5 Things You Should Know BEFORE Buying Studio Monitors 🔊

***Open me, DAWg***
Howdy doody, Buckaroonies! Today we're here to talk about 5 things you should know before buying studio monitors. Although slapping up some studio monitors seems easy, there's a bit more to it than just plugging them in - so here's the video I wish I had when setting up monitors for the first time! We'll also be taking a look at Sonarworks Reference 4 to tune up the room and really make things rockin' and knockin'

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▼▼▼TIMESTAMPZ:▼▼▼
0:00 Howdy
1:19 ADAM S2V Micro Review
3:43 Why Are Monitors So Expensive?
5:08 Do You Even Need Monitors?
6:20 What Size Monitors To Buy?
7:12 How To Set Up Monitors
8:07 Science Cameron
8:53 Front And Rear Ported Monitors
9:53 Acoustic Treatment Tips
11:27 Sonarworks Reference
12:50 Sonarworks Reference Setup And Test
15:40 Closing Thoughts

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[VenusTheory]

What studio monitors are you rocking? 🤔

[Stadsjaap]

"They were missing the volume knobs and I just couldn't turn it down..." 🤣👍

[UrbanGarden-rfop]

One trick is to make the room as uneven as possible.
Parallell surfaces creates standing waves which will cause
level differences in certain frequencies at different positions.
This is especially noticeable in the low spectrum.
Try leaning your body/moving your head slowly
backwards and forwards when listening to a mix.
There can be a significant difference in the bass response
at points a couple of decimeters (a foot) apart.
Usually there are more problems in smaller rooms.
Problems can be lessened by arranging your furniture 
and the stuff on your shelves as uneven as possible, breaking the parallell surfaces.

You can reduce the (high frequency) reverb amount by
hanging duvets and blankets, preferably at a distance away from the walls.
I've made a temporary inner roof using a synthetic fabric
that keeps table cloths from sliding.
Hanging it on flag lines attached to small screw hooks.
It takes about 15 minutes to mount, once the hooks are mounted
and even less time to dismount. 

My main point is that there are lots of low budget alternatives
to the ready made "professional" ones.
Trust your ears more than the sales pitches.
Sound On Sound has a lot of d i y solutions and 
other (free) articles on the subject on their website.
✌✌

[tobiaskagstrom]

I would argue to place the monitors AS CLOSE to the front wall (the wall behind the speakers) as possibe! Unless you can get them like 2m out...which not many can!? Keeping the front face of the speakers less then 40-50cm from the front wall WILL produce a bass boost BUT that can be compensated for with either a bass dip switch on the speakers or some other low shelf eq...like with Sonarworks. BUT if you place the speakers between say 50-200cm you're gonna get cancelled frequencies in very critical areas that never can be fixed with EQ - every dB you then try to put back, the physics of the placement will reduce!

Ex. if you put the speaker 85cm from the front wall you will get a cancellation at 100Hz, and if you put your speakers 170cm from the front wall you get a dip at 50Hz. And these dips can, like I said earlier, never be fixed with corrective EQ. And to fix them with room acoustics and treatment isn't easy - that sort of low freq requires BIG and deep absorbers that probably won't fit most home studios anyway.

So, place the monitors as close to the front wall as possible (if you've got a rear bass port a rule of thumb is to leave a gap between the speaker and the wall as big as the port is wide...usally 5-10cm) and try not to have the same distance to the side walls as the distance between the speakers and the floor and also as symetrical as possible. THEN use something like Sonarworks to get that extra 10-15% of "flatness" to your listening.

Hope you'll get a great sound! And most important - that you'll write/mix and/or produce music that you like! =)

[dondonaudio]

IMO the most important thing besides absorbtion and dealing with room modes is diffusion. A QRD diffusor behind your listening position can make a huge difference. A "dead" room can be very exhausting after a few hours of listening. I always go with genelec, because to my ears they are a good balance between analytic and musical listening. I remember a guy who built big studios back in the 90s who said that he always tries to get around 300ms reverb time in the control room, what to me sounded too far away from "dead". He took me to a big studio and we listened to Billy Jean from Michael Jackson. I was blown away :)

[huemorris]

Sooo... I tried mixing through 'speakers' for years before buying a set of 'monitors'. I'm a slow learner, but I do learn. I did a ton of research before shopping. I went with a set of low-end near fields, that cost only a couple hundred bucks for the pair. 5" two-ways, I made sure they were front-ported, and put them on stands in what felt like their 'proper' place and angle. I then A-B'd with my previously used speakers for a while, and remixed a couple projects before having the idea of adding my 12" 2-way FRFR modelers speakers into the fray.(I know, some peeps would say this was insane, BUT you'd be surprised how well this worked, and is the main reason I am so aware of just how much 'lows' you're slinging here my friend! lol) Balancing their volumes were key. Linking them together kept the volumes balanced, with a dedicated mixer as the monitor-matrix. Low end is now more accurately represented and mixes are sounding better that ever.(Checked on other sources) I did end up keep one of the two sets of speakers I was using because of their top end imaging.(2" souround pillars)
There was a lot of luck/voodoo involved in my case, and I still have a long way to go with my room, but now that I'm used to how this setup acts, things can move along without my feeling that my monitoring system is leading me astray. All this said, if you have the scratch to blow on a really good set, you can eliminate any of this voodoo BS.😄
Happy recording all!✨
ps... Great 'clap test' there!

[nomad]

Honestly. Unless you're going to be a sound engineer, a pair of iloud speakers or Tannoy 502 reveals will be fine. If you're a bedroom artist and you're trying to make an album you just need a somewhat accurate image of your mix. I use Sennheiser hd25 headphones, for $150, you get a really decent neutral sound. That's all you really need. Iloud has a pair of speakers that are designed to give you an acoustic treatment without the need of the actual treatment. It won't be perfect, but for $400, you're getting a bargain you won't get anywhere else for the price. So yeah, if you're just making demos, or doing house parties, don't worry about being the next Noisia or Hams Zimmer. Just get a basic pair of neutral sounding monitors or headphones and know the basics of mixing and mastering and if you can send your songs to someone you know who is a beast at mixing and mastering, or you send it to a pro Studio and they make a deal with you, then it's only your job to make the songs and not worry about the technical shit. However, if you are a full blown sound junky and want to turn your bedroom into Abby road studios, then by all means, get a good genelec set and scare the shit out of your cat.

[ADAMAudioBerlin]

Fantastic video! Appreciate the in-depth analysis of everything that goes into properly monitoring in a studio setting. Cheers!

[cbaldeon]

I use Sonarworks with 3 inch very cheap monitors and untreated room and the difference is huge. In your case, because you have expensive monitors and treated room, the difference is subtle. Right now, I am planning on make some panels to help to improve my room, maybe moving my desk, and buying new monitors, however, my budget is still very tight... :(

[HyperionSynth]

Genelec 8330a for studio - super tight/punchy, and Tannoy 607s for hifi..got my Tannoys 25 years ago and they still sound great..love them. Most of the time, need to use headphones - until I can get a fully sound proofed room.

[repasiv]

You mentioned the ns10s, I think they were originally designed as home audio bookshelf speakers, just became popular in studios as they sound horrible and if you manage to mix your stuff which sounds kind of acceptable on them than it will sound good on almost anything.

[Windiguana]

Thank you so much for the entire "ears ≠ nipples" segment. Both my partner and I thought it was hilarious.

[BlackDUST..]

YOUR VOCAL MIDRANGE TIMBRE SOUNDS AMAZING !

[graham]

Getting a mic like the umik from mini dsp, some absorbers (couches...), Sub(s) and going crazy with trying all the placement options seems to work really well.

[catsven]

Oh ! Something noticeable in terms of frequencies .. the man has a real beautiful deep voice.. even with a low end cut still sounds great and pleasant.

[astrobearmusic]

Great video. My only feedback is that I think the speakers away from the wall tip is more situational. Sometimes it is better to have it a couple inches from the wall to get the combing at a better frequency - and ideally you would flush mount /soffit mount them - although that takes some effort.

[LNADoesAudioStuff]

Thanks for this vid! I am filming a video about monitors today, and you gave me lots of inspiration! Love the way you create your videos and make them super interesting. 🙌

[MarcellJjr]

A friend just sold me a pair of event, 20/30s for 380 bucks and that is why I’m here in class today to figure out how to put these in my room 😂

[who_is_dis]

Idk about the room size thing.
Fair enough, if your room is tiny, yeah don't use 8 inch monitors.
But any moderately sized room, as long as it's treated and your mixing at a low to reasonable volume (50-60db peak)
You're surely gonna get better monitoring on 8inch speakers... I haven't measured this, so maybe i'm bias, but surely that's the case...

[PurpleMusicProductions]

I have a set of Adam Audios and AX7s and omg I did not know what I was NOT hearing until I got those. They are indeed accurate.