Untreated room issue overcome by monitors AND headphones?

Performance & Techniques Music Production
1

Untreated room issue overcome by monitors AND headphones?

So I’m one of the THOUSANDS of producers in the issue of having a room that is unable to be treated, and having to decide whether or not to buy monitors and suffer and untreated room, or to buy monitors and cope with their negatives.

I’ve recently been thinking however..

what if I get both? surely the positives of both will work well together?

So monitors for sketching out ideas and getting the basics down, then a pair of good cans to adjust certain frequencies and double-check bass etc?

Yamaha HS5s and ATH50s?

What are your opinions on this?

Thanks guys!

2

I wouldn’t let the non treated room discourage you from picking up some monitors. If you set-up your monitors to the right height (ear level) and form an equilateral triangle from each monitor to your head, that should set you off in the right direction.

3

Agreed, I’d rather work on monitors over headphones any day, regardless of the room.

4

+1 to both posts

having recently switched over, i compare my cans to the monitors and its night and day even with an untreated room

5

Every room can be treated, really. You can make your own treatments with compressed fiberglass or mineral wool for cheap and hang them from mic stands (or build your own stand) if you aren’t able to put holes in the wall. You don’t have to let high commercial price tags or apartment living get in the way.

6

I doubt you’ll “suffer” too much! Go with monitors and headphones, both have their uses in the studio and you wont regret buying either.

7

I feel like a lot of people forget that reference can help deal with imperfections, which are always present, no room is perfect.

If you just use monitor speakers and make sure to use reference tracks once in a while then you should be able to deal with your rooms imperfections. As the properly mixed reference tracks will sound a certain way in your room, emulate that.

8

Or better yet, take your tracks and reference them on other set ups too. Car, kitchen, TV, friend’s stereo, etc.

9

I thought that was a given post-mix tendancy. :smiley:

10

I’m amazed at the number of people who come to me for mastering and they’ve only heard their song on one set of speakers in their studio. Seems like the practice is falling out unfortunately.

11

Haha, that’s like when I have to ask clients to send me new stems because all the files I got were in 190kbps MP3’s. :expressionless:

12

Yeah, but then they send you a 32bit/192kHz wav file instead.

13

Headphones usually make it difficult to judge the stereo image accurately I find. I’m using quality Sony headphones not cheapos, though designed more for DJing than monitoring. Because of that, they also colour the bass end a bit, but are crystal clear and emulate what a sound system PA might pump out well.

I’ve personally just invested in a pair of RCF Ayra 5 monitors that I will use to produce on. I will then use my headphones once I’m “nearly there” to begin referencing how they might sound in coloured sound systems rather than through flat monitors. I then plan on working towards finding a balance, using the monitors mainly to balance out the mids and highs and the cans to work out the low end (as 5" monitors might struggle for low frequency bass). Hopefully this setup will serve me well.