EQ Magazine - February 2009 - (Page 54)

GEAR HEAD NEAR-FIELD MONITOR PLACEMENT In smaller studios, near-field monitors have become the standard way to monitor. These compact speakers sit around 3 to 6 feet from the mixer’s ears, with the head and speakers forming a triangle. The speakers should point toward the ears and be at ear level. If slightly above ear level, they should point downward toward the ears. Near-field monitors reduce—but do not eliminate—the impact of room acoustics on the overall sound, as the speakers’ direct sound is far greater than the reflections coming off the room surfaces. As a side benefit, because of their proximity to your ears, near-field monitors do not have to produce a lot of power. This allows including amps within the speaker to create powered monitors that need no external power amp, as well as relaxing the requirements for external power amps, if needed. However, placement in the room is an issue. If placed too close to the walls, there will be a bass build-up. Although you can compensate for this with EQ (or possibly controls on the speakers themselves), the build-up will be different at different frequencies. High frequencies are not as affected because they are more directional. If the speakers are free-standing and placed away from the wall, back reflections from the speakers bouncing off the wall could cause cancellations and additions. You’re pretty safe if the speakers are more than 6 feet away from the wall in a fairly large listening space (this places the first frequency null point below the normally audible range), but not everyone has that much room. Nor are room reflections the only problem; if placed on top of a console, reflections from the console itself can cause inaccuracies. Always aim for as direct a path as possible from speaker to eardrum. —Craig Anderton KRK SYSTEMS ROKIT POWERED RP5 G2 AND KRK10S SUBWOOFER These aren’t your dad’s Rokits. I know—I owned the originals, and that experience made me vow never to buy KRKs again! But, over the past few years the company has conducted a complete overhaul of the entire product line, and won me back in the process. (In fact, the KRK VXT8s have now become our main monitors in Studio A.) With this updated model, the advances in design that debuted in the company’s Expose series are being implemented in the Rokit line. Long gone is the A-frame shape of the original Rokits; the new generation features a curved, almost eggshaped design, making them resemble shrunken versions of the VXT line. The 1-inch neodymium soft dome tweeter is paired with a 5-inch glass aramind composite woofer, and they put out significant levels for their size. As with any compact speaker, the Rokits have almost nonexistent response at the very low end, which is why KRK sent us the KRK10S powered subwoofer to complement the mains. The sub also incorporates advances in cabinet design, as well as power amplification and crossover tweaks made by the design team. We set the Rokit’s low cut to 50Hz, and the low pass filter on the sub to the same. Once again, we loaded up our AC/DC tracks and hit play. The result? Mud. The low mids were so out of control it sounded like quarter-inch tape at 7.5 ips without the hiss. We scratched our heads and decided we would ignore the legend on the back of the sub. Out came the test tone CD, and after adjusting the crossover, we started again. (By the way, for a great resource on setting up a sub, check out an article by Bob Katz on his website at: www.digido. com/media/articles-and-demos/13-bob-katz/ 14-subwoofers.html.) Within a few minutes, we found a crossover combination that fit our setup, and were immediately impressed with the system’s quality. The kick and snare of the 54 EQ FEBRUARY 2009 www.eqmag.com http://www.eqmag.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of EQ Magazine - February 2009

EQ Magazine - February 2009 Contents Talk Box Sounding Board Dave Cooley Low vs. Diamond Hank Williams III Travis Franz Ferdinand Guitar Trax Bass Management Key Issues Drum Heads Vocal Cords Mix Bus Cheat Sheet Apple Logic Pro 8 Cakewalk Sonar Near-Field Monitor Roundup Gadgets &�Goodies Sounds Room with a Vu

EQ Magazine - February 2009

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