You just purchased some high-quality, expensive studio monitors and placed them in your studio, but your sound hasn’t improved. Don't worry, you can fix this!
The most important part of adding studio monitors to your recording setup is knowing where and how to set them up.
For your studio monitors to produce the quality of sound you are looking for, you need to adjust a couple of things:
Placement of monitors
Where you sit
Placement of Subwoofers
I’ll be breaking down 7 tips on studio monitor placement below, so keep reading!
Tip 1 - Desk Placement
Your entire setup should be placed away from any walls and avoid corners. When studio monitors are placed close to walls, the sound hits the wall and reflects back to the listener. This causes phase cancellation.
Ideally, your monitors should be at least 8-12 inches away from your back wall. If you’re working in a small room this can be inconvenient, but this layout will offer you easy access to the back of your setup.
Tip 2 -Studio Monitor Orientation
Feel free to experiment with the orientation of your monitors. It's all about finding the right sound that fits the room you're in.
Most manufacturers don’t recommend that you place your monitors horizontally, but some do. If you do prefer to have your monitors horizontal, make sure they mirror each other with the tweeters facing out.
Note: Tweeters are responsible for producing high-frequency sounds and are the smaller driver/speaker in a monitor cabinet.
Tip 3 - Finding the sweet spot
When you listen to a mix through your monitors, you’ll want to hear it at its best sound. The place that offers you the best listening experience is called the sweet spot.
The sweet spot is directly in the middle of two studio monitors, where the sound from each speaker overlaps.
To find the sweet spot, angle your monitors so the tweeters’ position forms an equilateral triangle with your head as the point.
Here is a diagram to show this:
Tip 4 - high frequency driver height
High-frequency sounds are more directional than low-frequency sounds. This means that you can better hear high frequencies if they are pointed directly at your ear.
Once you have created an equilateral triangle with your head and monitors, make sure your ears are at the same height as the tweeters.
If you find the tweeters are too high, try inverting your speakers so the tweeter is on the bottom.
Tip 5 - Overall Setup
With your setup, you want to create a balanced listening position. You can do this by placing speakers at the same distance from each side of the room. If the left speaker is two feet from the back wall and 5 feet from the side wall, the right one should be the same. This provides low-frequency accuracy and minimizes side wall reflections.
It's also important to remember that the speaker's distance from the back wall should be different than the distance from the side walls.
Tip 6 - Monitor Stands
Monitors placed directly on a desk cause the sound coming out of them to bounce off the hard reflective surface. This can lead to loose screws and noises that could subtly mess up your mix.
Monitor stands can help place speakers at ear level and prevent reflections that may ruin the listening experience.
Isolation pads are foam or rubber pads that help absorb vibrations or resonance that may occur if your speaker is directly sitting on a hard surface. They are ideal if you are on a budget.
Tip 7 - subwoofers
Once you have found the ideal placement for your full-range monitors and your room is acoustically treated, it's time to add subwoofers.
Your subwoofers should act as an extension of your full-range monitors and be on the same plane as your monitors.
Because low frequencies are not directional, you have more freedom in choosing where to put your subwoofers. However, it’s important to avoid reflective surfaces like walls or corners.
You can find a good place for your subwoofer by playing a song with lots of bass in it, then moving your subwoofer until you find a place where the sound is good and it works with your set-up.
Tip - 8 Calibration
When your set-up is complete, it’s time to calibrate. You can learn more about calibration here.
Written By: Leah Gerber
Conclusion
It may take time to get your studio monitors and subwoofers placed in exactly the right spot, so don’t be afraid to adjust it until you find that sweet spot.
If you need further help creating your own music, we offer audio production services that will help you elevate your sound and bring your song to life!
We look forward to being a part of your success.
Do you have any tips for studio monitor placement? Let us know in the comments below!
