Listening - A Question Of Studio Monitoring

Listening - A Question Of Studio Monitoring by David Wright

Monitoring in a music studio is, quite simply, the most important part of the studio set up. Your studio may contain the most advanced equipment available, but without accurate monitoring, you will never hear an accurate mix, which is kinda pointless, isn't it?!

So, what’s the difference between a good pair of hi fi speakers and true studio monitors?

Well. hi fi speakers exaggerate the lows, and often the highs, to create maximum impact. This can be good to listen to, but it’s seldom accurate. Studio monitors are designed to be very accurate to insure a real reproduction of what's actually being recorded. They’re also built to much sturdier and exacting standards than hi fi speakers, to cater for the vigourous demands of studio use.

Monitors must be very transparent sounding to enable you to mix parts of the music like vocals, bass and even reverb trails without each part colliding into one and other.

To fully understand the concept of monitoring, you must understand that it’s an art. It’s more than just conveniently placing a pair of speakers in the room.

We’re all different, as are studio monitors, and we use the ones with which we’re most comfortable and can best judge the mix. I've used Yamaha NS10s, Dyn-Audio and Tannoys over the years, but have settled with a pair of Alesis M1 active for near-field monitoring and a pair of Alesis Monitor Two’s for midfield monitoring. They're my personal preference and what I'm used to. There are more expensive monitors available on the market, but surprisingly accurate results can be achieved with less expensive monitors just by following a few simple rules.

When monitoring, you're listening to the placement of sound, dynamics, eq, reverb trails, echoes and delays etc. Correctly placed monitors allow you to do this. Hi fi speakers, however good, do not!

A professional, well recorded mix will sound good on anything, and that is the single most important principle to remember. If you use a pair of hi fi speakers to monitor, your mix may well sound great to YOU on THOSE speakers, but I guarantee it won't sound great to others elsewhere!

So, the first rule is, don't use hi fi speakers to monitor.

Nearfield monitors are intended for mounting close to the listener. The idea is to improve the direct acoustic path between the speaker and the listener by making it shorter, thereby giving less opportunity for the reflected sounds to get back in and muddle things up. With nearfield monitoring, the surrounding acoustic environment becomes less of a problem. However, try to optimise the listening environment whenever possible and be aware of the effect that the size of the listening room can have on low frequency response. Usually, the smaller the room, the stronger the bottom end will be.

The ideal placement of speakers is out in the room, away from side and rear walls, and reflective surfaces like tiles, windows or table tops. Unfortunately, and particularly in home studios, this isn't always possible. So do what is practical with the environment you have.

The physical spacing between the speakers is very important, approximately 3 feet apart. A good set of monitors, if positioned correctly in a reasonably non-reverberant room, will give accurate results. There should be equal distance between the listener and either speaker. In other words, the listener and the two speakers are the three corners of a triangle with equal length sides. Both speakers must be turned in accordingly so that from your prime position, you see only the face of both speakers. Also, your ears should be level with the tweeters, so, if you're placement of the speakers is higher, perhaps on a shelf or wall mounted on brackets, then the speakers must be tilted down accordingly.

Most studios use monitor speakers in the horizontal position. This set-up will promote a strongly focused centre image, ideal for the vocalist, for example. And because the image width is narrower, the sounds can be placed with greater precision than when the speakers are placed vertically. Also, in the horizontal position, there will be much less chance of first reflections from the studio environment colouring your mix.

However, that isn't to say that monitors shouldn't ever be used in the vertical position. Indeed, some manufacturers recommend that in ‘perfect’ situations, they should be. With vertical placement you hear the mix with the deepest and widest soundstage possible. But this wide a dispersion pattern can add strong reflections to the sound you hear, muddying the mix, hence the preference for the horizontal position.

The rules for midfield monitors are the same as with nearfield, except that the three cornered triangle is much bigger, usually a minimum of 6 ft.

So, the second rule is, place the monitors correctly, read the instructions that come with the monitors and attain a better understanding of your listening environment.

When recording for any length of time, you will get listening fatigue, So take regular breaks every few hours. It’s amazing how differently things can sound when you return refreshed.

There is also an old saying; “If a song sounds great at low volume, it'll sound great at any level. But a song that sounds great loud will not necessarily sound great at a lower volume”.

Think also of the effect on your hearing over time when constantly listening at loud levels!

So, the third rule is, take regular breakes when recording, make your regular listening level a sensible one and listen at louder levels only occasionally, for feel and bass purposes.

There is of course, a place for the car stereo and hi fi in the process. When I'm happy with the mix, I listen on my hi fi and car stereo. If it still sounds good, then I can be confident that it’s a good mix.

So, the fourth rule is, a professional, well recorded mix will sound great on any system. So use your car stereo and hi fi to 'final check' your mix.

David Wright is a solo keyboard player and recording artist, composer and producer who founded the electronic music label AD Music in 1989. AD Music - Record Label David Wright's Own Site

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Sunshine, Blue Skies and Pizza Pies

Sunshine, Blue Skies and Pizza Pies by Leslie Fieger

Some friends called this past Sunday morning. "We are taking the boat out to test out the new diesel motors. Want to come along?" There ended up being eight of us. John, an ex-pat Brit who owns a local yacht chartering business, a retired French Canadian couple, the Ambassador from a foreign country not currently on the USA's close friends list, Jan and Gus (the boat owners) and Sandra and myself.

It wass a splendid day. Jan provided a gourmet lunch. The rest of us had each brought various appetizers. The coolers were full of cold beer, coconut water and wine. We spent most of the day anchored off Princess Margaret beach at Bequia, swimming, eating, drinking and telling stories.

John in particular, was in the mood to be a raconteur. Some of his stories were a little too risqué to reproduce here, but I'll share a couple of tidbits that produced chuckles all around. First this tale...

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Princess Margaret Beach, by the way, is so named because she famously once swam nude here. That kind of thing is, of course, frowned upon here in these islands. Was back then; is still. The yacht she was on at that time was anchored, like us, just offshore. At some point in the festivities, Margaret announced, "I am inclined to go for a skinny dip. Is that alright?" she inquired of the local dignitaries who were, up until then, so pleased to be able to hobnob with visiting royalty. They were taken aback, but managed to reply with as much dignity as possible, "Whatever suits you, ma'am."

"No, actually, it is whatever or whoever un-suits me," she answered, stripping off and diving in.

This bold move so impressed Colin Tennant that he gave Margaret a ten acre piece of land on his newly acquired, neighboring island of Mustique and that was the beginning of the mystique of Mustique, the island hideaway of many of the rich and famous.

In the once-British islands, the underwater shoreline and beach front is commonly known as the Queen's bottom, which means that it belongs to the crown and is, for all intents and purposes, public land that cannot be privatized. That means that no one can deny anchorage to any boat on any shoreline. On Bequia and in Mustique, the semi-irreverent yachter's toast, 'Here's to the Queen's bottom,' which roughly translates as 'Here's to a safe anchorage,' has been replaced with, "Here's to Maggie's bottom", which is both better known and better looking.

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Who says that history has to be a dry subject? Of course, these days, there is no member of the British royal family whose bottom anyone would care to glimpse; so it is unlikely that this bit of history is doomed to repeat itself, despite any who may remain ignorant of it.

In a spirit of kinship, or rather kindred soul-ship (since I am not related by blood) with Maggie, I too have now swum naked in these waters, although I don't, for one moment, imagine that Sir Colin Tennant's Mustique company will bequeath me any of their precious land as a result. I don't think the foreign ambassador was much impressed either. Her swim was taken fully clothed.

Later in the day, John came up with this one...

I was over at The Reef one day a couple of months ago and happened to overhear a funny conversation you'd enjoy, said John with a big smile.

We knew he had yet another story for us. Maybe it was even true. Not that it matters much; humor is its own truth.

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Two sailors were touring the Caribbean islands in their forty-two foot Morgan. They had anchored just off the next beach over, called Lower Bay, and were planning on spending a few days enjoying the island of Bequia. At sunset, they decided to go ashore and have drinks and dinner at The Reef. The local country & western band playing and the noise level was quite high.

I was sipping a beer, enjoying the music when the two visitors sidled up to the bar.

"What'll you have?" asked the bartender.

"Rum and coke," replied the first one. "Two of those." enjoined the second fellow.

You OK with Mount Gay?" Inquired the bartender.

"Yes we are. Why do you ask?" replied one of the sailors, having misheard in the noisy bar.

"In case you'd like another kind tonight," replied the barkeep, also having misunderstood the reply.

"Oh no; we are monogamous." stammered the one, shocked at the brazen offer he thought they'd received.

"What did you say? You're on a mono-hull?" asked the clueless mixologist of the two confused misogynists.

"Yes, I'm the captain of that Morgan out there, and he's my mate. We're couple of gays." answered one of the sailors, having heard this last question correctly, but still attempting to clarify their position.

"Two Mount Gays and a Captain Morgan coming right up." proclaimed the bartender, still not hearing or understanding.

I, having heard and caught the drift of both sides of this conversation, decided that now was not the time to ask for a shooter with a fancy name, explained John, though I was tempted. It could have gotten very interesting.

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It took a while for that one to settle in and it had to be explained to the French-Canadian couple who did not quite catch all the English nuances and who were also unfamiliar with the whimsical names often given to shooters made with multiple liqueurs.

That evening, back home, two of the many songs that Gus had played on the boat's CD player reverberated in my head. Dean Martin's "When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's Amore." which was appropriate, since there was a full moon to enjoy and I was surely in love; and Jimmy Cliff's "I can see clearly now; the rain has gone. It's going to be a bright, bright, bright sunshiny day." which was also appropriate, since it had been a very bright sunshiny day, punctuated with a couple of refreshing rain showers.


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Coincidentally, just now, just when I thought I had finished writing this piece, the Ambassador's chauffeur has shown up with a printed invitation to a musical recital her Embassy is putting on this weekend, so I guess she was not terribly offended by my skinny dip. Who knows? Maybe it is not entirely impossible that I'll also end up with a couple of acres on Mustique. Perhaps I should take a nude dive off the deck at Basil's Bar at next year's Blues Festival to reinforce my position? Stay tuned. I'll let you know.


© Leslie Fieger. All rights reserved worldwide.

Leslie is the author of The DELFIN Knowledge System Trilogy: The Initiation, The Journey and The Quest plus many more success publications. Subscribe to his free and ad-free eZine at http://www.ProsperityParadigm.com or http://www.LeslieFieger.com.

Reprinting and republishing of this article is granted only with the above credit included. Permission to reprint or republish does not waive any copyright.

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