Mackie MR824-8" Powered Studio Monitors?

[Ripper7620]

Any insight that could be provided on these monitors would be greatly appreciated, thank you in advance.

[dizmo]

I imagine they'd be pretty good. I have the CR5BT's and I quite like them.

[BrinkGG]

5 minutes ago, Ripper7620 said:

Any insight that could be provided on these monitors would be greatly appreciated, thank you in advance.

I personally would recommend a pair of the Yamaha HS8 over Mackie. Yamaha has already proven their amazing performance for such a low price, and I don't know If I would recommend anything else under $500/ea for Monitors.

[Ripper7620]

1 hour ago, Brink2Three said:

I personally would recommend a pair of the Yamaha HS8 over Mackie. Yamaha has already proven their amazing performance for such a low price, and I don't know If I would recommend anything else under $500/ea for Monitors.

Thank you for the reply, I passed on the HS8's because of the lack of true bass representation on them, but dammit, they matched my desks perfectly!!

[BrinkGG]

11 minutes ago, Ripper7620 said:

Thank you for the reply, I passed on the HS8's because of the lack of true bass representation on them, but dammit, they matched my desks perfectly!!

"Lack of true bass representation"

AKA, the kick drum didn't knock me over so it's not loud enough. /s

Seriously though, Studio monitors are meant to provide an accurate recreation of instruments. (When recorded and played back properly.) So while it may sound like less bass then your car stereo, that is probably because it is a more accurately balanced playback of the music then your car speakers. 

And until I can find an actual frequency response chart for the MR824, I can't recommend them. 

Though if you really want bass, just buy a pair of HS5 and a subwoofer like PreSonus' Tremblor or the HS8S from Yamaha. 

[Ripper7620]

5 hours ago, Brink2Three said:

"Lack of true bass representation"

AKA, the kick drum didn't knock me over so it's not loud enough. /s

Seriously though, Studio monitors are meant to provide an accurate recreation of instruments. (When recorded and played back properly.) So while it may sound like less bass then your car stereo, that is probably because it is a more accurately balanced playback of the music then your car speakers. 

And until I can find an actual frequency response chart for the MR824, I can't recommend them. 

Though if you really want bass, just buy a pair of HS5 and a subwoofer like PreSonus' Tremblor or the HS8S from Yamaha. 

I've talked with a couple of people who've had the HS8's, and they said after using them to mix down with, and listening to the results afterwards, there was an over abundance of bass in the mix because they were compensating for the lack of bass response in the HS8's. However they're awfully tempting none the less because of how well the white ones match my desks.

P.S. The HS8's would be an awesome choice in combination with a more bass responsive monitors, or even HS6's in combination with more bass rich monitors, just because of the quality of sound.

[BrinkGG]

15 hours ago, Ripper7620 said:

I've talked with a couple of people who've had the HS8's, and they said after using them to mix down with, and listening to the results afterwards, there was an over abundance of bass in the mix because they were compensating for the lack of bass response in the HS8's. However they're awfully tempting none the less because of how well the white ones match my desks.

P.S. The HS8's would be an awesome choice in combination with a more bass responsive monitors, or even HS6's in combination with more bass rich monitors, just because of the quality of sound.

Again, if you're concerned with lack of bass, get HS5 or HS6's and get a sub. Enable rolloff on the desktop monitors and let the sub roll.

[Ripper7620]

8 hours ago, Brink2Three said:

Again, if you're concerned with lack of bass, get HS5 or HS6's and get a sub. Enable rolloff on the desktop monitors and let the sub roll.

I concur, that's a great solution for somebody else, but unfortunately, that would get me evicted. Would be a dope setup though.

[Ripper7620]

This is my current setup as of recently, and I was wondering if anyone else has the Mackie MR824 monitors, and how well they perform for mixing down? I’m still waiting on my patch cables in order to be able to try them out. In particular, I’m interested in any tricks, settings etc, in order to get the most out of these monitors. Unfortunately I live in an apartment,so I’m limited as to the volume level I can work with. Are there any tricks I need to know in order to mix successfully at lower volumes? Thank you in advance for any insight you may be able to provide, and I’m sorry about the horrible cable management, ill straighten that out after I recieve my patch cables. I’m including a picture of my current setup:

 

[anothertom]

A better question, why did you feel the need to go for a clarett over a scarlett? Unless you're using the ADAT inputs (which you're not) you could have saved ~£250 (or whatever that converts to in whichever colony you're in) and not noticed a difference.

[Ripper7620]

34 minutes ago, anothertom said:

A better question, why did you feel the need to go for a clarett over a scarlett? Unless you're using the ADAT inputs (which you're not) you could have saved ~£250 (or whatever that converts to in whichever colony you're in) and not noticed a difference.

I tried the USB 2 option for the hell of it, the USB type C just sounds better.

[dizmo]

Hmmm this seems familiar.

 

[Ripper7620]

31 minutes ago, dizmo said:

Hmmm this seems familiar.

 

Thank you for the reply, yes that’s my first post, and now they’ve arrived. Just trying to get started, and could use any help, or recommendations on using this particular monitor. I’m still waiting on patch cables, which will arrive Monday.

[Dackzy]

11 hours ago, Ripper7620 said:

This is my current setup as of recently, and I was wondering if anyone else has the Mackie HR824 monitors, and how well they perform for mixing down? I’m still waiting on my patch cables in order to be able to try them out. In particular, I’m interested in any tricks, settings etc, in order to get the most out of these monitors. Unfortunately I live in an apartment,so I’m limited as to the volume level I can work with. Are there any tricks I need to know in order to mix successfully at lower volumes? Thank you in advance for any insight you may be able to provide, and I’m sorry about the horrible cable management, ill straighten that out after I recieve my patch cables. I’m including a picture of my current setup:

 

How big is that screen? It makes the 8" look like a 5". Also do you mean MR or HR, you write both throughout the topic and there is a fair bit of difference between the two. I personally find a 8" too big for a close up mixing and so does the studio people I have talked to. I personally like a 6-6.5" woofer.

 

8" always seem too boomy or give the representation of too much bass for me, like I would maybe get 8" if the speakers were like placed/mounted a few meters away from me.

 

If you want to get a good mix, then I would recommend first getting a measurement microphone, measure your speakers reponse in your room and EQ it as close to flat as you can. You also need to be able to hear everything in the mix, so you can't play it at too low volumes, but this also doesn't mean that you need to blast it, a set of very detailed headphones will also be able to help you find the small flaws. So what I probably would do if I were you, mix on the speakers until you think it sounds good on them, then try to listen to the mix with detailed headphones to see if there is any noise or distortion that you missed or if there is something weird in the mix and then correct the flaws, then listen to it on the speakers again and repeat this until you think the mix is perfect. After you think the mix is perfect, then maybe ask someone else to listen to it 

 

Also symmetry is key for a good speaker setup

 

Ofc gear can't suddenly make you good at mixing  

 

[Kamjam21xx]

Unless your getting speakers with new materials like kevlar, id go 70's hifi with something like Jbl 4312A or 4312B and a carver m1.0t amp. Its almost indistinguishable from a tube amp in slewrate.

 

I dont think powered monitors are a good idea, youll get a better slew rate and dampening with an older class-A amp. Which means more accurate sound. But id add a pair of yamaha ns10ms to any pair of modern powered monitors you buy.

 

Just always replace your caps and pots.

[Ripper7620]

8 hours ago, Dackzy said:

How big is that screen? It makes the 8" look like a 5". Also do you mean MR or HR, you write both throughout the topic and there is a fair bit of difference between the two. I personally find a 8" too big for a close up mixing and so does the studio people I have talked to. I personally like a 6-6.5" woofer.

 

8" always seem too boomy or give the representation of too much bass for me, like I would maybe get 8" if the speakers were like placed/mounted a few meters away from me.

 

If you want to get a good mix, then I would recommend first getting a measurement microphone, measure your speakers reponse in your room and EQ it as close to flat as you can. You also need to be able to hear everything in the mix, so you can't play it at too low volumes, but this also doesn't mean that you need to blast it, a set of very detailed headphones will also be able to help you find the small flaws. So what I probably would do if I were you, mix on the speakers until you think it sounds good on them, then try to listen to the mix with detailed headphones to see if there is any noise or distortion that you missed or if there is something weird in the mix and then correct the flaws, then listen to it on the speakers again and repeat this until you think the mix is perfect. After you think the mix is perfect, then maybe ask someone else to listen to it 

 

Also symmetry is key for a good speaker setup

 

Ofc gear can't suddenly make you good at mixing  

 

Thank you for the feedback. I did mean I have MR824's, sorry for the confusion on my part.

[Ripper7620]

28 minutes ago, Kamjam21xx said:

Unless your getting speakers with new materials like kevlar, id go 70's hifi with something like Jbl 4312A or 4312B and a carver m1.0t amp. Its almost indistinguishable from a tube amp in slewrate.

 

I dont think powered monitors are a good idea, youll get a better slew rate and dampening with an older class-A amp. Which means more accurate sound. But id add a pair of yamaha ns10ms to any pair of modern powered monitors you buy.

 

Just always replace your caps and pots.

Thank you for your input, much appreciated.