[alberto]

Afternoon riley, I was going through your essential music gear videos and had a couple questions about speakers.

So I have a pair of Bose PC speakers that sound really great but they are definitely not big speakers and I don’t have a subwoofer.

I do have an expensive pair of audio Technica A40x studio headphones, so when creating tracks and trying to listen back will the headphones or my PC speakers provide the clarity needed to really hear the track as intended? Thanks for all the help

[GratuiTous]

Hey Alberto!  Getting the right speaker monitor set-up is essential for hearing everything in your track when it comes to mixing and mastering (and even beatmaking in some aspects, too).

The main problem is that our bedroom studios are typically too small for accurate playback of the low-end bass in our music, even with TONS of thick acoustic treatment.

Without getting too in-depth, the low-end frequencies are the most important to control and tame, which usually costs the most amount of money to treat.

So when it comes to choosing speakers and headphones for music production, usually middle of the road is good enough until you truly learn what’s going on with music production.

Once you want to step-up, to get the most benefit, you really want to treat the room properly, and upgrade to a higher-end speaker.

Even for myself at this moment my audio monitor setup and acoustic treatment is okay.. so I end up testing on different audio systems (like ear buds, or in a car) so I can try and get my music to translate half decent before releasing publicly.

For more information, here’s two articles that may help further, besides my Music Production Gear Course you mentioned there!

• What are Reference Monitor Speakers?
• How to Buy Headphones for Music Production?

The reference monitor speakers one will mainly talk about making sure to get a big enough speaker.  Many people say not to get a big speaker in a small room, but the fact is, if your speaker can’t produce the low-end, then you can’t hear it!  (Right now I’m using an 8″ speaker, and that still isn’t enough to hear the low-end well.. so that’s why I have the subwoofer too.. all middle of the road stuff).

The headphone one will talk to you about open vs. closed headphones, and some other things to think about.

The headphones you mentioned are closed-back, which are ideal for recording or blocking out noise from coming in or leaving the headphones (feedback).. but for mixing/mastering, typically we want to look at open-back headphones.

Please write back with any other points that are confusing you, or where you’re at with your music so I can help guide you best in regards to equipment you should look at, what budget you’re working with, and what kind of music you’re making!

Thanks for your question 🙂

[alberto]

I’m definitely gonna check out those articles for more information as for my budget, the Audio Technica headphones were about $150 so I’d like to stay in that range. My current space doesn’t allow for big speakers unless there are smaller ones with great sound, musically I really like making electronic beats, 80s retro and Psytrance just to name a few. 80s retro music and Psytrance tend to have lots of amazing sound effects and although I’m not really ready to mix or master I just want to make sure the sounds are clear and powerful (think like a intense scene in a terminator movie) thank you again for all the help.

 

[GratuiTous]

Okay, well right now I’d say what you have is definitely good enough to get you going.

I had a discussion with another member about How to Buy Quality Headphones, which may also interest you!

The biggest thing is really understanding how much production works (which takes a long time).. then the tools help you even further.

But generally speakers have improved a lot in recent years, so it’s really about learning the type of speakers you have, and how they translate in the real world if that makes sense!