Can studio monitors be used for home cinema?

An audio interface (sound card, audio card, “sound card”) is a device that is simply vital for sound recording. It can be purchased as a compact external device (or a large rack-mount one), but if you have a computer, then it almost certainly already has a standard audio card built into it. Unlike a standard audio card, an audio interface can offer much greater performance and a wider range of features, such as professional connectors. Audio interfaces have one or more input channels for connecting to external devices such as synthesizers, guitars, and microphones. Standard inputs are 6.35 mm (¼-inch) jack, XLR and RCA. Studio monitors can be connected to the 6.35 mm (¼-inch) jack and RCA, but the most reliable way to connect monitors is to the XLR outputs.

In order to connect a pair of studio monitors to a laptop or PC without an external audio interface, you will need a computer with a built-in sound card and a 3.55 mm jack to 2x XLR or 3.55 mm jack to 2x 6.3 jack cable. The cable may have different lengths. If the purchased cable does not seem long enough, it can be easily extended using a regular microphone cable. You will need a couple of the latter, one for each monitor.

It is possible to amplify the signal received from the DJ controller using the speakers built into your PC or laptop. To do this, you will need to delve into the settings of the DJ program you are using. Your goal is to output the output signal to the computer's built-in sound card. It is worth remembering that speakers of this type are not capable of transmitting the full sound picture, which can negatively affect the result. Also, due to the lack of channels, it will be quite problematic to connect headphones and monitors at the same time. If you have been working in this format for some time (controller + speakers built into the computer), then we strongly recommend that you think about purchasing a pair of good monitors. The vast majority of DJ controllers for connecting to professional monitors have XLR and RCA outputs. Many also have Booth Out connectors for working with JACK cables.

By the way, since you have decided to connect studio monitors, we strongly recommend that immediately after connecting they are placed not “directly on the table”, but on stands.

A monitor stand is an important element in both home and professional studios to help prevent unexpected comb filtering. Comb filtering is the result of small vibrations generated by the interaction between the monitors and the workstation.

A good pair of stands raises the monitors off the work surface, thereby isolating the audio signal representation. This way we get a cleaner signal that is less likely to be colored by resonances and subtle reverberations.

As a budget alternative to racks, you can consider platforms. They also isolate monitors well from the surface and at the same time take up less space, which is not unimportant for home production!

Finding studio monitor stands that suit your specific needs can be very difficult. Especially if you take into account all types of structures, price categories, etc.

Let's highlight the main parameters that you should pay attention to when purchasing stands for studio monitors:

How studio monitors work

Studio monitors are active in nature, which means they use their own power source directly from the mains, unlike most home stereo speakers. Most home stereo speakers do not draw power from the mains, instead they simply pass a small current through the cables through which they receive sound from the main amplifier or receiver.

A studio monitor uses separate amplifiers for each tone frequency, so the woofer, tweeter, and midrange speaker each have a separate amplifier. As a result, every note and tone is conveyed much more accurately and can thus be heard with greater clarity and detail since there is no sacrifice in power. With passive speakers the opposite is true. Passive speakers rely solely on the amplifier, which must handle all notes and tones across all ranges.

Studio monitors are also manufactured to much tighter tolerances than home audio speakers, allowing more detail to be extracted from the recorded audio so that any audio imperfections can be digitally corrected by the audio engineer. Any such background noise, imperfect note, or other unwanted sounds can be detected and corrected that might otherwise be missed when listening through home stereo speakers.

Discussions about installing monitors.

Now specifically about the placement of studio monitors. Few people care about this question. Many people believe that expensive monitors or speakers will work in any case, the main thing is that the ears are in place, and the bear did not sit on them as a child.

But any mistakes when listening to the mixed recording on another speaker system, for example in a friend’s listening room, will become noticeable. Then the director will blame a low-quality sample, or an old sound card, or good monitors suddenly no longer suit his needs.

You should always remember that the placement of your monitors has a much greater impact on the sound you get from them than the monitors themselves.

How Studio controls sound and why it's important

The sound produced by studio monitors will be much more raw and closer to what was actually produced in the studio during recording. Thus, tighter tolerances will help ensure that the audio is reproduced as closely as possible to the original and will provide much greater clarity to the raw audio, which can later be corrected and polished in post-production. From an aesthetic point of view, studio monitors are built more according to the purpose for which they were intended, and much less attention is paid to how they look in the real world.

For a trained ear, the ability to hear the reproduced sound as close to the source as possible is much more important than any design feature of the monitor itself. This allows manufacturers to ensure that budget is spent on higher quality components that go into the design of the audio reproduction elements of a studio monitor than the housing that contains them.

Just like home speaker systems, not all studio monitors are created equal, and some are designed to diffuse sound more than others. This means that some will sound better when closer; while others are designed to work best when the listener is at a distance.

Purely acoustic features - everything is the same as everyone else's

Another point that applies to many other speakers is the location of the bass reflex port.

Active studio monitors KRK RP8G2 - bass reflex on the front panel

The case when the port is directed backwards is not the best option for bookshelf speakers, which most often include near-field studio monitors. With it, you will need freedom of maneuver in placing the speaker relative to the rear wall. And on a shelf or table. A lot has been written about this, and all problems are surmountable.

But the matter is seriously simplified when the bass reflex port is brought forward - to the front panel. Speakers without a bass reflex, in my opinion, sound more interesting - but, alas, they are much less common.

Trifonic ADAM Audio: ADAM Audio T5V monitors + T10S subwoofer

It is also worth paying attention to the fact that many manufacturers provide for the operation of their monitors complete with a branded subwoofer. Most often - purchased separately.

This option is not bad. It delivers powerful, full-range sound from a very compact system. However, in this case, problems with turning on and remote control may also extend to the subwoofer - be careful!

How to connect studio monitors to the receiver

Studio monitors connected to the receiver

So if you're planning on using studio monitors instead of passive stereo speakers for your home theater or home entertainment system, there are a few things you should know. Studio monitors are connected very differently than standard stereo speakers. As mentioned, studio monitors contain one or more internal amplifiers, so they cannot be powered by a separate receiver or amplifier. Depending on the receiver you have, there are several different options for sending audio to your studio monitors.

Ways to connect studio monitors to the receiver

Connect your studio monitors using RCA from the preamp outputs on your receiver. Higher end receivers will have RCA "pre-outs" for different channels. The pre-out acts as an audio loop-through signal and does not pass additional power through this output. This ensures that the studio monitor will not be damaged by any additional power supplied to it. This is by far the best way to connect studio monitors to your receiver!
If your receiver does not have pre-outs, you can use a speaker-to-line level converter. The speaker level line level converter accepts normal speaker wire input and outputs for RCAs. Essentially, it extracts power from regular speaker wire and outputs only the audio signal. Simply connect regular speaker wire to the speaker-to-line converter, and then connect the RCA from the converter to your studio monitors.
Connect studio monitors using the receiver's XLR outputs. However, this method is rarely used since most receivers do not have XLR outputs. It is extremely rare for a standard A/V receiver to have specific XLR outputs for all channels. Many preamplifiers have them, but you are unlikely to see this on a receiver. If you have XLR outputs on your receiver, then this is definitely the appropriate method for connecting studio monitors to it.

If you want to stream audio wirelessly, check out this article on how to make regular speakers wireless!

Room resonance.

No matter what settings we make on the tone block or equalizer, getting rid of room resonance or significantly reducing the impact on the sound is not very easy. Even if you change existing studio monitors to others, it will be difficult to “defeat” the resonance of the room.

To avoid these problems, or better yet not have them in the first place, you need to know what to look for when installing monitors and what methods to deal with the difficulties that arise.

So what causes room resonance?

The very first possible problem is when the dimensions of the room are such that the length of one of the walls has the same length as the sound wave, or will be a multiple of half the wavelength.

In this case, sound waves simply “get stuck” between the walls and thereby form “standing waves.” The overall sound “picture” is distorted.

Rooms in which all walls are the same length are very susceptible to resonance - in square rooms. In this case, the “standing waves” become twice as large. And “defeating” them will not be easy! But it’s still possible if you try.

We'll talk about standing waves another time. Subscribe and be the first to know when a new article is published!

How home speakers are made

Most hi-fi manufacturers are likely to design their speakers in such a way that the reproduction of a wide range of music genres is largely equivalent to that in a post-production studio, where any audio defects are professionally corrected or altered during the recording process.

Most, if not all home stereo speakers use a passive design, which does not have an amplifier built into the speaker. Instead, a special amplifier is used to amplify the sound, which then sends the signal and power to the speakers through the speaker wire.

Disadvantages of Standard Stereo Speakers

Using a dedicated amplifier allows an enthusiast to swap speakers from one manufacturer and specification to another to try to achieve a more desirable listening experience. However, such settings may also limit the speaker's performance. This has to do with how the amplifier processes and sends audio signals to the speaker. In most cases, a single amplifier will be responsible for powering and sending audio to multiple speakers simultaneously.

Manufacturers will likely be less demanding on manufacturing tolerances, which will have some impact on the sound reproduction that the consumer actually hears. Any imperfections in the recording are less likely to be noticed by the listener due to these less stringent tolerances, which in turn can mask any imperfections in the recorded audio and make them inaudible to the listening ear.

Aesthetics are more important than sound quality

From an aesthetic standpoint, home stereo speakers are designed to appeal more to the eye than the ear, and as a result, the speaker's performance may be reduced due to the fact that it was built with lower quality components at the expense of higher quality external materials. to look like a part.

While it may look the part, the audio reproduction can give away the appearance and as such does not always justify the sometimes high price tag, which may actually depend more on the appearance of the equipment than the sound.

To the untrained eye, studio monitors may look very similar to the standard speakers you'd find in a typical home audio system, but a studio monitor is much more than just audio reproduction, and they're the preferred choice for musicians. and recording professionals during studio work.

Let's take into account the features

And if you are interested in this sound option, then you should pay attention to several more characteristic properties of studio acoustics. As a rule, studio monitors are sold separately - each of them is capable of working independently.

The configuration option for computer acoustics, when all the electronics are placed in one speaker (master), and the second speaker weighs less and does not have controls (slave), is rare in studio monitors. Except in very inexpensive models.

At the same time, by purchasing a pair of monitors together, with serial numbers that are almost consecutive, we receive an additional guarantee of the identity of their sound. Although in the case of serious models it is often stated that even if two samples of the same monitor model were purchased a year apart, the sound will be the same - that’s why they are studio ones.

Neumann KH 310 A - three-way, “almost shelf”, front and rear

Seriously equipped studio monitors provide tools for adjusting not only the frequency response, but also the delay, and sometimes even the phase parameters of the emitters. Moreover, often these are not regulators, but jumper panels or electronic interfaces with a developed menu and an almost graphical display.

Before purchasing such equipment, I would recommend coming to a clear understanding of whether you are able to set it up if necessary and whether you need all this at home.

PreSonus Eris E8 studio monitors, connection - 6 mm jack, XLR, RCA

Another issue is switching. As a rule, the analog inputs of serious studio monitors are presented in the format of balanced XLR connectors. This is done for absolutely logical reasons: a balanced connection allows you to work with much longer cables, which in a studio environment is justified even for near-field monitors.

In fact, the problem of transition from an unbalanced to a balanced signal is solvable. But it is much better if your home equipment has appropriate switching. If you expect to use your monitors' controls frequently, pay attention to where they are located. Many models have at least the power button and volume knob located on the front panel. This is for you.

Stereo speakers versus studio monitors

So, with all this in mind, can studio mixers be used in a home theater? The simple answer is yes, although there are some compromises to be made from an aesthetic point of view. However, audio reproduction will be much more transparent and listeners will certainly get their money's worth in terms of sound quality.

On the other hand, stereo speakers may not reproduce the raw sound as intended by the recording artist, and instead the end product will be more polished and with recording defects already removed or corrected. They may also be unable to convey the full sound as it might have been intended. For example, bass tones may sound weaker due to the speaker's power and reproduction limitations due to a single amplifier that will also be processing other notes and tones at the same time.

Now that you understand some of the differences between the two, you might be wondering, can regular speakers be used as stereo monitors? Do they work like that in both directions? Sort of, but it's a little harder to understand. Check out the linked article if you're interested.

If you decide to use studio monitors in your home theater or home entertainment system, I highly recommend reading this article on speaker mixing and matching. There's valuable information on how to properly mix and match speakers for a home theater system.

Acoustic preparation of the room

It is worth placing acoustic panels and “bass traps” behind the monitors. This will reduce most of the problems with bass reflection from the back wall. We also look for the starting points of reflection and install panels and traps in these places. There are only four such places. Where are they?

It's simple. Let's imagine that we have an assistant and he is holding a mirror in his hands, which he moves along the walls at the level of your head. Sitting in the place where the monitors will be listened to, you need to find the reflection of the monitor in this mirror. One point will be to the left of you and the acoustics, the second to the right (on the right wall), and two points will be on the ceiling. This is where you need to place sound-absorbing panels.

The next step is the back wall, which is behind your back. Almost the entire sound stream “flows” onto it. There is a greater likelihood of standing waves forming there than anywhere else in the room. Here you can place panels and traps in the corners that will dampen the sound flow. But you can try to disperse this flow by using diffusers.

Outwardly, these can be different multi-level structures, consisting of different small figures, such as in the pictures below. By the way, they can really decorate the room itself. Of course, the “decoration” is specific, but if you approach this issue more seriously, you can make an interesting design into which these “pieces of wood” or “pieces of foam rubber” will logically fit.

These can be various kinds of perforated panels, grilles made of completely different sound-absorbing materials. But all this costs a lot of money. That’s why many people make do with a carpet on the wall, or place foam pyramids. Still better than nothing!

Philosophy of Sound or how to create your own recording studio from scratch

Typically, music is listened to through a conventional acoustic system (speakers). Sometimes through headphones. But in any case, this music sounds more or less beautiful and tasty. Because it sounds through ordinary household acoustics (headphones). If we add to this various “sound improvers” such as: stereo expanders, converters of conventional stereo into the surround format Dolby Surraund 5.1, adders of “atmosphere” to the recording (and, in fact, ordinary reverberation), a set of ready-made equalizer presets for different styles and genres... the result will be a tasty and pleasant picture for our ears. But is it correct? Does it show what the author, musician and sound engineer really wanted to convey to us?

This is why it is difficult to work with such household acoustics - in any case, it will try to improve the sound as much as it can, so that our ears can listen comfortably. Any household acoustics are specially designed for beautiful sound. So that even the most, excuse me, lousy recording sounds more or less acceptable. Such acoustics smooth out/muffle the hissing highs and soften the booming lows (by simply limiting the frequency range), and emphasize the mids to improve the intelligibility of lyrics in songs.

A good result of working in the studio largely depends on what you listen to the audio material on. If you listen on ordinary household acoustics, be prepared for surprises when listening to this recording at a friend’s house, on his acoustics. Which may have other plans for the transfer and coloring of your audio material.

If you want to get a truly studio-quality result, work on studio monitors.

What is a "studio monitor"?

A studio monitor, in its essence and architecture, is the same acoustic system: a box with built-in speakers. Most often it is two-way, with LF (low frequencies, bass) and HF (high frequencies) speakers. Less often three- or more-lane. The differences begin inside and the difference becomes audible at the first comparative listening to any material (if there is a regular acoustic system nearby).

A studio monitor is a specialized acoustic system with the correct sound transmission for auditory control of audio material in recording studios and other areas critical to sound quality. And it’s called a “monitor” because it allows you to really monitor the sound of the original audio material, without any improvements or smoothing. As with a video monitor (display): if it is good enough and correct, you only see the picture (movie) and do not notice any distortion. Of course, the display may color cast, but if you get the color balance right from the start, you won't have any problems with color reproduction. The task of a studio monitor is to correctly convey the sound balance, without distortion or coloration.

Typically, in the production of studio monitors, specialized soundproofing and sound-absorbing acoustic materials are used, precise precision speakers are used with a correctly calculated frequency response without dips and blockages, class A circuitry, the housing and design of the monitors are also mathematically calculated and verified in accordance with all the laws of physics and acoustics. Woofers are made from reinforced fiberglass, polypropylene, Kevlar, specially impregnated paper, and cellulose. The tweeter can be made of aluminum foil, silk, paper, titanium and even beryllium (by the way, the most expensive)…

All this is done only in order to convey the sound material as less distorted and colored as possible. So that the sound engineer hears exactly the sound that he just created. And which no one had ever heard before.

The right monitors, when positioned correctly, sound so that the music is not tied to specific sources (monitors), but seems to be created itself right here, in the space between the monitors. When you hear this for the first time, there is often a shock: we are so accustomed that sound should come out of a specific place called a speaker...

This is why real studio monitors are so expensive.

In general, the ideal monitor is one speaker that transmits the entire spectrum of frequencies, from bass to treble (standard from 20 Hz to 40,000 Hz). But such an ideal speaker does not exist in nature due to its physical impossibility: waves of low and high frequencies are transmitted differently in space. This is a purely physically unsolvable problem. Equator Audio Research monitors have come as close as possible to a partial solution to this problem. But they cost as much as a car...

What types of monitors are there?

There are two types of monitors: active and passive.

Active monitors have their own built-in amplifier, crossover and all the circuitry for the monitor to operate. Sometimes monitors have two separate amplifiers (bi-amp) for each speaker, woofer and treble. Active monitors most often have all available connectors and inputs: Canon, jack, tulip (XLR, TRS, RCA). Active monitors also come with digital inputs (coaxial or optical S/PDIF and AES/EBU)

Passive monitors do not have an amplification part on board and always require a separate amplifier. The input of a passive monitor is always only analog: either acoustic Speakon or linear

(Jack). Rarely – Banana connector (plug)

Pros of active monitors

versatility of application (regardless of the presence or absence of an audio path)
universal connection (any inputs, both analog and digital)
no need to configure a separate amplification path (plug & play)
the ability to fine-tune monitor characteristics for a specific room
factory-verified circuitry that prevents amplifiers and speakers from burning out

Cons of active monitors

many wires to each monitor (at least network and signal)
difficulty of repair
impossibility of hardware volume control from the sound engineer’s workplace

Pros of passive monitors

ease of connection (installation)
one wire to the monitor (signal, from the amplifier)
nothing extra inside (one crossover circuit)
easy repair and diagnostics
more carefully designed acoustic space in the monitor
hardware control of monitor volume from the sound engineer’s workplace

Cons of passive monitors

the need for a separate amplification path and its configuration
only analog inputs (acoustic Speakon, linear mono jack (TRS).
stationary installation

Active and passive monitors have their own armies of admirers and admirers. Many experts and studio professionals recommend only passive monitors, and in general advocate installing only separate devices throughout the entire audio path. And absolutely against any hybridity or combination of functionality. For example, they are against a microphone preamp and an AD-DA converter in one bottle. Only separately. And in principle, by and large, they are right: when each device is busy only with its own business, the quality is very high. But it is also very expensive.

On the other hand, thanks to the progress and development of technology, now the quality of many combined devices has approached the quality of top-end recording studios 10 years ago, and they allow you even at home for quite reasonable money.

Almost all monitors have a bass reflex: a special hole with a pipe in the monitor body to enhance the low-frequency component:

Without going into technical details, the woofer creates air movement in the limited space of the monitor body, and the bass reflex helps remove this excess pressure through a special pipe with a hole. Naturally, all this is mathematically calculated and for a reason. Bass reflexes come in different shapes and sizes, but mainly differ in their location on the monitor body:

or on the front panel (KRK):

or on the rear (Yamaha):

Each location has its fans and opponents: some believe that the bass reflex must be at the back and should not distract from listening to the material. Others believe that the front location of the bass reflex gives more freedom for placing the monitor and greater sound pressure in the lows, which has always been and is considered a sore spot in close-in monitors.

Three lines of monitors

Usually in real studios there is not one monitor line, but three: near, mid and far field monitors. Accordingly, the purpose of certain monitors is dictated by their location.

Near-field monitors (shelf monitors) are the most common type of monitors. Usually located on a table or on special stands in front of the sound engineer, they are intended for mixing tracks and editing a working soundtrack, since they generally convey the middle (mid frequencies) and upper frequency range well.

Mid-field monitors allow you to create panoramas and spatial effects that are not very audible on closer monitors. You can also listen to the built mix along with low frequencies, which are practically absent in nearby monitors. Some copies (usually three-way) can also be used for mastering audio material.

Far-field monitors allow you to listen to the overall picture of the mixed composition and the entire album, at all volume levels and across the entire frequency range. Mainly used in large control rooms, for dance music and audio mastering.

In home studios, due to the lack of space on the table and the number of banknotes in the wallet, a combination is usually used: near-field monitors + a subwoofer for low frequencies. And stores mostly sell near-field monitors. Many buyers put them directly on the table, which is not entirely correct in principle. Because any audio monitors must be placed on special damping stands that prevent unwanted vibrations and resonances when listening to material. But in practice, few people reach the racks. As an alternative (if there is no room for stands), special vibration and sound insulating dampers are now offered, placed between the monitor and the table.

Which monitors are better?

“Better” and “worse” are flexible concepts. It is much more correct to talk about the specific style of music that you are going to listen to on these monitors. Because a lot depends on style. Electronic and dance (club, pop, hip-hop) music in most cases sounds good on KRK and Roland monitors. Live music (rock, bards, folk, ethno) - on Dynaudio, Yamaha and Mackie (Tapco). Jazz and classical – Adam, JBL, Tannoy and the like. The larger the woofer, the better the low-end response - this is basic physics. It is from 8-inches that the overall sound picture becomes more honest. The HF ribbon tweeter (for example, in Adam monitors) better transmits high frequencies and allows you to work with monitors for a long time without hearing fatigue. But it costs more than a regular dome tweeter. Although there are exceptions: the expensive beryllium tweeter of Focal monitors is considered the best in the world: the highest frequency response uniformity and the operating frequency range covers more than five octaves (from 1 kHz to 40 kHz).

In general, studio monitors honestly earn their price, i.e. How much they cost is how much they play for. Those. There is an almost parallel increase in price and quality. The most interesting thing is that you can look at the price for a very long time and for almost every thousand you add to your budget you can find something new and attractive to the ears...

How to choose studio monitors

First, you need to select several musical compositions that you know inside and out: what, where, at what second, and how it happened in the musical picture of the composition. It is advisable that these are compositions in the same style and genre in which you are going to work in the studio. Those. there is no point in choosing hard rock or classics for testing if you are supposed to work in ethno-folk or technotrance. It is also desirable that these compositions be in the highest possible quality in which work in the studio is planned: for example, in CD-audio format, if the audio material is planned to be released on audio CDs. If these compositions are on your original branded discs, great: take them with you to the salon. Record the remaining songs on a separate disc in CD-audio format. Also stock up on a couple of special test discs: they will help you better identify nuances that are not audible to the normal ear.

Before visiting the salon, the night before, listen again to all these selected compositions at a comfortable volume and preferably not listen to anything else (the memory of the compositions should remain). Test discs - don't listen! Note to yourself what type of monitors you need (desktop, floor-standing, mid-range or long-range), and how and where you will place them. Measure and write down the distances between the places where you plan to install the monitors and the place where your workplace will be located. Then, in the salon, thanks to these figures, you will be able to simulate as much as possible the arrangement that you, and not the monitor seller, needs. The best location for near-field monitors is an isosceles triangle:

If you can’t make such a triangle due to lack of space, that’s okay. The main thing is that the monitor speakers are aimed at you (at your ears). You may need to purchase special monitor dampers for this.

One more point: if you plan to install monitors close to the wall, you need monitors with a bass reflex on the front panel. If you have a distance from the back panel of the monitors to the wall of at least 30-40 cm, then the bass reflex can be at the back. Personally, I prefer the front bass reflex: the drive of the music is better felt and the lack of low frequencies is compensated.

When you come to the salon, start choosing monitors first simply by characteristics, design, functionality, without listening to them. Don't pay much attention to the monitor's power output. The fact is that if in your home you had to turn the volume all the way up in order to hear the nuances you need, then this will not work with monitors: it may well turn out that already at 30-50 watts you can easily hear the very nuances that you with difficulty you were given home acoustics at the limit of their capabilities.

Remember that the larger the woofer, the better the low end response. But also remember that bookshelf monitors do not have to give you the entire low-frequency spectrum. then look for a separate subwoofer. If you plan to work with monitors for 10 hours a day, you can pick up a pair of monitors with a ribbon tweeter: your ears will thank you.

The heavier the monitor, the denser the sound it produces, the fewer resonances and the reverse movement of the monitor from the influence of low frequencies. And there is less chance that such a monitor will fall from its place after the next bass peak in music: a monitor weighing 12 kg is much more stable in this regard than a monitor weighing 4 kg. More weight also indicates higher quality materials used in the production of the monitor (metal and wood instead of plastic).

If you choose by brand and purely logically (from practice): in studios, KRK, Adam, Alesis, Yamaha, JBL, Mackie, Event, Genelec are much more common and M-Audio, Behringer, ESI, Axelvox, E-MU, Infrasonic are less common , Samson, Alto. Sometimes in studios you can see branded monitors (for example, from), but these are purely show-offs than a real need.

The presence of various adjustments on the rear panel indicates almost 100% possibility of adjusting monitors to a specific room (for example, Tannoy Reveal series, Behringer TRUTH series). The more adjustments, the better for an acoustically unprepared room. The presence of a built-in DSP processor with the ability to programmatically adjust monitors for a specific room (for example, Dynaudio and JBL) is of course cool, but such a pleasure costs a lot.

The optimal power for near-field monitors is 100 watts per monitor. Range - 50 - 20000 Hz. Woofer size 6-8 inches. This is more than enough.

After selecting at least 4 pairs of monitors, place them as they will stand in your place. Usually sellers offer to connect monitors through the sound card that you have. Don’t settle for this and demand a CD player that is as precise and reference-quality as possible (in relation to the selected monitors). Start listening with familiar songs and at normal volume. I warn you right away: you may not like the sound of many monitors, it will be so harsh, dry and unusual. Perhaps the sound will seem overly bright and deliberately emphasized to you. This doesn't mean monitors are bad. This is fine. Monitors aren't supposed to please, they're supposed to tell the truth about sound. When I first heard music from the studio monitors, I was completely shocked: I heard so many nuances at once that my ears got tired and hurt literally after 10 minutes. I didn’t understand how I had listened to music before and tried to mix something else. on regular acoustics. Perhaps things will be different for you. But my job is to warn.

If, while listening to a composition, you hear nuances that were unknown to you before: mark these monitors for later selection. If you don't hear anything new, you may need monitors that are more sensitive than the ones you chose.

After listening to your familiar compositions, proceed to more thorough testing of monitors with test discs. To accurately determine the frequency range, there are special tracks with a sliding frequency, usually from low frequencies to high frequencies. At the same time, remember that the human ear is not capable of hearing frequencies below 14-16 Hz and above 16-20 kHz (even if the monitors themselves play them honestly). It often happens that on tracks with low frequencies the eye can clearly see how the woofer cone moves, but the ear longer hear the sound. This is a clear example of how a monitor works at frequencies that are beyond our hearing.

You can also check the accuracy of positioning of instruments on the virtual stage on the monitors. But there is also a nuance here: a lot here depends not on the monitors, but on the CD player itself, on the quality of its path and on the level of interpenetration of channels.

In general, monitors are always advised to be chosen personally by you or by the person who will then work on them, listening to them in the salon. But, if you don’t have this option, you can choose based on characteristics and functionality. Defects among monitors are rare: their production is controlled more than usual acoustics.

How to set up studio monitors

After purchasing and installing monitors in their places, do not try to listen to your entire music collection right away, otherwise your ears will bend on the very first day of active monitoring.

1. First you need to adjust the monitors to your room. To do this, search for the resonant parasitic frequency of the room. To do this, turn on tracks with different frequencies on your computer, in your audio editor through your sound card from the test disk. In this case, the volume of the monitors should be minimally optimal: at some low frequencies, as a result of too much volume, the monitor’s woofer itself may resonate. I warn you: at some extremely low frequencies and high volumes you can easily kill your monitors (although many of them have their own relay fuses for this case).

If such resonance is detected, if your monitors have frequency controls, reduce the influence of this frequency. If there are no controls on the monitors, then operate the mixer's software output equalizer in your audio editor. Our task now is to simulate the real operation of the editor and monitors through your sound card.

2. Next point: setting the optimal volume. To do this, turn on any of your projects in your audio editor and level the volume of the overall mix as you feel comfortable. For now, don’t pay attention to the fact that your project now sounds somehow different and not as you would like: this is the result of the work of the monitors. You just now heard those nuances of the project, for the sake of identifying which these monitors were purchased. For now, just level the volume.

3. In any case, after everything has been done, you may still not like the sound of the monitors. So now you need to adjust your monitors to suit your preferences. To do this, enable a branded track (not your project) your If bass is not enough for you, add it (turn on a separate subwoofer, or use an equalizer in your audio editor). If there are not enough high frequencies, add them. Naturally, add within reasonable limits.

4. After the sound has become more or less acceptable to your ears, play your selected compositions quietly in the background + those tracks of test discs that contain different musical compositions (i.e., non-technical tracks). And just go about your business without really listening to the monitors and what they are playing there. Our goal now is simply to get used to the sound of these monitors and how well-made music should really sound on these monitors.

That's basically all the monitor settings. Ideally, of course, you should measure the room with a special measuring microphone (invite a specialist) and identify problem areas in the room. Then correct these problem areas with special sound-absorbing materials. But in practice, few people do it there: the problem of acoustic design of a room is another, no less voluminous and interesting task.

How to work with studio monitors.

First of all, don’t try to work at high volume right away. Start low: most monitors can already give what they were bought for at a volume of 10-20 watts. In monitors, dense sound pressure is more important than volume level. Remember. that the monitor speakers should be turned not only in your direction, but also tilted so that the axis of the woofer is aimed at your ears. The overall perception of the sound picture largely depends on the exact positioning of the monitors.

Do not work with monitors without a break for 1-2 hours, this can weaken the sensitivity of your ears: why should they strain to hear something if the monitors are already delivering everything perfectly... Your ears should rest regularly.

Before working on a project, listen to a couple of proprietary or test compositions to “remember” how correctly mixed material should sound and what you should come to now when mixing your project. And in general, make it a rule to regularly (daily), before starting work on your project, to listen to one or two signature compositions in the same style and genre that you want to achieve the sound of (the memory of the sound of these compositions should always be relevant).

When working with low frequencies, remember that monitors are not always able to give the correct picture. Even if it seems to you that you did everything correctly there, it would not be a bad idea to listen to the resulting result in headphones, or on a second monitor line consisting of ordinary home acoustics.

Do not touch the working surfaces of the monitor speakers with your fingers: grease and dust from your fingers can cause distortion. In addition, most monitor speakers are not washable, and it is better to protect them from dust, dirt and any liquids. If you have protective grilles for monitors, use them. If there are none, brush off the dust from the speakers with a soft squirrel brush.

Do not block air access to the cooling radiator at the back of the monitor: many monitors get quite hot during operation and the cooling system must work.

Do not cross the monitor's network cable with the signal cable, this may have a bad effect on the sound + possible interference from the network.

Do not drop the monitor or place anything on top of the monitor that could fall due to active operation of the monitor and damage it. Do not lean on monitors and do not allow anyone else to do so.

Do not turn on your monitors ALREADY while audio is playing: sudden current flow to the speaker can damage it. Follow the order: first turn on the monitors, then after 10 seconds you can turn on the sound. When turning off, on the contrary, first turn off the sound, and only then turn off the power to the monitors.

If you do not plan to monitor your material at high volume, you don’t have to adjust it to the room: the influence of the room in this case will be minimal. Better adjust the bass and treble levels to suit your preferences.

A story to ponder

The most important feature of monitors: the more expensive they are, the more detailed and intelligible they sound. And the more they will show all sorts of mistakes and bad things that you made either when recording or when mixing the tracks. Those. very good monitors will show you a lot of work that still needs to be done. And the less likely it is that this completed work will be appreciated by anyone, since not all of these jambs will be audible on the client’s acoustics. If you are choosing monitors not only for work, but also for life, think – do you really need it? You won’t be able to listen to your favorite mp3 tracks on them: you will hear so many jambs of mp3 codec compression...

Imagine yourself in the place of a person who bought a good and expensive 50” plasma for his home. After all, he will now be forced to watch videos and TV only in HD quality and search for films only on Blue-Ray discs. Now there is no point in watching a huge number of films on DVD, because the quality of their pictures will deprive him of any joy of simple viewing...

I'll tell you a story: I have friends who really wanted to buy good, expensive monitors. Despite the fact that they had a normal flow of customers and there were no complaints at all. And the time spent on each client was optimal. And then someone told them that with good monitors they would reduce this time even more and thereby increase the flow of clients. Well, they bought good and expensive monitors. And we heard so much unfinished work in them that the time spent on each client became far from optimal and the deadlines tripled. Yes, the final quality was a little better, but their customers didn’t really need it. What was important to clients was the speed of work and the quality that my friends produced even without these monitors. In the end they got tired of it and sold these good expensive monitors. And they bought others, a little better than the level that the clients had...

It is for situations like these that many studios have several monitors: excellent expensive and reference monitors for VIP clients and mastering, and just good monitors for other commercial work on stream. Others go even further: they buy monitors for working with different styles and genres. So when you're shopping for monitors, keep this story in mind and don't do yourself a disservice.

Especially if the rest of your tract is not particularly perfect.

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