Reference Monitors

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Is the whole idea of reference monitors that they are supposed to let
you know what you'll sound like on the broadest range of speakers,
since they've supposedly got a good unadulterated sound? I ask b/c
I've heard people say that reference monitors make your music sound
bad... but I like the way mine make music sound. Just curious.

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro,rec.audio.tech (More info?)

ot7...@yahoo.com wrote:
> Is the whole idea of reference monitors that they are supposed to let
> you know what you'll sound like on the broadest range of speakers,
> since they've supposedly got a good unadulterated sound?

I really like how David Moulton describes the ideal goals of a studio
monitor: He says something to the effect that "a good monitor lets you
see into the Past, and see into the Future."

What he means by "seeing into the Past" is that a studio monitor needs
to be a microscope that lets you closely examine what you already
recorded, to make sure there aren't any errors or aberrations in the
performance or in the recording. It has to be an impartial analytical
tool that alerts you to everything, both good & bad, that's been (or is
going to be) recorded (Obviously this quality can also be an asset to
the Ghost of Christmas Present; if you can identify problems & correct
them during soundcheck before anything gets printed, looking into the
Past then becomes that much more enjoyable!)

And by "looking into the Future" Dave means your monitor has to be a
predictive tool, one that will let you know reliably what your material
will sound like when someone else hears it on their speakers, be they
studio monitors, home inwalls, car stereos, boom-boxes, Bose Wave
radios, iPods, whatever. If your monitors can't give you some idea of
what the listening experience will be like for others, they're value is
limited.

Note that not all good studio monitors excel at both Past & Present;
and the corollary to that is that a monitor does not need to excel at
both to be useful. But those are the essential goals..

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro,rec.audio.tech (More info?)

Wow, the philosophical approach. I like that, too. I think I had
always thought about the future aspect but not considered that I need
them to catch flaws that a colored system might mask.