Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo Studio Monitors

Hard to say. The LS3/5A's were intended for mobile and small studio recording where you wouldn't be expecting deep bass anyways...

I don't think they were intended as the primary speakers for mixing down a symphony orchestra performance although they would serve as "typical good" speakers.

Howdy,

More info:
I thought about the lack of bass but figured that it might not too much of an issue because of the type of music being recorded. He is mostly mixing folk consisting of an acoustic guitar and a female singer. If he was doing drum and bass then that would be another story.

I suppose the other thing to keep in mind is that this is more of a hobby for him. It isn't of paramount importance for him to have the very best gear. He just wants something half-way decent. The Behringer's seem like they could do the trick. It sounds like there is more support for those than for the M2/M3's.

Jordan, The lack of bass in a speaker used for monitoring in a recording situation will only mean the bass is exagerated when played on other systems. Will wreak havoc on a bass heavy recording but maybe not so much on the style your friend is considering.

If your friend does decide to get monitors the KRK Rockits area a great choice, one I would choose over the Behringers. They are powered or passive as well and the 6 inchers repoduce great bass for their size and are pretty reasonable.

Rockit RP6

Passive ST6

RP-6 Review

You also mentioned something halfway decent. Both the Truths and the Rockit RP-6's are way more than half way decent and you can't go wrong with either one. My 5 inch Events rock the whole house and they are yesterday's technology.

Recording acoustic guitars is not too easy. Check out the Shure web site for mic placement.

http://www.shure.com/booklets/default.asp

They have a lot of info about getting a good sound. Acoustic guitars can get pretty boomy in recordings so I would check this site out for recomendations, and always be sure to play with mic positions to get the sound you want instead of adding EQ to make an OK recording sound great.

The powered Mackies seem to be quite the favorite. I brought a pair of M3ti's to my friend's studio just for fun about 3 months ago. While everyone loved them for general listening, they were uncomfortable with the curve for mixing purposes. After doing some test mixes (the m3's powered by a 500wpc QSC amp. Needless to say the volume fader wasn't pushed up too far) the results showed overcompensation for the bass: either they rolled too much off leaving an anemic mix or left it as is creating a slightly bass-heavy sound. I'm sure they could adjust as needed but there's a reason people stick with Mackie, Tannoy, and a few others. Sure they aren't the perfect audiophile speakers but they have ruler-flat near-field response.

Thanks for the link GuitarGuy. There's some interesting stuff in there.

This post is certainly proof that the Axiom forum members don't simply tow the company line. Some good honest unbiassed opinions.

This might be a silly question but since studio monitors seem to excel over regular bookshelf speakers, why don't more people just opt to get monitors over bookshelves for their home theatre/music use?

Hello All, First post...

Well Now I am a little worried as I just ordered a pair of m3 v2's (anyone no why on my email confirm it listed them as m3 vi?).

The reason I bought them is exclusively to mix studio work. I was about to drop a considerable amount more on a set of studio monitors to replace my Mackie HR 24's with as I can NEVER EVER get a mix to translate to another system. I was on a highly respected web site and a person was saying that a well known engineer recommended for them to buy a pair of Paradigm Mini monitors, I went to their site and decided the M20? would be more satisfying for the purpose. But the local dealer would never answer their phone. I was looking around and had already settled on buying an Axiom system to use as a pseudo mastering system based on (target audience mixing), then I saw a comparison between the Axiom and Paradigm and thought I would try the M3's.

The reason given and being is the engineer claimed that the mixes translate well to other systems when using this size speaker.

Presently I use the 824's and a set of JBL's with a sub and still strike out on translation. So I thought before I spend a score of money on something that may or may not work for me I would spend 320.00 and get something that may suit my needs just fine.

If interested I will post my thoughts after a get acquainted period.

I would post my studio site but do not want to get acused of spamming or trolling my first post out

T.

Well my M3's arrived last week and I spent an afternoon interfacing them and an Onkyo M-282 amp into my rig using only the main output of my Yamaha Digital Mixer. I also spent the time to integrate a stereo sub for good measure. I made up my mind that I would not listen to any of my mixes or projects in the works until I spent some time listening to these new speakers.

I see this could be a long response so I will try to be brief. After listening to a few personal favorites from days gone past. I had to stop. Unfortunately, my listening experience was going to have to be deferred as I had to pull my mixing desk out and remove the Sub, the Mackie HR 824'3 and the JBL's from the system. As I could tell they were no longer needed. Hmmmmm 6" inch speakers eh?

With all of the un-needed stuff removed, I settled in to put these little guys through a workout. The more I listened the more the beauty of the speakers started to shine. I found myself listening to some of the classic rock mixes and asking myself, I wonder if so an so wishes he would have put less compression on the vocals there etc.? After a few hours I couldn't stand it and was ready to "face the music."

I loaded up a project that is to go out for production later this month. It is a very important project for us and I have been having trouble getting the mix to translate. I was immediately confronted with details that had been eluding me, the bad bass tones that were not showing up on the Mackies and JBL's jumped right up and slapped me on the cheek. The over hyped highs and muddy mids on the guitars came right out of my computer screen and started waiving at me as if to say, hey dipstick where have you been? Then the bass spoke up and said something like hey how about letting up on the compression. In about 5 minutes I had this mix under control, the instruments and frequencies all seemed harmonious. Next up an Acoustic record that is to leave us this coming Thursday, In less than ten minutes the song I was working on went from ho hum to stellar, I mean stellar, and suddenly there was something that my wife has not seen in a while, and that is a smile on my face. The next test/worry would be, how does this mix translate.

Unfortunately we have been so busy I did not have a chance to even burn a CD to listen to. To say the least I was worried as I was churning out mixes under the gun so to speak for about 5 days straight. By Monday I was a little concerned about all of this work I was letting leave without checking it. (my usual protocol involves a lot of cussing and a lot of thrown away cd's and my poor wife wishing she could help).

Sunday was the big test however, a client had booked a ten hour block and planned on recording mixing and leaving with a 3 song demo, uh, oh! I usually start apologizing at noon saying you know I don't like to track all day and be asked to mix it down at the end of a 10-12 hour day as my ears are shot. About three hours into tracking I noticed something very un-familiar to me. I was turning the speakers down, what? Hmmmm. I also noted this phenomenon when I was listening for pleasure, and one thing anyone who has listened to my live mixes will tell you is I "never" turn down.

As the session was coming to a close My apprehension was growing, as not only was this project leaving, there were a few others already gone, and I hadn't listened to any of them. I have been living on the edge so long, it seemed almost serendipitous.

I mixed this project to K-14 scale and hit it at about +0.5. I brought up Voxengo Span to see what it looked like and to my friggen amazement it came up to a nice -20 DBFS, and nearly flat across the spectrum, definitely an attractive looking mix.

I made a copy for myself after the group cleared. Exhausted I went to bed and put the cd into the Boxed Panasonic home theater in or bedroom, and wow. I call my wife, and say "you have to come hear this." The bass was right in the pocket, the drums sounded clear and authoritative with just the perfect attack and thump. Everything in it's place. I was happy and slept well, finally! The following day I had to got replenish my cdr stock, and the final test,,,,,the car stereo, well truck stereo in my case. I put the cd in and braced my self. The song came on and right then I knew all was well. The kick drum was right in my face but not making the speakers sound like they were going to jump out of their baskets. All of the mid bass guitar sounds were there and made the song strong. The cymbals and vocal were very good. Was this a perfect mix? No, but the things that needed adjusted were minor and I could attribute them to a tired set of ears from the night before. I imagine five minutes for some minor adjustments and nobody will believe this recording was done in ten hours, no way man. One last thing, when I turned up the bass and treble something just plain magical happened, the song came alive. The cymbals shimmered, the lows reached out and grabbed you. I was impressed and I am hard to impress.

To say I love these speakers is an understatement. I actually have been enjoying my job lately and would like to give a big thank you to all of the people at Axiom. You make a wonderful product!

I don't know that I would recommend these for young engineers as they may not have fully developed their tracking technique enough to keep the low tones in check. These speakers could fool you if you do not know what you are listening for. I found for my space I like the center of the woofer at ear level, I would like to try the 22's because they stand a little taller and wouldn't require another stand to be built on my desk, but I like these so much I am not willing to chance it....Perhaps I will shell it out but I plan on a set of M-60's for the living room and don't want two sets of book shelfs, of course I bet they would find a home quickly. This is a long post I know but worth it for anyone who is sitting on the fence. Anyone who hasn't been getting their mixes to work for them. Buy a pair and don't look back. The key word when mixing is trust and I trust these speakers more than others costing 5 times as much.

T. Patterson
Empty Mind Studio