mreiner Posted November 2, 2002 Share Posted November 2, 2002 when i'm recording at home ido a lot of tracking with headphones on. then i usually mix through monitors, and when its time to see how ive done i check it in the car. problem is i recently got a new car that has a horrible 4" speakers. the tracks sound great through headphones, and pretty good through monitors. ive tried a couple home stereos and they sound good too. commercial cds sound ok in the new car considering the speakers but not my cds.is there a trick to getting your mix to sound good on a cheap system, or should i not be concerned? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
randy clay Posted November 2, 2002 Share Posted November 2, 2002 I don't know if your tracks are going to get radio play or not, but that is where the rubber hits the road, so to speak. If you can make your mix sound good on tinny 4" speakers in your car, they should sound "great" on anything else. That's not a hard and fast rule, but it is a yardstick to measure your mix against. Test your mixes where you think people are going to be listening to them. My .02 I'm trying to think but nuthin' happens.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattC Posted November 2, 2002 Share Posted November 2, 2002 Nothing will sound great on a bad system, so I'd avoid using your car's bad speakers as a reference. A common adage around here is that your mix is only as good as your monitors. Enlighten us: what it is that actually sounds bad, or less than great? EQ? Panning? Effects? ...think funky thoughts... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
not Cereal Posted November 2, 2002 Share Posted November 2, 2002 undoubtedly the problem is not enough hp filter on important areas. the lf distort the itty bitty speakers. [i]at least this has been my experience[/i] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
where02190 Posted November 2, 2002 Share Posted November 2, 2002 This is why the Yamaha NS-10 is usch a popular monitor. Make a mix sound good on that crappy little box it will sound geat everywhere. Try to pinpoint what exactly is messing with your mixes. Is the low end distorting< is there a phasing problem, too much effects, not enough vocals...sometimes a very minor adjsutment in these areas can make a huge difference. Hope this is helpful. No NS-10 flamewars please. Hope this is helpful. NP Recording Studios Analog approach to digital recording. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mreiner Posted November 2, 2002 Author Share Posted November 2, 2002 thanks for all the replies. what sounds wrong is the prescence of the tracks.they sound like they are somewhere behind the speakers. everything just has an overall distant/weak sound. they seem to suffer the most at lower volumes where the mix doesnt sound as solid. it's like if you turn the track up the instruments fall into place with each other. not sure if thats a good description or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mplspaul Posted November 2, 2002 Share Posted November 2, 2002 Look for a thread I started a while ago about headphones vs. speakers. I think it may be a compression issue--i.e. headphones, because of their proximity to your ears, make your tracks sound more compressed than they really are. That may explain why things sound more "distant" on monitors and car speakers. Try cranking up the compression on your mixes until they sound as "solid" through speakers as they do through your phones. (btw, I have to give credit where credit's due. Master Zap, I think, was the one who explained this to me). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AudioMaverick Posted November 2, 2002 Share Posted November 2, 2002 Sounds like a phase problem to me. Those darn (-) and (+) marks on the speakers, you know... :rolleyes: Do you have a reference CD to test that?. A mono track of a continuous tone should do it pretty fast. "It's all about the... um-m-m, uh-h-h..." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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