"Pro Audio Monitors" are all crap. Use these instead.

[@BeyondTyrants]

Dude went from looking like a deposed dictator in a bombed out bunker in Berlin to living the high life on a posh Argentinian ranch with no questions asked by the local authorities.

[@abdellism]

ahhaha

[@mayzter8765]

😅🤣😂😂😂

[@ruudheadz7095]

😂😂🤣

[@APMastering]

if you are making a clever reference to my haircut, i'd like to point out that hitler didn't shave the sides. but i think i should probably get a better haircut at some point

[@djvoid1]

He's in hiding from the speaker manufacturer stasi

[@phfatband]

I'm just glad you aren't cold anymore bro

[@APMastering]

lol

[@kylebostick2601]

I second this sentiment. Also thank you for justifying my desire to have at least one Auratone for a mono mid mix check. I’ve been saying I probably need one for a little too long now.

[@milanmacik6094]

yes but now i am concerned about his food intake

[@RishiJParmar]

@@milanmacik6094 Do you really think that is an appropriate comment? Post a picture of yourself maybe and let people comment.

[@APMastering]

@@RishiJParmarno he's right, i should work less and eat more

[@TommyLoaded]

he's not even sitting on the couch

[@sweeterthananything]

maybe he's just skinny and mentally focused enough that he can balance the very tip of his tailbone on the front corner of the couch frame

[@APMastering]

the sofa is CGI. i'm actually sitting on an ns10

[@zaa-flips-it]

😅😅😅​@APMastering

[@alshk6763]

The color of the pants is at a higher frequency than the darker couch, and the prosumer camera used suffers from a time-domain shift of the slower frequencies, which causes the couch to lag behind

[@kwright3929]

Best comment👏👏👏👏

[@PreschoolFightClub]

Bro’s set up went from Antarctica to Dubai.

[@WillyJunior]

Airbnb

[@SamHocking]

Great job renovating your pad with that Makita Saw and two lengths of ply from last week, what a transformation!

[@APMastering]

lololol

[@djgraish]

The waterfall plot thing is the real reason NS10s went down in history. Many other youtube videos completely overlook this. I won’t be buying a pair though, as a bass music producer I need my speakers to produce low end, even if it’s not as tight as I might like in an ideal world. Thanks for the vid, keep em coming!

[@djelvis1]

I make bass heavy music. In my experience the low end is around 100hz and below which is a tiny fraction of the actual song...the entire song is written using sounds from maybe 30hz to 20,000hz.. so....The ns10 will play from about 100hz and up..thats like...90% of your song that you can really get sounding GREAT with ns10's. the other 10 percent you can't do accurately anyway unless you have a great room with alot of acoustic treatment...so regardless you end up using meters and headphones...my point.....I highly recommend you look into ns10's to mix your music....alot of the actual character in my bass sounds are about 100hz anyway...my super low end bass is usually just a sine wave which....basically you just use a meter to balance. you don't really need to hear it at all honestly...its a literal sine wave sub.

[@nilespeshay1734]

I've tried, w/ futility, to explain this to more than one person. You can't just EQ correct to match the physical speed of a speaker cone... There is no software that can make your Kali LP6s sound like an NS10/Auratone (in 4 dimensions... where we listen to music).

[@Ebbelwoy]

@@djelvis1 well technically 50% of a song are the frequencies between 10k and 20k Hz but that's not how our ears work. For electronic music the fine details below 100 hz are very important

[@djelvis1]

@@Ebbelwoy I rented out a really nice studio in london a few years ago because I was having trouble getting my kick and bass to sound right...I wanted my music to sound good in the night clubs and this studio had a pair of massive AUGSPURGER speakers...like a $20,000 stack. they also had a small pair of genelecs and a small pair of ns10's powered by a quad 405 amp. I worked in that studio for HOURS on the AUGSPURGER speakers. literally hours...at the end i was convinced I had nailed the mix. I had been referencing a really great sounding song to try and match its aesthetic....when i was done out of curiousity I switched over to the ns10s. I swear to god my jaw dropped.. my mix sounded like absolute shit...This was the moment i RAN and got a pair of ns10's and a quad 405 amp. Full range systems are honestly a bitoverrated. I have a pair of focal trio's which are very nice but i do most of my low end mixing using meters and headphones and get 90% of my mix done on ns10's. I'm only sharing this because it was an absolute game changer for me. if you mix the mids right....the low end is easy. Keep having fun....cheers from the USA

[@djgraish]

If I have to make a decision between my low end being completely missing, or my low end being a bit uneven, I’ll choose the latter. Even if it means transients not being as snappy. You can always check on headphones either way

[@muyeikasamurabi1602]

I've lost count on how many times I've spieled to folks about how your speaker quality means nothing if your room sounds like shit. That, you're better off treating your space very well and having mid-tier speakers than having top tier speakers and no proper treatment

[@APMastering]

agree

[@SamHocking]

Yet Andrew Scheps says he wants the room to sound like cr@p because that's how most rooms will sound playing his song. Saying that, he also completes a lot of work on headphones too so there room is removed too. I'm a firm believer your ears and brain adjust anyway so best to simply not change headphones.

[@NothingHereButMe]

I'd add now with DSP 'room correction' being as good as it is now, you could grab a pair of kali audio speakers and a ARC studio and if your room is well treated you'll get exceptional results

[@muyeikasamurabi1602]

@@SamHocking While I'm no Scheps myself, I will take a gander that he uses NS-10s or similar, sitting on his enourmous console. I would also bet that his "crappy" room sounds better than most of what I encounter, hence my original comment. His room is floor to ceiling rack gear, amd such, is it not? Please correct me if I am wrong in that, I may be thinking of another big name. The thing is though, having a room full of gear that physically fills the space is going to improve diffusion and so if monitoring with NS-10s, you're actually sitting in a half decent position, providing you aren't cranking the volume. I also don't agree with that statement because all crappy rooms are not equally crappy. Getting the mix right is paramount, yes? So why WOULDN'T you equip yourself with the best possible odds to achieve that by investing first in treating the cubic meter where your optimal listening position is? IE the space where your head occupies, plus a given radius ouwtward based on your budget. Many don't realize you can just focus on treating for that one, critcal spot to start and work your way out from there. Pardon the spiel, I have been in so many problematic rooms that it drives me bonkers and until someone experiences a well treated room for the first time, in their own space, it's akin to them seeing colour for the first time. We jave budgets for plugins, hardware, cables, mics, desks, chairs, etc..... but then you give someone the deets on proper room treatment and then all goes silent......lol. Cheers dude!

[@muyeikasamurabi1602]

@@NothingHereButMe Being a bit of an audio generalist, bouncing around alot of places and systems, I've found it to be hit and miss, entirely dependent on the space you're in. Still helpful though when there is no other option. More specifically in correcring a particular speaker's biases as opposed to fixing the room

[@Ebbelwoy]

I was anticipating this video! I would love even more speaker content. Can you go more in depth about what exactly time domain means, how exactly it influences your mixes and why ports make it worse?

[@APMastering]

check out the radiohead track like i say at the end and you will experience it first hand!

[@Ebbelwoy]

@APMastering will try that!

[@blaness13]

This dude was so excited to make this video, he didn't even finish getting his hair cut.

[@APMastering]

lol

[@biodynamic91]

I'm listening to this video through my red Tannoy Reveals... I feel attacked. 😅 Good points though!

[@killorfill6953]

😂😂😂

[@APMastering]

haha yeah but they are still a classic. just not the tightest bass

[@mcm4nn]

I had to turn off the sound and watch the rest with subtitles, just to not upset my two 90's girls. Great content as ever, man.

[@SoloElROY]

I have the crappiest room with yamaha HS7+sub ... The sound is horrible, but I just use them to listen while I produce and play instruments. For mixing I found that using some Bayerdynamic 990 and just checking the "mainstream" sound on some ATH-m50x gives me better results than with my monitors.

[@ir8123]

Keep this quality content coming,no bs approach.As you start as a bedroom producer who have 10k or 20k for speakers,I would suggest more diy monitors content.

[@shamaruku]

Definitely awaiting that headphone video!

[@APMastering]

i put so much effort into finding good headphones, i'm happy to do a video sharing my findings

[@aquaticborealis4877]

@APMasteringI’m guessing most of your viewers are “home producers” with not that much space, and not a huge budget, so it makes sense to go over headphones.

[@eranddroory9987]

@APMastering Please do.. 🙂

[@snubdawg1386]

@APMastering are the slate vsx headphones + the software so shitty?

[@RobertoPorcar]

@APMastering we will love to hear you!

[@cassio_zambotto]

Well, some people saying that Feral sound the same in the room and on headphones... in 13 years I witnessed no room that translated that sub the same as a really precise headphone did, even expensive mastering rooms. I understand that it doesn't sound pleasing or beautiful as a "kick sound", but he's correct, Radiohead's Feral since its release has been the ultimate test for systems, because it has all sorts of kick drum lengths, fast transients and varies widely in dynamics, very challenging to say the least. I never make any final decision for sub frequencies on monitors, always on headphone, but I'm all in for having low frequencies on monitoring, without it you can't understand the overall picture of the music. Even with low end time domain being unprecise I prefer having it, I worked for 20 years on midrange focused speakers and its not pleasing, you feel something's missing. Said that, my system is very light on bass and sub, people even comment that it's very light and the reason is the aforementioned. I'm still a midrange focused engineer as most of us that deal with acoustic instruments, but I need to have the low end and I think knowing that it's not precise you can use it only for its benefits. For me, the best practice is to have a room treated the best you can and having a 4-way+ system may deliver better transient response, because each driver works within a tighter freq range. Never tested them but looks like HEDD has the best solution for tighter spaces, you can use it sealed and its dsp has time alignment for the listening position, looks promising.

[@APMastering]

nice comment. 100% regarding feral. yes i think if you are aware of the limitations of the bass in an inaccurate listening environment and check with headphones then there's nothing wrong with having some bass. i worked for many years with a less than optimal time domain performance in my low end as i was using two 10" subs but still mastered thousands of tracks and got good results but i would generally also reference on headphones and my acoustics were outstanding. i cant imagine that setup in a bad sounding room though, id just use headphones instead

[@APMastering]

*ported subs

[@ronallen2458]

Great video, I knew that headphone video was coming. :) I hope my 770s are on the nice list and not the naughty list.

[@djdksf1]

Very happy with our Barefoot FP02s with a single Auratone for mid reference. The Barefoots use dual non-ported subs and a lot of fancy DSP for time domain correction. I find the accuracy of these about the best I've ever heard. And, they actually sound incredibly good, with astounding low end for their size, good down to about 45Hz. Of course, they aren't exactly 'bedroom' friendly, price wise, but worth it for our semi-pro setup. Our room is wedge shaped with some light surface treatment and we've tuned everything through the Sonarworks system, so any resonances and peaks are minimal.

[@APMastering]

never been a fan of barefoot but if you like them then great

[@Gersberms]

Small sealed speakers can sound amazing. I built a pair of full range speakers with thick, solid cardboard tubes. They have no baffle, the tube sticks out the back of the speaker and is the same size as the driver. The drivers are flawed but what they do, they do it extremely well.

[@Levibetz]

Curious what you come up with for headphones. I mix on headphones, and I really don't see why it isn't more common. Making a bunch of noise and spending the time and money acoustically treating a room and setting up/buying great speakers just isn't worth it for 90% of amateur producers, which let's be honest, is most of audio production youtube.

[@Dean-p1s]

I love how easily this geezer upsets everyone. Legend 👍🏼

[@MuzdokOfficial]

The truth shocks the world 💯

[@BenedictRoffMarsh]

I found Horrortones lovely for listening. I had a (rough old) set of real Auratones as my daily speakers and they were so pleasing. No flub, all class. :-)

[@APMastering]

also known in the industry as awfultones lol

[@nikolaki]

As a bass player, if I find myself in a 'bad' gigging space - reflective surfaces, odd layout - that's muddying the bass, I eq the low end down. Really helps to clean up the bass in that space. Helps the notes come out clearly. I guess it's a similar to what you're referring to here.

[@APMastering]

pretty much yes. best case is that the room is hat of course!

[@APMastering]

*great

[@dropLove_]

Airwindows' brand new 'Cans' (free HP monitoring) might be nice to include in your headphone-buster vid.

[@SamHocking]

I'm a big fan of his Airwindows Monitoring too, his plugins are a wild adventure in sound design too!

[@LeanBearMusic]

I have just tried it for the first time and had excellent results so far. Took me a minute to realize that Chris has the output set like 14dB low by default...

[@leonilsson9310]

Youre one of the only people i really trust when it comes to audio gear and plugins! A+

[@amusik7]

This was truly eye opening. I have never considered the time domain effect of the speakers but its very very obvious. And when you combine inaccurate home studio rooms with boomy speakers, you will get essentially a sonic mess - that makes it very hard to make good decisions in deed. I have btw. for this very reason stopped using speakers and only mix on headphones now with Realphones - and get much better consistent mixes. Its not because headphones are better for mixing - its because I have actually created a really bad mixing environment for my small speakers. Thanks for the video!

[@adalundhe]

Y’all nailed the mids bit! Part of the reason I have tiny KH80DSP next to my honkin’ ExMaxchina Quasar MKII is for that. If y’all want a funny story, I upgraded to Focal Twins when I was in college…living in the dorms. Big mistake, and I learned the hard way! There are *some* speakers that now try to strike a balance here (Kii Threes, Genelec The Ones, the newer KH) with mixed results. Good luck with the new speakers you built and congrats!

[@adalundhe]

Oh also! Present Day Production took a similar route with their MUM series! I really want to try a pair, and y’all should rope them in for a chat on this!

[@APMastering]

I think they did a good job here too but their speaker comes in at more than double the price of mine when you DIY it, and mine will have more bass. Although they do use very high quality parts and they probably sound good - although I haven't heard them

[@APMastering]

not double the price, 4x the price actually. 8k for a pair vs 2k

[@periurban]

Wisdom! I haven't used speakers for mixing for several decades, having long ago figured out the same thing you talk about here. I use speakers for tracking and playback, but I always make sure everyone knows it sounds shit because I WANT IT THAT WAY! lol I've seen people waste huge amounts of money and time with room treatments and expensive speakers that do make things sound nice (because if you know what you're doing you can tune your setup to sound any way you like) but it's never accurate. The best sounding speakers I ever used were mounted over the desk in Ca Va Studios in Glasgow back in 1982. If memory serves they were some kind of Tannoy, and they really did suit the room. Thing was, we took the mix home and it sounded SHIT! Lesson learned.

[@UncleBenjs]

What format were you leaving that studio with?

[@alephestudios]

Please make of those "Tier" videos including as many popular options as you can and want to! I would like to see how the Adam A7x, Yamaha hs8 or Kali LP8 perform!

[@jondriver9069]

Great Stuff, man. It's awesome when someone get's to the truth of the matter. I'd love to hear your thoughts on "dynamic mics are better for untreated rooms." I bought this hook, line and sinker; but now I'm having doubts.

[@APMastering]

i love dynamic mics and often prefer them for many things but thats a myth. the size of the diaphragm is more important. large di cardioid cond mic is better for bad rooms than some dynamics

[@jondriver9069]

@APMastering that's super interesting. I've been using a 58 to record vocals and it seems like I get less room in the recording, but I'm super close to the capsule when singing, just a couple of inches away from the corner of my mouth. I've recorded singers with a 57 at a distance closer to 8 inches and I get a lot more of the room.

[@APMastering]

@ use an md421 and you'll get even more room. and that's not the worst mic for room

[@vjmcgovern]

Weaver drop the reaction so I can understand what’s going on

[@APMastering]

lol

[@vjmcgovern]

@APMastering You’re a real one man. Keep up the informative videos!

[@vjmcgovern]

@APMasteringAnd please for the love of God, ignore the hate comments. Don’t let them turn your channel into a reactionary channel.

[@AdamElteto]

True that, true that, @WeaverBeats has been the "gateway drug" to MANY excellent audio engineering channels!

[@natdenchfield8061]

Uh? Don't let them turn your channel into to a reactionary .. uh? Have you not seen every one of his titles, rage bating anyone who knows anything about audio production ? LoL Reactionary IS his whole self-marketting schtik ! And look at the attention it gets .. it works and he knows it.

[@Screaming-Trees]

Positioning is really a point worth emphasizing. I had speakers for a little while that always sounded too bright for me in nearfield. Eventually I figured out I needed to move them farther away. Sounded fine after that. Difference was everything. From bright to balanced just by moving them into midfield position.

[@GraeboProductions]

No one I know used or respected tannoy reveal. Why are you talking about them in 2024. They were a mid 2000s turd

[@RealHomeRecording]

Right?

[@APMastering]

because ALL of the speakers in the paper are from that era because the paper wasn't punished recently. i also show quested which are quite expensive

[@DJ_PROMO_PR]

New sub! By the way I have to admit I belong to the non-treated room big speaker club. And yes, most of the time my mixes come out with too much bass and I have to revisit them many times. So I will be looking forward to the mixing headphone recommendations.

[@dontbuyanything4729]

Lol this might be my new favorite audio related channel. The visual switch up is insane, this dude is like the Sascha Baron (Borat actor) of the audio world.

[@KYTHERAOfficial]

Finally a video where I can agree with you (: Whats your opinion about the active psi bass traps in the context of a smaller room?

[@APMastering]

overpriced

[@thematsc]

Opposite for me. This video is very biased and the presenter, despite being knowable, present his case in a very biased way. To me (being a professional audio engineer for 40+ years) its borderline useless as its so biased and pretentious. I have to admit that there are very valid points but some of the "facts" of his are just hopelessly biased. I mean who is mixing on Tannoy Reval....? NS10 is a good speaker to mix on...well maybe in the 90s Am radio period, but definitely not today. There are so many outstanding ported small speakers these days from Genelec, Focal and PSI (to name a few) so I dont know what he is talking about.......AND a bad room is a bad room, but what IS a bad room? Some great mixed records have been (pertly) mixed on NS10 and some outstanding records have been mixed in "bad" sounding rooms. The thing is if you aim to mix and produce you are so mush better off working in acoustically treated, acoustically good sounding, room. And, you are so much worst off if you put NS 10s/auratones in those rooms.

[@killorfill6953]

Please can you arrange to show a waterfall plot of your main monitors in the next video?

[@APMastering]

not in the next because i'm moving house and studio but will do as soon as i can

[@zionjaymes4415]

Yea treating your room really is the most important thing, coming from someone who's worked frustratingly in an untreated room for most of his career... Also, The kick in Feral sounds more like a 5 ms glitch than a kick lol. Though I can feel my mismatched KRK woofer extending the low end of it out quite a bit. Thanks for the good test song haha

[@APMastering]

exactly!!

[@midnightsocean2689]

lol the thing so many have learned the hard way. I remember my first pair of mixing monitors. My dorm-mate talked me into buying the "best sounding" pair. My mixes were HORRIBLE and I mean embarrassing and thanks to peer pressure insisting good sounding monitors=good mixes, I continued to pull my hair out for months trying to figure out WHY my mixes only sounded good on my "good monitors". Irony improved my mixes when I needed some cash and decided to trade in my expensive "good" monitors for some less expensive "lousy" yamahas with limited range and a very flat, dead, "unimpressive" sound. As far as rooms go. Unless you have a VERY good education and the RIGHT tools, you will spend a fortune trying to treat most rooms.

[@APMastering]

agree!

[@MabawaVocal]

I use mid range mordauns soft speakers,my mixes have never sounded bad again

[@nateknowles4]

looking forward to the headphones video! thank you for all the info you put out

[@rayr4320]

The Yam NS10M is a neutral speaker. However, it has limitations at higher volume or in large rooms for production purposes. We have mixed 100s or records using Wilson AUDIO CUB as a listening source. Very neutral speaker and it has dense inert cabinets. Ported cabinets are for home use and add fun to music. However, they color sound in a non uniform manner, meaning two speakers from the same company and model type often emit different distortion patterns. For home use I do not obsess over sound quality. I now use JBL HDI 3800 and a small svs subwoofer. They do the job for a large entertainment area, but they are not neutral.

[@vjmcgovern]

This video has a lot of midrange and highs in the lighting.

[@APMastering]

lol yeah this was shot in an airbnb with no sensible lighting

[@djelvis1]

yamaha ns10's are by far the most undervalued speakers on the market. Made music for years...as soon as i got the ns10's I realized i had been focusing on the wrong thing and everything jumped in quality by A LOT

[@marcelschechter]

What should be mentioned: in addition to a good basic acoustic treatment of the room, you can also calibrate speakers to adapt them to the room and the positioning (e.g. the Genelecs you mentioned, but you don't have to take the largest model from ‘The Ones’ ... ;-)). Of course, this doesn't clean up the entire time domain, but you can achieve significantly better results with greater precision, especially in the bass range - without having to make the compromise of using speakers that simply don't play as low.

[@APMastering]

i don't feel like eq etc weil do much in a bad room since typical fluctuations in bass are off the order of like 30db or more

[@marcelschechter]

​@APMastering In general, I'm totally with you regarding room treatment first, but calibration can be a perfect addition. In my 11 m2 room, boosts of approx. 15 dBs are compensated and it of course makes a huge difference. Physics rule - therefore you cannot compensate for nulls / deep notches with positive gain.

[@marcosaenz4167]

"You can't fight physics." Kudos in explaining an overlooked issue in audio production. If I can recommend a book to your followers (no affiliation): Loudspeakers for Music Recording and Reproduction by Philip Newell and Keith Holland. Anyone that is serious about music production really should have a baseline understanding about how different loudspeaker technologies work and what trade-offs are involved. No system is perfect, but having a solid understand what is really going on in your room can help you work around the deficiencies. I might add that DIY monitors are a great, budget friendly solution that can be scaled to fit your room. High-quality, sealed, designs are easy to build.

[@TimPower1]

Scenario untreated 20m² room and standard 6.5" studio monitors close to the wall, about 1m distance to the ears. How about adding a subwoofer (e.g. Kali Audio WS-6.2) with frequency crossover at 80Hz and use generally low volume while mixing. Will that reduce the bass problem or will it potentially add more problems?

[@APMastering]

more problems. also volume does nothing to room problems. same problems at all levels

[@TonyJBrennan]

do not add a sub unless you have a very very well treated room

[@djvoid1]

How small is "small" as far as a small room? How big would a room have to be to be in consideration for being a "good" sounding room that's treatable and a candidate for full range monitors?

[@APMastering]

living room good bedroom bad

[@djvoid1]

@APMastering Is that an English living room or an Australian living room?

[@val_de_mez]

I will need to start rebuilding as well to fit all these speakers around 😂 Cheers for the video ❤🎉🎉

[@TonyJBrennan]

I find it works if you use a sub from 90 hz down ( in a well treated room ) and hi pass the ported small speakers at 90 taking away the workload from the small ones and allowing the mids to poke out . some subs allow you to do this . Also - dont underestimate placing you speakers exactly same distance from each other and your ears - ( else you will have dips in the 1 to 5 khz range ) and damping your desk or anything the upper mids can bounce off ( our youll get dips in the 500 - 1k range ) my room is big 6 by 7 meter and end where the desk is VERY heavily treated and has a thick cloud and side eflections well treated the other end is live and untreated works very well , its like a giant set of headphones

[@aaronmatuszny8856]

When it comes to low bass, the thing one must understand is that it is very much a SLOW sound (for instance, it takes 25ms to completea full cycle at 40Hz), so don't be too surprised if the decay looks worse than the rest of the speaker on the very low end. Also, mixing on a bass limited speaker isn't the worst idea anyway: if you can mix a track to sound good on such a speaker, it'll probably sound amazing on a proper system!

[@lacollastudio2166]

Did you have a DIY take on designing the acoustics of your room? If so, do you mind sharing your findings/process/whatever? Because I wanted to do a proper treatment without spending 10k if possible, and I’m sure many others would

[@APMastering]

sure. just use rockwool in a way where the fibres don't fly about. you can even use bin liner plastic or anything

[@thomsonhomson]

But would you recommend thick pyramid foam for a vocal booth since the voice has no bass?

[@APMastering]

no, not really, the voice still has lots below 500hz and so it might sound boxy. also pu foam is wasaaaaaaaaaay more expensive than rockwool. if you can do basic construction then you will save yourself of money and get a better result with some basic construction work

[@thomsonhomson]

@APMastering but is rockwool toxic to breathe in? I really don't want toxic fuzzy stuff in the air in my bedroom.

[@flandriaworx4634]

@thomsomhonsom, Hi if you were to do the rockwool project then maybe if you used duvets nailed or screwed over the battens to prevent the rockwool dust from spreading around or some other tight woven cloth such as cotton bedsheets doubled over. Its just ideas. The magazine Sound on Sound has done lots of articles on this very subject over the years, perhaps you could check them out and you may find a solution that would suit you own situation. The series was done with the home recordists in mind. Hope this helps you. Best of luck with your project.

[@PanopticMotion]

I heard an unsual small-ish speakers last week. Ducth and Dutch 8c. Wow!

[@DomyCastellano]

I have them in my super small (although heavily treated) room. They're absolutely fantastic.

[@vjmcgovern]

Putting those foam triangles in a small room is the same as using a backdrop made of prisms in photography

[@APMastering]

lol

[@dmks2146]

we recently put dampers on the hydraulic ramp that our ATC's stand on in one of our rooms. Very heavy ramp, very heavy stands but the difference in bass response when clamped down was shocking.

[@APMastering]

yeah lots of variables in room acoustics!

[@womagrid]

Leif - Rosa is another good test track

[@r2d2romo1]

En hora buena llegó otro de tus excelentes videos. 🎉

[@ByGraceThroughFaith777]

Yamaha's NS10Ms are still the best, cuz they are so flat sounding that if you can make your mix sound somewhere decent on those it is pretty much guarantied to sound good anywhere after that. Other key factor is to mix at the volume level your music will be listened to, and to let that be the determinant factor as far as how big of a speaker you really need.

[@thematsc]

Flat sounding NS10.....are you wearing a tin foil hat? :-) NS 10 are one of the most un-flat speakers that ever been used in a mix room!

[@ByGraceThroughFaith777]

@thematsc you are right, I meant to say dead, they carve out all the good stuff

[@tweed0929]

How dare you bombarding everyone else's skewed perception with logic and facts? Nice video. Like!

[@ronmoes42]

Think about this how often manufactures use names to give to the product that is actually doing the opposite, TO fucking hide the fact that it is super bad!!!! how revealing

[@KY-zerSOH-zay]

Serious question: would it make sense to block the bass reflex ports on my speakers to avoid your mentioned time domain issues or ist this thought utter nonsense?

[@APMastering]

it might make them sound better or worse, i can't tell without knowing the speakers but usually it does not damage them

[@KY-zerSOH-zay]

@APMastering i got krkr rockit 5

[@AndiPicker]

I have a pretty horrible pair of active ported 2-way monitors that I was sent for review some years back - they somehow manage to completely disconnect the bass from the midrange and turn the entire lower octave into one note. I put them in my kitchen with a Chromecast audio dongle for a bit of background music when I'm cooking and they were still unlistenable so I stuffed a pair of socks in the ports and now they are improved to being simply really bad. I'd say give it a try, leave them blocked for a few days then remove the plugs and see what you think. Make sure you don't cram enough stuff in to interfere with the speaker, and make sure you can grip whatever you use to pull it out. I've been intending to cut some foam plugs for the ones I have (not KRKs by the way) but the socks amuse me 🙂

[@KY-zerSOH-zay]

@@AndiPicker will try

[@duncan.o-vic]

This was finally a good kind of controversial video. Although you could argue that the near-field speakers do exist as a design, as opposed to mid-fields which are not suitable for near-field placement due to their design.

[@APMastering]

only in as far as they are small. but otherwise agree

[@cocktailvomit]

Love my NS10´s. ( Highly recommend at add the "APS Klasik 2020 as second monitor , they are super flat )

[@notrandom8]

HURRY UP W THE HEADPHONE VIDEO

[@cabebeats]

Finally a better video quality with a nice lighting! Your previous bunker looking backgrounds were kinda… meh

[@APMastering]

interesting you like. this lighting is pretty bad because my face is dark. i'll have a decent setup soon

[@ElMarko2000]

Untucked shirt up to 9:31. Realizes the folly of his ways. Makes the necessary adjustment, then all is well by 9:32. You're welcome.

[@APMastering]

lol

[@NerdyFrames2000]

Oh Weaver, another video for ya LOL

[@disklamer]

Why not both, do the AB thing. Or go crazy and compare on various passive, active, ported, directional, spatial, budget speakers, headphones and earbuds, just so you have some idea. And don't play out at the same maximum loudness all the time, our ears have a different response at different intensities. Also I'd add that bass represents a lot of sound energy, so it makes a more intense impression to our ears. It is easy to get saturated and overwhelmed by a massive low end, great if you're mixing trap or so but not ideal for objective listening.

[@mayzter8765]

The only thing I keep thinking about is who styles this man? Stevie Wonder LOL

[@APMastering]

well he's a pretty stylish man

[@mayzter8765]

@APMastering Just messing with you, mate:)

[@KreativeDevices]

🔥 Looking forward to the headphones video.

[@suryadnb]

I will not go as far as to say that you are saying things that are not true, but I do want to point out that there are most definitely differences in sound quality between entry level studio monitors and more expensive ones. My Solo6 BE's have way more detail, especially in the bass, than those cheaper ones, and that is down to better design and, mostly, better materials. But of course, as they are ported, they will exhibit some of those time domain issues you talk about. But because I am a not mastering engineer and simply a bedroom producer who uses those speakers as close to my ears as physically possible (about 60cm between ear and speaker) the room is less of an issue and I can focus on the detail in the sounds I'm working with. And that is what's most important to me.

[@APMastering]

sure more expensive will hopefully sound less bad. we're not in disagreement there but having a full range monitor in a bad sounding room will never sound good even if you use them as near fields

[@suryadnb]

@APMastering Of course and I'm not trying to say that. I do understand the value of room treatment and the plan is to do that in my next house.

[@quadrant2012]

Title says pro audio speakers , proceeds to comment on shite budget speakers. And if your music is for clubs , you better pay attention to your sub freqs, if you've not got a sub in your stood you've got no clue what horrors will appear in the club

[@APMastering]

headphones

[@djelvis1]

on the topic of headphones...I think the audio community is overlooking the Apple Airpod Max probably because of the brand BUT they're actually insanely low distortion and very close to the Harman Curve in terms of voicing. Apple clearly put a lot of money into developing these headphones and it shows imo.

[@APMastering]

i listened to the overear apple ones and they were complete failiure

[@RealHomeRecording]

Just loaded 'em up. NO THANKS! I'd rather save money and buy Slate VSX headphones.

[@Dean-p1s]

A quick question. Would you therefore recommend engaging the bass and high roll-off switches on a speaker to get a clearer picture of the midrange?

[@APMastering]

no this isn't an optimal fix

[@KeenanCrow]

Now the question becomes is there anything that actually has extension down to the low end which keeps the same time domain. Because all your positives have no bass in them.

[@APMastering]

yes for this you need a large highly damped cabinet like my speakers i show in the middle of the video

[@edgardoadrianalmaraz9160]

Gracias por tanta información de valor! esperando con ansias el de auriculares!!...

[@APMastering]

coming next!

[@MuzdokOfficial]

​@APMasteringOh nice please talk about planars like the avantone pro planar and audeze

[@Выражаюсвоёоценочноесуждение]

on cealed small speakers i personally get to hear sub better than on monitors. even though i cant hear sub itself, it is very obvious what effect it causes on mids and mix overall, which wasnt any obvious at pro monitors also i put finger on driver to read sub energy, helps alot. so in the end i have way more subtle, quiet and controlled sub without hearing many sub (if any)

[@WyattBrown377]

Have you measured the time response of your diy speakers? I'm curious how the transmission line compares to sealed designs

[@APMastering]

it's hard because ideally i need to do it outside on grass 4m high with low ambient noise.... i just can't do that right now

[@konjstip6156]

@APMastering Hello, I wanted to ask question related to this. I didn't have opportunity to listen to big PMC's, however I did listen the smaller ones the old AML1, and they sounded slow to me in the low end. I was wondering the same question, why did you opted for TL design ?

[@APMastering]

@ small TL designs are basically a scam. this is because the whole underlying principle is completely ignored when the line is shorter than about 2.5m and then it just functions as a bad sounding port

[@konjstip6156]

@APMastering Your explanation is now very logical, and now that I think back you already addressed the importance of the length of the TL port in your DIY Studio Monitors video. Long time ago, a friend of mine, that attended the same university as I, made a huge 3way TL speakers, apparently at the moment very popular design amongst electro-acoustics professors at our university. He used "the best" drivers and components. The crossovers etc were all analog, this was almost 20 years ago. He was not into audio production and he wanted to hear my opinion on how they sounded to me. I came to his place, so no studio, a regular room and we played some music, my comment was "I could mix on these speakers", since then I have this DIY speaker project in my mind, but even though I did have technical subjects during my education, I was never into electronics, components, dsp etc... I was always more interested in creative side of things, and in time I developed and expanded my knowledge on room acoustics, but now I regret for not being interested more in technical side of things, but it's never too late. PS: Great stuff, I love your channel.

[@pavelkazakov5777]

Can you please say what is a small room? And what room size is the minimum size in your opinion? And what is roughly the ideal room size? Thank you :D

[@APMastering]

ideal room imho is minimum 5m x 7m x 3m or higher ceiling. but then inside of that build non parallel walls and rockwool treatment and expansion ceiling etc (room within room) and then inner space ends being only big enough for a sofa, console and speakers able to fit 2-3 max clients.

[@dongkrakata]

great informative video, but try to work with your source of light instead of against it to avoid backlight.

[@APMastering]

100% but this is just a temp location

[@Flariut]

what's your thoughts on port blocking, as stated in "Mixing secrets for the small studio"? I currently use my JBL LSR305 in a small treated room with the ports blocked and I feel them tighter. Suprised you don't mention this possible trick.

[@APMastering]

port plugging is interesting but the thing is, the frequency response and other characteristics will change in a way i can't predict since every speaker calculates the right port for the particular purpose. plugging one speaker might sound good while plugging another might be horrible. that said, it's rare/maybe even impossible, that plugging a port will damage the cone

[@Flariut]

@APMastering I understand. It's probably changing the response in a way that should be measured, but at least the time domain response (what you show in the waterfall chart) is fixed or at least greatly improved, right?

[@DjStatusss]

I have superlux thinking cheap only auditecnica ms 40 next. Superlux soso bass so I use both?

[@dropLove_]

You're cool, man. Appreciate all your info. We all love you. Slate VSX (HD-Linear) into Ghz CanOpener Studio (150%) -- can be beaten?

[@APMastering]

yep

[@APMastering]

in my next video i'll discuss this stuff!

[@dropLove_]

@APMastering Exciting times. Love your wisdom. Thank you.

[@b00ty]

So how do you feel about kali audios ultra near field speaker system, with satelite tops and a desk placed bottom? They are specifically designed for small rooms, and the design greatly differs from the ones you have discussed in these videos. Are they in your opinion not a true near field speaker system, and do you disagree that they meaningfully address many of the concerns you raise about audio reproduction in small rooms? Cheers

[@APMastering]

haven't heard or seen them. i could look into it but i'm not interested in becoming a speaker review channel

[@b00ty]

@APMastering Thanks for the reply. Yeah I haven't heard them myself, but there has been some positive online chatter. The image is said to be tiny, but precise. Also Paul Third has spoken well of them, to the extent that he does not recommend any other speaker system in a small mix-master room (aside from planar magnetic headphones, of course). A traditional review of the specific unit would be nice, but what I'm curious about is just whether the design principle holds water in practice - and I haven't seen a proper breakdown of that anywhere. It would be nice if you could take a look at it. Anyway cheers again

[@malaclypse1409]

IN-UNF. I have it and love it. Haven't seen a frequency response chart on them yet.

[@dirkchurlish4074]

using open back headphones with crossfeed: are the transients being underrepresented for me?

[@APMastering]

different headphones all represent transients differently

[@frk0788]

I’m not finished with the video yet but what if you high and low pass the main output to get only the mids?

[@APMastering]

sure you can do that but it won't be as good as having sealed speakers

[@256Colors_music]

I usually check the time domain issues with small 808s in different pitches, I could hear sub tails that shouldn't exist 😢, anyway with a -4db on room control my Yamaha hs7 could perform better

[@APMastering]

yes this can be a good test

[@Mezurashii5]

Yeeaah, something tells me the headphone recommendations won't be in my budget

[@APMastering]

300$ ?

[@Mezurashii5]

@APMastering Kinda much for me rn, but still 2-3 times less than I expected

[@MuzdokOfficial]

I got my avantone pro planar for 200$ with a broken headband but i fixed it. usually over 500$. Worth it imo.

[@mattytwohatsmusic]

Is mixing in a room with a real waterfall also bad?

[@APMastering]

no, that gets the best results of all

[@dropLove_]

Gullfoss?

[@mattytwohatsmusic]

Looking forward to the headphones video. I like the cut of your jib.

[@RoofAndAMeal4UsAll]

Can't you just 'know' that the low frequencies are going to bleed forward in time due to your small room, and so ignore them if the waveform looks correct in the recording?

[@APMastering]

it can really throw you off when mixing

[@RoofAndAMeal4UsAll]

You seem to have mastered the topic, headed back to subscribe. Thank you for having replied!

[@leejwa6839]

Which monitoring speakers are you a fan of... small room or bedroom...

[@APMastering]

headphones... next vid!

[@JohnBaptist-o2f]

all you have said...i have experienced myself...thank you for speaking the truth.

[@tekis0]

Saving this for later!

[@LegendaryZ0NE]

Bro has war with the time domain

[@APMastering]

i'm a mastering engineer. i care about that kind of stuff

[@380stroker]

​@APMastering i bet you go to bed and have time domain dreams.

[@chriskemp466]

When you say the mastering engineer can sort out the low end later, do you mean because he will have the right kind of speakers ? What is you want to master your own mixes (because of financial constraints). Isn't it about using saturation to ensure translation?

[@j-station]

Saturation will not necessarily have anything to do with translation. You’re better off eqing some headphones or taking your mix somewhere where there are bigger speakers like a car.

[@APMastering]

agree, if you have no money but a car, this is a good place to double check mixes

[@tandzan]

Thanks. How did you record your voice without mic in a field of view (i m noob)?

[@APMastering]

my phone

[@FamilyLandveld]

So what are the dimensions for a “small room”? I’m in a 13’ Width x 17’ Lenght x 7’ Height room

[@APMastering]

don't know feet but if it's smaller than a living room then probably small

[@DavidSJatWork]

5.2M X 3.9M X 2.1M Kind of a medium size room but low ceiling height...

[@APMastering]

@@DavidSJatWork yeah low ceiling height. this dramatically decreases the volume of the room. decent ceiling height is 3m, so this is 2/3 of the volume of you'd expect normally from 20m2. But 20m2 is starting to be a workable size.

[@screenwhirlpool]

what is a "small room" what dimensions, wheres the cutoff where it becomes small

[@APMastering]

single bedroom too small. small double too small. large double ok. decent living room great

[@gino3286]

Hi finally a very good analysis that interests me a lot owning one of the bad pairs I have a question i wonder if stuffing the reflex ports with foam or even closing them with a thin wood sheet would improve the CSD plot Imho FR IMD THD and CSD can tell a lot about the sonic behaviour of a driver or a complete speaker Subscribed Thanks a lot and kind regards gino

[@APMastering]

yeah man, simply try it out. it will either sound better or worse - I can't tell you which, because it depends on the speaker. but you should loose some bass after plugging it, DON'T use wood. Just get a pair of old boxer shorts or socks if you have a small port and stuff it in there, then you can hear how it sounds, and then you can replace the boxes shorts with something more aesthetically suitable later if it sounds good to you

[@gino3286]

@APMastering hi thank you very much for the kind and valuable advice I have the Behringer Sometimes i had the impression of a loose bass not well controlled I am willing to give up some bass for a better control Power with control can be counterproductive another weird idea is to use a new cabinet and transplant drivers and amp i am a little on diy Thanks again for the very useful graphs I like the CSD a lot Kind regards gino

[@APMastering]

@@gino3286 it would be very fun to experiment with that. I might do something similar myself and film it

[@gino3286]

@APMastering Thank you very much it would be fantastic Please do it Bass reflex seem to very difficult to make right The tuning can make or break the speaker performance I cannot measure speakers Imho graphs like CSD and IMD are very useful to understand the behaviour of a speaker I have just one doubt The actual quality of the woofer When a driver is bad is bad Kind regards gino

[@j-station]

Does your speaker design need a separate amp?

[@APMastering]

no the largest costs are the plate amps

[@xrabbz2010]

you are very knowledgeable, would you recommend plugging the ports in my adams? they're 8inch cones (i don't know if cone size matters here)

[@APMastering]

you will lose bass. it may or may not sound tighter and better. it is very unlikely to cause any damage so try it out!

[@xrabbz2010]

@APMastering thanks for the reply 🖤 tbh my room is a decent size and is really well treated so it sounds great in here, I just don't like that the speakers are rear ported even though they are almost 4 feet from the walls (all the treatment forces this) ill maybe give it a go and see what I prefer... its just getting used to a different sound that's making me hesitate, ive been thinking about it for a while because people say the bass gets tighter