How To Setup Active Home Studio Monitors Speakers
Studio loudspeakers (active) for home recording: The third part of our video series, with which you can set up your home studio, is about near-field monitors, i.e. relatively compact (and therefore comparatively inexpensive loudspeakers for listening at close range. Where and how you can use these speakers should be placed in the studio and what needs to be considered with the different models
Looking for studio speakers (active)
They are extremely important for your studio: the studio monitors, near field monitors or simply monitors for short. With them, you can really judge your mixes in the first place.
All the decisions you make in the studio are influenced by the boxes. The better they are, the more effective your actions are and the better the sound of your mixes will be.
There are many manufacturers with many different models in different sizes for control rooms of all kinds. With the video, we will help you to find suitable boxes. You will also get to know two recommended best studio monitor speakers under 300 (more precisely: near field monitors) from the manufacturer KS Digital that we have selected for our studio
What do active studio monitors have to do?
A good studio monitor is one that you can trust because of its neutrality and that you know really well – so you know how your reference CDs will sound on it. It is also important that your ears do not tire after long hours of work during long sessions.
Of course, good studio monitors also need enough reserves to meet your requirements in terms of volume and frequency response (frequency X in the bass to frequency Y in the treble). This includes being able to handle extreme peaks, pop noises and raw audio material.
As mentioned before, nearfield monitors are best for almost any smaller studio – they’re designed to sound good at short distances. This makes such studio monitors very well suited for control rooms that have not been acoustically optimized.
The budget for your speakers
There are enough studio monitors for every budget. And in each segment there is at least one near-field monitor that stands out from the crowd. It is also true that music can be produced even on small computer roaring cubes or the kitchen radio. But that is by no means a permanent solution for ambitious musicians and producers.
Studio monitors in particular are a long-term investment. Your purchase can easily be compared to that of a car. A good near-field monitor lasts for a very long time, in the best case even decades – longer than a car, and it never goes out of fashion or needs an update. So it is definitely worth saving on good boxes.
In this context, it is advisable to spend enough time researching and selecting the right studio monitors. In the test reports on delamar you will find everything about sound and equipment – including the speakers presented here.
The application area for the studio loudspeakers
As is often the case, it depends on what you will do most often in your studio. Are you a singer-songwriter, so do you only record your guitar and voice? Then even smaller near-field monitors are sufficient. Do you do electronic music or hip hop? Then you need relatively large near-field monitors, maybe even a subwoofer as well – you can only move larger amounts of air with a larger woofer.
Anyone who works a lot with rock bands or with many different talents should also make sure not to choose near-field monitors that are too small for their studio and have enough power reserves ready for all cases.
The right size How big can it be?
The KS Digital D-60 have a woofer with a diameter of 6.5 inches, while the D-80 have 8 inches. These are common dimensions for monitors that want to be suitable for music production in the studio.
In contrast, the tweeters are the same size on both models; the size of the tweeter, on the other hand, is practically irrelevant for the sound competence of the studio nearfield monitors.
The more inches a woofer measures, the further down it usually reaches into the bass range and the larger the membrane, the more precise the bass.
What good are studio monitors with small woofers?
Of course, there are also studio speakers with woofer diameters of 4 “or 5” – but these usually do not extend deep enough to hear the bass. These models are particularly recommended for listening to voice recordings, for pure singer-songwriters or for video editing. However, you can always add a subwoofer for the very low frequencies. Pimp your studio monitors!
What role does the room play in your studio
How big is the room in your studio? If you only have a few square meters available in your control room, then 8-inch monitors can be too much of a good thing. And in two ways: on the one hand, they may take up too much space, on the other hand, the low frequencies can have an overpowering effect in the room. And the smaller the room, the more likely it is to drone due to the room modes.
Set up active loudspeakers correctly
It is best to position the studio near-field monitors on their own stands. Thus, many reflections and thus comb filter effects can be avoided. If you do have to stand on the studio table or console, foam pads or such a rubber coating help to prevent the transmission of structure-borne noise.
Studio monitors should be as fixed as possible and not be able to move. Every time a kick drum is played, the box has a tendency to move backwards.
The right line-up
When positioning, it is important to leave enough space to the walls of your control room. The closer the studio monitors are to the walls, the faster the reflections are thrown back – I’m sure you know this fluffy bass. That’s why the corners of the room are not a suitable place. There should be about the same distance to the studio side walls, otherwise the room image and the panorama will suffer. Incidentally, you cannot put all studio monitors on their side or turn them towards you – the operating instructions for your speakers usually provide information and if in doubt, ask the manufacturer.
