Recommended Pro Studio Monitors?

[ZolaIII]

2x KH 310A + 2x KH 750. Check at Thoman! That's full close buffle time coherent system with DSP calibration and in 2.2 for about 6K (if you give effort to it).
For those on tight budget and wanting better than average 8" studio monitors that will last as Yamahas try to catch discontinued JBL LSR2328P's (@Adis Promet Tehno).

 

[FrantzM]

@MusicEnthusiast100

Welcome to ASR.
No experience with Music Recording but it seems to me that the same myths we encounter in "regular" Home Audio permeates the Professional field as well. It seems to be full lof subjective point of views, and fixations on brands; thus you would find brands that populate some famous studios but sound and measure poorly. It is wonder that good sounding musical results, sometimes, come from these facilities or studios...

What has been found by Scientific studies is that good objective measurements, translate in good sound for most people, including non-[professional and this, across ethnicity or geography... People on ASR could point toward some of these studies.
All this to tell you that if you can swing it, then something like the Genelec 8361 or the Neumann KH 420 (one of the better measured speakers here) would be a kind of endgame for studio monitors. I tend to like , on paper , the KH 420 but the Genelec 8361. already a full range, floorstander in disguise , can be upgraded to an even better speaker (!!), with the addition of the W371A woofers, that transform it into a juggernaut... however for an additional and not so cool $20,000/pair . No typo.

Peace.

 

[moleman]

I'd look into getting a Trinnov (Nova or ST2 Pro). I wish I got one years ago. It truly is life changing for studio work and there's no way I'd mix without one now!
The better you treat your room the better results of course.

 

[Matt_Holland]

Currently working on a pair of Focal Shape 65. They are not bad at all but I always think I could do better because my songs are not translating that great on mobile phones.

Welcome.
Just to clarify, are you talking about the built in speakers on mobile phones?

 

[audio2920]

Trinnov is ideal. Dirac (on MiniDSP) sounds very similar in my limited testing, it's just clunky and lacks the features of a studio monitoring controller in comparison to Trinnov. But if you just need a box to sit between the DAW outputs and the monitor inputs, it's absolutely fine and far more cost effective.

I also wouldn't go back now... nothing has moved translation forward for me more than Trinnov and Dirac.

Sonarworks seems to lack the phase linearisation that happens in Trinnov and Dirac's FIRs which (again, in my limited experience) makes more difference in some rooms than others. It feels more like just a PEQ. Maybe I'm wrong.

IN8 is a good speaker, kinda the minimum performance I'd look for to get a decent mix done on, in conjunction with room correction of course. I like the IN8.

 

[Rja4000]

Genelec and Neumann get a lot of love here but I honestly don't see them as often in pro studios compared to ATC, PMC, Auspurger, Barefoot and some others.

I've seen quite a few Genelec in major Pro Studios.
Especially the wall-mounted monsters.

Radio France sold quite a few of their (now retired) Genelec 1032 on auction 2 or 3 years ago. They used to be standardized on those. They also have been using the bigger 3 ways later.

Studio monitors are subject to seasonal fashion as well, I'm afraid. Nothing very rational - except that Pros adapt to their customers' whims, sometimes.

 

[EERecordist]

Thank you. My question pertains to music production not streaming. I'll def. research on other forums as well but this forum seems very "objective" with the amount of users that actually measure speakers and don't just go by feel.

Yes, I do everything myself. The genres are hip hop and R&B. I would assume nearfield is best suited for my situation. I always had the preconceived notion that mid field monitors have to be paired with nearfields and they are only for "bigger studios", not for a home studio like mine but maybe I'm totally wrong. The acoustic treatment of my room is okay, could be improved for sure though. I have done some EQing with the hardware EQ on the Focals. I've tried using sonarworks but for some reason it would not work because it was not able to get a proper signal during one step of the process. Don't know if this was a bug or something else. I may have to give it another shot.

Good information.
I would take another run at Sonarworks. They have an EQ system add-on paid module using a calibrated microphone. I have not used it. Most people use nearfields now. The deader your room, the better. You might look at adding subwoofers and producing in a subharmonic synthesizer in your plugins. It may be with all of that, you do not need to upgrade your Focals yet.

I was thinking when you said mobile, you were talking streaming. You might develop your own reference mobile setup with headphones and earbuds. That leads to forums. Mastering Pros on FB is one and Bob Katz is on there. His book is a classic. There is a lot of buying and selling expensive hardware on that forum, easily ignored. Sure there are other reputable mastering forums as well.

There have been several other threads on choosing new studio monitors which might be worth a read.

 

[MusicEnthusiast100]

Yes, especially without a subwoofer and LP beyond nearfield, which includes a room of your size. I think it's definitely worth it for the additional 20% cost.

To me, 8351b sounded like a great monitor, the 8361a sounded like a full range floor stander.

Good to know, alright.

 

[MusicEnthusiast100]

I've seen quite a few Genelec in major Pro Studios.
Especially the wall-mounted monsters.

Radio France sold quite a few of their (now retired) Genelec 1032 on auction 2 or 3 years ago. They used to be standardized on those. They also have been using the bigger 3 ways later.

Studio monitors are subject to seasonal fashion as well, I'm afraid. Nothing very rational - except that Pros adapt to their customers' whims, sometimes.

I saw them in quite a few video production studios, they are basically the unofficial standard. Also seen them in radio production too but when it comes to "actual" recording studios or just mixing / mastering studios, I don't see them "that often", here and there for sure.

Yes def. trends in that industry in terms of equipment but usually music people at the higher level buy much less into hype and use what always worked for them until the end of times.

 

[MusicEnthusiast100]

What is the problem with translation to mobile phones?

Usually it is that the bass is too strong and there are problems in the mids / upper mids and/or highs that are glaringly obvious when listening on a smartphone but are hard to hear on the Focals even when knowing what to listen for. I resorted to turning up the hardware EQ for the lows and highs on the Focals to make them more prominent but still they lack detail that I can so easily hear on the phone.

 

[MusicEnthusiast100]

Room Eq Wizard is often used in the DIY approach, this video is a good starting point.

It generates parametric eq band parameters, wich you can use in another software called EqualizerAPO or in any EQ plugin of your DAW for example

Alright, thank you. I guess since I have the sonarworks calibration kit, I can use that one. Already gave it a shot once but like I said it had some bug or issue that made it impossible to complete the calibration process.

 

[MusicEnthusiast100]

First you should explain in more detail what the songs miss when played on a smart phone.

Of course this depends on the headphones used by the listeners. My guess is that in average those deliver a broader frequency range (say deeper bass) than your monitors so a senseful step would be adding a sub and use REW and a UMIK-1 to integrate it.

Copy paste from my other reply:
Usually it is that the bass is too strong and there are problems in the mids / upper mids and/or highs that are glaringly obvious when listening on a smartphone but are hard to hear on the Focals even when knowing what to listen for. I resorted to turning up the hardware EQ for the lows and highs on the Focals to make them more prominent but still they lack detail that I can so easily hear on the phone.

 

[MusicEnthusiast100]

2x KH 310A + 2x KH 750. Check at Thoman! That's full close buffle time coherent system with DSP calibration and in 2.2 for about 6K (if you give effort to it).
For those on tight budget and wanting better than average 8" studio monitors that will last as Yamahas try to catch discontinued JBL LSR2328P's (@Adis Promet Tehno).

What is the benefit of 2 subwoofers?

 

[MusicEnthusiast100]

@MusicEnthusiast100

Welcome to ASR.
No experience with Music Recording but it seems to me that the same myths we encounter in "regular" Home Audio permeates the Professional field as well. It seems to be full lof subjective point of views, and fixations on brands; thus you would find brands that populate some famous studios but sound and measure poorly. It is wonder that good sounding musical results, sometimes, come from these facilities or studios...

What has been found by Scientific studies is that good objective measurements, translate in good sound for most people, including non-[professional and this, across ethnicity or geography... People on ASR could point toward some of these studies.
All this to tell you that if you can swing it, then something like the Genelec 8361 or the Neumann KH 420 (one of the better measured speakers here) would be a kind of endgame for studio monitors. I tend to like , on paper , the KH 420 but the Genelec 8361. already a full range, floorstander in disguise , can be upgraded to an even better speaker (!!), with the addition of the W371A woofers, that transform it into a juggernaut... however for an additional and not so cool $20,000/pair . No typo.

Peace.

Thank you. I think floorstanders is more of an audiophile thing. In music production, we always work with a desk and to have the speakers at a certain height with screens on the desk and other stuff. So, a floorstander speaker would be counterproductive. I'll check out the two options you mentioned but the KH 420 are slightly above my max budget.

 

[sigbergaudio]

What is the benefit of 2 subwoofers?

Beyond increased headroom, it will normally give you a more even frequency response in the room, and less dips in the response (if you are lucky, none at all). So with the help of dual subwoofers and EQ, a very even bass response is within reach.

You also enable the possibility of stereo reproduction all the way down in the deep bass. The benefit of this for playback is somewhat debatable (long threads on this elsewhere on the forum). But it might be of use when producing so that you can actually hear the difference (if any) between stereo and mono bass, and make production choices based on this.

 

[Sokel]

What is the benefit of 2 subwoofers?

Bass and subwoofers

This is the second in a series of follow-up posts to https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...-of-lokki-bech-toole-et-al.27540/#post-950580, this time focussing on bass perception with a brief digression on subwoofers, since there's relevance to (reproduction of) concert hall acoustics. I’ve...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[MusicEnthusiast100]

I'd look into getting a Trinnov (Nova or ST2 Pro). I wish I got one years ago. It truly is life changing for studio work and there's no way I'd mix without one now!
The better you treat your room the better results of course.

I was actually looking into getting system like Trinnov but after consulting a few engineers who all agreed that this is not needed in a well treated room, I put it off my option list. Is there any latency? I am not just mixing / mastering but also producing and for that 0 latency is critical.

 

[ZolaIII]

@MusicEnthusiast100 again KH 310A and KH 750's with calibration (on them). Why? Because you asked for it! You get almost perfect impuls response and all the way with sub's, they are very low space (refractions) dependent and you can emulate pretty much anything on them.
Benefit of two sub's is high crossover point still ensuring harmonics don't bleed in mids and behaves fine even on low SPL with equal loudness compensation (psy as we hear). That's of course for 2.2 setup close to mains. You have reviews for both Neumann's hire on ASR, Amir whose touched with KH 310A and for KH750 you will find them in ten subwoofer comparation (from I don't remember who he did DIY and DSP modelling to KH750 in some aspects even with better outcome).

 

[Grotti]

@MusicEnthusiast100 again KH 310A and KH 750's with calibration (on them). Why? Because you asked for it! You get almost perfect impuls response and all the way with sub's, they are very low space (refractions) dependent and you can emulate pretty much anything on them.
Benefit of two sub's is high crossover point still ensuring harmonics don't bleed in mids and behaves fine even on low SPL with equal loudness compensation (psy as we hear). That's of course for 2.2 setup close to mains. You have reviews for both Neumann's hire on ASR, Amir whose touched with KH 310A and for KH750 you will find them in ten subwoofer comparation (from I don't remember who he did DIY and DSP modelling to KH750 in some aspects even with better outcome).

I measured 10 subwoofers.

Hi, it's been a while! I would like to thank the people who made this project possible on a scale never before imagined in South Korea. I measured a total of 10 subwoofers, including my own DIY subwoofer(L26RO4Y), and measured them to the CEA-2010 standard using a Klippel TBM module. Below are...

www.audiosciencereview.com

This is the review you couldn't remember who did it...

 

[MusicEnthusiast100]

Welcome.
Just to clarify, are you talking about the built in speakers on mobile phones?

Thank you. Yes, mobile phone speakers.