Well, I know this topic must be so painfull to read for some people, but I had to ask.
Last months I finally get to buy some speakers that could reproduce all the frequencies clean, they're not studio monitors, Just a 10" sub, 4" mid and 4" tweeter, I don't have equipment to test how unacurrate they frequency curve is, but I'm sure that it's not even close to be flat, so after all I didn't expected much of them... But after producing some songs in them I just noticed that the audience really liked the songs that I made in them, not just mixing but building the beat and everything on it, also, in the last month I had a chance to work in some some studios from here, taking the chance I paid close attention to how the monitors sound and how it feels to have a "flat" frequency response, in the first one of my city they had a yamaha hs-8, that sounds really natural, nothing really sounds much energic, maybe the best definition is a dead sounding speaker, but after a while they started to sound normal to me, a clean sound at all, after returning home I paid attention to the sound of my speakers and realized that there was really not much difference, except for the slightly more vivid bass of my sound, today I went to a costumer studio and him had a pair of krk monitors, they sound really different from the yamaha ones, this was strange for me because if they both are studio monitors, why does they sound so different? they reponse graph is almost the same but they sound really different, also mixing in my speakers that aren't even designed to be studio monitors still sounding ok for my costumers and they audience, so, does flat response and studio monitors really matter at all??

 

That's nice to hear! So I don't really have to buy expensive monitors to produce good music❤
Also, how to compensate? Im whilling to spend some bucks on room threatment for my home-studio, but Idk if there's a right way to do it, I want to get have a silence place without any sound from outside (because there are so much noise from outside) and I mostly produce during night time so I dont want to disturb the neighbors

 

No, you don't have to buy expensive monitors for sure but I would still try to get some reasonably flat ones. I tend to think in the long run a treated room and decent monitors will work much better than a weird untreated room and great monitors. Plus, now you can experiment with something like Sonarworks to try and help compensate for less than perfect conditions. One problem- sound PROOFING (as opposed to just sound treatment) can be a really expensive hassle.

 

To put it in simple terms, mixing in non flat monitors with an untreated room is akin to mixing with a random hidden EQ setting on your master chain. You can still deliver good results but it takes a lot more work and guessing.

 

does wearing a pair of blurry spectacles really matter when your driving?

 

After a point they do but one can wear an old pair of glasses that don't correct their vision to 20/20 all the way and still drive fine, and read, and other things. It's not really a good analogy though. I've been trying to think of a better one- like, can you paint a picture with proper color values on an off-white or tinted canvas? Maybe, with practice. Do you want to? Not if you can help it.

 

I think the easiest way to demystify the concept of the flat response speaker is to tell you about a friend of mine who built a pair of speakers for home hi fi use many years ago. He built massive boxes that housed 15" woofers. Powered by an equally massive amplifier I recall thinking they sounded pretty awesome. Obviously the bass response was quite intimidating. Recently he started making music and with the logic that he knew his speakers very well, he chose not to invest in studio monitors. I'm sure you know where I'm going with this but I'll finish anyway. His mixes had no bottom end. He didn't believe me because they sounded great at his place on his trusty hi fi. Incredibly, he has chosen not to acquire different monitors because his logic is that he's only making music for himself. And oddly, that's a valid idea as long as your music is never going to be played on any other speakers. But if it is, you need a flat response monitor.

 

Dude, you have plenty of wrong ideas, but you need to read a whole book on acoustics and speaker designs to understand what is going on. Even parts for good speakers that you can DIY cost more than cheap "monitor" speakers. Current offerings from KRK and Yamaha are consumer level gear.
KRK had some years ago better stuff - https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/krk-expose-e8b , that was still not as good as top of the line speakers you can find, if you have the budget.

 

You can learn to make ok mixes on any speaker. But in order to make great modern mixes you need a speaker that can give you full audible spectrum... The old guard could get away with the first statement because they were mixing for a medium that couldn't take the extreme lows We have in todays modern pop mixes... Hence why you see an auratone on top of all those vintage console pics from back in the day... Sure you can still use them to tell what your midrange is doing, but theres no way to hear whats going on below 80hz...

 

Well, this doesn't explains how does my consumers are doing well with the productions I made for them

Well, that's what I am thinking to do, sound proofing my room just because outside noise and for me to dont bother my neighbors, but like, how does would I spend isolating a 6 cubic metters room? I am running from monitors because I would pay like 400U$D to get a pair of the less expensives I know...

 

Last edited: May 18, 2020

It isn't supposed to. Are all your customers trained sound engineers?

 

lol that make sense asf

 

At some point, you really have to know what's happen in an ideal/industry standard environ, before mastering and ideally at some production stages. That said, you can have a good custom funky setup that feels good in your room and right in the ballpark of the outside world

 

Last edited: May 19, 2020

On a modest budget, something similar to this Handyman build would get you started:
https://www.familyhandyman.com/walls/how-to-soundproof-a-room/

But be cautious. Try not to suffocate in there, or cook your gear. If you're thinking of upgrading the Handyman build in order to achieve a totally "dead" sound space within your room, you will most likely need to budget for aircon and ventilation gear.

 

Actualy you also spoke out what I was thinking.
If customers ask for dance music, they may mostly focus on the beat and groove, if they ask for TV commercial music, they may mostly focus on the voice-over and the dynamic of music. None of they would notice every detail in your work. Once your products crossing genres of music, non-treated playback system may causing a lot of problems. If you are mixing sound for film, un-controlled bass will occupied your speaker, or high frequency will make a lot of sibilance.
I currently have a pair of PreSonus E8 and Temblor 10 sub, in a long time I never try to improve my listening environment, just making music one by one, in fact, my room has a big flaw in bass range, it caused a lot of my music turn out muddy in mid-bass range. But my clients, no one mentioned me something wrong, maybe they all satisfied(like I said they don't listen to every detail) or they realized something wrong but couldn't able to point out.
One day I was listening my music on stadium stage, the sub-bass just make everything unbearable. I've realized how fatal wrong with my sound. Few days later I've purchased a measure mic and install sonarworks.



I'm still try to tweak my sub and speaker to merge better, this is the newest measurement. It still has flaws, it cuts most of my bass out, that makes me frequently switching between speaker and headphone to check my bass. But, it also helps me to mixing more carefully. After some days, one client told me, he found my music sound better than old days.
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So, I think, if his customers get satisfied with his music, that is wonderful thing, and very lucky, but treat his room to get more flat sounding environment, will get his music more versatile in any condition or genre.

 

which the majority of pirates do not.

 

So just some quick comments about your topic. There are two main components involved with speakers to consider. The first is the one you have mentioned which is frequency response. The second is a bit more esoteric called phase alignment. Frequency response can be somewhat corrected by equalizing the mix, but if speakers are not in phase they can mask certain frequencies that when heard on other speakers will become very apparent and sometimes unpleasant. That is why every professional studio has a set of nearfield speakers like an Aurotone 5 set in an equilateral 4 foot triangle that has a single driver with a wide frequency range that is always in phase.

It has been my experience if you have decently designed speakers that are set up in a nearfield pattern, and then develop "your ears" with excellently mixed songs that are in the genre you are mixing, that you will have an environment you can successfully mix in. You don't need 2-10 thousand dollar speakers, you need to learn the sound of a good mix through the environment you have. And if you customers like your mixes then you are off to a great start!

 

It helps, but honestly you get a long way with a pair of half decent monitors, headphones and some reference tracks.

I'd say if you can't make really good sounding mixes on <$500 monitors you aren't going to make them with perfect monitoring either.

 

Flat response doesn't really matter, what really matter is fat response.