Studio Upgrade Help/Advice (with Pictures)

[Nevs]

I am looking to make major upgrades to my home "studio". At the moment I've been doing all my mixes on a pair of cheap AV40's, I got those because I really had no clue what to look for in monitors at the time and they were cheap. The songs I have produced on these speakers are in my description, to give you an idea of the type of music I like to work with currently.

I am looking at the Yamaha HS8's. I hear the HS80M is extremely popular and seems to give a good response for the price, I want to get the HS8 for the extended bass response because I don't have room to deal with a sub. I work out of an apartment room which I'll post pictures of when I get home later.

I'm looking to pair the these up with some speaker stands, because I don't believe I will have room for the speakers on my desk, but I have room on either side of my desk for speaker mounts. I also need an audio interface to plug into, because currently I just have my AV40s plugged into my computer sound card. I would like to be able to plug these speakers into it, as well as my guitar and potentially a microphone in the future.

What are your opinions on the HS8? Should I get these or look at a different speaker? Any recommendations for speaker stands and an audio interface? It's a lot of money to dish out, so I don't want to make this decision lightly, I've been shopping around for at about a month.

Here is a picture of my room, at least the area I have to work with:

[Icetickle]

I want to get those cheap AV 40s because I'm producing with headphones atm.

Cool tracks tho.

[Nevs]

I want to get those cheap AV 40s because I'm producing with headphones atm.

Cool tracks tho.

I find my PC gaming headset gives me better mix downs than the AV40s. So I'd recommend you save your money and get decent monitors, glad you like my tunes btw! the problem with the av40s is that it has no low bass response at all. So my drums end up being really loud and I never have enough sub because I can't hear the sub, I believe the speakers pretty much drop off at 100Hz

The last song in my signature was mixed entirely on headphones. I didn't reference them on anything else before posting it. It's not great but I thought the mix was decent for a beginner.

[Icetickle]

I want to get those cheap AV 40s because I'm producing with headphones atm.

Cool tracks tho.

I find my PC gaming headset gives me better mix downs than the AV40s. So I'd recommend you save your money and get decent monitors, glad you like my tunes btw! the problem with the av40s is that it has no low bass response at all. So my drums end up being really loud and I never have enough sub because I can't hear the sub, I believe the speakers pretty much drop off at 100Hz

The last song in my signature was mixed entirely on headphones. I didn't reference them on anything else before posting it. It's not great but I thought the mix was decent for a beginner.

Dunno man, heard krk rokits and mackies are dope as fuck.

[outbound]

In that range I always preferred Rokit 8's over the Yamaha's for this style of music. If we were mixing rock though, there it would be a no contest for the Yamaha's

[Nevs]

I want to get those cheap AV 40s because I'm producing with headphones atm.

Cool tracks tho.

I find my PC gaming headset gives me better mix downs than the AV40s. So I'd recommend you save your money and get decent monitors, glad you like my tunes btw! the problem with the av40s is that it has no low bass response at all. So my drums end up being really loud and I never have enough sub because I can't hear the sub, I believe the speakers pretty much drop off at 100Hz

The last song in my signature was mixed entirely on headphones. I didn't reference them on anything else before posting it. It's not great but I thought the mix was decent for a beginner.

Dunno man, heard krk rokits and mackies are dope as fuck.

AV40's are M-Audio, not KRK's. I assume that's what you were referring to?

In that range I always preferred Rokit 8's over the Yamaha's for this style of music. If we were mixing rock though, there it would be a no contest for the Yamaha's

So would the Yamahas be the best well rounded speaker? Who knows what I'll be mixing in 5 years, so I would rather get a speaker I can use to mix anything moderately well on, and can keep and use for a long time. Have you done a side by side comparison? I'm just surprised to see that the Rokits are preferred here when in other topics most of what I've seen is that the yamahas are better and flatter all around on other forums. Thanks!

I've listened to the Mackies and Yamahas side by side at guitar center, the Yamahas did seem to be the flattest speakers I listened to at the store, and isn't the flattest response what is desired for any kind of mixing? Im Asking because i don't really know, I've heard people say one speaker is Is better than another for certain genres but my understanding was that the flatter the response, the better it will be for everything.

[fragments]

Whatever speakers you get I'd move that trash can and get your desk further out from the wall and further away from that corner. Especially if you are upgrading to 8 inch monitors. You are going to have all kinds of bass problems ;p It seems from hat picture you have lots of space to play with. You might also want to invest in some speaker pads. I bought cheap monitor stands and the pads didn't do shit, I got resonances in the stands themselves at certain frequencies. I tried all kinds of DIY options for pads (styrafoam, books, some kind of flower arranging foam), Auralex pads beat the pants of all of them.

I feel like 8 inch monitors are going to have too much bass for untreated bedroom studios. I went from 6 inch monitors to 5 inch monitors earlier this year and I do have to spend more time balancing the low end; however, the rest of my mixing improved 100% almost immediately.

Are you in the States? Have you looked at the reviews on Equator Audio's D series monitors? The D5s are serious bang for the buck, but lacking in the low end response. That's what I've replaced my Rokit 6s with.

I've always thought the Yamaha models you mentioned sounded pretty good for the money.

[AxeD]

For small untreated rooms the Genelec 8020's usually work out really good. You should be able to pick up a set for around
€700. Don't expect big bass though.

Don't take my word for it, I got this answer from an expert on the matter

[Nevs]

Whatever speakers you get I'd move that trash can and get your desk further out from the wall and further away from that corner. Especially if you are upgrading to 8 inch monitors. You are going to have all kinds of bass problems ;p It seems from hat picture you have lots of space to play with. You might also want to invest in some speaker pads. I bought cheap monitor stands and the pads didn't do shit, I got resonances in the stands themselves at certain frequencies. I tried all kinds of DIY options for pads (styrafoam, books, some kind of flower arranging foam), Auralex pads beat the pants of all of them.

I feel like 8 inch monitors are going to have too much bass for untreated bedroom studios. I went from 6 inch monitors to 5 inch monitors earlier this year and I do have to spend more time balancing the low end; however, the rest of my mixing improved 100% almost immediately.

Are you in the States? Have you looked at the reviews on Equator Audio's D series monitors? The D5s are serious bang for the buck, but lacking in the low end response. That's what I've replaced my Rokit 6s with.

I've always thought the Yamaha models you mentioned sounded pretty good for the money.

If I were to treat my room, how would I go about doing that? I really don't know anything about room treatment.

Also, would a really good pair of headphones work for mixing? Lately I've been mixing on some headphones but they don't really have a flat response, if I invested in some really good headphones would that be better for my current living arrangement until I can move somewhere larger?

Also, any recommendations for audio interfaces? I was looking at the Focusrite 2i2 or 2i4 models, I want to be able to plug my guitar up to it, my monitor speakers into it, and potentially a microphone in the near future:

http://www.amazon.com/Focusrite-Scarlet ... cusrite+2i

Thanks for the valuable replies!

[fragments]

You'll need to find a guide to room treatment to figure out what your particular room needs. I think bass traps are a pretty simple way to start. I've only just begun looking into what I can do w/o making our guest room look even more not guest room ish. lol.

I'm not going to get into monitors vs headphones for mixing debate. I use both and now that my ball and chain works from home I'm working on headphones most of the time. Personally, I find I can do 90% of the work on headphones. Check things on my monitors, my hifi and car stereo and make adjustments. After a few rounds of this my mixers end up as good as they will ever be for my skill and experience level.

[NinjaEdit]

I have the Focusrite 2i4, and it sounds clear for my purposes.

You should look at the placement of your speakers. In particular they should be at ear-height.

I find that if I work with closed-back headphones, it sounds weak without transients on loudspeakers. Headphones are good to check for excessive reverb.

[outbound]

Yeah I would say the yamaha is the flatter speaker of the 2. Have A/B'd them side by side (used to sell 'em in a music shop)

If you are going to be mixing more than just bass music then possibly the yamaha would be the better of the 2 for you, I'd much rather mixing on those if it was on a wide range of music. But again if just for bass'y dance and you aren't planning to get a sub then KRK's are the one.