high end gear and a good mixing environment. High end monitors are wasted in a less than ideal mixing environment though,,

Getting to know your monitors, checking on headphones and learning to spot possible issues with a spectrum analyser which your monitors & room may be hiding from you will take you far! I also think a well designed & performed song with an average mix will totally outshine a crap song with an amazing mix so remember to focus on the music and don't get too bogged down in the engineering side of things ;) I've been there though so I understand.. It's a necessary part of the journey..

This isn't advice targeted to anyone specific but is just what I've realised from many years of doing this!

Gps
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Re: Studio monitors

Post by Gps »

When I started to use LMMS, there is one thing I totally underestimated.
Its the mixing of my own tracks.

That is for me much harder then I thought, and a study by it self.

I was also told , that if I was gonna spend more then 500 euro on monitors, I should also sound treat the room.

Watching a vid I made for a house track I made. I also read the comments.

When I listened to this track on the Adam tv5, it sounded very bad. It reminded me of trying to add more bass (low end).
I clearly over did it, but that's something I could not hear on my gaming headset.

The comments how ever.

Aye, this is a sick house tune dude. Subscribed

Wow! Cool house music dude

Dude, this video and music is sick! o
I just subscribed.

Here I am, it seems I already wrote a hit, but I am complaining about the mixing. :lol:

Not every body likes old school house, but the ones who do like my track.

It makes me wonder, should I quit trying to make music and just go full house.

Make a boom clap drum pattern, do a 4 or 8 count loop. Add some stuff to hide its repetitiveness, and you have a house hit. :P
The hard part though is to have a groove and loop that makes people want to dance.

Chords ? who need chords.

Back to my monitors, most of my listeners don't seem to have any high end audio gear.....
Only on these forums I get use-full feedback. Pan instruments different, was something that did open my eyes.
I started to notice this in pro mixed tracks, after this.

My monitors and DAC are helping me allot to notice it.

Death
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Re: Studio monitors

Post by Death »

Ah god yeh... Adding too much low end is something I always used to do! It takes you a while to learn how much to use, how to shape it and how to control it. EQ & compression are the main tools of mixing and good use of them will really help you to shape the low end and avoid all the mess with it! This is also where a spectrum analyser comes in handy as it can be used as a second opinion for the mix balance; If you see a big bump in the low frequency range then the chances are you've got too much going on there. This is assuming that the spectrum analyser is setup in the correct way - look for a mastering preset & use that.

Panning is another one. I pretty much didn't pan anything until I was quite a few years into this. It's actually a useful mixing tool when you've got things occupying a similar frequency space. Sometimes you don't like the compromises you have to make with EQ so you can instead just pan the sounds to opposite speakers. The mono compatibility won't be as good, but seriously, who even listens in mono these days? Some nightclubs still use mono so I suppose that might matter to you with the type of music you make. Just something to think about..

I agree about the advice you got on monitors. However, I'll also add that I think it's worth treating your room regardless. That said, I've been mixing for 10 years and I've never treated my room. I just put a pair of cushions behind my monitors haha.. I also have the same budget monitors I purchased back in 2015 and these are the only ones I've ever owned. Before that I was mixing on my Hi-Fi system. I do have some really nice mixing headphones though and so I always use them in combination with my monitors to figure things out.

And yes, most people are not listening on high end gear. Most people's sound systems are low quality and/or EQ'd REALLY BADLY! I feel like it's almost a crime to give the average person EQ controls... But anyway, this is why it's also good to convert your mix to mp3 then listen from your phone on cheap earphones & headphones because that's the experience most people will have. Car playback systems are also recommended a lot for similar reasons. If you can make something that sounds good on lots of systems as a commercial mix would, then you've done well :)

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