John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

Crew...

Have been attempting to master my CD with a pair of KRK Rockit 8's; & have been pulling the ol' hair out with my vocals. The vox are too dull; & every attempt at high-end EQ creates a buzz...regardless of quality of plug-in or curve utilized. Any kind of stiff attack or burst in the lyric content; & its buzz city. Any kind of (even close to) overmodulation or harmonic distortion; & I get that scratchy, scrapey flavor.

Then, the other day...I ripped a few songs from favorite CD's past & listened to those thru the KRK's. I can hear every damn buzzy burst & harmonic distortion scrape in every vocal line !!!

So...my question is...are these things too accurate...or do they not handle certain signal characteristics well...as a manufacturer?

I believe in the theory of nearfields (what you hear is what you get); & that when, your mix sounds good on them...it will sound real good on everything else...

...but, come on...

...I can't make anything sound good on these things. They say nearfields have to be “learned”, but I can't judge correctly with these monitors; & I don't have time to burn CD's & then run around & audition tunes on every kind of system...come back...tweak, etc., etc., etc.

Does anybody else out there own this model? Could use some input.

Thanks,

mark4man

Dell Dimension 8250 / Windows XP
Intel 850E Motherboard/Chipset
Intel P4 2.53GHz CPU (512 KB L2 Cache, 533 MHz FSB)
1024 MB PC1066 RDRAM
Ultra 60GB Primary HD / Single Volume (OS, Apps, Files/Folders.)
Maxtor DiamondMax 9+ 80GB Secondary HD / Single Volume (Audio Data only)
nVidia 64MB GEFORCE4 MX420 AGP
Echo Audio Layla 24/96 PCI Audio Interface
Universal Audio UAD-1 DSP Powered Plug-In System
KRK Rockit RP-8 Studio Reference Monitors
SONAR XL 2.2
SONAR4
WaveLab 5

I dont own these monitors, however I think it is either a factory defect, not syncing equipment or bad connection. This sort of sounds like a problem I had when setting up new equipment and that was with syncing your recording interface (your echo i take it?) and your DAW. Check as see how much CPU usage your DAW is using, if it is alot (50% and more) along with other things your processor is prolly overworked and cant apply effects when needed and creates an unstable workstation and undesired sounds. To reduce how much CPU usage its taking up change your recording interfaces latency, from a lower setting to a higher. This will let you add effects and change stuff on the fly and not worry about it crashing or w/e.

Fill

What do they sound like with well-recorded commercial CD's, like some of the ones here"

http://www.digido.com/portal/pmodule_id ... age_id=93/

If they STILL don't sound good, it may be the speakers or it might be your converters/sync as mentioned. If they DO sound good, it's your production (levels, sync, EQ, etc) Steve