Any tricks or tips for setting up your Monitors

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CoolCat

CoolCat

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any gearhead inputs or advice to share on optimizing or setting up studio monitors?
or in other words "what procedure did you use to setup your monitors?"

i'm kind of looking for something that may help check placement (distance) and volume levels... other than tape measures/rulers and radio shack SPL meters.
 
there's a step process I found when browsing musician friend's online manuals for monitors.... i think it was in a tannoy manual? maybe alesis? gah, I don't remember.
 
It depends what type of monitors they are, it would be almost impossible to give an answer about main monitors as they are so dependant on the room. If nearfields then approximately 4 feet apart angled in at 60 degrees approxiamately 4 feet from the listening position so if you imagine lines coming directly from the tweeters they would meet somewhere behind your head. As far as height goes then preferably horizontal to the floor with the tweeters at ear height, if you need them higher then they can be angled down so the tweeters aim at ear height. I would usually set up them up firing down the longest length of the room but only if the room is above about 8 feet wide. I know it's not practical in small rooms but if I can I would try to bring them forward at least 3 feet from the front wall also. If set up like this then any problems should be the acoustics of the room.

I set my nearfields up with a blob of Blu-tack under the front two corners and a small hard stone such as a chipping in the middle of the back so here is only one point of contact with the surface the speakers are standing on. This was taught me by a friend who deals in high end hi-fi and I notice recently a few expensive products coming out such as ceramic conical cones for this purpose but a small hard stone does the same job. I was sceptical at first but this really does tighten up the sound.
 
thanks. Tornado.
BTW, i have nearfields.
approx. 11x13 room (9ft ceiling)
13ft one wall decent treatment, one wall nothing.
11ft both side walls nothing.
no clouds either.

interesting on the blu-tack and stone.


so what did you do to decide "i'm done, i optimized my monitor set up" ?
 
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I just kept playing favourite CD's that I've listened to a million times and know the sound of, as many differnet styles as possible until I felt the speakers were sounding balanced. I've always been a 'use the ears' man first and foremost. I've also got a hi-fi evaluation CD which a friend gave me years ago. that is handy because a) it has really well recorded tracks and b) tracks chosen to test differnet aspects ie dynamic tracks going from really quiet to really loud, tracks with lots of panning, sparse tracks with clearly audible reverb tails, tracks of only percussion for transient response etc.
 
thats what i'm looking for, thanks for the input.
never seen a cd like that before? sounds cool.
i have a couple test tone cd's with pink noise...better than nothing.
seems to skip alot of frequencys like 100 to 250 to 315..500..750.
bought on ebay Laser 2000 for like $9.

just came across this little kit for a sub...JBL which is a pretty decent gearhead company. $99.

http://store.yahoo.com/qualityelectronics/jblrmckit.html
 
If you email me with your address I'll send you a copy if you like.
 
hell yeas!!

i think the best i can do is listen and learn more tricks as you offered, thanks. been reading too.

i'm wondering how people finally come to a conclusion to the final physical placement? why 3ft instead of 4ft? or 6ft? for example.

what small tricks are tried and which work or don't work?

just use a ruler or does one set it up by ear and then mark the location?

i did the Radio Shack SPL meter and it all got trampled to death as being bllsht..9 million reasons why so.
i recently tried a diy spl using a $350mic and $800 preamp..instead of a $50 radio shack meter...
and it was too "colored" to be flat across all the freqs. Other mics gave different responses (so it was bs..by my own data.).

i still get an urge to get a meter again, for "very gross" readings, but then i ask why? if you can't trust the data, why spend the $50? thats another wall of Ethan Winer's DIY Bass traps!!
 
wesley tanner said:
there's a step process I found when browsing musician friend's online manuals for monitors.... i think it was in a tannoy manual? maybe alesis? gah, I don't remember.
Click to expand...

I haven't found it yet... did get to your web page tho. Ames, Iowa! used to live there during summers my dad went to college!
My nephews hang with the slipkn in Iowa...good friends. cool,very cool.
they check out their band when their off the road, TACITURN, usually in DesMoines.. its great stuff, amazing stuff, pure original stuff...check 'em out.
Tell 'em Uncle Scott said hi!

I was hoping to get more "real" stories from the HR gang here?
exactly like Tornado's...

Favorite Links are more than welcome too!!
I'll keep searching in the meantime.

If its all so "critical" seems there would be more emphasis on this subject.
I know from my diy test, the nodes and sht have a huge effect...which lead me to this thread requesting Help??

I wish it was like tuning a guitar!!!
A room tuner for studio monitor setup!! that'd be great...
 
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> looking for something that may help check placement (distance) and volume levels... other than tape measures/rulers and radio shack SPL meters. <

There's nothing wrong with a Radio Shack SPL meter, at least for low frequencies which is your biggest concern with speaker placement. See THIS article I wrote that explains exactly what you're asking.

--Ethan
 
May not be much help but for some reason I had this and can't remember where I got it from or who wrote it. Take it for what it's worth.

Nearfield Monitor Placement

Nearfield studio monitors are small speakers that minimize the effects of your room on the sound source. Clear, accurate, and balanced monitors will obviously deliver a more precise sound than your old hi-fi speakers, and accuracy makes a huge difference in tweaking your mix.

The position of the monitors is very important. First, you should be close to the sound: about 2 to 5 feet from the monitors is cool. Mount the monitors at ear level, positioned so that your head points to right between the two. If the montitors are mounted 4 feet apart, you should be 4 feet away from them, so the monitors and your head form a nice imaginary triangle. Angle the monitors so the tweeters are aimed at your ears. This placement should provide more accurate monitoring.
 
its all helpful... and Ethan i'm reading it all, probably a few times.

one quick question? whats the deal with the triangle?
who started it, why, and how come? why is the triangle so important.

my understanding is
so if the speakers are 4ft apart, the mixing set is 4ft back= triangle.

so this means at my mix seat of 3ft...my speakers need to be 3ft apart to form the triangle...
which means they have to go behind my desk/work table? which meant they will have to be raised to clear the desk, meaning they'll have then be tilted down....to my ear level...whoooa.
 
COOLCAT said:
one quick question? whats the deal with the triangle?
who started it, why, and how come? why is the triangle so important.

my understanding is
so if the speakers are 4ft apart, the mixing set is 4ft back= triangle.
Click to expand...
It's not just a triangle. Even if the speakers are 1ft apart and 6 feet from your head, it's still a triangle. Having the distance between all three points even is an equilateral triangle.

Two of the reasons behind the equilateral traingle are:

- having the speakers an equal distance from your head is important to make sure the direct sounds from each speaker reach your head at the same time and don't arrive out of phase.

- Having the speakers be the same distance from each other as they are from your head is intended to try to optimize the width of the stereo image; put the speakers closer and the image will be too narrow and vice versa.

That last idea about the stereo image is somewhat flexible. I personally prefer to have my head just a skosh inside the sharp end of the triangle, especially when setting my pan stage. That can vary slighty from installation to installation and engineer to engineer, but it's a pretty close rule of thumb.

The first one about having the speakers equidistant from your head, however, is very important.

G.
 
E-Triangle

thanks for the inputs.
so the e-triangle is best,
but i see i'll have a trade off somewhere.

So let me get this straight??
The Equilaterl-triangle distance is determined by the sitting position and desk in my case. So due to my desk/mixer and self is ~3ft center point of the triangle.
and this is a fixed distance.. so 3ft. E-triangle it is for me.

So now the speakers distance are set, ideally, ~3ft apart making the E-triangle..in my application.

I could go 4ft apart on the speakers, but then i'd have to sit another 1ft' further away from my mixing console...
which won't work due to the length of my arms being a fixed distance!

tis this correct?
 
I have always personally thought that if your speakers are 4' apart then you should be about 3'-3.5' away from them. I was always told and have found from experience that the idea is to get your head 'inside' the sound field. If you sit the same distance from the speakers as they are apart in an equilateral triangle the sweet spot will be at your nose, if you move closer then the sound will meet just behind your head putting your ears in the sweet spot which is where they want to be if you think about it. This is how big soffit mounted main monitors are set up in big rooms and I have always set up nearfileds to the same principal.
 
TornadoTed said:
I have always personally thought that if your speakers are 4' apart then you should be about 3'-3.5' away from them. I was always told and have found from experience that the idea is to get your head 'inside' the sound field. If you sit the same distance from the speakers as they are apart in an equilateral triangle the sweet spot will be at your nose, if you move closer then the sound will meet just behind your head putting your ears in the sweet spot which is where they want to be if you think about it. This is how big soffit mounted main monitors are set up in big rooms and I have always set up nearfileds to the same principal.
Click to expand...

that's exactly like the JBL drawing in this months Recording Mag.
the Eng. head is just inside the Equilateral triangle.

so this detail buys a little room, ~6inches, between the speakers.
putting the speakers ~ 4ft apart, puts the Eng ear/head at 3' 6".
i'll go with this.

so this is great, the triangle "data" has been found! :) :) :)

So next is to decide the placement of this Equilateral/Equidistant triangle...
the big "EE Triangle"....

against which wall??
how far from the wall??
I have front ported speakers and a set of rear ports!
a window and a door and a closet with a door....

Ethans article so far,
it mentions staying away from the 50%/center of the room,
this is a challenge in a standard smaller bedroom where 38%=44inches,
50%=60inches.
 
JBL Triangle

The theory is based upon the sound engineer being 3 to 5 feet away at the apex of a triangle formed from the two monitors and the listener. This was worked in to the design of the 4200 series.
 
thanks for the inputs, interesting facts too..
and Ethan i'm about at 4x's on your article altho the internal-links lead me off on other adventures!
that dude that turned the church into a studio..that was amazing!! :)

yeah, i'm not expecting a small room to be more than that..just optimizing the set-up...key word here: optimizing.

i attached a quick drawing. had to switch to Word to upload, but the main gip is there.
 

Attachments

COOLCAT said:
I haven't found it yet... did get to your web page tho. Ames, Iowa! used to live there during summers my dad went to college!
My nephews hang with the slipkn in Iowa...good friends. cool,very cool.
they check out their band when their off the road, TACITURN, usually in DesMoines.. its great stuff, amazing stuff, pure original stuff...check 'em out.
Tell 'em Uncle Scott said hi!
Click to expand...

rather miserable place for a studio most of the time, but at least the rent's cheap. ;-) I'm down in the des moines(the DMI to locals) scene every now and again, I'll keep my eyes open.
 
CC,

> i attached a quick drawing. <

Not bad given the small size. Now all you need is 4 to 8 more bass traps in the rear of the room. :D

--Ethan
 
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