Hello everyone!

I will be embarking on a months-long trip away from my city, and during this time, I'll need to finish an album. Since I've always hated mixing with headphones, I'll have to find studio monitors that will work well in various hotel rooms where I'll be staying.
What do you think about the ns-10 or cla10? I've known about them for a long time but never used them. Many colleagues have told me that they tend to sound almost identical in all rooms (one of the reasons for their popularity).

In general, I would also like to know your opinions about these famous speakers (ns-10/cla10) and if they still make sense in 2023.

Thank you all, and happy summer!

 

All rooms sound different, same monitors generally sound virtually identical. If you play NS-10 type monitors at a low enough level so that the room isn't taken into the acoustics account, then the mid forward sound signature that they impart should be unaffected. It's not that they sound the same in all rooms, it's the fact that NS-10 boxes are possibly your collegues frame of reference.

 

I would suggest against 10" monitors as you'll likely disturb other guests (ask me how I know...) and those NS-10's are pretty big to be lugging around with you.

I would suggest something like the IK Mulitmedia iLoud Micro Monitors https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/iloudmm/?pkey=iloud-micro-monitor

I know several mixing engineers who travel with these and end up getting great results. Hope that helps.

 

I think NS10s are garbage to begin with but if that's what you're used to hearing and can compensate they aren't entirely too big to be practical. You have to have what your used to or just going to wind up doing the whole thing over or trying to radically fix it in mastering.

 

I agree that the NS-10 are trash boxes. Especially compared to any new decent monitoring system.

Shafeeq suggestion is a good idea or even better, their precision line especially because they can be calibrated to the room. I would also look into the Kali IN-UNF (but your mono crossover point will be as high as 280hz) with Sonarwork.

Another option is one of the Genies 8330A with the GLM mic and software.

 

NS-10s cone is 7 inches..

In this situation tho I would use a good pair of open Headphones

 

Have you tried headphones with something like this?

https://novo-notes.com/solutions#monitoring

 

This is technically impossible, the room is always part of the acoustics, SPL doesn't matter.

Totally agree. I'm using the IK iLoud Micro Monitors for mobile work myself as they are ultra portable. The key is a real small near field setup near a wall on small stands to be at ear level, because they are very limited in low end SPL, but otherwise sound great. This also is very helpful to not get problems with neighbours. But I also use a measurement microphone and manually calibrate the room with REW and an EQ, which helps a lot. But rooms are very different, so no speaker will sound absolutely the same in different rooms, even with EQ. Also the position in the room impacts the frequency response a lot.

The only thing I hate is the thick and hard connection cable making it impossible to place them really near to a wall. I made a more flexible one, but the connectors are very hard to find, so i improvised with DIY connectors.

 

Personally I would use Realphones and cans, but than again, I'm used to working with that combo, if I had to get me monitors on the go, Neumann KH-80 would definitely come at top, on strict budget, probably iLoud Micro's.

Maybe it's good time to check out what's all the hype around Slate VSX?

 

True, although considering a random spl goal at the listening position, lower level on the monitors would allow you to get them closer to you (to get the same spl at listening position) while decreasing the distance of the source vs reflections, which can reduce the impact of the room to some extent (potentially causing other problems but whatever).

I would really advice against mixing low end with speakers on an hotel room, specially if you need to "finish" the album there. Probably best to use headphones or do most of the job on smaller speakers.

 

I've found it to be true as sort of the inverse idea a a microphone's self noise of let's say 14 dB. If the signal captured is louder than the self noise it is rendered irrelevant. I've gotten away with the horror of the untuned room I started with by listening to my then horrid monitors by keeping the triangle tight and listening at a low enough level not to bring the room into the equation. It's not an ideal scenario, but short of open back cans in a hotel room, doable. He also doesnt want to be kicked out of his lodgings. Try it for yourself and see.

 

ik Multimedia iLoud monitors. They're flat FR (due to DSP). So good that I bought 2 sets. Bring headphones to mix sub.

 

My recommendation: Slate VSX. Every studio monitoring situation... truly amazing to mix on.

 

These are two completely different things. Keeping the triangle tight is the right way to get more direct sound from the speakers and less reflected sound from the room. The shorter the distance to the speakers, the less the room influences the overall response.

But the main problem of an untreated room, the dips and peaks in the frequency response in low to mid range due to room modes, is the same no matter how low the listening volume is. Otherwise you would measure different responses at different SPL, which is not true.