Tried a search but didn’t come across a good answer.
When doing my first video for the 50W100C (my first video ever), I realized (rather stupidly) that when plugging into the Scarlett 2i2 and using headphones, i had no audio to sync up other than my ambient bass strings. I ended up manually syncing audio/video from the mouse click that started the track. What I also learned is that I cannot play through my PC speakers when the Scarlett is hooked up and running Abelton ( known thing, well, to others, not me).
Anyway, I rigged up my Klipsh PC speakers (GREAT PC SPEAKERS, but not monitors of course) to switch between my PC output and my Scarlett monitor output for when i record again to allow for auto syncing of audio/video.
So this does work, but…Do I need monitors instead? Will they really help for this type of recording? The only other thing I would do past this is layer in saxophone and bass on a backing track together, or potentially create some beats with bass and bar sax and pedals etc to play over. If I start doing that level of mixing, I suspect I will need monitors, no?
If so, what monitors make the most sense without going crazy $$$ wise? I don’t want the cheapest things but don’t want big and expensive either. I am limited with room, but don’t want to ‘waste’ money on something too low end that I will regret or something so high end its silly.
As Eric said, you don’t need them, but if you want a reasonable set of headphone monitors the sennheiser 280 HD Pro’s are very reasonable on Sweetwater.
Lots of professional grade monitor headphones around the $100-150 mark; Sony MDR-7506 (or the older V6 like I have), Beyerdynamics DT990Pro, AKG K240 - those three probably cover the top 95% of the most popular studio monitors in the world.
Monitor speakers are nice, I am glad I have them, and if you are interested in music production beyond covers wth backing tracks, I would recommend them. Particularly if you will be adding synthesizers and other VSTi instruments in the DAW.
Otherwise, as others have noted, not really needed.
Note that normal music will sound worse to you over monitors, in case you were planning on using them for general listening. Their job is to provide a completely flat response, so it brings out the flaws in mixes of regular music too. In particular, music mixed for loudness with squashed/overcompressed dynamics - like most rock and pop - can sound remarkably shitty through monitors, depending on the mix.
I have a set of Kali Audio 6.5" Active Studio Monitors on the way today (I need them for my next Berklee class, Music Production Analysis). They were a nice reasonable set that cover most of the range I am interested and can be expanded with a sub if needed. I also have a new DAI coming in as well to add to the setup.
Nope, not at all and no intentions on doing so.
Walls are covered with framed albums from top to bottom. Not ideal, I know, but not an issue for bass. Does give me grief on sax, but that I know how to deal with.
C Melody is between alto and tenor (pitched in C, was hugely popular in the 1920s so you could play along with Grandma at the piano to the same sheet music), and between soprano and sopranino is a C soprano. Both really have not been in mass production since the 30s.
I have a few left to collect, there are high end version of alto and tenor (just nabbed the alto, not pictured yet), still need a curved soprano and a bass saxophone (the holy grail for a guy who plays sax and bass, hahahaha). Conn also made 2 saxes pitched in F, an F Mezzo soprano (in between soprano and alto) and something called a Conn-O-Sax, somewhere between alto and tenor again. They were released just before the the Great Depression in 1930 and died a few months after release, never caught on. Extremely rare with price tags to boot. Someday…
BTW, the Conn-O-Sax is so rare that they sell for ~$30,000+. There are only about 32 known to exist. They made a whole lot more when they launched, but, when the great depression hit months after launching a new horn in a new key (F), Conn employees had hundreds in stock. Lore has it that the employees at Conn used to toss them off the factory roof to see how far they could throw them, and then they were sent to scrap to have the brass reused.
Great collection of saxes!
And yes, the saxophone is a great instrument to practice at night…
My wife plays the sax, and our neighbours have indicated (not really complained, because we get along very well) that they’d prefer her to not practice in the evening. And then my wife asked whether they are bothered about my bass playing as well. And they said: Bass playing? Never noticed it…
