Question: Why do I dislike my VXT8 monitors?

Mixing and Mastering
1

I don’t receive pleasure from listening to my VXT8 monitors as much as I do when I’m listening in my car.

I know. monitors are supposed to be flat. the acoustics of the aforementioned environments are different.

Yes, but I desire to make music for my own pleasure, and it has been difficult to do so. I would like to find a set up that enables this experience for me.

Do higher tier monitors provide a different experience? VXT8s are used by many professionals, so I am confused as to why I’m having this experience of dissapointment. Is this a configuration of settings that I am missing? I have my monitors into my MOTU AVB ultralite.

Is it reasonable to produce through high res audiophile speakers and then do the final mixing on my monitors?

I will do most anything to assemble the optimal system for my purposes.

Someone please help me.

2

Car/Hi-Fi speakers are generally weighted to have more bass and high frequency content in their response. Thus making music sound more powerful and energetic.
The job of the studio monitors are to provide as flat of a frequency response as possible. As a consequence your music will translate better over multiple mediums.
For example, if you purchase a pair of speakers that are weighted towards the highs and lows all your mixes will sound flat and dull on other playback devices.

I understand where you are coming from, I can’t listen to YouTube on my main monitors as the high frequency distortion is horrible but for perfecting the top end of a mix, they are perfect.

3

I’m having problems getting started so I’ve though maybe using different speakers that actually sound exciting could be a viable way of at least getting some production going but that’s what they all say I guess

Still though, can’t believe how underwhelming my monitors are, maybe there is some way to improve them.

4

It doesn’t seem like this would be viable because it is contrary to convention , but I don’t really immediately care at all about translation of my mixes because Alll I want to do is use my creativity and take pleasure in producing music solely for my own sanity - what y’all think? Would producing on audiophile type speakers be fun?

5

are you unsatisfied with your own stuff on your speakers, or with commercial releases too?

when you are uncomfortable with just your music, then you have to rethink your sound design.
studio monitors are designed to tell you the truth. so if, for example, your sound is lacking in bass - the speakers will tell you.

if you have the same issues with commercial tracks too, then it could be a good idea to test out your room with the Sonarworks Software.
also, is your experience the same with decent headphones?

1 Like
6

Thanks for the replies. I would say it is just audio in general from my monitors that I find myself wishing sounded more pleasurable and vibrant.

What are the key components towards achieving a really high fidelity/resolution sound system for studio use?

Is it worth it to get something like a Prism Orpheus? What else?

7

Slay, you don’t mention the room in which you are using your monitors. Have you treated your room for the best frequency response it can provide for? In my case I had to do a lot of work on setting up my mixing spot in both terms of treating the physical space of what I have to work with (walls, ceiling, floors, etc.) as well as placing my monitors in the best location for listening. My space has significant issues with standing bass waves that I’ve mitigated as much as possible but even with all of the work I’ve done, I can only rely on a particular location and using Sonarworks Reference to get a flat response when mixing. There’s plenty of reference material online to help you do that if you haven’t looked into any of it yet.

8

Yes. This appears to be of primary importance, and sadly, complication.

I live in a one bedroom studio. My equipment is set up in the living room. There are floor to ceiling windows on either side of a glass sliding door, which leads to a balcony outside. The room conjoins a hallway leading to the front door, as well.

I have no treatment, and the subject seems kind of complex.

9

I have those KRK monitors, as well as a few others (Focal, Adam, QSC, Avantone). I am also a real lover of home listening, which I often do on either the Focal’s Trios or Martin Logan’s.

First things first… the recommendation of making sure that you have adjusted for your room acoustics using Sonarworks or another utility is a critical step— preferably after you have treated your room (i.e. RT-60, bass response, room modes, etc). The same can and should be done with your headphones, if thet are used for mixing or mastering.

Assuming you have flattened things, monitors vary widely, as do people’s hearing— both individually and over time. Those are not exactly musical monitors, but neither are they ultra-emphasized or overly revealing. You mayor msy not find them appropriate for your listening choices, depending on your musical tastes and other factors noted. If you can’t or haven’t treated your room, try listening at lower levels (e.g. <85 dB or so), so thatyour room acoutics’ contribution will be a lower percentage of the sound.

So, if you have eq’d and afjusted as noted and you still cannnot enjoy, you may want to add other set of “main” mid’s or near fields. It is importat to know that it will translate, and that can help. However, the most important thing is generally to learn your monitors, and exactly how the relate and translate to typical “real world” listening experiences. However, that will not make it more “enjoyable” of a listening experience.

Now, one thing you might try is so ething like Audio Hijack, which will allow you to create different realtime listening environments (e.g. alt eq, compression, dynamics, etc). It is cheap too. This may provide you with a way to sweeten your VXT’s, and then allow you to switch to whatever adjusted mode is required. However, you still need to learn how whatever monitors you use translate— and for that, you just have to spend time. There are entire books written on each of the subjects touched briefly on here, but likely know that. I hope some of this at least helps a little bit.

10

It may seem more complex than it really is until you start researching it and learning the basic principles. Once you learn them you’ll know them forever so IMO worth undertaking if you want to recreate the best sound possible in whatever space you have to work with.

11

Thanks for the advice. I was referred to www.ethanwiner.com for information on acoustic treatment.

anyone else want to share Info on the most pleasurable listening experiences, equiptment, environments, etc?

I even have a pair of hd800’s, but I don’t really like them either, haha!

12

FWIW, I really like the JBL LS305s I use in my studio, really great for small spaces.

I’d say the important things are to learn about room resonance, reflections, sound absorption and where and how to set up a listening spot in your environment. Once you have the spot set up the best you can, then you can calibrate a profile for it with Sonarworks Measure and a calibrated mic. You can use the profile in Sonarworks Reference to guarantee a pretty flat response as you mix or listen.

That may sound like a lot but if you do it in steps you should be able to improve things considerably.