Focusrite VRM BOX – Review

Focusrite VRM BOX

by Bryan Kreuter

Ever been in that situation, you listen to a track and you’re fascinated by the superb production. You feel inspired, full of fresh energy, you just learned a new mixing technique and you can’t wait to get to your desk to fire up your monitors. Bam this track is gonna skyrocket your street cred! Every producer is going to beg you to mix their tracks. But…it’s 2am. And since you’re a friendly guy that respects his neighbors, you go back to bed and watch an episode of Seinfeld…with your Headphones!

Headphones…if only headphones could get you decent mixes.

Focusrite has taken care of this widely known issue and released a system called Virtual Room Monitoring Box or in short – the VRM BOX. A small usb powered unit (2″ x 2″) that not only promises to provide you with accurate simulations of well known studio monitors, no, you can also listen to your mix in 3 different rooms (Studio, HomeStudio and Living Room) to check if it will still sound good. And all that using your headphones for a price of around 100$ new. Big expectations on a small budget!

What does it deliver?

I’m fairly new to mixing. I always tried to mix with headphones (AKG K271) and continuously faced two main issues. Low end and depth. What sounded good on my headphones sounded boomy on the home stereo. What worked for the home stereo, didn’t work in the car. No need to tell you that this isn’t only annoying but also really frustrating.

The first thing that you will notice when you turn on the Box is that you definitely get a more 3D sounding impression. Everything has more room, the sound isn’t that flat. The high end gets a bit cut. All in all it’s a more realistic image of your mix than without the VRM box.
For the studio setup you get to choose between:

Adam S2.5A
Genelec 1031A
KRK RP6
KRK VXT8
YAMAHA NS-10
ROGERS LS3/5a
Stirling LS3/5a
Alesis Monitor One
Quested s8r

In the Homestudio and Living Room setup you also get to hear your song through more common units such as desktop speakers, flat screen TVs or Hifi speakers. Basically you’ll hear a sound that’s not as tight as in the Studio setup and has added reverb.
Personally I mostly use the Studio with Genelec, Adam and the KRK cause I like their sound most. The Yamaha sound kinda harsh to me and the monitors with smaller speakers such a the Stirling sound flat and lack low end.

So..did I get results??

The answer is: Yes I did. Compared to my old mixes, my new mixes are a lot cleaner and defined. I’m still not where I want them to be (keep in mind I’m still a student) but compared to the mixes I did without the VRM they definitely improved. I’m still figuring out how to deal with the low end, but rather than having too much of it, I feel that my mixes need more of it. (Just a thought – Considering that, as mentioned earlier, the Stirling Model exactly shows this lack of the lower frequencies, I probably should use them more to manage this)

How close do they sound compared to their bigger brothers?

I can’t comment how close these models sound compared to the original cause I haven’t heard the originals. Question is, does it matter how close they sound? To me – no.
In my opinion it’s more important that the VRM Box can help you create better mixes than how close it really gets to a Genelec. If your mix sounds great – why care about how accurate the modeling is?

Would I recommend this unit?

Definitely yes! Specially if you’re a starter this is a great tool. No need to worry about the room, your budget or the neighbor. It might even help you to decide which Monitor to buy.
But also for experienced mixers this little box makes sense. You can do rough mixes on your laptop at home and refine them once you’re in the studio. I am also positive that an experienced user can get great results right “out of the box.”