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Lately I've been looking at my monitoring situation, which for the most part isn't great. I've been able to make it work, but this winter I'm re-arranging the control room, and getting it ready so that other people can work efficiently in it and I got to thinking about my monitors. I haven't used my nearfields to monitor in a long time. I've been mixing on the midfields for at least a year. I'll check my mixes on the small monitors for a reference but I make the bulk of my decisions on the big speakers. I also tend to monitor "loud" when mixing, I only do a quiet pass at the end to make sure that my vocal balance still hold up at whisper quiet levels.

So aside from the obvious room treatment that is coming, I'm starting to think about new monitors. The Dynaudio BM6A looks very interesting, although the original is discontinued they can still be found, and there have the MKII that apparently are still very good, although maybe not as coveted as the originals. Andrew, you have the BM15 right? How do you like those?

I love my BM15's. They're not super pretty, but they're absolutely brutally honest in the midrange. My little Tannoys actually have more bass and top end, so they're a little more fun to listen on but they're really just my double check speakers because they're not as accurate. I've never critically listened to the BM6A's, but they do sound good where i heard them in the store. I think Tim Davidson has a pair you might be able to have a listen to. Would budget stretch to something like a Focal maybe?

The other big factor is, I don't know if you're still planning on moving control rooms, but a speaker you like now might have drastically different features in a new space.

macrae11 wrote:I think Tim Davidson has a pair you might be able to have a listen to.

That's good to know.

macrae11 wrote:Would budget stretch to something like a Focal maybe?

Like the Solo6? I'd like to try them compared to the BM6A but we are being very budget conscious these days. We have a few things we are looking to purchase and we want to make the right moves.

macrae11 wrote:The other big factor is, I don't know if you're still planning on moving control rooms, but a speaker you like now might have drastically different features in a new space.

For the time being I don't plan on moving the control room. I'm going to invest some time in making the best of it for now. Some new furniture, some treatment, so decor. I'm going to focus this winter on making the current control room cozy. Most of what I'm doing is time more than money, and it's all stuff that can be used in the new control room if/when we decide to move it.

Either way, I'm not going to factor the room as a variable, I'll include it as a constant.

Also you should look at some passive options because they'll be quite a bit cheaper and I'm sure you could find an amp lying around somewhere to drive some speakers.

macrae11 wrote:Also you should look at some passive options because they'll be quite a bit cheaper and I'm sure you could find an amp lying around somewhere to drive some speakers.

Otek was mentioning that too, he suggested maybe finding a pair of B&W CM1. Any suggestions in that realm?

Well the BM15's are pretty great. They used to make a passive version of the BM6A too I think. I'm not as up on what's cool anymore since I haven't really done any shopping in 3 or 4 years.

macrae11 wrote:Well the BM15's are pretty great. They used to make a passive version of the BM6A too I think. I'm not as up on what's cool anymore since I haven't really done any shopping in 3 or 4 years.

I see that a pair of BM15s can be picked up used around $500-ish. Might be worth considering for sure.

You should come and try some mixes on them if you're interested.

macrae11 wrote:You should come and try some mixes on them if you're interested.

I totally should. I got a project in mind already... for sometime in December.

Those passive BM15s are really something. I could totally see myself mixing on them.

I hate to use a word like depth but those BM15's have the most sense of image depth I have ever witnessed, Andrew and myself tried a lot of monitors when we were in Montreal, including Tannoy Elipse 8, K&H, ADAM, Genelecs among others and we both liked them the best.
The aluminium constructed genelecs should get a special mention though.

A.

The Gennies did have a nice image but I couldn't mix on them. The high end was just way too sizzly.

Also I know you weren't a huge fan but I really did like the K&Hs. They just weren't what I needed.

Alain Benoit wrote:I hate to use a word like depth but those BM15's have the most sense of image depth I have ever witnessed, Andrew and myself tried a lot of monitors when we were in Montreal, including Tannoy Elipse 8, K&H, ADAM, Genelecs among others and we both liked them the best.
The aluminium constructed genelecs should get a special mention though.

A.

I saw a pair of passive BM15s on ebay for around $500 last week.

I figured I would ask my question here instead of starting a new thread.


So my living arrangements are about to change drastically! Instead of having all my stuff cooped up in my 10x12 bedroom we have decided to rent the basement suite in the house were in, which means I get the entire basement and three bedrooms to myself! Now I plan on buying monitors and a few other little toys to make my recording set up a bit nicer. I went and had a look down stairs and its a big space and my idea was to put my workstation in the corner of the room. Just wondering if that would be a bad place when it comes to the acoustics side of things.

Short answer, yes.

Long answer its possible it could be ok without knowing more. Try and see.

Who are you living with?

What monitors are you looking at? Westlakes? Meyer? Focal? PMC?

A.

Living with my sister, brother in law and 14 month old nephew. Not sure what monitors to get.

What are the dimentions of the space?

I should be getting the keys tomorrow so I'll post then

So this is the plan I have for the space that I've been provided with. Theres several other small rooms in this place and one of them will be for amps so I can hear whats just coming out of the reference monitors. I don't have a drum kit yet but I plan on picking up a used kit in the next month or so. I'm gonna have two gobos that I can move from where they are to in front of the drum kit in some way. The {P} is a post incase anyone is wondering. Do you think that the gobos are going to be enough to make it seem like the desk is placed in somewhat of a symmetrical spot? Let me know what you guys think of the layout.


The plan i made didn't work. It didn't save the spaces so I'll try an post it as a pic.

Here it is!

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj26 ... 001fW.jpeg

Is the desk where you're thinking of putting your setup? Where's the door? Are things moveable to just about anywhere?

Without hearing the room yet... my first though would be to put the desk in the middle of the opposite wall. The idea would be to maximize the size of my listening environment. But again... that's just my thoughts on it from here.

Mathieu Benoit wrote:Without hearing the room yet... my first though would be to put the desk in the middle of the opposite wall. The idea would be to maximize the size of my listening environment. But again... that's just my thoughts on it from here.

That's what I was thinking too. Or the opposite end of the room if that 4' x 9' alcove wasn't being used regularly and didn't do anything weird sound wise.