Recording March 2022 - 68

INSIDE
THE BOX
with Joe Albano
A MONITORING PRIMER FOR DAW USERS
W
hile many new producers are getting their first taste
of music production on repurposed home computers
loaded with inexpensive or free (albeit surprisingly
powerful) audio applications, their first monitoring setup
might be comprised of consumer-level earbuds / headphones,
cheap computer speakers, or maybe even built-in laptop speakers.
In keeping with this issue's monitoring theme, I thought it
might be helpful to have a column of primary considerations
when shopping studio monitors-so it looks like we'll actually
be venturing outside the box for a hot minute!
Studio monitors
For casual music making, it's perfectly fine to monitor audio
with the same transducers used for casual listening, but budget
consumer headphones and speakers (and even pricey audiophile
speakers) often have a purpose-designed 'flattering' tonal balance
skewed toward comfort, as opposed to accuracy. This is where
dedicated studio monitors come in. They are primarily designed
to have a flat frequency response and an unflattering neutrality so
that producers can zero in on sonic relationships and achieve clarity
and balance-and not be fooled into thinking that their mixes
sound better than they actually do on other systems out in the wild.
Speakers or cans?
While the clarity and focus of headphones can help zoom
in on details such as pinpointing digital clicks and evaluating
panning movements, they can also lead to mix translation issues
on other systems. Mixes done in headphones may suffer
from less high-end clarity when heard over speakers. When
listening to speakers, each ear hears both channels simultaneously,
which affects our perception of stereo imaging and
68 RECORDING March 2022
detail. While not discounting recent strides in simulated-space
headphone monitoring technology, it's still a general rule that
when a mix has to sound good everywhere, mixing primarily
over speakers is the best bet. By all means, do check your mixes
on headphones, but approve your final render based on a
mix coming out of a pair of speakers.
The more, the merrier
The ideal approach is to mix on a main pair of studio monitors
and then check that mix on both headphones and other
smaller and larger speakers to get a sense of what it'll sound like
on different systems. While all pro monitors shoot for a neutral
response, there are always subtle but noticeable differences in
overall tonal balance, so personal preferences will come into
play. But as long as the monitors are reasonably well-balanced
in your space, they should be suitable, and suitable studio monitors
can be found at every price point these days.
Size and sound
Smaller spaces necessitate smaller speakers by default, and
that's fine. Most small monitors are two-way systems with a single
woofer and tweeter. Many manufacturers use the same (typically
1 " ) tweeter on every model in a line; the sonic differences
show up in the low end due to varying woofer size (4.5 " up to
8 " , at which point the monitor isn't considered 'small' anymore).
Speaker size limits how low the bass can reach-it's physics.
The approximate low-frequency limit of typical small studio monitors
ranges from around 60-80 Hz, to 40-50 Hz with a good 8 " driver;
the E string on an electric bass comes in at 41.2 Hz. Not having
the capability to reproduce the very lowest frequencies is typically
not a big problem for pop music, as long as the engineer knows
Recording March 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording March 2022
