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  #46  
Old 04-09-2019, 07:13 PM
gwlee7 gwlee7 is offline
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I have a pair of Presonus Eris e5s that are decent entry level and should suit your purposes nicely. There are lots by JBL, KRK, Mackie and others that won’t break the bank but would be perfectly fine for what you are doing.
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  #47  
Old 04-09-2019, 07:22 PM
runamuck runamuck is offline
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Originally Posted by TBman View Post
I'll take a look at them, thanks. What do you suggest for an affordable pair of monitors?
Define affordable.
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  #48  
Old 04-09-2019, 10:18 PM
jim1960 jim1960 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TBman View Post
I'll take a look at them, thanks. What do you suggest for an affordable pair of monitors?
Some budget suggestions. These are monitors I've either heard good things about or heard in person. I've listed them in the order I'd rank them based upon what I know about them.

JBL 305P MkII on sale at Sweetwater for $109 each. This is the updated version of the JBL LSR305 monitors which were highly thought of as budget monitors.

Yamaha HS5
. My feeling on Yamaha HS series monitors is that if you can get your stuff to sound good on them, you're in good shape because they're a bit unforgiving so far as hiding your problems. I do find Yamahas to be a bit fatiguing when mixing for long stretches.

Mackie CR4BT. Some people like these but the reviews are mixed. They're probably a step up from what you have now but I'm not sure how much. They have bluetooth capability if that is an attractive bonus to you.

At $109 apiece this month, the JBLs are real bargains. I suspect you'll be amazed at the difference between those and what you're using now.
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  #49  
Old 04-10-2019, 06:21 AM
gwlee7 gwlee7 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jim1960 View Post
Some budget suggestions. These are monitors I've either heard good things about or heard in person. I've listed them in the order I'd rank them based upon what I know about them.

JBL 305P MkII on sale at Sweetwater for $109 each. This is the updated version of the JBL LSR305 monitors which were highly thought of as budget monitors.

Yamaha HS5
. My feeling on Yamaha HS series monitors is that if you can get your stuff to sound good on them, you're in good shape because they're a bit unforgiving so far as hiding your problems. I do find Yamahas to be a bit fatiguing when mixing for long stretches.

Mackie CR4BT. Some people like these but the reviews are mixed. They're probably a step up from what you have now but I'm not sure how much. They have bluetooth capability if that is an attractive bonus to you.

At $109 apiece this month, the JBLs are real bargains. I suspect you'll be amazed at the difference between those and what you're using now.
Just going off the musings of the interweb, I would jump all over those JBLs at that price. They seemed to be the most highly regarded of the three you've mentioned.
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  #50  
Old 04-10-2019, 06:32 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jim1960 View Post
Some budget suggestions. These are monitors I've either heard good things about or heard in person. I've listed them in the order I'd rank them based upon what I know about them.

JBL 305P MkII on sale at Sweetwater for $109 each. This is the updated version of the JBL LSR305 monitors which were highly thought of as budget monitors.

Yamaha HS5
. My feeling on Yamaha HS series monitors is that if you can get your stuff to sound good on them, you're in good shape because they're a bit unforgiving so far as hiding your problems. I do find Yamahas to be a bit fatiguing when mixing for long stretches.

Mackie CR4BT. Some people like these but the reviews are mixed. They're probably a step up from what you have now but I'm not sure how much. They have bluetooth capability if that is an attractive bonus to you.

At $109 apiece this month, the JBLs are real bargains. I suspect you'll be amazed at the difference between those and what you're using now.
Thanks Jim.
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  #51  
Old 04-10-2019, 06:36 AM
gwlee7 gwlee7 is offline
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Originally Posted by runamuck View Post
Define affordable.
Really. I am eyeballing some right now that for the pair cost as much as I paid for my HD 28.
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  #52  
Old 04-10-2019, 10:28 AM
jschmitz54 jschmitz54 is offline
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Originally Posted by gwlee7 View Post
Just going off the musings of the interweb, I would jump all over those JBLs at that price. They seemed to be the most highly regarded of the three you've mentioned.
I bought the JBL 305p mkll at $89 each USD on cyber Monday last December so if time isn’t important you might do better price wise by waiting and watching.
I’m a beginner but these are reviewed well and they sound good for the price. They don’t compare to my instructors Mackie 824s but they didn’t cost $600 each.
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  #53  
Old 04-10-2019, 10:45 AM
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Doug Young Doug Young is offline
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I'd be careful that just because someone say a speaker is a "studio monitor" doesn't mean it will give you an accurate playback. This is an area where to some extent, you get what you pay for. I don't think accurate monitoring solutions come particularly cheap. You don't have to go crazy, but I'd be skeptical of $89 monitors. I'd probably rather take Rick's suggestion of a truly good set of open air headphones.

The whole issue of monitoring also gets complex - even the best speakers won't help if your room acoustics aren't good. And even if you compared lots of high end speakers, you'd find they all sound different.
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  #54  
Old 04-10-2019, 11:17 AM
jschmitz54 jschmitz54 is offline
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Originally Posted by Doug Young View Post
I'd be careful that just because someone say a speaker is a "studio monitor" doesn't mean it will give you an accurate playback. This is an area where to some extent, you get what you pay for. I don't think accurate monitoring solutions come particularly cheap. You don't have to go crazy, but I'd be skeptical of $89 monitors. I'd probably rather take Rick's suggestion of a truly good set of open air headphones.

The whole issue of monitoring also gets complex - even the best speakers won't help if your room acoustics aren't good. And even if you compared lots of high end speakers, you'd find they all sound different.
As a beginner on a budget I really try to do research and this JBL series has been professionally reviewed as a accurate studio monitor. They list for $150 each and you commonly see them at $129 but just lately they’ve been $109. I realize that a recording studio engineer uses something far superior but for myself and other beginners out there these are recommended by professional reviewers as the best you can get in this price range imo. I’m sure a quality set of headphones are also a great choice. As a beginner Acoustic Guitar player and a novice at home recording some of this more budget friendly equipment for folks like me gives a huge boost to the learning curve.
https://www.audiogearz.com/review-jbl-305p-mkii/
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  #55  
Old 04-10-2019, 11:28 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jschmitz54 View Post
As a beginner on a budget I really try to do research and this JBL series has been professionally reviewed as a accurate studio monitor. They list for $150 each and you commonly see them at $129 but just lately they’ve been $109. I realize that a recording studio engineer uses something far superior but for myself and other beginners out there these are recommended by professional reviewers as the best you can get in this price range imo. I’m sure a quality set of headphones are also a great choice. As a beginner Acoustic Guitar player and a novice at home recording some of this more budget friendly equipment for folks like me gives a huge boost to the learning curve.
https://www.audiogearz.com/review-jbl-305p-mkii/
I understand, budgets are budgets. It sounds like you're doing your research, which is the right thing to do.
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  #56  
Old 04-11-2019, 07:10 AM
MikeBmusic MikeBmusic is offline
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The most important thing about ANY monitors is learning them. Play professionally recorded music similar to your own through them (rip from a CD, insert the file into your DAW) and A/B compare to your own recordings. Take your mixes, burn to a CD or transfer (WAV not MP3) to a USB stick and listen on other systems to see how your mix 'translates'.
I have the older JBL 305 model speakers. The drawback to these - and many other smaller inexpensive speakers - is the rear-facing bass ports. If you have these near a corner, then the bass can get bounced around giving you false sound. Some people just stuff socks into rear bass ports (!), but having some acoustic traps on your front wall (behind the speakers) will help.
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  #57  
Old 04-11-2019, 09:37 AM
jschmitz54 jschmitz54 is offline
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Originally Posted by MikeBmusic View Post
The most important thing about ANY monitors is learning them. Play professionally recorded music similar to your own through them (rip from a CD, insert the file into your DAW) and A/B compare to your own recordings. Take your mixes, burn to a CD or transfer (WAV not MP3) to a USB stick and listen on other systems to see how your mix 'translates'.
I have the older JBL 305 model speakers. The drawback to these - and many other smaller inexpensive speakers - is the rear-facing bass ports. If you have these near a corner, then the bass can get bounced around giving you false sound. Some people just stuff socks into rear bass ports (!), but having some acoustic traps on your front wall (behind the speakers) will help.
This is a great idea for learning, thanks.
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  #58  
Old 04-26-2019, 09:07 AM
LeftHandedMorty LeftHandedMorty is offline
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Originally Posted by Fran Guidry View Post
Can you clarify what the Windows microphone level has to do with a USB audio interface?

Fran
Thanks for the responses everyone, didn't realise this thread had been popping off!
Fran - The USB interface is set to the Windows default input device and there's a gain slider in the properties for it. Changing this also changes the input level in my DAW. Pictures added to illustrate.
Sounds way better to me with my interface maxed and this at 70% than interface lower and this at 100.


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