Monitor Placement in Your Home Studio
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- čas přidán 11. 07. 2024
- Today I'll go over some of the basic rules of thumb that will help you decide where to place your desk and monitors in your home studio. I came up with 4 or 5 points, but I'm always willing to hear more things that will make the biggest impact to our ability to hear our mixes accurately.
I left out acoustic treatment for the purposes of this conversation, but do note that it will be a MUST for your studio if you plan to listen and mix on monitors.
Timestamps:
00:00 - Intro
02:20 - The room (ignoring acoustic treatment for today's video)
05:00 - Desk placement
06:00 - Establishing your listening position
08:48 - Monitor distance from your listening position
11:58 - Distance from the wall
14:32 - Monitor angle
15:37 - Corners and enclosures
18:13 - Closing comments
Useful links for some very helpful articles and videos about monitor placement and room acoustics in general:
RealTraps: realtraps.com/
GIK Acoustics: www.gikacoustics.com/ - Hudba
The one person that downvoted this video has a viciously square room.
Or hates cheap wine lol
OUT ALL THE VIDEOS IVE SPENT WATCHING AND HAVE LEFT ME UPSET, yours was the clearest and I appreciate that and you! God bless you lol now I’m going to fix my room 😂🙏🏼
Thanks so much, I hope it provides some basic direction for the future of your studio room!
Underrated video! Ive looked up more than 30-40 videos about acoustic treatment, room acoustic and Positioning. This is far out the best ive whatched and the voice and video editing, its so comfortable to whatch 20-30 mins of you
Thanks mate!!
This is the first video on room acoustics I've seen, that's actually going to help people make their bedroom studio sound better. Like, not their semi professional studio space. Their *bedroom* studio. Over the years I've seen a ton of videos and read a bunch of articles on the matter, but those usually seem to be made for a very limited, semi-professional audience, despite being "marketed towards" bedroom producers. When you read and (watch a )lot about acoustics, you're going to understand the concets at some point and you will be able to apply them, even in your situation (depending on your budget...) but I just haven't seen something ACTUALLY made for beginners yet.
I'd like to thank you for that and encourage other content creators to do the same, instead of pretending to.
This video deserves much more attention.
thats insane content
This has been one of the most helpful and clear pieces of advice for a fresh studio setup. Thanks!
I was searching for this type of content for so long 🔥
Most practical video on the subject I've seen. Thank you.
This is was the realest home studio video I've seen in a LONG time..From my heart bro,I thank you! DOPE AF!
16:25 was so relatable!
yeah, but there's no way I could get my right speaker out of the corner.... which is why i'm mixing with headphones a lot...
Very Helpful info in just 1 video, thank you so much.
Thanks for the "start here" video. I just need to get up and running and found this video very helpful!! Also, "experimentation" is sooo valuable!!
So clear and practically helpful! Thanks!!
Simple, informative. Nice one😎
Beautifully done man and the only criticism I have is I don't know who you are because you didn't say your name.
👍🏽
this was one of the better videos for monitor placements in that it's more based on the home studio producer hehe....but he raises a good point about compromise, we take what we can get!
Nice one Thad. Compromise is the key to everything in home recording.
Thanks Ray! Indeed, we all have to give and take within the limitations of our houses and apartments. Yet, we all manage to still make some good music!
The most informative video out there
Today I am rearranging my room. I am lucky and have a pretty blank canvas. This will help me out very much. Thanks a lot for the great video
Great info, man! I’m glad I stumbled upon your video! 😊
Got a new desk and re-doing the basement studio around it .. I've watched so many videos at this point .. you're the first of dozens I've come across to acknowledge no one has a perfect room! Great helpful video!
Awesome! Thank you!
Very useful !Thanks alot,and cheers !
So much truth , instant subscription!
great video !!!
Great content man! Helped me out a bunch! Keep it up!
Glad to hear it!
Love this video so much, loved the delivery even more. Thanks for putting your knowledge and passion into this channel. Just subscribed can't wait to learn more!
Ps. you make watching your videos very enjoyable with your body langauge and the way you speak
🙏
Great Video!
One of the best videos on the subject I've seen so far, great one!
It's good to see a more practical approach on speaker placement because I, as many "home producers", have a small multi-purpose room so compromise is the key indeed. A good pair of speakers also helps a ton even in less-than-ideal placement due to the aforementioned compromises -- I've been loving my Yamaha HS5s for that reason (room is too small for bigger speakers and I check low end on headphones) because of the room control settings on the back if things get hairy. :)
Thanks for offering a valuable POV on this, I always learn stuff from your videos!
Thank you so much, man. I greatly appreciate the sentiments! I've got their older and bigger brothers (the HS80M) and I agree. The shaping controls give them great versatility, plus they're just solid monitors in the first place. And I think that checking the low end in headphones is a great idea. Honestly, I should do more of that.
Thanks 🙌 I'm ready to set 📐 up my room now 👍
Great video on what is REALISTICALLY possible in "most" home studio applications. I've mixed in less than stellar rooms in my homes over the years and I always found a way to make the room work through trial and error. Eventually I ended up just building my own 2 x 4 acoustic panels out of Owens corning fiberglass. Anyway, what people watching this video need to remember, is that you can only work with what you've got, as brilliantly stated in the video. It is so true. There ARE ingenuous ways to treat so-so home studios, but at the end of the day, try not to get wrapped up in the deep, and I mean DEEP science of this stuff. Unless you're into that sort of thing. It is a rabbit hole, and if you venture onto any forum, you'll see that people take this stuff VERY seriously, and will nearly demand that you do things PERFECTLY and mathematically correct, or else your room will never sound worth a damn. It's all about perspective really. Do what you can, and go from there.
In closing, also remember that you can get good mixes in a myriad of applications, the key, and listen carefully, is LEARNING your room and all of it's flaws. Try picking several songs that you know very well and use them as references while you're mixing in the studio. Mimic what you hear, and try to get as close as you can to said reference mixes. Bounce the mix and then listen on various sources, take notes of what needs to be changed, and over time you will start to learn your room and you'll be able to make more confident decisions over time when you're mixing, even if it's not in the "best" room.
Thanks a lot for the kind words and the advice for those of us that are trying to make sub-par rooms work 😊
best video, best presentation.
I just moved my equipment from a hastily-put-together "studio" in the small office I was renting from a coworking space. It was smaller than a dorm room and I didn't manage to use the space for anything that got far enough for me to care about my speaker placement, but it was also the period of my life wherein I had the most money to rapidly acquire new gear, so at least it was a good dry-run for building a rack, etc.
Now, I am in my own house with a whole bedroom dedicated to office/studio, but my first issue is that I'm likely to be stuck with my desk and monitors along the longest wall. That said, I only expect to be living _here_ for another eight to ten months, so it'll be another good practice run together lessons learned before I get to set up somewhere again (hopefully for long-term).
This video renewed my enthusiasm for getting the space set up (once some issues with my studio/office furniture are addressed). Thank you!
Oh man, this just warms my heart. Thank you so much. The good news about less than ideal setups is that once you get the chance to set it up differently, you'll have more perspective on the differences. I'm on my 5th studio room and I'm still learning how to listen and judge, so keep at it and you'll only improve! Thanks a bunch for watching and commenting.
Great video!
Cheers! :)
The ideal listening position between room modes will never be at 38%. If you map out 1st through 7th harmonic nulls, the ideal listening positions will always be at: 32.8%, 39.6%, 45.8%, or 54.2%. The 38% golden ratio is a close guide, but the actual number between the 4th and 6th null is 39.6%. For smaller rooms lengths 32.8% and 39.6% won't work too well, because your studio monitors will literally be located into or beyond your front walls. For most smaller rooms lengths the ideal listening positions will be at 45.8%. You need a longer room length in order for the listening position to be located at 39.6%. And then you need a really long room to get a 32.8% listening position.
1st Harmonic null = 50%
2nd Harmonic nulls = 25%, 75%
3rd Harmonic nulls = 16.7%, 50%, 83.3%
4th Harmonic nulls = 12.5%, 37.5%, 62.5%, 87.5%
5th Harmonic nulls = 10%, 30%, 50%, 70%, 90%
6th Harmonic nuls = 8.3%, 25%, 41.7%, 58.3%, 75%, 91.7%
7th Harmonic nulls = 7.1%, 21.4%, 35.7%, 50%, 64.3%, 78.6%, 92.9%
When this video came out I was in an apartment whose usable space was narrow and a recording sounded horrible. Now I have a 12x16 room with inconvenient doors and light intrusion But- 1) stuff all around.-2) corrugated window and double door shades.-3)a deep closet full of stuff I can open,-4) tapestry,book shelves and stuff on walls-5) pile carpet. I’m putting Auralex behind and between monitors and a half tent frame to hang blankets for acoustic tracking.
Thanks for the help sir
Subbed because "cheap boxed wine" resonates with me on a spiritual level.
1000th like was mine. Just bought m-Audion bx5a and see your video. Thank you.
Keepin' it _real_ homie 🤜 thanks for the video. Surprisingly, I can't afford to hire a team of acoustic engineers to design my dream studio yet. Guess I'll have to make due with your practical tips!
keep coming back for the boxed wine advertisement
Great work, always amazing content. You have such a soothing delivery, down to earth, well-versed. Thank you. Bravo!
From experience, I think (in my humble opinion, definitely not trying to start a social media, comment section World War III) having a playlist of 5 to 10 songs that you know like the back of your hand is vital.
If you’re working on your own material, that’s easy to do, shoot you’ve been listening to these songs, since you were born… When recording another artist, ask them what they love. And if they say “I listen to everything” give them the go away price...
When they do deliver, listen to that everywhere. Ingrain yourself, hit the void. You know what those songs sound like on a boombox, on an old Mac single speaker, your studio monitors, in your old Datsun or your new Lexus, whatever. Give it a shot peeps, just don’t send me hate messages…I am sorcerer.
Love, freedom, happiness
Ciao
Thanks so much, I really appreciate that!
Thanks, this was very useful! I'm facing a challenge with my new pace... it's an attic room, about 3m x 4m, with a dormer window on the 3m side, which is where I'm going to have to put the desk. Either side of the window are walls that slope inward (the roof, basically) and the rear end is ALL sloping wall. All the walls are vertical up to 73cm, then the slopes begin. As you can imagine, I've been scratching my head a fair bit, trying to work out the best approach! I've no idea how much of a problem the rear ceiling slope will be. I haven't measured the angle yet, but if it's 45 degrees then I guess it will reflect the sound onto the floor and back again, so floor covering will be important... anyway, I won't really know until I try :)
I spent 4 hours testing my audiophile setup with a calibrated mic and REW yesterday. Toeing in my speakers more than a little made my room phase cancilation issues worse ( and didnt effect top end or imaging). Irronically after 4 hours of measuments I ended up with exaclly the same 2 speaker placements that I had came up with just using my ears years ago ( the best placement requires the speakers to be 6 feet out into the room 😕)
The centered phantom speaker is so true.
Agreed! I know we've discussed it before, but it's remained a sure-fire indication that my monitors are in an OK position. It's actually kinda freaky when I dwell on it...there's no speaker there. How does it sound like there's a speaker there?!?
Great informative video! Thanks for sharing your knowledge Thad, it has helped me out a lot :) oh btw what Reaper skin are you using? Looks great!
Thanks! The Reaper skin I use is called something like "Janne 2015 SSL Refocused", from the Reaper stash site.
A very nice video, it acknowledges (which is rare) the fact how most home studios are very irregular in their shape or furniture placement. I have a question, many guides about speaker placement mention ratios and require to measure distances from walls, should furniture (like wardrobes) be considered a wall for that purpose? Hard, thick wood reflects sound too after all.
That's a good question! I don't have a definite answer, but you're right that it would reflect sound. The thickness and density of the wood would dictate how low of a frequency it would reflect. And since it's a big cavity, the wardrobe would also resonate at certain frequencies (kind of like a speaker cabinet).
Great video, a lot of good information here, thanks for doing this!
Thanks to the whole working from home situation, I've had a little more time to work on my studio and I'm upgrading a lot of components, including my mixing desk. At this point, I'm also planning on replacing my Alesis monitors (they're nice, but pretty small). In order to find the best placement, I'm planning on mounting the new monitors on monitor mounting arms so I can have much better control over placement and being able to make modifications. Basically, an arm that clamps to the desk and I'm going to build some brackets to allow for the Auralex isolation pads under the new monitors. Once I have things where I want them, I can lock the arm position into place and away we go.
What kind of test literature do you recommend for working out the best placement/angles?
That sounds like a cool setup! That should give you a lot of flexibility in where you end up placing your monitors.
About all I can recommend for testing is doing a lot of critical listening, and if you want graphs or concrete data you can always use Room EQ Wizard and an measurement microphone to take some aural snapshots of the frequency response at your listening position.
Best of luck man, it sounds like you've got some fun upgrades in the works!
@@YHRS What kind of measurement microphone would you recommend? I'm also trying to set up my video monitors for my workstation in such a way that the proper viewing distance corresponds to the sweet spot for the audio monitors - as long as I stay in that spot, I'll have the best audio and video experience, I believe. Thanks!
@@ragtop70 I just use the Behringer measurement mic (ECM8000). I didn't want to spend much since I knew that I'd only use it every once in a while, and it's enough to give me a pretty good idea of what's going on in my room. But even then, I wish that there was some sort of rental setup for these mics, since we tend to use them a few times and then they sit in their box for years at a time. And the ECM8000 is too noisy to really use for much else, so it really is a single-purpose mic.
@@YHRS Awesome, I'll have to add one of those to the arsenal! Thank you so much!
wow for the first time in my life i understand the phantom speaker in front of me.
Hey, I loved your video, but I have an issue that isn't answered anywhere, I have a room such that I can only place the desk along the long side of the room, room is 10x14 feet, along one of the shorter walls is a window (which needs to be accessible too water plants, and a lot of dust comes in from there so I can't place my desk there) and along the other short wall is the wardrobe and the door to enter the room. Is there any workaround to setting up the monitors and desk along the long side of the room, ie acoustic treatment, etc?
Have you given any thought to DSP monitor adjustments based on room node measurements?
I’ve come up with a personal solution.
I’m playing HI res files through my interface (BLA Revolution) into a Sonic Maximizer to two sets of monitors for a reference track ( like Steve Miller “Keep on Rockin)
Then I try to get that sound.
Would it be better to keep monitors in a corner on the short wall, or centred on the long wall of a rectangular room? Asking for a friend lol. This is such a great channel btw!!
Fkn excellent
Is acoustic treatment right behid your speakers or in between important? ( speakers are About 10-15 cm frommthe wall)
the sweetspot is so tricky. when I move my head just 5cm forward, the sound is changing drastically. All in all it sounds good and the room is treated quite well but how do you fix the last 10% for the sweet spot? Any tips?
I make beats in a 2.2m x 2.4m and 2m height booth.
All walls are made of absorbing fabrics.
What size speaker should I use?
I'm resetting up all my gear with my new monitors this morning.
I saw your pics on the Recording Rebels today and you've got a great tidy spot there! And what a great view out the window. As a long-term goal, I'd start working up plans to get some corner trapping behind those sweet new monitors. I think that you've done great things with that space!
Can you place your desk with your back against the wall and desk 3 feet from wall? With speakers pointed at you towards the wall with only 3 feet of travel from speaker monitors?
Video Downvoters: where have you been all our lives...
Also videovoters: same.. whooooshhh
Tweeter should not pointing direct to the hears.They have to point a bit above the head, same with the mid speaker, they need to point slighly next to the hear. The 60 degre angle reduce stereo imaging.
Sadly...I have a rectangular room and I have to face it towards the shorter edges...is that gonna make me feel bad later? The room is not square but not a long rectangle too.
Hi would you say a 10 inch difference (11 feet two inches by 12 feet) between room sides is enough to call a square room a moderately useable rectangular room. Thanks, great video.
Yeah I'm in a similar spot and wonder that too (mine is 13ft x 11ft6in or so). Right now I'm placed on the longer wall, to the left, with a double door behind me that I could close or keep open into a larger room. Resituating everything might be tough, especially if it is considered a basically square room as is...
@@tosvus I shifted into my living room, which is long-ish. Although I don’t how long I can keep that going. Other option I am considering is sitting close up to the speakers. Or maybe buying one of the iLouds.
What if, you have to place monitors, desk on the longer side (because of windows)
I have a massive studio room, my room is 10 meters by 4.5 meters with a 3 meter high ceiling, u say, as a rule of thumb i need to use the shorter wall, but my desk is in the perfect middle of the long wall, I did a lot of calculations already and i do not understand why this is a rule by thumb unless your talking about small rooms. I'm looking for more information, because I see no problem in using the long wall, I have almost NO sidewall reflections because of the distance. I'm using Adam A7X monitors and a 10 inch adam subwoofer. I have a window on the left and right side of my desk, and a entry directly on the other side of the desk position, I often play with opening the door and closing it, it seems to me leaving the door wide open is causing less reverb... Anyone have any idea?
i hate that no matter what, the bass will always sounds awsome on the opposite side of the room. i did throw up a matress against that wall and was a sure improvement, sounded more direct
I have an almost square room, 3,6m x 3,5m, and have a nasty -7dB at 70Hz. Thinking how to mitigate that, but yeah... there's that.
I was wondering where I place my monitors if I have two pairs? I have a pair of presonus eris 3.5 and jbl mkii 305p, I use together with a subwoofer. Should I place the smaller speakers inside the bigger ones or vice -versa
I had the same issue when I got my 2nd pair of monitors. Honestly my decision point was based on where they would physically fit, so my A7X ended up on the inside and the HS80M on the outside.
I think I would give both sets a listen and see if either pair are better at retaining that "phantom speaker" effect at a wider distance. If one is better than the other, then that would be my outside pair.
Thanks for your input! I think I got it figured out now. I run my presonus 3.5 on the inside about 20 inches apart because the start losing dynamics the further away I place them from my experience. I have the jbl mkii 305’s right on the side of them and now I couldn’t be happier with the sound. Another thing I did is place both sets on monitors upside down to have the tweeters just about at ear level , this has really helped improve my mixing
@@nachogetsstrong Hey that's great to hear! Glad that you've got it all set up and are getting good results!
My room is 10ftx8ft. The short wall where my desk is has a 5ft window behind it. So basically my monitors are directly in front of the window. What problems does it cause, if any and how I deal with it ?
Glass = treble reflection, bass passes through
I have a 16x9 room. The problem is that it's one of those lanai type rooms. Half the room has a continuous row of giant 4 foot windows and the other side is concrete which is the outside of the main house. On each short end of the room there is a door. One leading into the main part of the house and the other to outside so it would be impossible to have a desk centered on either side. I'm going to use sound blankets for the windows, make some proper panels for the other wall, add a carpet to the tile floor, but desk placement is really irking me.
And btw this is also a bedroom, so I can't just put the desk 1/3rd away from the wall.
What if my room is slightly rectangular? 118in x 137.5in....with an 8ft ceiling. Is that close enough to the same to be considered a square?
The closer to a square, the more similar the peaks and valleys will be between the two dimensions of the room. They basically start to "double up", exaggerating the problem frequencies in the room. You can plug your room dimensions into a room mode calculator to get an idea of what the problem frequencies will be, and you can watch the problem frequencies start to merge together and amplify as you enter dimensions that are closer and closer to each other.
I think like with any room, I'd start with floor-to-ceiling corner traps anywhere you can fit them, broadband absorbers at the points of first reflection (left, right, top, rear) and see what improvements that makes. Every room is different, but that's a pretty good starting place!
Nice video but what about a Sub? I’m having problems placing my sub. It won’t fit under my desk and i heard the corner of a room is no good.
Subs are definitely difficult. I tried moving mine all over the place, and while there are spots where it sounds much more balanced, none of those spots were convenient. Last thing I wanted was to trip over it every time I came into the room. So I settled with it under my desk, where it still lives.
One technique I saw was to put the sub on the floor at your listening position, then listen around the room for where it sounds most balanced with the speakers. Then put the sub in that spot.
@@YHRS no doubt. Really appreciate the quick response. That’s great advice! I found a home for it. Like you said. Gotta settle and pick my battles. Lol. Still sounds amazing. I build my own 15” sub with box and plate amp. Thank for the useful content!
what if it's a large rectangular room,but SIDE WAYS where my studio desk would be closer to the long wall and the opposite wall sits not far behind me but each end of the room stretches out about 20 feet ?
Get another room
That'll definitely be a challenging setup, with the rear wall so close behind you and the left/right walls so far away. I'd say give it a try, but be prepared to either rearrange so you can put your desk along one of the short walls, or maybe even resort to a good pair of open-back headphones if the room won't cooperate.
what do people use to map sound in real space? - Is there a program that you can use that you could say play a tone and then walk around a room with a mic and it will map it to 3d space???
I'm not sure of any sort of 3D kind of mapping, but you can use Room EQ Wizard to get a good idea of the frequency response and reverb decay at various points in the room.
@@YHRS Thanks for all the info sir :) cheers... dont drink too much box wine lol
what about mirrors?
tot fuck with that vid :) GJ
damn, i agree with most of these comments, this is one of the few videos about setting up a mixing desk that actually feels like it's for beginners. incredibly helpful!!
if you or anyone else in the comments has the time, i would love to get an opinion on how to set up a mixing station in an imperfectly shaped room. right now it looks like this (imgur.com/a/jLyYE0Y), with the first image being the empty room and the second image where i currently have all my furniture.
i was planning on setting up my desk along the leftmost wall, but i am unsure if i should center it in the true middle of the wall or if i should take into consideration the other placement of the other walls (as well as the windows). also, would the topmost wall also be an option? it would be nice if i didn't have to have my back to the door while i'm sitting at my desk. makes me paranoid haha.
either way, thanks and keep up the good work!
Jump to 6:00
lol It's almost impossible to find a perfectly ideal room in my house to set up a studio. My bedroom is the closest thing to ideal(somewhat rectangular, enough room to have desk with speakers centered along the back wall rather than in corners) and even that has it's problems (three huge windows along the longer side wall, pretty big bed taking up a lot of space, not a perfect rectangle because of a closet).
I totally understand. You might take a look at buying or building some free-standing absorbers that you can deploy while you're mixing and put them elsewhere when you're not. That might be a good compromise so you don't have to permanently obscure windows with mounted absorbers.
Wonder how it even applies for some of us who have a studio/bedroom...Think I'm gonna start sleeping on the floor😂😂😂😂👍🏾
Don't despair! Heck, a bed is pretty much a giant broadband trap so maybe it'll help just a little bit. 😁
@@YHRS hmmmmm iiiinteresting😂😂😂👍🏾
Come back Tad: all is forgiven!
I'm trying! I've been stuck in low-power mode lately, but I did some filming today. I'm rewiring the studio, so hopefully once I've got it all hooked back up, I'll be ready to make some music and some videos!
@@YHRS Great info, thanks
Top of the line Rhine Carlo Rossi is better and cheaper
Hehe, I appreciate the tip 😁
"Born in the room?" Psh..trapdoor under the rug, OBVIOUSLY! /s :)
If you got a square room, you’re _gonna have a bad time._
Hahahaha! I think that if you pay proper attention to not french fry when you should pizza, then your acoustics should be OK 😁
I have a square room :( the only place where I can do my shit, my bedroom
If that's the room that you've got, then I'd say make the best of it. it's better than no room at all! I've got a couple of online friends that have square rooms and they manage it pretty well. A good set of headphones will go a long ways towards avoiding making decisions on the low frequencies based on what your room tells you. Best of luck!
It is actually wrong to have the desk on the short wall, it is more right to have the desk on the long wall and the monitors blasting avreise to the shirt side
How so? Having them fire down the long dimension of a small room gives the bass frequencies more time to develop and lose energy in space, making them a bit easier to absorb with broadband absorbers. And it maximizes the distance between your listening position and the reflection point of your rear wall.
Take a shot every time he says Rule of Thumb