Are studio monitors overrated?

[JanL]

I used to produce and mix music for living some years ago. My perspective on using consumer speakers as studio monitors is as follows.
Consumer speakers vary in quality.
Studio monitors as a category are not standardized in any way. They also vary in quality and design dramatically.
The best studio monitors and the best consumer speakers are close in performance anyway.
Using average consumer speakers to nail the balance in a mix as good as using studio monitors is possible, but using average consumer speakers to dial in individual instruments during tracking as well as mixing is unnecessarily hard.
When you adjust a microphone's position and EQ to capture a live sound, you don't want a speaker with crappy frequency response and high distortion because you will compensate for it with mic placement and EQ to hear what you want. You want your individual tracks to sound great before you go into the mixing stage. That's where flat frequency response of the studio monitor is tremendously helpful.

If you work mostly with synthesizers and premade sampled instruments then it doesn't matter. They sound correct out of the box.
So then when you make a mix of those premade sounds, they will stack up similarly on flat FR speakers or less than flat FR speakers.

But if your vocal track is most prominent in a frequency range that other instruments are not using much, the speaker's frequency response in that range will affect your mix very much. For example if your speaker has prominent 1-2kHz bump and your instruments are not very prominent in that range, your vocal will sound balanced on the crappy speaker but it will sound weak on other speakers that are flat in that range. You will have nothing to balance the presence of the vocals against, just the natural bump of the speakers in that frequency range.
So you need to be super careful how you use the less than perfect speakers. They have their place in the studio, but some tasks are better done on proper neutral sounding monitors.

 

[FireEmblem]

If you work mostly with synthesizers and premade sampled instruments then it doesn't matter. They sound correct out of the box.

Yes but the 'theory' is that if your coloured system comes with some unique EQ we might be EQing against, instead for the actual source material.

But I don't know.

I've been spending days now listening to music on T5V and T7V and then my consumer speakers, compared tracks and track passages side by side a hundred times and there's just no difference. All songs sound just the same on both. I'm desperately waiting for something to stick out, like "Oh wow, I couldn't hear this subtle choir in the background on my consumer speakers", but it's just not happening. Because I'd like to have more reasons than just "wide stage" to keep studio monitors.

I even tried very complex orchestral songs with many different layers. Where you'd hear a string line on the left, brass on the right, piano from the "top", deep percussion in the back, string ensemble in the center, and then there's a male choir and a female choir with a 70:30 ratio with the females being almost masked by the males. It's not even 1% easier to distinguish or more difficult not to distinguish the female choir beyond all this action that's going on in the track on the studio monitors / my consumer system. And any just-so-quiet-and-subtle little brass note that is chimed in here and there is noticeable.

Also, I cannot spot any distortion on my consumer system, at least not in volume levels below house party loudness.

The only actual advantage I'm hearing with the T5V and T7V is that everything sounds "bigger", so you're closer in the sound. As if you were in front of a stage. Like VR, but just for audio.

If you would give me the same song to mix and let me listen to it on the T5V, T7V or my consumer speakers, I'd probably make the same or almost same decisions, without anything being significantly different. Because it's like I said, we humans (I just assume that I'm not an unique alien) listen to the entire track and the balance of things, so lows are referencing against mids and highs and then the instruments against each other, not for very small parts in isolation.

So I don't care whether 600Hz sound 3dB louder or quieter on one or the other system (brain makes up for this anyways, you might measure this, but it's difficult to notice). I care whether or not the instrument that plays in that region is in balance with other instruments. It's not that you switch speakers and suddenly the balance is off. The brain makes up for small differences and acclimates itself to the new system, but I've written about that in the previous posts already..

I wonder if maybe what works so well for most people with studio monitors is simply that they have an easier time listening to details, and thus improving their mixes.
Where I am an alien maybe is the fact that I've been composing music and doing tons of sound design on my consumer speakers for good 10 years. So my ears are trained to spot the smallest details as I've been building hundreds of synth patches with attention to detail. Of course, on my consumers, everything's a bit more "far away" in terms of how it feels, but it's not any issue at all for me.

Maybe a bigger stage with studio monitors help if critical listening isn't too well developed. And I'm not saying this to be against studio monitors.. I'd actually like to gaslight myself into needing them, but it's difficult. I like to have these big guns on the table, it looks super cool. I like being closer to the sound. But that's a very minor upgrade given the price.

Same goes for the Sennheiser HD650 against my Superlux HD681, it's the same song and dance. HD650 have a wider stage, but they're lacking bass extension in direct comparison. They're a bit more gentle to the ears, but it takes long to fatigue my ears with the HD681 anyways, as I keep an appropiate volume for headphones. If you'd let me mix the same song on both, I'd once again not do anything much different. I've listened to many of my own compositions that I mixed entirely on my own, and they sound the same everywhere, including the Sennheiser HD650. Here too, I'd have loved to find something that sticks out where I'm like "wooooow, never spotted this before" so I'd feel much more convinced of the "upgrade".

As of now I'm once again thinking if I really need them. 300€ for a wider stage that is nice to have but not crucial, and a "more neutral frequency response" that seem not to make any difference for me in practice.

Might spend those 600€ that I'd drop on Adam Audio + Sennheiser on a new Synth, VSTs or some high end midi keyboard instead.. but I'm undecided yet. One part of me just wants to keep the 'better' equipment and hope that somehow I'll have magical gains when I mix for things I'm unable to notice, but that doesn't feel very convenient.

Someone once told me: "If your mixes translate well and there's nothing you cannot make decisions about on your system due to it being incapable of displaying it, you don't need anything else".

Maybe I'm lucky and the Logitech System I've purchased is just a masterpiece of engineers work. Back then when I purchased it I listened back to all the systems they had there for presentation and I liked it the most, imo it sounded clearly superior to everything else. Always when I'm switching back from the TXV's to the Logitech, I'm like "Okay, here it goes.. prepare for a much worse sound", and then they just sound absolutely lovely and not any worse at all, and I'm like "Duh, that's it? There's basically no difference". Well, except for them being smaller and sounding narrower, but that's something you can only notice for the first minute right after switching. After that, the brain completely dives into full immersion and you'll find yourself entirely in the soundstage.

 

[Penelinfi]

People are going to have a different balance in their music whatever they use, even if the monitor is flat. A monitor should still be enjoyable in that you want to create music.
But you do still need something to check bass or as a second reference. Especially with less experience. I've played around with speakers and made them too dark even though I got used to the sound. Made some music that had too much subsonic as the headphones and speakers I had couldn't reproduce it enough.

On another note I listened to someone make a cover of a song, I assume they went for flat spectral balance, but I found the song too bright. Did a shoddy remaster to make it sound like how I'd make it. Not close to professional but then again I only do such things sporadically and not as a job of any sort.

It's also not uncommon (I thought) for people to have a cheapo speaker in their studio for cross referencing. I guess less of them use one as their main reference

 

[Tito]

..
EVEN though i am unworthy to responding to OP, BUT I WILL TRY to write in his/hers/their defense..


. some people are so spiritually advanced, that they can MENTALLY block certain BANDS OF FREQUENCIES WITH THE POWER OF their mind and faith in LORD.

They go, let the power of JESUS compells thee you nasty bloated m50x 150 * 200 hz bass. DOWN SATAN DOWN..

Go away yee nasty 770 pro 6k spike...DOWN! MAY THE POWER OF DANTE SUCCUMB YOU TO THE 5th circle of hell where yee belongs.

And guess what.. they just dissapear.

minds of these people can even ignore , NEGATE haRmonic distortions, it is unbeliveable.

so in accordance, every phone can sound the same, even tho it claerly isn't .. but it actually is.

ALL HTROUGH THE POWER OF FAITH AND MIND!

IT IS UBELIVEABLE!


And the rest of us people... BECAUSE OF OUR INEPTITUDE, well- we just have to use harman curve and oratory presets, and
peace apo, and simulating rooms, and.. AND TREaT ROOMS AND USE FLAT studio monitors.. ...i mean it is a sad sad situation oer here.

SUPERSAD SITUATION.


but.. we have to do our best. untill the evolutiuon does its way.. and eliminates us from the gene pool.

 

[RickS]

Closed at OP's request.