Composing most of my music using a pair of Shure SHR440 head phones has left me wanting more. While I love the head phones and think they're a steal at around $80-90, they have their short comings. Mainly, it's the low end.
They have killer mids and highs but try to give justice to my 808's though and you're left feeling like Dostoevsky in the face of a Tzar - sentenced to death. This means I have to turn to my Panasonic ear buds and cheap Altec Lansing speakers for a cross reference. Even then, it's difficult to ensure the warmth and punchy-ness that's associated with bass.
This juggling act between two sets of head phones and speakers is annoying and isn't the best way to ensure sound quality. Enter the KRK Rokits. I found a set of them on clearance from Guitar Center and what a difference they've made. A set of monitors, like the Rokits, are a necessary things for every home studio to get at some point. The sound quality they provide allow your production to move up to the next level. This is especially true for my low end production. A test run on the hardest hitting dubstep and hip-hop tracks I have in my library did not leave me disappointed.
The underlying principle for production here is sound depth and quality. The higher the sound quality, the more detail you can put into each track. The depth of sound that monitors provide allow a degree of fine tuning that you just can't get with headphones or cheap speakers. This translates int0 better over all production quality. Again, it's the great little things the make great producers.
I couldn't agree more Scott! Its all in the details...
ReplyDeleteI also have a set of Rokits and I have been using my set of Sony MDR7506 headphones for 5 years now and they have not let me down. These get my stamp of approval, not just for sound quality but for actual product quality and durability as well. I am still using these daily, while vDIME has already gone through 2 pairs of AKG headphones. The benefit for me with headphones is you get the full range on the EQ spectrum and no added room noise. That low end in my beats are best heard and understood in the mix by using the headphones. When you listen in studio monitors you need to take into account the room in which you are listening to. In an improperly treated room bass build up can occur and leave your mix lopsided in other listening environments.
One of the best things I can recommend for the quality of your mixes is to listen to the final product on as many speakers as you can. Test the mix in your studio with monitors, your headphones, your laptop speakers, your car speakers, earbuds and a friends house. Make notes in each setting as to EQ changes to make to give room where it is needed, or to fill missing wholes in the mix.
One other great tip which was a requirement for my mixes in school is to compare with a professionally released track. You can listen to a finished products that have been edited and mixed in the best studios in the world and with the best ears in the game. Take a listen with a graphic EQ and you can see how the track is mixed. Take notes to the difference in low ends as this will make this difference between a muddy sound and that bass and kick that will rock the house. The mids and highs are where the snares, synths, hi hats and vocals will sit so it is important to give each track its own space in the mix as well because this tends to be the most cluttered in hip hop tracks. This gives you the chance to use what the engineers and the producers know about mixing and apply those same styles and techniques to your own mixes.
props for the dostoevsky reference
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