Question 1

Is upgrading the speaker monitors/audio interface the most important thing to making a mix sound better? (besides experience and skills obviously).

Question 2

I currently have JBL-305s and a Scarlett 2i2 (about 130-150.00 on amazon) and was wondering if this is limiting my mixing capabilities? I have heard the new usb 3.0 Apollo twin is very good.. Will this help my sound and mix? Will upgrading the JBL-305s also help my mix? And the question is what should I upgrade to?

Question 3

As many of you know I am a novice music producer/musician and was wondering the easiest and steve faoki fool proof way to calibrate my monitor speakers to my room.. I currently use a spare bedroom as my studio.. Thanks and god bless

 

What about a pair of Genelec monitors?Will help your mix sound much better.

 

guys ı had 2 friends who gave the track to a state of trance he used creative 2.1 sound speaker and ear pod
if the soundcard is not apollo or rme etc it cant create difference
the most important is mixing rulezzzz levelling eqing compressing after absorbers diffusers monitor and audio cards comes

 

8040's are 1345.00 USB EACH... That's gosh darn expensive!

 

no he didnt

 

Q1 : unless you buy really expensive monitors, like in mastering studios, I don't think it will change a lot of things. You already have nice monitors and a decent soundcard !

Q2 : Using another audio interface won't change the mix itself. What changes is the numer of I/Os, latency, preamps ans converters. If you don't record instruments, and don't use external hardware, then stay with your Scarlett. Unless you want to buy it for UAD plugins, but I never had the opportunity to try them...

IMO, the best thing you can do is treating yournroom before buying more expensive gear if not already done. Don't buy only cheap acoustic foam, they won't be efficient enough, and you may need basstraps before ! You can still upgrade your monitor before but you won't have the best sound possible if your room isn't good sounding.

Of course what I'm saying is only my point of view, and is NOT an absolute rule.

 

You're good to go with Focusrite, I don't know the speakers. All you've got to do is to properly get to know your speakers. Listen to music all day, different genres, different quality, compare them, learn their pros and cons. Of course, 5000 € Genelecs will give you better options when mixing, but the most important thing is to know your speakers, if you do that there's no big difference between cheap Behringer, KRK, Adam, you name it. If you want to ehance your mix pratice, compare and most importantly invest in your room's acoustics rather than into new equipment. Believe me, I've been through this, and somehow I'm still "in it". Getting your room treated is the absolutely most important thing

Concerning speaker calibration, forget it, it's bullshit.

Edit: I just took a look at your speakers and noticed they're 5". Some 8" or a small woofer could actually be a good investment since you're making EDM and can't mix what you can't hear.

 

Thanks which 8" ones would you recommend?

 

Well, I had KRK RP8 Gen 1 some years back, they had very strong lower frequencies but were pretty useless in the higher range. Now I've got Adam F7, they sound great, but maybe a bit too nice. Almost everything sounds good on them, until you switch to something that sounds better, so you've got to compare continuously. These are the only speakers I really know, I guess in the price range we're talking it's more a matter of taste and probably build quality. You should go test some in a local store or just read some tests and get the ones with the flattest frequency response and lowest lower freq limit.

 

can you just tell me what would be a big improvement for my JBL 305s without breaking the bank.. I make edm trap house

 

No, I can't, because I don't know any other speakers and as I said it can also be a matter of taste.

 

Moreover we don't know how much you want to spend, so we can't really help you !

 

Steve, you already know what you need:

http://equipboard.com/pros/steve-aoki

 

First you gotta make the money and then when you have the money you get the power,when you get the power you get the women...and women will buy you good speakers + interface or they will throw you off a helicopter.

 

I have a pair of JBL 305s and love them. I also use 2 - 10" subs with them. I tune my room with a graphic EQ plug in and pink noise, using Reaper's monitor Fx, so I hear it in the monitors, but it does not render. It works great for me.

Most important: compare your mix to another pro mix while you are mixing.

 

I would acoustically treat my room before doing any shopping for monitors. Auralex does a free room analysis and pretty much tells you how to treat ur room using their products. After that i would buy a pair of Auratones or Avantone mix cubes for mixing and then a pair of mid endish monitors around $1000-12000 a pair for producing/mixing. For Audio Interface i have an apollo twin (thunderbolt) and it sounds great, im assuming the usb sounds just as good. There is also stuff from RME for windows around $500ish. Were talking about $2500 to complete Steve Faoki fool proof ur studio.

 

A serious answer.
JBL`s can get you a decent mix but you need high end headphones to really hear all the details,monitors up to 2k eur wont give you the high end detail you need,detail quality headphones like akg702/712/812 can deliver.
That and listening to quality mixed recordings,you need to learn to listen,mixing is like a zen art of doing things,its all in details,little things that compliment each other.

 

Changing your audio interface won't change anything besides your I/O port amount really. Same for monitors - you have more than enough. To compensate for the room, try Room EQ Wizard to get the frequency response of your room - it gives you a curve like this:



Then you just put an EQ on your master channel to compensate, like so:



Make sure you put your microphone right where you usually sit and listen so it gives you a better overview. Also, some DIY acoustic panels right on the other side of your room (the first place where the sound of your speakers hits the walls) could be handy to tame the nasty reflections. As well as a bass trap or two in the corners of your room. That's basically it, enjoy your mixing and do as much of it as you can to gain the experience which tbh is the biggest game changer!

 

Genelecs are definitely a game changer

 

Have the same Audio interface. But upgraded to Focal Cms 65's. These were the best soundong monitors for around 1000gbp in my opinion. Again just my opinion. Also have Sennheiser HD 600 headphones.

Always reference my tracks against Beatport purchases.

Lastly always listen to everything I do in work vans sound system.

But then what the fuck do I know. I actually deliver boxes for a living!