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As @-PT mentioned, excellent questions, sir!
- I tend to stick to one main set of nearfield speakers I really know and trust (my ATC 45’s are large enough to be considered mid-field, tho I position them at near-field range)
- I always have a subwoofer and it is ALWAYS on a separate button on my Avocet monitor controller. It stays off 99.9% of the time but it’s nice to be able to push the “sub” button and hear what might be flopping around down there needing finer tuning. Or sometimes I turn it on and crank the system up super loud for “club mode.”
- I always have (and depend on) a set of crappy Radio Shack Realistic speakers placed way out of the sweet spot on the other side of the room, pushed together so they’re mono. This inexpensive yet essential setup gives me the feeling of “listening from another room” which is always revealing, and it also gives me a sense of what my mix will sound like on laptops and small budget systems.
- Of all the fancy studios around the world I’ve worked in, I have yet to encounter “mains” that I like to listen to. I’m fairly certain their only purpose is to excite label reps who drop by during sessions.
This forum discussion has pix of my Realistic speakers as well as my old beloved 5″ Yamaha nearfields I started my career on (and mixed a #1 album on 😲). It also details my 4-step process to declutter any mix. In fact … I turned that 4-step process into a handy pdf but never shared it … until now! Mua hah ha ha haaaa. I’ll attach it here for the time being as a fun little Easter Egg. Enjoy!