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hey. so i was wondering if i could use any sort of stereo speaker for studio monitors. basically, do studio monitors have a special connection or something? i only ask this because i have a really killer stereo thing going on and if i could use those speakers it would be great....

Stereo speakers are designed to give you the best sound possible in your living room or whatever.

Studio monitors are designed to give you the flattest EQ possible - which is what you want if your mixing down your recording.

im a complete noob to this....why?

you want a 'reference' monitor for studio work so as to hear it 'honest' .. you do not want any coloration in the sound as you record, mix, and master ... consumers pic their playback speakers to suit their tastes whether in the car, at home, or in earbuds ... you just want to produce as unbiased a master as is possible

that siad, the home speakers will technically work ... as long as the load and power handling are accounted for, nothing will 'break' if you use home spekers as studio monitors ... you just might not be satisfied with the results

good luck
t4d

All monitors and speakers are colored to a degree. None of 'em are 'flat' and it doesn't matter if you're spending $200 or $200,000. What you'll generally find when you spend more money is that there are far less holes, peaks amp; valleys in the frequency response of the monitor which will make it easier to mix.

The room plays a HUGE part in this too, and without a well treated amp; tuned room even a $5K set of monitors is going to sound bad and your mixes will never translate to other environments.

There's no reason you can't mix on your stereo speakers as long as you know amp; trust them. Usually though, 'pro' monitors in addition to being more true are also more durable and can usually survive *accidents* like the bass player unplugging from the DI without telling you or the snare drum mic taking a direct hit. Some of the audiophile speakers while sounding great, will shred to pieces when stuff like that happens.

It's also pretty common to have a few sets of monitors in the studio, I do most of my work on two sets of monitors, one was a few grand and the other set was about $75. If a mix sounds good on both of those it'll sound good just about anywhere.

ooo cool. thanks....

what is the quot;colorquot; you guys are talking about...(i have a feeling i know, just want to make sure)

More on this... I don't have proper studio monitors... I have a mid-grade Yamaha PC speaker setup. But because I don't have the flat EQ, when I make a recording, mix it down and burn it on a CD - I have to run around and see how it sounds in my car, in my home stereo system, etc. - then remix and burn again - and so on until it sounds reasonably good.

Not that I wouldn't have to do all that with proper monitors...

But as was said before - no problem using your stereo speakers - as long as you are aware of this potential problem.

No one addressed the connection stuff here. Most studio monitors only take TRS 1/4quot; or XLR inputs. Some models will have RCA plugins. So for instance if your running some sort of firewire/usb interface your most likely going to use the TRS outputs on the interface so monitors would be a good decision.


Originally Posted by xerxesooo cool. thanks....

what is the quot;colorquot; you guys are talking about...(i have a feeling i know, just want to make sure)Color refers to eq and or distortion and or any type of unwanted sound imposed on the signal in the signal chain. You want a good clean transparent signal chain as well as a flatfrequency response if possible.

oo cool...

KRK makes very inexpensive monitors that I've heard good things about.


Originally Posted by seafoamerKRK makes very inexpensive monitors that I've heard good things about.

KRK rokit 5's in the hizzy! I lt;3 them.

it sucks trying to put some sort of recording thing together thta doesnt completely stink with a very limited budget....


Originally Posted by xerxesit sucks trying to put some sort of recording thing together thta doesnt completely stink with a very limited budget....

Well as a general rule of thumb in recording, you get what you pay for. However, its not always the case. I understand where your coming from though. With a limited budget you can get some pretty good results especially in the age of the DAW. Its not going to sound like a commercial cd but thats really not what matters. If you can write your songs get them tracked and and have some flexibility in the sonic realm then thats all you need to build from.