which monitors to mix movies?

[Dan Wake]

I wish to buy monitors to mix movies (sfx, dialogues, music). which monitors do you suggest me to buy? I wish to start mixing in stereo, do I need a subwoofer or I can use just a pair of monitors?

thanks!

[Shirozina]

What's your budget? 

[Dan Wake]

Just now, Shirozina said:

What's your budget? 

< 500 euro. If it isn't enough tell me and I will save money to increase it. thx!

[Shirozina]

https://www.attackmagazine.com/reviews/the-best/ten-best-nearfield-studio-monitors/2/

Also worth getting a good USB audio interface rather than running them direct from your computer. I've got the Presonus E5's and they are very clear and uncoloured.

[sondreg]

It depends on a lot of factors like the size of your room and acoustics. For a small environment you usually don't need to focus that much on big diaphragms and/or subwoofers. Personally I sit in a small environment so I got a (cheapish) pair of Yamaha HS5's, they work great for me but they are a little shoddy at the low end (mostly because of acoustics). If I had a bigger room I'd consider the Hs8 model, these should also provide more bass but I have no real experience with these.

 

I'd say try some and see what works best for your environment.

[Shirozina]

Also if you need to 'mix' bass frequencies you may be better off using a good pair of headphones as these will have a more accurate base response than a cheap subwoofer setup in an untreated room. By 'good'  I don't mean mega expansive either - Sony DMR 7506 or equivalents are 'industry standard' for monitoring recordings and should be part of anyone's sound production kit.You will still be better off mixing the mid an upper frequencies with monitors as they will give a better stereo presentation but bass is not very directional so use headphones. 

[Kisaha]

What Shirozina said, buy an ok pair of cans to begin with, I have the aforementioned Sony, the Sennheiser HD25 and a few cheaper ones as backup/director's headphones. Any of the first two would be great.

The second thing to consider is educate yourself, go to a course uni/diploma degree or SAE type of school. From your question is pretty obvious you do not know enough for sound, or other wise a simple google search would be enough.

In anyway you need a usb interface, the small Scarlet's sell a ton each year and honestly, do not see the need for a more expensive one 8 times out of 10.

Then you need active speakers and with 300-400$ you can get a pair.

Real professionals that do mix sound for films have equipment worth north of 50.000$, that can exceed (and usually do) 6 digit numbers. Just saying.

To start with, equipment wise: headphones, usb interface, active speakers, and then you need software..

[Ronnie Amighetti]

Long time no checking the forum. My 2 cents:

Equator D5 MKII: https://www.thomann.de/it/equator_d5.htm?ref=search_rslt_equator_299268_0

Superlux HD660: https://www.thomann.de/it/superlux_hd660.htm?ref=search_rslt_superlux+660_243085_1

Superlux 662: https://www.thomann.de/it/superlux_hd662.htm

The Equators are very balanced (I used to own the MKI), of course they won't put out huge amount of bass frequencies (and neither volume) but they are respectable considering their size. Big point is the coaxial design, at least to my ears. I worked for many years in the studio with big Tannoys 15s with coaxial drivers and still love them. The Yamaha HS suggested by somebody else are much less forgiving with placements (due to the rear bass reflex port).

The two Superlux headphones are for referencing your mixes. They are two very different sounding headphones so you get two points of reference. They are very good sounding, don't be fooled by the price.

As soon as you get the monitors and the headphones, put in a ton of hours listening to music and/or movies you know very well. 

If you need an audio interface, this might be the ticket: Steinberg UR 22

https://www.thomann.de/it/steinberg_ur22_mk2.htm

You get separate monitor and headphones volume, USB connection, more than decent DA converters, MIDI I/O in case you wanna play with a midi keyboard and put down some scratch audio, two mic pres (always worthy) with combo connector for Hi-z inputs (again a plus) and lots other features (Cubase AI software in case you need it).

BTW, Sony MDR7506 are an old staple in audio (I still own 3 or 4) and were very popular a ton of years ago. I would never try and mix anything on them. They are one of the most unbalanced headphones ever made, to my ears at least.

If you wanna enter into this kind of budget, AKG K240 are a beautiful sounding open back headphone. But again I would buy an open back and a closed back to get the variety in reference.

[Kisaha]

@Ronnie Amighetti Why do you have 4 pairs of the same headphones? How many headphones do you own?!

I smirk every time I hear "it was very popular a ton of year ago", let's see a quote from a review: "Sony isn't telling, but my numbers confirm that Sony actually sells at least tens of thousands of these MDR-7506 every month!".

Sound ain't video, 0,001% of the population uses cameras from the 70's, but a great amount of professionals use sound designs (Sennheiser MKH416, Sony MDR-7506 and a lot more) from the 70's. I also here a lot of those about the 416, but when I go out it is my first choice in any weather and condition. 

Those two tools are responsible for maybe the most of the media you have ever heard in your life, they must be worth your pity at least..

Steinberg is great, I was also consider it, but I read a lot of reviews with drop sound and drivers issues back then, maybe now it is better.

Audio Technica ATH-M50 are industry standard too and probably better for indoors use. Sony is 2/3 of the price usually, but there are at least other 20 very interesting models (I used to love Koss and Beyern Dynamics back in the day).

[Shirozina]

3 hours ago, Ronnie Amighetti said:

BTW, Sony MDR7506 are an old staple in audio (I still own 3 or 4) and were very popular a ton of years ago. I would never try and mix anything on them. They are one of the most unbalanced headphones ever made, to my ears at least.

If you wanna enter into this kind of budget, AKG K240 are a beautiful sounding open back headphone. But again I would buy an open back and a closed back to get the variety in reference.

7506's are not mixing headphones - I was only recommending them for their better bass response compared to cheap studio monitors and subwoofers. For mixing or monitoring the last thing you want is 'beautiful sounding' - leave that to the world of 'hi-fi'.

[jcs]

I prefer these to our older and much more expensive Mackie HR824 (and the Basis 20/20 we used to have): https://www.amazon.com/Tannoy-Reveal-502/dp/B00J66GUGW/. This is the newer model, I'm using the 501a. As reported there a slight hiss (so did the other monitors), perhaps there is build variance, however I can't hear it over the fan noise of the MacPro. I chose these after listening to many monitors at Guitar Center (including the Adam brand listed in one of the lists in this thread). These provide a lot of clear detail, and Tannoys available at this price is amazing.

For headphones, the Focal Listens are a killer deal (also have the Sony 7506 and Audio Technica ATH-M50 (both good for the price)): https://brightland.com/w/the-best-headphones/. The Focal Listens are more comfortable, more detailed, and more isolating than the 7506 and ATH-M50 (and also cost more).

If you want the best headphones for the money, the Stax 3100 with Earpad Mod (will post pics soon) is by far the best deal, sounding as good or better than headphones costing $2000 or more: https://brightland.com/w/the-best-headphone-technology-to-date-electrostatic-stax-srs-3100-review/. I would not use these for primary mixing unless in a very quiet environment (open back). If your mix sounds good on the Focal Listens and the Stax, you're good to go. That said, for critical mixes I recommend listening to lesser headphones too, including iPhone/cellphone headphones as well.

While I use a Sound Devices USB Pre2 which has killer preamps etc., I've used the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 and the quality is amazing given the cost (still have one on a PC); make sure to get the version 2 / latest. I used to use a 56 channel RME Fireface 800 (rackmount); these newer and lower cost devices sound better to me (had Protools 24 hardware years ago too). If you are not doing recording, a USB headphone DAC + headphone amp will probably be the best bang for buck. Something like this might work depending on how the volume control works: https://www.amazon.com/FiiO-E10K-Headphone-Amplifier-Black/dp/B00LP3AMC2/ (also check out Z Reviews on YouTube for best bang-for-buck headphone preamps. If the line out isn't controlled by the volume control, you'll need a device that does or provides a separate volume control (as with the Scarlett 2i2)).

[Ronnie Amighetti]

On 15/5/2017 at 10:22 PM, Kisaha said:

@Ronnie Amighetti Why do you have 4 pairs of the same headphones? How many headphones do you own?!

I smirk every time I hear "it was very popular a ton of year ago", let's see a quote from a review: "Sony isn't telling, but my numbers confirm that Sony actually sells at least tens of thousands of these MDR-7506 every month!".

Sound ain't video, 0,001% of the population uses cameras from the 70's, but a great amount of professionals use sound designs (Sennheiser MKH416, Sony MDR-7506 and a lot more) from the 70's. I also here a lot of those about the 416, but when I go out it is my first choice in any weather and condition. 

Those two tools are responsible for maybe the most of the media you have ever heard in your life, they must be worth your pity at least..

Steinberg is great, I was also consider it, but I read a lot of reviews with drop sound and drivers issues back then, maybe now it is better.

Audio Technica ATH-M50 are industry standard too and probably better for indoors use. Sony is 2/3 of the price usually, but there are at least other 20 very interesting models (I used to love Koss and Beyern Dynamics back in the day).

I have quite a few headphones, 'cause audio is my day job. Sony 7506 for musicians when I track bands, now superseded by a cheap chinese knock-off (sorta), AKG K240 for my own pleasure, tha upmentioned Superlux models for mobile mixing, a few earbuds. You don't need more than a pair of headphones if you know them very well. To a newbie I still stand my case, one pair of open back, one pair of closed back. You get to listen to your mixes with two very different systems and once it sounds good on both of them you're golden.

Re the 7506, now that we have so many cheap models available I just can't justify spending that amount of money for a pair of headphones, considering how bad they sounds for sound fidelity listeting. That's of course my own personal opinion.

AT M50 are kinda good sounding, albeit a bit too "modern" for my taste, but much more balanced than 7506s.

[majoraxis]

Speaking of headphones... Waves has an interesting plugin that makes your headphone sound like you are listing to speakers in the room.  You can also monitoring up 7.1 surround mixes virtually in headphones as well as stereo and 5.1 etc.  I bought the version with headtracking blue tooth hardware and should have it to check out, next week.  The pair are on sale for $69 for both the NX software and hardware here: http://www.waves.com/hardware/nx-virtual-mix-room-nx-head-tracker I bought from BH Photo and that offered free shipping.

Not sure how long the sale will last, but from what I heard the combination is wroth sale price to check out and hopefully it will be a solution that will save me from having to install a surround sound monitoring system.

There is also a plugin by Sonarworks that will equalize your headphones (the MDR-7506 are a support model) to make them as flat in frequency response as possible. http://www.sonarworks.com/headphones/old

Both plugins are phase linear so they introduce very little coloration to the signal. The recommend order is WaveNX before the Sonarworks Headphone Calibration. If you add the Penteo Composer 5 for stereo to 5.1 up mixing software you can hear your stereo mix turned into 5.1 surround in just your headphones.... http://dev.perfectsurround.com/penteo-5-composer/

 

[Shirozina]

Just tried Sonarworks on my DMR's and they take a massive chunk out of the HF. I know they are not that flat in frequency response but they are not that bad. Will try it with some more headphones.

[Shirozina]

http://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/sonarworks-reference-3