wrote:

Hi there! I was wondering if somebody here could give me some
advice for purchasing a decent monitoring system for a home
project (albeit one I take seriously).

My default recommendation is a pair of KEF Cresta's, note: the
suggestion is based on specs only. I wuuld have bought a pair that was
on sale in a british webshop, but they appeared incapable of selling to
other addresses in the EU. Other similar quality loudspeakers exist, B&W
and Mission come to mind as do various Danish made products, none the
least Dynaudio, but then the cost starts to increase.

If you want to spend more money, then the most frequently occurring
suggestion is the Tannoy Reveals.

When I finally mix this down to a computer hard drive,
I need to make sure I preserve the detail and subtlety
of the music.

Which means you need to record at 96 kHz, 32 (24) bits.

(I've been assuming that I can't really "preserve" what
I can't even hear in the studio.)

False, it is not what you hear that goes to the computer, it is what you
play back.

I don't necessarily need to make it sound "realistic," but I
do want the music to sound rich. Think of it this way: let's
say you're hearing Hendrix playing some guitar feedback.
Wouldn't you want a mix that faithfully reproduces all the little
shifts in texture that guitar feedback can produce?

If it can do a Stradivarius cello, then it can do a Hendrix guitar.

I defintely need to get a decent monitoring system, but since this
music is noisy, and the source is from a 488 MKii, I'm assuming that
even an EVENT 20/20 bas system would be overkill.

The internal logic in that statement is unconventional.

(I've been assuming I want powered speakers, but maybe
a separate amp with passive speakers would be a better idea.
What do you think?)

The largest difference between two pair of loudspeakers is not likely to
be whether the poweramp is internal or external.

I also realize that in the future I will probably use this
system for mixing/monitoring music that ISN'T as noisy,
so I'll be happy to take this into consideration,

It is just sound.

And for that matter, I'd like some sound card suggestions, too.

96 kHz sampling frequency is the minimum requirement.

Right now I've only got onboard sound on my Intel board.
I've assumed that wouldn't be good enough, but I could be
wrong.

You are right. It is a lot more demanding to preserve intentionally
unclesn sound than to preserve middle of the road "CD quality".

Again, I'm looking for the best "bang for the buck" ratio
in terms of subtelty and fidelity.

Midiman 1010LT, if you can live with paying less for the card and more
pr. channel and want an even better sound then the Midiman Audiophile.
Many other similar cards exist in the marketplace, and some DO have the
possiblity of recording at 64 kHz, which happens to be the best
compromise between quality and diskspace used. The only drawback I have
found with Midiman is that they refuse to do 64 kHz since some driver
update, previously it was an undocumented, but usable option.

Richard


/ Peter Larsen

Hi there! I was wondering if somebody here could give me some advice
for purchasing a decent monitoring system for a home project (albeit
one I take seriously).

Here's the situation:

I've recording music on an old-fashioned TASCAM 488 MKii 8-track
cassette studio. It's been a lot of fun. The music is intentionally
noisy, but richly textured.

When I finally mix this down to a computer hard drive, I need to make
sure I preserve the detail and subtlety of the music. (I've been
assuming that I can't really "preserve" what I can't even hear in the
studio.) I don't necessarily need to make it sound "realistic," but I
do want the music to sound rich. Think of it this way: let's say
you're hearing Hendrix playing some guitar feedback. Wouldn't you want
a mix that faithfully reproduces all the little shifts in texture that
guitar feedback can produce?

I defintely need to get a decent monitoring system, but since this
music is noisy, and the source is from a 488 MKii, I'm assuming that
even an EVENT 20/20 bas system would be overkill.

(I've been assuming I want powered speakers, but maybe a separate amp
with passive speakers would be a better idea. What do you think?)

I also realize that in the future I will probably use this system for
mixing/monitoring music that ISN'T as noisy, so I'll be happy to take
this into consideration, although I'd still like advice on what
monitoring system would be best for this specific project. By "best,"
I mean, "able to preserve the detail of the music without going
needless overboard in price for what is essentially really noisy music
anyway."

And for that matter, I'd like some sound card suggestions, too. Right
now I've only got onboard sound on my Intel board. I've assumed that
wouldn't be good enough, but I could be wrong. Again, I'm looking for
the best "bang for the buck" ratio in terms of subtelty and fidelity.

Thanks so much, everyone! I've been lurking in this group for a long
time. You clearly know your stuff.

Richard

agametheory wrote ...

Hi there! I was wondering if somebody here could give me some advice
for purchasing a decent monitoring system for a home project (albeit
one I take seriously).

Here's the situation:

I've recording music on an old-fashioned TASCAM 488 MKii 8-track
cassette studio. It's been a lot of fun. The music is intentionally
noisy, but richly textured.

When I finally mix this down to a computer hard drive, I need to make
sure I preserve the detail and subtlety of the music. (I've been
assuming that I can't really "preserve" what I can't even hear in the
studio.) I don't necessarily need to make it sound "realistic," but I
do want the music to sound rich. Think of it this way: let's say
you're hearing Hendrix playing some guitar feedback. Wouldn't you
want
a mix that faithfully reproduces all the little shifts in texture that
guitar feedback can produce?

I defintely need to get a decent monitoring system, but since this
music is noisy, and the source is from a 488 MKii, I'm assuming that
even an EVENT 20/20 bas system would be overkill.

(I've been assuming I want powered speakers, but maybe a separate amp
with passive speakers would be a better idea. What do you think?)

I also realize that in the future I will probably use this system for
mixing/monitoring music that ISN'T as noisy, so I'll be happy to take
this into consideration, although I'd still like advice on what
monitoring system would be best for this specific project. By "best,"
I mean, "able to preserve the detail of the music without going
needless overboard in price for what is essentially really noisy music
anyway."

And for that matter, I'd like some sound card suggestions, too. Right
now I've only got onboard sound on my Intel board. I've assumed that
wouldn't be good enough, but I could be wrong. Again, I'm looking for
the best "bang for the buck" ratio in terms of subtelty and fidelity.

Thanks so much, everyone! I've been lurking in this group for a long
time. You clearly know your stuff.

Not clear why "noisy" projects would need any better
(or worse) monitoring than "quiet" projects would?

Lurking should have revealed that asking a question like
this without some kind of budget range is rather silly.
"overboard in price" means nothing to US.

In article . com,
wrote:

When I finally mix this down to a computer hard drive, I need to make
sure I preserve the detail and subtlety of the music. (I've been
assuming that I can't really "preserve" what I can't even hear in the
studio.) I don't necessarily need to make it sound "realistic," but I
do want the music to sound rich. Think of it this way: let's say
you're hearing Hendrix playing some guitar feedback. Wouldn't you want
a mix that faithfully reproduces all the little shifts in texture that
guitar feedback can produce?

So you want the best converters you can get, so the stuff in the computer
sounds like the stuff on the tape.

Now, do you want to bring the individual tracks in off the tape, or do
you want to bring a 2-track mix into the workstation?

I defintely need to get a decent monitoring system, but since this
music is noisy, and the source is from a 488 MKii, I'm assuming that
even an EVENT 20/20 bas system would be overkill.

I would say that would be severely inadequate. You cannot have too good
a monitoring system. The better your monitoring rig is, the easier it is
to work with any material.

(I've been assuming I want powered speakers, but maybe a separate amp
with passive speakers would be a better idea. What do you think?)

I think you should get a system that sounds good and you can work on, and
you shouldn't worry about anything else. Where the amp is, whether it's
biamped or not, and how it's configured, these things are all much less
important than how it sounds.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."