DAW Speakers

[JDD]

I am setting up a simple DAW (Mac G4 & Digi 001) for my church and am wondering what kind of speakers to buy. I'm purchasing a pair of AKG K240 headphones for doing any serious editing / mixing, but for everyday playback, I'm looking for a relatively inexpensive solution. I've looked at buying a computer speaker setup for ~$100, but am wondering what others are doing in similar situations. I don't feel I need a $600 per pair set of powered speakers, but I don't know if the $100 will do the job. I welcome thoughts and advice. Thank you kindly.

Jeff
Grand Rapids, MI

[Nika]

Absolutely not.

~$100 will be totally inadequate for the recording process. If you only have $100 to spend, get the headphones and save your money. I hear over and over again about people who mention how hard they work on a mix only to not have it really "work" when it gets to mastering or the outside world because their reference source was worse than their car stereo system.

That's my opinion.
Nika.

[synesthesia]

*grins*

nika's probably right, but i've got some computer speakers worth about $30 cdn that i use religiously in conjunction with my monitors. they're awesome.

so, in that case - it would really depend on the speakers! (and the kind of music you're mixing)

-stef

[synchronistic23]

I would have to agree with Nika as well, but I would add that if you have the opportunity to reference your work with similiar work, while monitoring through the same speakers of course, you can do good work on sub-par speakers. I can say that referencing improves my mixes greatly, especially when working with unfamiliar gear or consumer-grade gear.

[jahman]

Well,what can I say,but
If you buy a cheap speaker pair and a amp some sort,You usually CAN do your mixes on this.But youll have problems getting a even sound.So you need to get to learn your speakers,the best way is to testdrive your mixes on alot better systems and try to remember what goes missin and what you have to much of.
It is quite possible,but it takes time,and your mixes will not be wery good at a start.A good thing is that you will get alot of experience and learn alot about mixing(the hard way).
In combo with a good pair of headphones youll be pretty well off after a while.
Ive been doeing this for years on a pair of pawnshop speakers
and my mastermix studioguy is usually pretty happy with the results.
A tip when buying speakers in thriftstores and pawnshops:
Knock on the cabinet and check so that it sounds VERY solid otherwise dont buy.Also check the binding posts and make sure these are of a high quality.