Studio Monitor Positioning - The DSP Project
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- čas přidán 1. 06. 2011
- Update: check out my brand new studio at DSPmastering.com !!
This week I share my top 12 tips for studio monitor positioning. You might be surprised by the improvement in sound that can be gained by a little bit of adjustment and testing to find the best placement. The best part about all these tips is they are all free and you can try them out right now. Even if you have had your monitors a long time proper setup is a must!
thedspproject.com/studio-monit... - Jak na to + styl
I gotta give props to you as I’ve watched a fear bit of footage on this subject and I’ve never come across in all my 20 years of music production such detailed and helpful info. Cheers.
if you cant see the sides of the monitors would meant that the tweeter is pointed at your eyes.You should be able to see a little bit of the inner side.
Clear, concise, informative. Excellent video!
In addition, listen to reference tracks in your room. This way you get to know how a professional mixed and produced track is sounding in your room, with your gear, monitors etc. It is very helpful especially if you have to compromise on the speaker placement.
TY SO MUCH !! i have done exactly what you say it sound so much better the stereo is so precise and the bass and vocal pop up !! ( Aps Aeon, Prism Sound Lyra)
@Kimnastic Thanks for the feedback, ill have a think on that one.
Very clear presentation. I am changing my room right now.
Thanks for this video. It really helped and it was nice to know I was doing a lot of things right and some things not. Keep posting this stuff
Still super helpful in late 2020. Thank you!
lovely tutorial..thx buddy
this was soooo helpful!
The Stereo Vertex Point (the focused point where the speakers are aimed behind your head) should be 14" min. to 16" max. from your Listening Position (ear line).
really really useful video this one.
anyone whos done some reading will know most of this.
but its really good to get it all into one place
did the pdf come out?
Very nice video, ties it all in and is very helpful. Any tips on sub woofer volume setting?
Such a great video. I've recommended this to alot of people
Excellent video! Thanks.
This was a very thorough and helpful introduction. Thank you. I am looking for a simple but effective combo desk riser/rack like what you have on your desk. Any tips on where I can get one like yours, or did you build it yourself?
Sure, boxes, bricks, tiles something thats heavy is usually the go. Other wise you could use a foam isolation product there are plenty of affordable options or my favorite is the Primacoustic recoil pads, you can see them under my speakers in this video and I have done a review on them too.
Cheers mate, ive been a-b comparing with other tracks i seem to have it sounding nice. will look into a calibration mic. thanks again
Thanks for great explanation. Question though. How many feet apart should the monitors be
Soooo good. Thank you for this video.
Thank you for your answer. Unfortunately, I can't try them out before I buy them as I have to buy them online. At this price point, I don't expect they would be so different but differences would exist nevertheless. With whatever I pick, I will have to learn how to work with them and also I will have to learn the room (after I treat it). Again, thank you for the answers, much appreciated.
Thanks, mine was a DIY job. Just a little 3x3 rack sitting on top of a normal desk.
loved it, exactly what i needed...
Superb voiceover work
Great help, thanks
brilliant explanation ta
I see what your getting at but so many factors come into play I wouldn't pick one over the other based on port location, especially if they are going to be positioned away from the wall. Are you able to compare them before you buy? This would be the best option.
In theory I would maybe lean towards front ported but I've heard great and crap monitors with front and rear ports so dont really have a preference myself.
Interesting setup.
Can be a little tricky with out a calibration microphone. To do so by ear try a combination of listening to music you know really well. (something with a walking bass line is good). Also you can use sine sweep between 30 - 300hz ish to see if there is a smooth transition from sub to monitors. But a calibration mic is best if you have the money.
Great video, thank you.
Great informative video - thanks. I'd like to use this PDF also if possible.
very helpful thx a lot!
Very help helpful information on the subject. Yes, I would like the pdf illustration.
Top job brother!
I agree although this is fairly basic knowledge it's layed out perfectly straight forward and on point . I learned tweeters are best lined up with the ears .. I never knew that ..
perfect! i'll check it up,
cheers
@TheDSPproject thats okay.
im pretty surprised the project hasnt kicked off faster if i'm honest dude.
you're doing a great job and its very hard to find good quality videos like this on youtube.
@gix10000 Thanks for your support gix, its appreciated.
I agree a flat response is important (so is decay time) and I am saying I DID try this only a few months ago and the corner response was not favorable in my situation. Maybe it works for your setup however I have never seen it in any professional studio. I worked as an acoustical consultant for a hi-fi company and would demo sub placement in corners for clients who wanted more boom however it always resulted in muddy inaccurate bass with music so only some pure cinema guys would run with it.
I did extremely thorough subwoofer placement testing when setting up the new studio this year and I did not find corner placement to be beneficial. Every room is different so maybe you have a particular size or shape that lends itself to corner placement but both the physics and my real world testing dont agree. Also I dont understand how you think there is less reflection points, placing it in the corner does not remove a wall from the room?
very good tutorial mate
this is brilliant
thanks
PDF. Would be Good With a Link to the Download. I have the spirit absolute 2 speakers. Witch Look Just like the ones You Have and Sound Great. They are Near Field Monitors as well. Thanks. H.
The number of reflections is the same, but when you place a sub against a wall, the reflections off that wall are immediate and thus in phase with the sub. Place it against two walls, and you're in phase with two walls. Place it in a tri-corner, and you're in phase with 3 walls. Place it out in the room and you're not in phase with any wall, unless you stand in just the right spot, but that phase alignment (for certain Hz only) is from a delayed wave.
Primacoustic recoils I have done a review on them if you want to know more.
Step No.6 you can ignore if you are using Snell type speakers which use the wall as an extension to the cabinet.
Also, listen to music all day with your studio speakers so you get to know them with stuff you've known for decdes and lastly; Air is a fluid. Sound does not travel in straight lines, as proved in France about 250 years ago! :o) Yes, beware the sound engineer with no experience in any other field!
Hi, great video!
I have a small pair of m-audio bx5 D2 studio monitors and I have no option that to place almost against the wall. I've installed foam diffusers behind and don't sound bad but... just want to know if you could think any tip to minimize the problems that generates that positioning.
Thanks
If that is your only option roll with it. If you have foam behind you have probably done as much as you can. My tip would be to not worry about speaker placement too much, learn what you setup sounds like and get on with making music!
Hi. I have a studio in a sloping attic. On which wall should the station be placed with the monitors? Can there be a sloping roof behind the monitors and at what distance? Or should it be on the opposite straight and rectangular wall? Because on the trapezoidal side, I'm not sure though
All real time analyzers agree. I used to believe exactly what you said, for 25yrs, before I learned it was wrong. Take any sub, in any room using an RTA. Watch extreme peaks and nulls when the sub is out in the room, and watch them disappear as you put it in the corner. I was shocked, but then I thought about it, and it makes perfect sense. Half the reflection points, half the peaks and nulls, bingo! If it's louder, turn it down. People think those nulls are making it sound tighter, that's false
what are your thoughts on rear vs front ported speakers? I won't be close to a wall but I won't be too far either. Initially I wanted to get Mackies MR5 MKII but now I think the Presonus Eris 5 are a better option since they are front ported.
where would I get a table similar to the one in the animated demonstration? same measurements too
The advantage of having the tweeter pointing at your ears far out weighs any theoretical disadvantage to not having them square. So if they point them up at your ears, go for it.
I know this happened a long time ago, but is the PDF still available? I looked on the website and description and didn't find it.
It does look that way however the pads the monitors are on are slanting down and Im not sitting up in my chair. Im not in this room any more but when I sat with a straight back it all lined up right.
Ideally you don't want them up against any boundaries but at least with windows it allows bass to pass through so its not all bad.
At which point do I say to place the tweeter above ear level exactly?
the speakers must be at least 1.5 meters away from the wall. But i know mine arent, because i cant. so its back to that rule of knowing what youre working with and knowing the limitations, if you know that, then you can be aware of any colour being put on the sound. something like that..
hey can u help me pls
my room is 4 m long and 2 wide but the problem is i have 2 speakers and 1 wolfer... i hear everythiing but not low/bass and its annoying pls help me
Is it a bad thing or does it matter that my speakers are about the same length away from the side walls as they are from eachother? (About 80 cm) In other words the width of the room is about 240 cm, my speakers are centered but 80 cm apart from both eachother as their corresponding wall.
They do are farther apart from the front and back walls though.
Great Video :)
the only problem with pointing the speaker directly at your face is you might narrow the stereo sweet spot of the listening position, if this is the case, then just angle them slightly further out than that
Tip 3 very helpful?
Can boxes be used to raise the height of the monitor?
Is 11 a minimum?
very helpful :)
is a room with a pyramid ceiling like the worst situation possible? I clap and it reverbs a lot. So is pyramid worse than flat ceiling?
So ill beworking in my Attick, and my side walls are half past beginning of my triangular sealing lol any tips there?
powned him bro
Simply and 95 % true.
Most of typical BOX rooms
Please understand, I'm not denying that there is bass build-up in the corners. I'm saying that having a flat response is so important to mixing that this bass build up is far less of a problem. Place the sub in a corner that has a lot of bass-trapping (all corners should be trapped anyhow), and turn the sub down (you should use an SPL meter anyhow).
Try this test. Use an RTA to find your biggest bass null. Move the sub to the corner.... it will disappear 9 out of 10 times.
It came from an acoustician much smarter then I called Wes Lachot.
The rule is calculated in order to minimize x-axis (length) disturbances of the length axial modes.
Hence the idea is not to sit in dips or peaks from these first order modes. Keep in mind it was created as a rule of thumb to start with not a law.
All goes on the accustics too whats in the room too,
Standard office desk with custom made 3x3u rack sitting on top.
The equilateral triangle theory is just that a theory. All that is necessary acoustically is an isosceles Triangle where the height and angle of each adjacent size varies accordingly.
Thanks for the tip's. I discovered something lately the "recommendations" for speaker layout's is very subjective. I just switched out some crap 3 inch surround sat. to a 5.25 with 1 inch domes and flipped out! I thought my receiver manufacture was a blatant lying..... it does have power, it was that crap surround speaker. Now to replace the center. If I could get something out of this rig I would go back to 4 channel stereo .08% Dis. or better in a second, surround amplification sucks 1%? Peace
What kind of pads you are using for PMC?
Won’t the screens that are between the monitors going to create comb filtering?
Thanks so much for the helpful tips. Pls add me to the list of folks asking for the PDF. :)
number 9 is really weird but I think that's something to try
5/8 ratio for spacing monitors!
lol 8 comments huh? 200k views?? lol don't need the pdf, great video my man!
C'mon guys, we're at 7 people who have commented on his website. We just need ONE more for the PDF! It's been 5 years PLEEEEASE SOMEBODY!
thank you for inf
The problem with your seggestion of not placing the sub in the corner and then suggesting that you place the sub in the listening positions to find the flat spot is that 95% of the time the flattest spot IS in the corner. Corner position has the least room modes, for obvious reasons (half as many reflection points, resulting in half the nulling and standing waves).
@gix10000 its tough man, numbers are growing but not as fast as I might like. The mantra is "content is king" right ? So I am just trying to make the very best content I can within my means. I believe it will pay off in the end...
@TheDSPproject yeah thats right,
i think if you go down the acoustics route then you are starting to hit a niche.
and your biggest videos i noticed, have been the simple & broad ones, targeting a beginner market.
hardware reviews, snare layering, software tutorials, etc.
as much as i want to see niche material myself, its not going to grow your audience, so doing some more reviews on gear and teaching common but often difficult mixing/music techniques might be the way for you to go.
it amazes me how many guys just slap monitors on the desk pointing straight forward lol and sometimes laying down (sometimes okay as long as they are angled right)
what desk it that?
i have about 6 inches between my monitors and the wall. is this a real problem?
What is the smallest wall in the room has a window on one side and the parallel side is the door? Will it make a difference the window being there?
+Gareth Stirling I got a freaking kitchen in my living room. been dealing with it for years. and the walls are all jacked up corners and two doors. Imposiable to mix properly. Wish i would j=have known before bying my monitors 4 years ago lol
i have got 2 bose speakers and a subwoofer ... are these ok for my studio ..... the series is cinemate series 2 ... pplease help ... thanks :)
Thank you.Clear and to the point. (I'm glad someone didn't "do all the drugs")
Cheers!
what about windows?point speakers towards or away from the window?
@@kunaguero8432 same
i need help my rockit5 moniters keep buzzing when im trying to record. theyre hooked up to a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 audio interface and run through a DTI Dual transformer/Isolator. I have bose speakers hooked up too so i can here the playback. i know im doing something wrong and i will never be content until i get rid of the speaker buzz/whitenoise sound when recording. Any advice is appreciated.
Hi...I got a great deal on Rokit 5 1st Gen monitors and have a TASCAM FireOne interface. Got them home and there was all kinds of interference and noise! I replaced the RCA speaker cables with balanced cables (TRS one end XRS other) and now they are dead quiet.
Positioning matters to get the best from your monitors.
However this doesn't mean you cant use them if they are chucked on top of a table. Looking at this video he has a very small work area so the placement is dictated by the room. Given the fact that he is working in a tinny room with some frankly pretty crap Behringer monitors if he is a big name I would hope hes going into a real studio to finish his mixes before release. The positive flip side could be you can make music on any setup!
Bose aren't really ideal as they are far from having a flat frequency response. But its more important to get started so if thats all you got run with it. You can upgrade later if you want get more serious.
would love to see some acoustics videos
what he said!
Respectfully I think you are very much mistaken.
The sound pressure caused by room modes is greater at walls, greater yet at dihedral corners (where walls meet walls - ceilings and floors) and greatest yet at trihedral corners (wall/wall/ceilings or walls/walls/floors).
This is why in any well designed studio you will find bass traps in the corners not subwoofers. I highly discourage you from putting your sub in a corner, it might sound louder but it will not be more accurate.
I've literally made everything wrong XDhahaha
this video really helped, thanks :D!!!
I WOULDN MIND A PDF DUDE
THNKX