New monitors or treatment

[Stubby03]

I have a pair of KRK Rokit 5 monitors. I mix at a low volume. 70db or less. I still cant hear things clear that I want to. Is this the monitors, the fact of no treatment, or a little of both. I know how important treatment is. Going to be my next project. But I wonder if Yamaha HS8's are a better choice. I bought the KRK's when I first started. For example, not hearing all the little nuance's of the reverb on the vocals. Thank you

[TrevsAudio]

My own experience is as follows -

I also mix a low volumes and originally started on a cheap (but good sounding) set of Behringer MS16's. My studio was a spare bedroom 9 X 11 feet and I installed minimal treatment in the form of two 3 Ft bass traps in the front corners and 1 X 3 ft X 2 inches thick panels at first reflection points and a few on the back wall too. To be honest, I did not notice a great difference at those lower volumes.

Next I decided to upgrade my monitors. Was swayed by Graham Cochrane's KRK Rocket's and went down to my local music shop. Fortunately, they have a dedicated 'listening room' for monitors where the guy could play a song and switch between various sets of monitors. Well I just want to say there was such a vast difference between the KRK 6's and the Yamaha HS7's (actually a 6 and a half inch woofer) which I bought. Totally different class The guy told me (and I can believe it having listened to both) that the KRK's are more popular with DJ's and live sound venue applications. They simply don't perform as well as the Yammies in a softer studio environment.

I've recently moved home and soon will be building a dedicated studio where I'll pay a little more attention to treatment, but the HS7's are perfectly adequate. Don't even think I'd consider upgrading to the 8's or 10's. Oh, and I'm keeping the Behringers as a second set of reference monitors as well - great little speakers

[drews0322]

In my experience, KRK Rokit's are really not great mixing monitors. I'd definitely upgrade to those Yamaha's. I also think 70db is much too quiet for mixing. You should be mixing inbetween 80-85 imo.

[Torton5]

I'm with you on mixing at low volume. I am also looking at the rokit 5's right now as there is a secondhand pair I can grab for cheap, pretty close. I have long suspected and recently had it confirmed that the audio interface you use may be more important at generating a flat and neutral sound than the speakers. There is a lot of hype around speakers being flat and neutral but what good is that if your audio interface is adding or subtracting frequencies or is not powerful enough to power them.

I got a different audio interface and noticed some differences in the sound and power, it sounded more industry professional to me. It improved my control over everything, I'm still evaluating it on another thread.

Aside from that, if you want to do close listening low volume mixing then the rokits you already have should be fine for that. Try stuffing a book wrapped in a rag in the lower port of the rockits and see if that improves reverb tail clarity. If it does then maybe the rear ported yamahas might suit you better or you can make up a wooden plug for thr rokits. Difficult to say without knowing what interface you use and whether or not you have a dedicated room for a studio or it is just in your bedroom. Front ports can be good for low volume mixing and when the monitor has to be too close to a wall or corner. Rear ports are good when you can put them 3 feet from a wall and the room is treated.

I would agree the rokit g's and the Yamaha hs series are completely different sounding speakers which makes a mockery of the fact that all these speaker manufacturers claim to be "flat and neutral" or "reference quality". When you try out these speakers, they are all completely different even the same class speakers side by side.

They are directed at different markets though. I have learn't to be very hesitant in saying what is "best". The yamaha HS series are for engineers wanting good control over nuances and creating balanced mixes. You wouldn't bring them out at a party though and you might be disappointed if you are a live playing musician playing the guitar or keyboards and trying to set up an inspirational sound.

What KRK have done with the rokits is to try and provide that inspirational sound to musicians so there is a "live" feel produced by them and you certainly could bring them out at a party. You can still mix with them but probably not to the accuracy of the Yamaha's. But this may not be necessary depending upon the complexity of the music you are producing.

I've tried both in the past and am looking at getting reaquainted with the rokits as I like the live sound when I am creating and composing music and there is only room for one pair of speakers. At the moment I have Pioneer DJ DM-40 speakers. I use these as I am travelling around and they are small and use less electricity on camping sites! The Yammies are also more thirsty than the rokits.

It really depends on what you want to achieve and how you like composing your music.

[Stubby03]

I have used both my Tascam 1800 and Forusrite 2i2. No change. I'm mixing rock music. Has an 80s feel. I'm pretty hard on myself. I know what sound I want. I appreciate all your comments. My Yamahas should b here Tuesday.

[omtayslick]

Another thing to keep in mind is that even studio "pros", who have great monitors and listening environments, still sometimes use headphones to double check details like reverb tails.

[mixyguy2]

So......you mix at a low volume, and wondering why you can't hear everything you want. ? Have you tried mixing at a slightly higher volume?

[Stubby03]

Received my yamaha's yesterday. Can tell a big difference. Unbelievable what I wasn't hearing. Thanks for everyone's input. I built 6, 2x4 roxual wool panels. Placed them in my room. Gonna work on bass traps next. According to how my mixes translate on the HS's first.

[TrevsAudio]

Great stuff!

If you want to read up on acoustics, here's some info which may help you..

First the acoustics section of John Sayers site - http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=3

Then some room mode calculators..

http://www.bobgolds.com/Mode/RoomModes.htm

https://amcoustics.com/tools/amroc?l=14