Focusrite VRM Box – Virtual Reference Monitoring

Posted on February 19th 2012

Focusrite recently announced the VRM Box at winter NAMM 2011. VRM stands for Virtual Reference Monitoring and this little box allows you to mix on headphones no matter where you are.

It’s been a time long honored tradition that you DO NOT MIX ON HEADPHONES! Well, I suppose rules are meant to broken, aren’t they?

Alright, engineers still mix on headphones, but usually just to check things out after mixing on reference monitors in a proper acoustically treated room.

Most wouldn’t dream of mixing entirely through headphones or recommend it. Thus, the tradition has been sustained.

Though, things are changing, and new technology and products are a big reason for that.

Now, I’m not one to break rules or traditions just because I’m a rebel. I kind of like the idea of mixing on reference monitors in an acoustically treated room.

However, I do not have the funds to do so. I guess you could say that my rebellion against the system is out of necessity.

I’m just thankful that companies, such as Focusrite, come out with cost effective tools like the VRM Box.

Even though I haven’t tried it for myself (it’s not on the market yet), I’m still very excited about it.

According to Focusrite’s website:

VRM overcomes the major obstacle for mixing with headphones by giving you multiple perspectives on your mix, as if you were listening through speakers. Indeed, noise levels from mixing through speakers can make it impossible for most to mix at home, especially late at night; with VRM, you can mix any time, anywhere. Using any pair of monitoring headphones, VRM lets you choose your mixing environment from a living room, a bedroom studio, or a professional studio. You then simply choose from a list of industry-standard studio monitors and speakers.

I’ll admit that it probably won’t be exactly the same as actually sitting in these “mixing environments”, but if it comes close, I’m all in!

Not too mention, it has a street price of $99, and this is probably the thing that excites me the most. I’m fairly certain that I’ll be purchasing this in the near future, so look out for a proper review.

Here’s a little more info on the VRM Box:

VRM overcomes the major obstacle for mixing with headphones by giving you multiple perspectives on your mix, as if you were listening through speakers. Indeed, noise levels from mixing through speakers can make it impossible for most to mix at home, especially late at night; with VRM, you can mix any time, anywhere. Using any pair of monitoring headphones, VRM lets you choose your mixing environment from a living room, a bedroom studio, or a professional studio. You then simply choose from a list of industry-standard studio monitors and speakers.

I know that some of the info is marketing “hype speak”, but I’m hopeful that the VRM Box lives up to it’s billing. It will make my life a lot easier.

Also, if you’d like to get full benefit out of the VRM Box, you’ll probably have to invest in a nice set of studio reference headphones.

Right now I’m using a pair of Audio Technica ATH-M40fs, which I really like, but I might upgrade to something a little better. Then again, I’ll have to see if I can afford it.

If you’d like more information on the Focusrite VRM Box, click the link.