Key Of Grey

Photo courtesy of Genelec

October 8th, 2008 – As I’ve posted before, I use laptop speakers as one of my monitoring solutions when mixing music. Chances are, people aren’t exactly listening to your music through studio monitors worth tens of thousands, if not more, so you should know what your music sounds like through the speakers of your listeners. Still, I wouldn’t buy the super crappy speakers I know my friends use (often free with their bargain basement computers); they have to be at least decent because I listen to my iTunes library through them as well and prefer to enjoy the experience.

Genelec is a company known for their high quality, and pricey, studio monitors. Some of the biggest studios in the world use their products. It surprised me to find out that they are “lowering” themselves to the consumer level with the upcoming release of their 6010a desktop speakers and the matching sub-woofer 5040a models. I’ve mixed using high-end monitors, and I’ve mixed on $60 laptop speakers. As long as the speakers have a decent amount of clarity and you’re familiar with how they sound using your favorite songs as reference, you can get a decent mix on almost anything (note: I’m not the greatest engineer in the world, I’m just a lowly songwriter).

My flat panel desktop speakers from the long-ago shuttered company Monsoon, have lasted me the better part of a decade. Lately though, they’ve been boosting either the left or right speaker indiscriminately. It’s time for an upgrade, and these Genelecs sound like the ticket. There’s no listed price yet, but you can bet they won’t be 50 bucks. Good speakers are worth the investment as they’ll ultimately make your listening experience that much more pleasurable. Having to buy the sub-woofer separately may turn off some potential buyers, but that’s the way the pro-audio market works unfortunately. You’d be crazy not to buy both though since they’re designed to work in concert. No word on a release date.

Genelec via GearWire