Hello All,
I already posted this on the Whatever Works forum because it is my local hangout. However, it is probably better suited to this forum. This problem has been bugging me for a few years actually and I just got around to putting it into words. I don't know if I will make any friends with it, but I think it is something worth discussing.
Francis, I am very interested in your take on this. BTW, I am the guy who made the Clearview Monitor Lifts so many years ago.
For 30 years I have taught my students that you MUST correct the acoustics of the space BEFORE you place speakers in that space if accurate monitoring is the desired result. A good acoustic space can then accommodate multiple monitors and the differences between them are actually the differences between them, if you know what I mean. Eq'ing studio monitors results in a mix product that is a nasty inversion of the nasty room modes you are mixing in, if the monitors were fairly flat to begin with.
In the old days one of my techniques for room testing was to run long speaker cables out into a field to a to-be-tested speaker lying on its back in the grass. Then I would put a B&K omni mic 3' over the speaker and send pink noise through the speaker at about 90db. This is a decent recreation of an anechoic chamber for almost no money and will reveal the true frequency response of the speaker. (Since I grew up in a corn field, this was not too much bother to the neighbors, who thought I was insane anyway.)
I would then place a 27 band eq in line with the speaker and flatten the response out as needed. This is mostly just a good way to determine that actual deviation from linearity a real world speaker will present. After adjusting the monitor to pink noise, I then mark the faders on the eq and take the whole rig back into the control room.
Now I set the speakers up and put the mic at the listening position and turn on the juice. Next I readjust the eq to flat and mark my new positions. The differences between both settings is the ROOM.
What is the purpose of this exercise? To understand just how much of what I am hearing in the control room is the speaker response and how much is the ROOM. In any case, I NEVER leave the speaker eq'd to the room! That is disaster. Then instead of knowing how the room is affecting my mix product (the two mix tape or disc) I would in effect, cover all the room effect and hide it from my mix decision making, essentially blinding me to half or more of the causes of the character of the sound I am listening to.
I digress.
PA systems are almost completely different. In a PA, the product is what the audience is HEARING at the moment and it does not matter how whacked out the two buss is to get the room to sound right. That includes massive EQ and compression, whatever it takes. Live monitors are exactly the same. The SOUND is the product, so go for it. As long as you don't blow something up.
Now it seems that JBL (of all companies!) has lost their way and gotten the two circumstance totally mixed up. IMHO they are selling heresy in an entire series of monitors from the JBL 6300 on down and calling them a miracle (religious references intended, I'm waiting for acoustically transparent walnut volume knobs next). When you use the auto setup on these speakers, you are using them to nullify the room effect on your mix and skewing the MIX PRODUCT in the inverse amount. How could such a good company get this sooo wrong?
The other thing I find odd is that I have heard very few acoustician's and other manufacturers criticize this approach. Or did I just miss it? Is JBL too big to go against? What is up here? Ethan, what do you think about this stuff? Am I still out in left (corn) field?
Ok, I'll stop now. What I am hoping for from you guys is some feedback on how your mixes translate when you have used the auto setup on a pair of these monitors. I don't give a rats ass what they sound like or if you can hear more detail or any of that personal yada-yada about small monitors and such.
I want to know if they WORK and maybe if anyone knows...WHY?
Thanks for you help.
Best Regards,
Bill