Your speakers are wrong

CREDITS
Waveguide - Behringer K5
Recording studio - Ardent Studio by Katie from Memphis, TN, USA CC BY-SA 2.0 (Original Yamaha NS-10M non-studio shown)

[stuartcoyle]

Here in Australia we mount all our speakers upside down, so that the sound comes out with the correct phase in the UK. :P

[msingh]

I love the way the Master splits the hairs. Cocking his head to one side to discern the difference in the frequencies. And he has this amazing assistant, who is always there to fill in the gaps! I wish I could afford an assistant like that...

[nicksmith]

I still use my father's KEF Cantors from 1975. He used them high up horizontally, I use them in a small room now vertically. The KEF logo on the front rotates to match the orientation 😊

[horrortackleharry]

3:17 Reminds me of the famous Quincy Jones anecdote: in the 'Thriller' sessions, he always brought a nasty, cheap mono transistor radio-type speaker into the studio for playback. "It's got to sound good on that- that's how the majority of people will be listening to this".

[stratocat]

Cheers for this from a retired mastering engineer!
I had my NS10M's in this orientation on my personal desktop for years, and got nothing but grief from my contemporaries. About a year ago, I relocated my home studio to a larger room, and relegated my Yamahas to monitors stands off the desktop and in the customary horizontal position. Having them further apart has improved imaging, but this has to do with the fact they are slightly farther apart, not the orientation.
Yamaha is correct. It does not matter a whit or a tiddle if they are vertical or horizontal. Just keep them off of a flat surface in either case.
I also added a 1 octave step graphic EQ that allowed me to give them a nice 'HiFi' or loudness curve. In close proximity as designed, with this addition, reveals the little units are capable of surprising bass response, and there is no need to cover the tweeters in toilet paper. 😁
A simple flip of the switch allows me to go from flat to sweet. This has also pretty much eliminated the need for multiple monitor pairs.
My primary use for these speakers in my personal studio is for archiving my analog library and restoring or remastering much of the same for 96 khz 24 bit wave. And the occasional multitracking for myself of 'backing tracks', something I have done since the 80's in order to perform 'live' without a band.
I retired in 2018 after my company closed it's media division as far as in-house production and mastering after 22 years with them. All's well as ends better, as I am having far more fun being retired and working on my own projects!
Cheers again!

[naibafabdulkobor]

You are totally right regarding vertical or horizontal orientation. Simple as that. Period.

[TheMicrophoneChannel]

I always mount NS-10s the way they are mounted in this video. The bass response should be slightly better when mounted vertically as well as the phase coherence between the woofer and tweeter, as already stated. Combine all that with keeping the tweeters on the outside and the sound will image better across the stereo spectrum. Now, all of this is probably more or less subtle, but I personally like to have things set up as correct as possible.

[PapaNicksMusic]

I’ve recently come across your videos (and subscribed!), and I am heartened by your willingness and ability to examine the fine details of sound reproduction while still reminding us that all of this—ALL of this—is subjective. If I mount my studio monitors in the attic pointing down through air vents into my studio because I like the way it sounds, that is good enough. If I like the way it sounds, it’s good. If I don’t, it’s bad. Far too many people throw around the word “objectively” in these discussions. You don’t, and I love that.

[owlcavedreams]

In addition to the "mids microscope" aspect of NS10s, I always understood the the main reason for having them is that virtually every pro studio on earth has them, and they thus serve as a reliable reference point for engineers who know them well. Great for mixing vocals. I wouldn't use them exclusively (I also have Genelecs), but mine have magic dust on them...I got them from the Townhouse studios (via funky junk) with a Quad 520f. Be Well.

[legtrax]

Ideally, the tweeters should be at ear level for your listening position. Pick the most suitable mount orientation and angle using isolation to create triangle between ears and tweeters. That should get you close to the studio's listening position ie the track will sound closest to how it was intended.

[ONESNZERS]

LOL Paul McCartney, how lucky to have your audience think of Paul when you talk and what a wonderful job of recording the
Beatles did for the music industry.

keep up the good work!

[rodericogarcia]

Having worked myself with a couple of NS10, I wouldn´t overlook the problem with frequency response as if it was a minor issue. Those dips and bumps in the highs may become a challenge when looking for a tonal balance. It´s not only a question of having the mix sounding "good" in the yamahas, it´s also about mixin while you are aware of which frequencies are boosted by this response, and which are atennuated. A complete mess of perception, in my opinion. I never got to feel comfortable with these.

I have enjoyed some of the latest Genelec models, and my final choice for mixing has been Neumann KH120 + Kh750dsp- Measuring my mixing room and getting an "almost flat" response, at least in terms of tonal balance perception, adding an extended bass response down to 16Hz, finally got me having my mixes translate in many other places with much less struggle.

The Neumanns offer a rather boring sound when you use them simply for listening to other music, but are surprisingly revealing in showing hidden details in records I had listened to a thousand times. The kind of tool that helps you to take decisions and achieve your goal sooner, and more confident.

[peters]

I remember when the NS10M first appeared mid 1980s, as I recall their biggest selling point was that an NS10 sounded like an NS10 in almost every studio they were used in. This was the era of the freelance sound/mix engineer, who could be working in almost any studio from day to day. Other popular near field speakers seemed to interact with the room more thus sounded subtly different in different studios. The NS10 did not sound as accurate as other speakers but the sound was consistent so he/she had a known reference.
The original NS10M had an acoustic material speaker ‘grill’, but engineers always took it off. The result was the speaker was very slightly bright, which lead to people putting a sheet of tissue paper over the tweeter. This lead to a discussions of how many sheets, what brand etc. It sounds mad but it happened!
I remember one of the Lord-Alge brothers (sorry can’t remember which one) who said the NS10 only “sounded right” when it was so loud it was “farting” ie the bass driver hitting the end stop. Needless to say the bass drivers needed replacing very often when he was mixing. But his mixes sounded great so who am I to judge.

[DenisPerron]

My speakers are also installed horizontally. And I also used a pink noise to adjust my system using a Real time analyzer and a graphic equalizer to correct the deficiencies in my system as well as the acoustics of my room. It makes a big difference. My amplifier is an Electrocompaniet from the 80s.

[TWEAKER]

Time alignment (tweeters & woofers to your ears) is a HUGE factor to hearing detail objectively, as you alluded to towards the end. And the more drivers in a speaker cabinet, the more difficult that can be. We're subconsciously actually more sensitive to phase response than to pitch.

[HomeTheatre]

I honestly enjoy watching your videos and listening to your take.

[Mitsch]

For many years I used a pair of Canton Quinto510 Loudspeakers....and they did the job very well. Combined with my AKG K240 Studio headphones I think I was pretty good prepared to mix and record audio. I used my monitors so long and so intensive that I imediately identified any mistake in mix or recording. I knew exactly what I should be hearing.
Since 3 years I changed to a pair of Yamaha HS 7 studio monitors and still I don't feel as secure and confident as I did on my (very old) Cantons. I guess it has to be some more years of matching my ears to the new To conclude: I think you just need to KNOW WHAT YOU HEAR. And be able to make the right decisions from that knowledge.
Great video, as always! Thank you very much!

[carlsitler]

I loved listening to my mom's albums in the '70s and she had a wide ranging taste in music. She had Led Zepplin next to Arlow Guthrie... Nate King Cole... Johnny Cash... Fifth Dimension... Donavan, etc. She had an all in one consul (speakers, turn table, 8-track, radio).

[steve]

I've turned speakers backwards! In the musical instrument business, you're producing, not reproducing. My instruments were organs and carillons. Both sounds have a large indirect component. "Speakers forward" often gave too much direct sound. It certainly puzzled a lot of customers, but they couldn't argue with the sound.

[kampfire]

NS10's are the most critical speakers in my experience and was pleasantly surprised to hear him say what I learned 20+ years ago: If you can make your mix sound good on NS10's, then your mix will sound good on anything. This is why you'll notice most major recording studios had a pair of NS10's in them...