Do I need studio monitors? (Presonus Eris E3.5, E4.5, and/or E5 any good?)

[Passing Bye]

Public has been making great music on all of those compromised devices with great results and others has been enjoying that same flawed music, it’s about music in the end of the day, not some golden ears gear fetishes, if you can’t make good music people enjoy on compromised devices in your bedroom, you can’t anywhere better either.

[vurt]

Officially and technically you really should, and an acoustically balanced room, as in measuring the frequencies and fixing the problems through treatment (maybe more important than the monitors, assuming they are not tin cans and string).

Personally, I quit giving shit. I even have multiple sets of decent monitors. I just haven't bothered to use them. I listen through a variety of studio grade headphones, but usually get the best results with my $20 consumer headphones. I don't get better results with monitors, so I quit fretting about it, for now at least. I will probably never make a cent or get many listeners. I felt held back by years of being too careful and by the book. I suppose I am in a punk rock mindset at the moment. I just go for it and figure out later if it translated right or not.

Ignore my rant. As they say, learn the rules and then you can break them as you see fit. My music would not get radio play, but I also like lo-fi stuff like Daniel Johnston, and they wouldn't play him either. So much mainstream stuff today sounds technically precise, but lacks character and charm. I don't really like it, but it makes money.

[xjestrex]

you need a room first, before you have monitors

This. I rent a flat with quite a large room for my studio, yet it's far from perfect and the monitors don't work there ideally as they should.

Yeah, I’m not able to have a perfect room right now decided to music production. It would be silly to let this stop someone from continuing their music hobby.

I have no illusions and understand that I won’t be able to get “perfect sound response” in my situation, and there are thousands of individuals in this same situation who still create great music, for fun.

Thank you to everyone and the comments & advice so far! Lots of stuff for me to look into.

[Ploki]

If you have good mix, slapping limiter on master bus should be enough to call it done, but let’s over complicate and mystify everything, I call this Gearslutz syndrome, there’s always something more than you to get good results.

I didn't mean anything mystical tho.
The process of mastering gives you another pair of usually experienced ears and can be a very rewarding process.
Yes, sometimes limiter is enough. sometimes a clipper is enough. Sometimes its not.
The point is, you need to know that when you decide. If you don't and you just slapped a limiter on regardless, that's not mastering.

[Passing Bye]

It’s whatever gives you finished result.

[Hink]

imo you need both headphones and monitors...they do not paint the same picture but having both views are definitely an advantage. Quick example, you sit in front of monitors and you are one point of a triangle, if you pan, the sound travel from left to right in front of you, with headphones it's more linear through the head (or over if you prefer). Of course you should have a treated room but personally I would start with the monitors first and then correct the room.

[toonertik]

imo you need both headphones and monitors...they do not paint the same picture but having both views are definitely an advantage. Quick example, you sit in front of monitors and you are one point of a triangle, if you pan, the sound travel from left to right in front of you, with headphones it's more linear through the head (or over if you prefer). Of course you should have a treated room but personally I would start with the monitors first and then correct the room.

Oh .. definitely over my head.

[vurt]

you need a room first, before you have monitors

This. I rent a flat with quite a large room for my studio, yet it's far from perfect and the monitors don't work there ideally as they should.

Yeah, I’m not able to have a perfect room right now decided to music production. It would be silly to let this stop someone from continuing their music hobby.

I have no illusions and understand that I won’t be able to get “perfect sound response” in my situation, and there are thousands of individuals in this same situation who still create great music, for fun.

Thank you to everyone and the comments & advice so far! Lots of stuff for me to look into.

nope, we cant let "inadequate environment" get in the way!
i used to have my stuff set up in the worst room possible. from my chair without stretching, i could reach all four walls.
tiny.
had the ms2000 kb in there, was against one wall, the side cheeks had about an inch each end before the walls.

we make do

theres a book called "the guerilla recording studio" worth picking up for anyone on a minimal budget or not ideal space.
lots of ideas to help get the best from the not so great

[vurt]

i have no connection with the author, cant even remember his name off the top of my head. but it helped me a great deal back then

[toonertik]

Dude, you are delusional, if you think anything cheap is any accurate. Maybe for like 1k you can DIY something good. But these Eris and similar are just not "pro" in any way (this doesn't mean that you can't make music on them, just don't get fooled that they are super good for mixing and monitoring).
Good (not really "cheap") monitors you can get - Neumann KH 310 or something from Focal Shape line.
If you can't afford something like that, idk, buy whatever, but with 250 usd, you won't get anything decent.

There’s gems in every price range, Fluid Audio for example is clear example of that, if you think they are no good or accurate, than it’s obvious who is delusional here.

I recommend you ordering a book on loudspeaker design/electronics from Amazon, your choice for "good" is very questionable (unless you like comb filtering and potential phase problems, typical for all cheap offerings). Speakers that don't have compromises in design and build cost like 20k and weight like 50 kgs... compare them to them these budget solutions, please. Of course, the public doesn't own such speakers (the true test is translation to both PA and cheap consumer grade systems ), but don't get fooled that Fluid or whatever are any good.

Until I read that, I was gonna call YOU delusional... but this is about it!
However, for us mere mortals in our small fun/hobby studios making our music there are many monitors around that will suffice.

I might be getting on in life.. but back in the 1970's and 80's I was pro sound engineer (yes.. that means my sole living and EXTRAS came from this work) , after ending touring I got into studio work. Working in various studios over a few years, using many monitors and also working with other engineers, I come to the conclusion that a good engineer can create a good mix with any gear.

For sure , we can all become gear snobs (I went through a time when I would turn my nose up if I was not given Neve/Trident/Raindirk/Amek mixer or a Studer to work with... how eefffing delusional I had become). Until I assisted a very good engineer while we were working in a pretty shabby studio doing some pre_demo work... man.. he cut it.. I got off my high horse.
I have some 1970's JBL in storage.. love 'em but no room for them... I use a pair of Tannoy reveal 5's...

they work... sure, not perfect... b t then
neither am I

Point is.. if you know how... you can do with almost any thing...


as the saying goes...


JUST DO IT !!!!!

[maschinelf]

I might be getting on in life.. but back in the 1970's and 80's I was pro sound engineer (yes.. that means my sole living and EXTRAS came from this work) , after ending touring I got into studio work. Working in various studios over a few years, using many monitors and also working with other engineers, I come to the conclusion that a good engineer can create a good mix with any gear.

This. If I had to choose between a good engineer with mediocre gear and a gear snob with an elitist complex, I would go for the good engineer every single time.

[kvotchin]

Something else to consider, in case it hasn’t been mentioned upthread.

Whatever you typically listen to music on, your ears/brain are probably used to, and will kinda ‘compensate’ for. So you can always default to that. Your sound system, whatever that might be.

Of course, also use ‘pro’ monitors and/or ‘pro’ headphones, if you got ‘em. But yeah, a known quantity can also be a thing.

[andymcbain]

I might be getting on in life.. but back in the 1970's and 80's I was pro sound engineer (yes.. that means my sole living and EXTRAS came from this work) , after ending touring I got into studio work. Working in various studios over a few years, using many monitors and also working with other engineers, I come to the conclusion that a good engineer can create a good mix with any gear.

This. If I had to choose between a good engineer with mediocre gear and a gear snob with an elitist complex, I would go for the good engineer every single time.

Seconded, please ignore the snobbery. Good music has and will continue to be made on affordable gear in less than ideal environments. Knowledge, skill and attitude go a long way.

I bought my first pair of powered monitors 14 years ago and I'm blown away by how much affordable gear has improved since then. It's only going to get better.

[Ploki]

Seconded, please ignore the snobbery. Good music has and will continue to be made on affordable gear in less than ideal environments. Knowledge, skill and attitude go a long way.

I bought my first pair of powered monitors 14 years ago and I'm blown away by how much affordable gear has improved since then. It's only going to get better.

Bad music also has and will continue to be made on affordable gear in less than ideal environments.

Oh i agree that affordable gear is getting extremely better and you can get decent results quickly.
Rooms aren't getting better tho just by default. And you simply can't compensate for that no matter how good you are, because if a room obscures problematic areas or lies in frequency response, you might get lucky and be one of the "good music" that's being made, or not and be one of the crap music that gets made. Point is, you can only guess because information isn't there, it's like driving half-blind.
Good engineers didn't become good by working on shit gear, you can't learn something you don't even hear.

Instead of buying all the cheap crap and trying to build a studio that won't sound great, buy a good pair of headphones and book a great studio a couple of times to actually hear what you're doing, it will be much easier working on whatever setup you have at home when you hear what the problems of it are.

[maschinelf]

Agreed, a well treated room with a logical combination of treatment and dimensions and with a workable sweet-spot or reflection free zone is probably as important as a good pair of speakers. And good converters matter too, though arguably not as much as good speakers or the acoustic environment. Yes it's easier to work on a setup when you can hear more and therefore learn more and get better and you definitely have more chances of not screwing up when you can hear more or pick out the problems more easily, but bad music is not exclusively made on bad gear. Firstly the question of what is good or bad is itself very subjective barring the quantitative aspects, and bad music also has and will continue to be made on high-end gear in ideal environments.