Why does nobody talk about how bad cheap studio monitors actually are

I finally got a pair of KRK Rokits a few months back because everyone said they were great for mixing on a budget. Turns out they were hyping up the lows so much that my bass was way louder than it should be. I took a mix to a buddy's place with some older Yamaha speakers and it sounded completely different. Ended up spending another $150 on room treatment just to make them usable. Now I'm wondering if I should have just saved up for something flatter from the start. Has anyone else dealt with this whole "budget gear is fine" thing only to realize it's actually a trap?

2 comments

2 Comments

emmar755h ago

Room treatment before buying monitors is the move nobody tells you about. Grabbed some used JBL 305s after my KRK experience and even those sounded way more honest once the room wasn't bouncing everything around. Mixing got way easier when I stopped chasing hyped up low end and just learned what flat speakers actually sound like in a dead space.

kai7795h ago

Totally agree on the JBL 305s being a solid move after KRKs (I had the Rokits too, that low end is like a fun house mirror). The real game changer for me was throwing up some cheap 2x4 panels with rockwool in the corners, and suddenly my sub bass wasn't this giant muddy cloud anymore. Mixing went from guessing where the kick and bass sat to actually feeling the pocket, which saved me hours of revisions. It's wild how a $100 room fix makes a $400 set of speakers sound like a $1000 setup.