Avant Electronics Avantone MixCubes

Back in the heyday of audio recording where you had to take live players into a recording studio, one of the biggest joys was hearing music on the huge soffit speakers that were super amplified by great amplifiers. And…it was always loud. What a treat.

Stereo had been around for a while, but FM radio was still a novelty. AM radio was the major method of listening to music so every mix had to be checked for mono compatibility. The sound quality of the old AM radios really sucked (although no one knew it at the time) and the radio that came standard in your car was even worse. To make sure your record was going to sound as good as possible, most every studio had small speakers sitting on the mixing console that only had one driver, usually about 4-5 inches and powered by a small power amplifier. The philosophy was, if the mix sounded good on these little speakers, it would sound great on a true “Hi-Fi” outfit (Hey! That’s what they were called back then.). This was also the test when the audiocassette hit the market and became even more popular when “boom-boxes” were the current rage. The choice of “test” speakers for most studios was a small product known as Auratones. The company, and the speakers, are both long gone.

Technology has changed a bit since then and the quality of car radios has greatly improved dramatically (some are even better than the old home systems). Stereo is now the norm and surround is the next big change on the horizon. With the move to home recording, using a DAW loaded with great software, everyone wants the best monitors they can afford. Great! The home studio now sounds nearly as good as the old analog joints where we used to hang and make music. Vinyl has virtually disappeared, you really can’t find a pre-recorded cassette in any store, and portable CD players are being replaced by the iPod. Most new cars even have an input jack on the radio that allows you to plug your iPod into the factory system. What’s a guy to do?

While the iPod is capable of providing much better quality than AM radio or cassettes, it does lack the quality of most CDs. So, how now to get a great sounding mix that is compatible with the mp3 format? Aha, he exclaimed. Check your mix on the new MixCube monitors from Avant Electronics. They are the closest monitors to the old Auratones imaginable. The quality is higher than the old jobs, and is a good match for the mp3 quality very well and will provide a very accurate example of what your mix will sound like when played back on an iPod.

I used a pair on my home system (PC running Nuendo and ProTools LE) and ran them through an old Crown amp with 60 watts per side. Wow! These babies sounded great and gave me the right perspective for an mp3 mix. I took the MixCubes over to my buddy’s professional recording studio and we hooked them up to his QSC amps at 200 watts each. I was floored by the sound and my buddy John smiled and nodded his head to the beat. He happens to be a singer-songwriter, so he pulled up one of his latest recordings in Pro Tools. He stopped smiling. He realized he needed to touch up a couple little items that now glared in his face (or ears, as the case may be). We made the adjustments to his mix and played it back through his Genelec system. His smile returned and he nodded his head once again—a happy man. We copied the mix to his iPod and played it back in his car after playing his original. The MixCube mix sounded much better than the first and proved to be more accurate (his acoustic guitar sat much better and his vocal was out front at a good level).

In my music career, I’ve been privileged to record in most of the world’s finest studios and have worked mostly at EMI/Abbey Road Studios in London. I always walk away with the greatest mixes and they are always tested on an old pair of Auratones. At many of the small, private studios I’ve used over the last couple years (my home rig included), I’ve been terribly disappointed when playing the mix in my car, on an iPod, or at a friend’s house. It just never quite sounds right. You can bet that I’m adding the MixCubes to my kit and at $199.00 for a pair, they make one of the best investments I’ve ever made. These are passive monitors and if you don’t have a power amp in your arsenal, I would highly recommend the Samson Servo 120A, a 1 rack unit 60 watt box that streets for $159.00.

Whether you’re working at home, using a professional recording studio, or you are a studio owner, if you’re serious about your mixes you really owe it to yourself (and your clients) to have a pair of MixCubes on your meterbridge You’ll be very glad you did.

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