listening

Honestly, I don't have a decent set of monitors. In fact I monitor through an old bookshelf stereo. :oops: Why? Because, none of the monitors that I have listened to in my price range were any good to my ears. At least not any better than what I'm listening with now.

My mixes tend to translate resonably well to other systems. No they aren't great but If I spend more than an hour on them I can usually get them to sound reasonable. The thing is that regardless of your monitors, you will have to deal with the imperfections of your listening space which really can have a huge impact on your mix. So, you need to be able to distinguish the characteristics of both your monitors as well as your room and understand how these affect what you hear.

You are going to lose bass on smaller speakers and you will gain bass on larger systems. You have to take that into consideration. What I try to listen for is to ensure that some aspect of the initial transient is apparent even on softer instruments. It doesn't have to be prominent but non existent would be bad. This ensures that when you listen on a smaller system, although you lose bass, you don't lose the instruments. They have some sort of representation.

Don't be too concerned that your songs don't sound great on $9 RadioSlack computer speakers. You will lose quality there and even comercial cds sound crappy on crappy speakers. Be more concerned about the hi-fi system that someone listens on. That's the one that will expose all the imperfections.

JHMO.

I listen on a Creative 4.1 surround set, a behringer nearfiel set and headphones. My 'target' for the mix is always my own nearfield set because that's what I listen on. I don't particularly care what others have.

yeah, this is the feedback I want.
more. gimme more.

I mix to my ear using my system. I do burn a few CDs and run to my truck's stereo, play them at works crappy stereo.
all in all I am plad with my mix.
knowing your room is most important. I mike my vocal in the same room. I have thought of an isolation room, but I like my room's bounce. semi alive works for me. I am a big bass loving guy. I need it. I am disappointed when listening to my mix aon the work computer. no bass.
|I read whwere Buck Owens used to boost his highs. back in the AM radio days a full bass in the mix wiould rattle the car speaker. Buck hated that.
a radio DJ loved Bucks records because they sounded much clear and bettert on the radio. it was the boosted highsBuck said.

so I mix for me, but want a good mix for others.

When I casually listen to music at home, I usually just use my computer speakers. But I use my Shure E2c headphones when actually listening to judge something (by myself or others), or when I'm in the mood of preferring sound quality to physical comfort. :) They're not top of the line, but they're pretty solid in-ear headphones (got them for like $75, supposedly retail for $109).

As for mix, I can only guess that the best you can do is to mix on the best speakers/headphones that you own.

I have a M-AUDIO Fire wire connected to a Sherwood RV-405 OR surround sound receiver (garage sale for $10) My speakers are pioneer speakers from a cheap surround sound system I got at a re-sale store for $5. I should get a better set of speakers :roll:

I have a Yamaha stereo amplifier (fed from my Audigy 2 PC sound card) with studio quality speakers that sit about 2 feet from my face.