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[Viitalahde]

Couldn't figure out a better topic title.

Just wondering, do any of you people keep your monitoring a tad on the dark side (no geeky jokes please) or did you end up getting a system that could be described a little "dark" (meaning slightly laid back high end, like steady 0 to -2dB rolloff across the spectrum but no lack of resolution)..?

I feel I like to do slightly darker stuff than the current taste is, and I figured that having a darker sounding playback system could make me balance the high end better to the clients taste.

I have now learned that on my Dynaudios I have to make the balance to piss me off slightly to make people happy. But just slightly, and not on all material.

My Dynaudios will be gone in 2-3 months (moving to a new room and the new place will provide me Quested VS2108's for starters) so I'm not going to tweak them anymore, but I want to have a true 3-way system in 2 years or so..

A BBC dip is a term I heard of and it's supposed to be something like this.

[Ronny]

Not me. I want my monitoring system transparent so that it relates true to all sources.

[Viitalahde]

Cool, but what is true playback? Different hearings and all..

[TotalSonic]

Jaako -
If you're looking to eq brighter - short of changing monitors or room treatments - you can simply monitor at a lower volume while making primary eq decisions - as this will tend to make your decisions more of a smiley face curve emphasizing the far ends of the spectrum over the mids.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

[Viitalahde]

Steve - good advice and I actually do that.

It's got to be a room thing too.. My current room is a simple, small, concrete-walled room where I could really just concentrate on killing the slap echos and heavy bass trapping. Maybe it's too dead.

[cerberus]

yes i monitor on the dark side... everything is relative...if i have a bright reference, the client gets a bright master...etc. i like to be comfortable with my monitoring, if flat is not comfortable, i don't want flat. i must not be too aware of the system, but i like it to sound "compelling" (but be aware of the coloration)  so i can listen deeper into the music; to afford the highest degree of concentration... until there is nothing else but the pure music in my perception.

jeff dinces

[Bob Olhsson]

DynAudios can be a bit bright.

[lowland]

Jaakko,

If three-ways are where you want to be ASAP, perhaps the Blue Sky 'Big Blue' system is worth a look (http://www.abluesky.com/p_s_gb/p3s9.html).

I reviewed it a month ago by having two sats and a sub 15 lent to a local studio and was quite taken with them. Although in that room it wasn't easy to say how suitable it would be for mastering, my guess would be 'very' and only proper evaluation in one's own environment would prove or disprove that. Blue Sky is quite a bit further up the price scale than their smaller systems, but still eye-opening price-wise compared to most 'high-end' speakers.

Three-ways are where I'm ultimately headed as well, and when the time comes for listening to various boxes the Big Blues will likely be up against some stiff (and relatively pricey) competition.

[ammitsboel]

Viitalahde wrote on Mon, 24 July 2006 17:58

I feel I like to do slightly darker stuff than the current taste is, and I figured that having a darker sounding playback system could make me balance the high end better to the clients taste.

You will most likely discover that this change will affect many parameters and not just the balance. Might be better, might be worse.

Viitalahde wrote on Mon, 24 July 2006 17:58

I have now learned that on my Dynaudios I have to make the balance to piss me off slightly to make people happy. But just slightly, and not on all material.

Maybe it's just the monitors?

H

[ATOR]

Quote:

I feel I like to do slightly darker stuff than the current taste is ... I have to make the balance to piss me off slightly to make people happy.

If you find all current records too bright I would trim the high-level on the back of the Dyns so that they sound right to you. It may very well be a monitoring fault. No need to piss yourself off.

I had my BM6as highs slightly trimmed in my former room. In my new room with better acoustic treatment they run flat.

[Catalin Truta]

lowland wrote on Tue, 25 July 2006 12:35

Jaakko, If three-ways are where you want to be ASAP, perhaps the Blue Sky 'Big Blue' system is worth a look (http://www.abluesky.com/p_s_gb/p3s9.html).

An excellent company regarding customer support.
I work on two of their smaller systems and I consider them an excellent value. But for using the Big Blue you need a big room.

[yeloocproducer]

I trim back the highs on my BM15a's... I can work better this way, much more comfortable.

[barefoot]

Jaakko,

Just remember that the balance of your speakers will tend to make your EQ choices go in the opposite direction.   If your speakers are dark, then you'll tend to EQ bright and vise versa.   If you want your work to sound darker than the modern norm, you probably don't want dark sounding monitors.    

On-axis frequency response isn't the only consideration.   The off-axis "power response" also effects the color of the speakers.    Assuming the on-axis responses are flat, speakers with wider dispersion tent to sound brighter, while speakers with narrow dispersion tend to sound darker.    One basic speaker type that I've found leads to translation problems is the 2-way with a larger (8" or 10") woofer.    Besides the fact that larger speakers generate much more midrange distortion, their off-axis response also starts dropping off at fairly low frequencies - well below the usual crossover frequencies.    So, even if the on-axis response is flat, they have a significant dip in their power response in the presence region - say 2kHz to 4kHz.    This gives them a kind of pleasing scooped out sound.    However, when you make EQ decisions using these types of speakers you tend to compensate by making the presence region brighter.    Then you're mixes will often sound a bit harsh and peaky on other systems.      

Hope this helps.

Thomas