JBL called their L-222 Disco because it came out in 1980 at the height of disco music it was just a marketing ploy that's it. As far as some genres sounding better or different than each other is self explanatory. Don't expect classic rock to bass like techno or rap dont expect a live recording of Eric Clapton in 1974 to sound as good as a live recording done in 2017. We must remember that the quality of our sound depends on the quality of the source material and that varies greatly. You can take the worlds best sounding speaker hooked to the best sounding equipment and play a poorly recorded source it will sound crap and excellent sounding recordings will sound good even on cheaper equipment.
The RTA and phase meter is your most important tool for mastering, as it tells you where most.of the energy is and whether the low end is in phase (important for vinyl). The rest is down to just EQ and compression (and sidechaining) for better headroom. A bump around 40-50 sounds really nice for good weight in the low end. Often a subharmonic synth is used to provide better "slam", which was a secret weapon back in the 70s and 80s when dance music had to sound a certain way to pull you into the music. It was just as important to feel the low end a certain way than hear it and you didn't want a cluttered mix in that area. A notch at 2.5 - 4k was also desired to help make the music sound louder without ruining your ears listening for longer periods of time. You didn't want to chase anyone away from the dance floor just because the perceived volume was too high for comfort. There's an art to producing a dance track that sounds good. You have to mix and master the track at intended playback volume to get a good idea what it sounds like in a club.
Blue Monday from New Order comes to mind here which was incidentally produced.by Quincy Jones.
Blue Monday from New Order comes to mind here which was incidentally produced.by Quincy Jones.
Yes, you would always do the mix and master on large formst monitors that had full bandwidth.
A mix done on NS10s by someone who didn't understand their bandwidth limitations ie. shy low end, would almost always translate into a bass heavy and muddy mix, unless a sub was used.
NS10s have their place and are a familiar sight in most studios thanks to their ability to reveal little phase sensitive issues in the mids and top end without being distracted by the extreme top or bottom end that didn't matter as much when the finished product was played back on most consumer gear at the time.
Used within their limits, NS10s were a very good tool for mixing, but were never intended to sound like a hifi soeaker.
They were supposed to sound bland so that you could hear whether you got a well translating mix for playback on lesser quality BW limited consumer gear ie. car stereo, boom box and mono FM radio. You had to work pretty hard to get a decent sounding pop music mix on NS10s.
I really only think genre tuning happens when a popular label masters on ****** speakers. Like the BBC dip and the Apple Records B&W resonances.
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I don't think its possible to track music on NS10s. They don't have the neutrality or bandwidth to convey full range material properly. Thats why there often would be a radio mix, album mix and 45rpm single mix for the same music. It was so that you could get the best sound on various forms of media. NS10s were good for doing radio mixes. They're not practical for mixing a full range recording. Not enough low end, top end or neutrality.
Do you have an example of this B&W resonance issue? I use 2nd gen 802s for alot of pop mixes, which sound great over other larger speakers of various kinds.
If there's master EQ used on them, there was very little you lost or gained in the final product. I mixed on alot of B&W models, some of which were worse than others. You had to watch the 1 - 5 k area so it didn't end up too crispy. Sometimes a little midrange shout would come through at higher playback levels.
Slave to the Rythm by Grace Jones was done on 802s by Trevor Horn. It sounds fantastic. The album version had clean, massive low end and very refined vocals. The samples sounded nice too being just canned source. The same goes for Alan Parson's Eye in the Sky, but it was tracked on larger JBL 4430s and finished on larger B&Ws.
I'll try to get a sound clip playing the Grace Jones track on the 802s at about 100 dB average and let you decide if you hear any resonances.
I've been surprised to see smaller B&W used as nearfield by my prefered sound engineer( S.Albini): one of his assistant was a french guy early 00's and he came back in France circa 10's and worked in a very nice residential French's studio ( Studio de la Frette, they own the very first Neve console ever produced...) and brought back this monitors.
I had lengthy discussion with him as i was surprised... in EU they were not seen in control room, it was mainly Genelec's 1031, Tannoy, Mackie which were used alongside NS10 at that time. Fewer Meyer HD1 and sometimes Quested in the place i worked in.
I never liked B&W i've heard. And i mainly seen them used in mastering facility at that time where they had great results.
All in all it's a mater of habits and preference in my view.
Very good work can be done once you are accustomed to monitoring... whatever it is. I would be in trouble to identify which kind of ref was used on which recording. When you know afterward it can make sense though ( i'm fond of Tannoy and playing back tracks mixed on them can 'highlight' some traits of character about them, Genelec too i can sometimes spot...).
I had lengthy discussion with him as i was surprised... in EU they were not seen in control room, it was mainly Genelec's 1031, Tannoy, Mackie which were used alongside NS10 at that time. Fewer Meyer HD1 and sometimes Quested in the place i worked in.
I never liked B&W i've heard. And i mainly seen them used in mastering facility at that time where they had great results.
All in all it's a mater of habits and preference in my view.
Very good work can be done once you are accustomed to monitoring... whatever it is. I would be in trouble to identify which kind of ref was used on which recording. When you know afterward it can make sense though ( i'm fond of Tannoy and playing back tracks mixed on them can 'highlight' some traits of character about them, Genelec too i can sometimes spot...).
https://www.stereophile.com/content/bowers-wilkins-diamond-series-804-d4-loudspeaker-measurements
Massive cabinet resonance from the port measurements. B&W, for all that they contributed to speaker design, is extremely flawed in some very fundamental ways.
We play all kinds of music except heavy metal, so we have main speakers which sound good whatever the genre.
We also have Paul Carmody's Classix II, which were 'voiced' for pop/rock/blues, same with his Tarkus, which I haven't heard but were voiced for rock music. However, Paul notes that his speakers will still play 'girl and guitar' or orchestra just fine.
Geoff
We also have Paul Carmody's Classix II, which were 'voiced' for pop/rock/blues, same with his Tarkus, which I haven't heard but were voiced for rock music. However, Paul notes that his speakers will still play 'girl and guitar' or orchestra just fine.
Geoff
More Bass emphasis makes sense for certain genres.
Really about it.
I listen to anything from Soundtrack music to EDM, Jazz or Metal.
Some modern Metal is extremely low tuned, you would think Subs would work well.
When sometimes real instruments like Bass can sound odd in the sub.
But with Electronic doesn't really matter. More sub the Merry.
Having done sound design and enjoyed numerous strange filter and delay effects
with electronic bass. Rather interesting sounds with stereo Sub.
Doesnt make sense till you hear delay spreaders with full subs.
Really about it.
I listen to anything from Soundtrack music to EDM, Jazz or Metal.
Some modern Metal is extremely low tuned, you would think Subs would work well.
When sometimes real instruments like Bass can sound odd in the sub.
But with Electronic doesn't really matter. More sub the Merry.
Having done sound design and enjoyed numerous strange filter and delay effects
with electronic bass. Rather interesting sounds with stereo Sub.
Doesnt make sense till you hear delay spreaders with full subs.
This is my personal question. I own a pair of ADS L1590/2s.
Does anyone know what kind of genre ADS speakers are tuned to?
At present, I listen to modern pop music and sometimes 80s pop music. Never listen to Jazz and Classic though. I think they perform very well with the pop music. But, I'm curious to know personally.
Does anyone know what kind of genre ADS speakers are tuned to?
At present, I listen to modern pop music and sometimes 80s pop music. Never listen to Jazz and Classic though. I think they perform very well with the pop music. But, I'm curious to know personally.
Speaking of NS10's, I was under the impression they're treated like a pro-quality clock radio. An absolute worst case to check against. If it plays there, it plays anywhere.
I think that's fairly common, but these are subtle adjustments and not at all the same thing.
Yes, anytime you make a mix, it's best to listen on a variety of sources. The NS10 is just such a device, as well as a reference standard.
Theorically they are tuned to sound 'right' whatever the style to reproduce. In other word they should be 'linear' in the low end, no bump in the frequency to emphasize kick drum and bass.
That said where you locate them in your room will change low end behavior: closer to a boundary ( wall) will augment lows. Extreme case being in corners where you can have up to +9db ( relative to anechoic measurements: freq response graph).
To answer the op. I think most mass market speakers are not tuned to any specific music genre. There are some expensive boutique audiophile ones that are at least designers admit that. Your ads 1590 s are an excellent vintage speaker in my opinion my uncle has a pair i get to hear them often. They do seam to shine on pop stuff and classic rock. Personally i dont think that there is one speaker that is the best at all kinds of music. Small groups of musicians playing acoustic instruments whatever the genre either jazz classical or world music are amazing on electrostatic or full range ribbon speakers no other type of speakers come close in my opinion based on many years of selling designing and doing limited sound reinforcement. But the same speakers kinda sound like **** when playing metal or hard rock at fairly realistic loud levels. For me that is when large horn speakers rule like vintage altecs. I think the majority of speakers fall in between wanting to sound decent on a wide variety of genres at a moderate level. Just my opinion.
Mark
Mark
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Monday_(New_Order_song)#Alternative_versions
(I had to look it up on wikipedia to make sure)
In 1988, "Blue Monday" was remixed by Quincy Jones and John Potoker as "Blue Monday 1988".
Yes.
I remember a time many years ago when we used to apply a thin sheet of toilet-paper on the cabinet at the height of the tweeter in order to attenuate the range.
I don’t know if it’s still done today though.
However, I never thought of adapting my loudspeakers to the musical genre listened to, and I think never do it.
They play very well with everything...
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Reggae soundsystems are tuned for the genre, where they use the flaws in the scoop design (horn is out of phase with the direct radiation) to enchange the bass. But the rest is fairly classic in modern roots sounds, and in most older also. But the scoop (a backloaded horn with compression chambre behind the woofer) gives a sound no other can, and that is why the big majority of roots and dub sounds still use them and keep finetuning them. Dubstep, jungle and similar bass based music styles also use them a lot. Those systems are mostly custom diy or build by small commercial builders that specificly target that slice of the market.
This is such a soundsystem, runned by Youths & Truth (dj crew) from Kortrijk, Belgium and build by Stakx (a company linked to that reggae sound as the owner of Stakx is also the engineer from Youth's & Truth). Similar sound systems are used all over the world for rootsreggae and dub soundsystems
This is such a soundsystem, runned by Youths & Truth (dj crew) from Kortrijk, Belgium and build by Stakx (a company linked to that reggae sound as the owner of Stakx is also the engineer from Youth's & Truth). Similar sound systems are used all over the world for rootsreggae and dub soundsystems