Tips for a studio with a subwoofer?

[Manhattan Glutton]

I just bought one for mixing to go with my studio monitors. Does anybody else have a setup like this? Tips?

[JonPorobil]

I mix on a set of computer speakers with a subwoofer. This tends to cause me to overstate or understate the bass in the mix. I read somewhere that it's a good idea to try listening with the speakers at a barely-audible level once the primary mixing is done, to determine if it still sounds usable when heard at normal to lower-than-normal levels. I've found that trick quite helpful.

[Hoblit]

Yes, get rid of it. Take it out of your studio.

(unless you are doing rap)

This is just my opinion of course, but a subwoofer has no place in your initial mix. Might be good for testing final mix in the sense that you'd want to know how it sounded when a subwoofer is added, but I wouldn't 'rely' on it unless absolutely necessary.

This is assuming you are an amateur like the rest of us. If you have a huge realistic studio, then ignore my input completely.

: )

[Manhattan Glutton]

Herp derp yes guys, in fact I'm going to throw out my headphones and speakers and just mix on the sub. By sitting on it and feeling the vibrations.

Naw, see, the problem is the really low bass. I'll get a song sounding awesome with headphones and studio monitors, then get it in my car and realize the sub is blowing the fuck up (or vis versa). So my studio sub's for the sanity checking of that. But I just got it so I don't know how I should calibrate it or anything.

[Hoblit]

Herp derp yes guys,...By sitting on it and feeling the vibrations.

That's all I saw.

: )

I was a little drunk and might have missed your point last night when I replied. : )

[Billy's Little Trip]

You should mix with very flat monitors, because a sub would give you an artificial bass frequency and could make your mix weak on the lows. But anyone can learn how to take things like a sub into consideration when mixing. I do 95% of my mixing on headphones. They are studio quality and pretty flat, but I still had a tendency to over compensate for the highs and bass on both ends of the scale. I always play my mix in my car and my house system and make mental notes. Now I've done it so much that I know where my bass and highs should be on my studio phones pretty close.

BUT, I do believe in a second AND third system in the studio if possible. One flat system for mixing, and one or two for listening. So a sub-woofer system is a good idea for listening to a finished mix. Also, I believe in an average computer speaker system, because so many people listening to our music will be listening on computer speakers of some sort or headphones.

My new studio setup has monitors, floor speakers and decent computer speakers with a sub. Also my studio phones and some nice quality full range phones. I'll be setting them up on an A, B, C, D switch for convenience. Of course that's the plan, not necessarily the reality at this point. Radio shack trip!

[Manhattan Glutton]

I'm really only targeting sub-bass here - the bass that my studio monitors and headphones can't produce. I have trouble getting the THUMP consistent across songs.

Here's an example: I'll be playing a riff on my bass guitar that goes from the A string to the low B string - sounds fine on the headphones, the speakers, etc. It's a nice chill, quiet song. Put it in my car and the note on the low B ruins it because I think there's an earthquake. Now, my car does has a kickass system, but it is the manufacturer system at default (flat) equalization. Obviously, I go back, look at the spectrum, try to figure out what went wrong... but my goal here is to catch that before I even get in my car. It's not just with bass guitar either, it could be anything. Want to avoid the obnoxious rumblies.

[Billy's Little Trip]

That's why I started using compression and a limiter on my bass track. It keeps the range in check on the final mix.