Hey Jeff,
From an EQ and levels perspective, that's absolutely true. You will always have to learn the room and learn any monitor. Flat monitors tend to be easier to learn in any given environment than monitors with a frequency response that jumps all over, but you can learn the EQ of almost any monitor, with some practice. You can also learn to set levels properly so everything meshes. There's more to a monitor than that though. A lot of people don't realize that and I didn't either, until I heard Focal for the first time. It was truly a life changing experience. It sounds cheesy, but it's absolutely true. I had heard lots of high-end monitors at that point and I immediately lost interest in all of them. The reason was the same for me as it is everyone else who hears them...You will hear things you never heard before. Without fail, when I play these for someone, either a retail customer or a studio client, or even a buddy who is checking out my studio, I always let them bring some music of their own that they know well. Without fail, every single time, they hear things they've never heard before. It's shocking what's hiding in recordings that even good headphones will miss.
One of my favorites was a guy who brought in a mix of his own band. He had done the mix himself and owned very nice gear. He wasn't even in the market for monitors, because he had a high-end set already. I was more showing off the Focals for fun. There was a noise throughout the mix. At first, he thought it was the speakers making noise. I knew it wasn't the speakers, but I couldn't figure out what it was. As it turns out, it was the fan from his computer OUTSIDE his vocal booth. All the times he had heard that mix on his monitors, in his car and on other systems, he never heard it. On the Focals, it stuck out like a sore thumb. He immediately replaced his other speakers.
For me, I've had several different sets of good monitors in here. Never heard much of a difference between a well encoded 320kbps mp3 and a ripped wav file. If I listened critically, I could pick out the mp3, but it wasn't obvious. On these, I can hear an mp3 instantly. It even becomes very simple to hear the differences between encoders. It's quite shocking. During an editing session, it can be maddening because every tiny flaw becomes huge. I had to go back and re gain-stage everything and recalibrate my converters. Tiny adjustments that I simply couldn't hear before became 100% non-negotiable. A level adjustment of 0.2dB sounds astonishly dramatic, as well, so I can even further fine tune things that had previously gone unnoticed.
One could certainly say that if most other playback systems will mask it anyway, so why bother? There is some truth and credibility to that. However, I can promise you that when all of those tiny things are corrected, the final product sounds better on every system. You can't really tell what's better, but it's improved. Translation to all systems is better. Not a night-and-day difference, but really, on most playback systems, there's not a night-and-day differnce between a $300 Chinese mic and a $3000 German mic, but there's no shortage of people willing to pay for that small difference.
It's really like any other piece of gear. You shouldn't buy beyond your skill level and certainly not your budget. Great monitors can help you polish a good recording, but they're useless if the recording sucks. A great mic chain can help with getting the right sound, but if the voice and/or delivery is horrible, it really doesn't matter at all. Nobody wants a recording of someone who sounds like crap any more than anyone wants a great mix of a crappy song. And I love my gear, but nothing I have would have been worth starving for, nor will anything else I get in the future. I might have to skip a dessert or two for a new piece, but I would never, nor do I ever recommend, financial strain over gear.
As for the tuned room, I also don't have the cash to hire Russ for myself. I have some education in acoustics for myself...Nothing like Russ, but enough to improve a room. For those that don't, there are a lot of resources online that can help a lot and are totally free. I am fortunate enough, however, to have access to a room that IS very neutral. And it's great for seeing what monitors really sound like without variables. As I said, it's not "real world", but it is fair to all.
A few final thoughts on monitors, so this post isn't just a giant Focal commercial. I hear that Barefoot monitors compete nicely with Focal. They are the only ones that I've heard really get there with the detail.
Genelecs were mentioned. Not a fan. Very flat frequency response and built with quality, but that's about it. I only recommend them in cases where flat frequency response is more important than anything else, which isn't often.
Adams were mentioned as well. Great monitors, but they have a tiny, tiny sweet spot. With Focals (and some others), I can move around the room and my ears can't quite pinpoint the speakers, they just sort-of vanish, leaving only the sound. With Adams, you will be painfully aware of where each speaker is and you will grow accustomed to holding your head really still so you don't move from the sweet spot. Great high-end. A little fatiguing for me, but a lot of people love it.
Blue Sky was also mentioned. They are known for their surround systems and true midrange. Their midrange is quite good, making them ideal for editing dialog. The issue I have with them is that the highs and lows aren't nearly as solid as the midrange, so if you're dealing with a complete mix, it can be a challenge.
Finally, on monitors in general, it's EXTREMELY important that monitors be burned in prior to evaluating them. All of them sound horrible out of the box. There is no way around it. That's why high-end monitors are often a lame "out-of-the-box" experience. A well burned in pair of cheapies will sound better than a brand-new pair of high-end monitors. If you're listening in the store and something doesn't sound like you would expect, find out how long it's been out. It takes a good 10 hours at a moderate volume to even get them close to where they should be. It takes a couple hundred hours before they're completely there. Also true of headphones!
Emmett
From an EQ and levels perspective, that's absolutely true. You will always have to learn the room and learn any monitor. Flat monitors tend to be easier to learn in any given environment than monitors with a frequency response that jumps all over, but you can learn the EQ of almost any monitor, with some practice. You can also learn to set levels properly so everything meshes. There's more to a monitor than that though. A lot of people don't realize that and I didn't either, until I heard Focal for the first time. It was truly a life changing experience. It sounds cheesy, but it's absolutely true. I had heard lots of high-end monitors at that point and I immediately lost interest in all of them. The reason was the same for me as it is everyone else who hears them...You will hear things you never heard before. Without fail, when I play these for someone, either a retail customer or a studio client, or even a buddy who is checking out my studio, I always let them bring some music of their own that they know well. Without fail, every single time, they hear things they've never heard before. It's shocking what's hiding in recordings that even good headphones will miss.
One of my favorites was a guy who brought in a mix of his own band. He had done the mix himself and owned very nice gear. He wasn't even in the market for monitors, because he had a high-end set already. I was more showing off the Focals for fun. There was a noise throughout the mix. At first, he thought it was the speakers making noise. I knew it wasn't the speakers, but I couldn't figure out what it was. As it turns out, it was the fan from his computer OUTSIDE his vocal booth. All the times he had heard that mix on his monitors, in his car and on other systems, he never heard it. On the Focals, it stuck out like a sore thumb. He immediately replaced his other speakers.
For me, I've had several different sets of good monitors in here. Never heard much of a difference between a well encoded 320kbps mp3 and a ripped wav file. If I listened critically, I could pick out the mp3, but it wasn't obvious. On these, I can hear an mp3 instantly. It even becomes very simple to hear the differences between encoders. It's quite shocking. During an editing session, it can be maddening because every tiny flaw becomes huge. I had to go back and re gain-stage everything and recalibrate my converters. Tiny adjustments that I simply couldn't hear before became 100% non-negotiable. A level adjustment of 0.2dB sounds astonishly dramatic, as well, so I can even further fine tune things that had previously gone unnoticed.
One could certainly say that if most other playback systems will mask it anyway, so why bother? There is some truth and credibility to that. However, I can promise you that when all of those tiny things are corrected, the final product sounds better on every system. You can't really tell what's better, but it's improved. Translation to all systems is better. Not a night-and-day difference, but really, on most playback systems, there's not a night-and-day differnce between a $300 Chinese mic and a $3000 German mic, but there's no shortage of people willing to pay for that small difference.
It's really like any other piece of gear. You shouldn't buy beyond your skill level and certainly not your budget. Great monitors can help you polish a good recording, but they're useless if the recording sucks. A great mic chain can help with getting the right sound, but if the voice and/or delivery is horrible, it really doesn't matter at all. Nobody wants a recording of someone who sounds like crap any more than anyone wants a great mix of a crappy song. And I love my gear, but nothing I have would have been worth starving for, nor will anything else I get in the future. I might have to skip a dessert or two for a new piece, but I would never, nor do I ever recommend, financial strain over gear.
As for the tuned room, I also don't have the cash to hire Russ for myself. I have some education in acoustics for myself...Nothing like Russ, but enough to improve a room. For those that don't, there are a lot of resources online that can help a lot and are totally free. I am fortunate enough, however, to have access to a room that IS very neutral. And it's great for seeing what monitors really sound like without variables. As I said, it's not "real world", but it is fair to all.
A few final thoughts on monitors, so this post isn't just a giant Focal commercial. I hear that Barefoot monitors compete nicely with Focal. They are the only ones that I've heard really get there with the detail.
Genelecs were mentioned. Not a fan. Very flat frequency response and built with quality, but that's about it. I only recommend them in cases where flat frequency response is more important than anything else, which isn't often.
Adams were mentioned as well. Great monitors, but they have a tiny, tiny sweet spot. With Focals (and some others), I can move around the room and my ears can't quite pinpoint the speakers, they just sort-of vanish, leaving only the sound. With Adams, you will be painfully aware of where each speaker is and you will grow accustomed to holding your head really still so you don't move from the sweet spot. Great high-end. A little fatiguing for me, but a lot of people love it.
Blue Sky was also mentioned. They are known for their surround systems and true midrange. Their midrange is quite good, making them ideal for editing dialog. The issue I have with them is that the highs and lows aren't nearly as solid as the midrange, so if you're dealing with a complete mix, it can be a challenge.
Finally, on monitors in general, it's EXTREMELY important that monitors be burned in prior to evaluating them. All of them sound horrible out of the box. There is no way around it. That's why high-end monitors are often a lame "out-of-the-box" experience. A well burned in pair of cheapies will sound better than a brand-new pair of high-end monitors. If you're listening in the store and something doesn't sound like you would expect, find out how long it's been out. It takes a good 10 hours at a moderate volume to even get them close to where they should be. It takes a couple hundred hours before they're completely there. Also true of headphones!
Emmett