Listening To Your Home Recordings Using Monitors

Monitors are basically speakers that you use when mixing down, also known as "studio monitors".

Studio monitors are designed to create an accurate audio image of your track, with no unnatural emphasis of particular frequencies, whereas hi-fi speakers are designed to make all audio material sound quite pleasing to the ear.

The point of using monitors is not for them to make your music sound good, but to give you a true representation of it, so you can make it sound good in software. Near-field monitors are made to reproduce music in your studio in such a way so that when you hear it sounding good, it will sound good on boom boxes, stereo systems and car radios etc.

Finding Good Monitors –

A good idea is to take some CD’s you are familiar with to a music store. Assuming that you're listening to monitors that have been well reviewed for mixing, I'd listen for clarity and shimmer and good bass tones, and I wouldn't want to hear distortion, buzzing, or excess thumping.

Play with the volume, you should be able to clearly here the sound without rattles and buzzes at both very high, and very low levels. When listening through you good monitors you may hear subtle things that you never noticed before, instruments will jump out at you.

There are two main types of monitors used for home recording, there is active and passive. Active monitors have an integrated power amplifier that has been optimised to work properly with the speakers. Passive monitors (a.k.a. “speakers”) need an external power amp. If you happen to have a good one lying around, it's generally cheaper to buy passive monitors.

Active Monitors are usually considered the safest option for sound quality, and are the most popular choice amongst first-time buyers.

Monitor Placement –

Now you know a little about monitors, and what’s available to you, it’s important you position them correctly in your recording environment. Not only does the placement within the room play a large role in the sound you hear, but also where you are sat in relation to them.

You should try to achieve a sound that will closely reproduce that of the stereo field. To do this you must place your monitors so they are sitting on two points of an imaginary triangle about six feet apart, with your head being the third point of the triangle.

The monitors should be positioned to face inwards slightly, and be mounted vertically so that the cone of the speaker is level with your ears.

Also pay attention to where you place the monitors within the actual room itself. Generally you should try to avoid placing them in corners as this can amplify the bass frequencies and may result in an overly boomy sound. It may also be worth investing in speaker stands as they will help prevent any resonance that may occur come from them being placed on a table or desk. Also, make sure they are securely fixed down to stop any vibrations.

To test the positioning of your monitors, grab a few CD’s and listen to how the sound comes out. Try to listen for any unbalances, such as the bass sounding to heavy or the hi-notes sound too tinny. Have a play around with the positioning until you are happy that you have found a balanced sound.

A good set of headphones is mandatory to help finesse the audio sound you are looking for. It is unlikely you will be recording in an acoustically designed room or on the best playback monitors. If you are unable to afford high quality monitors then a pair of top of the range headphones is a must.

A good set of headphones will set you back around $125-300. Make sure the headphones are “closed back” design meaning they have no holes on the outside of the headphones. Open back headphones are prone to a lot of leakage.