First post / Studio Pics

[baumer]

This is the setup I'm working with right now. You'll notice a lack of an outboard mixer, because I use Cubase and mix exclusively in the software. The monitors I've added just in the last month, but can't crank 'em due to the OBNOXIOUSLY overbearing and exquisitely sensitive lady who lives in the apartment below. That is also why I've had to record electric guitar direct in (with dismal results). Everything you see is paid for by me (except the Peavey combo that I'm borrowing from a friend who's in Iraq.)

I was going to insert clever commentary picture to picture, but alas my skills have not developed to that point.

Would also like to take the oppurtunity to say this forum is the shit! Especially with a built in Substance Abuse Clinic! (I'm sure to post there soon) I've read alot here, just recently registered. Send me your comments, (and daughters)

 

[fraserhutch]

Gotta love the ashtray

 

[Track Rat]

Welcome sir. It's been a while since I've had a neighbor. My sympathy to you.

 

[frederic]

Gotta love the ashtray

LMAO, I wasn't gonna say a thing... LMAO

 

[picostudios]

Arent the monitors placed wrong?

 

[frederic]

Arent the monitors placed wrong?

It's often suggested to put the tweeters/midranges further out, and the woofers closer in, because bass is less directional than higher frequencies, thus arranging your monitors this way often gives you a little better stereo imaging.

In my own experience, I'd have to say it more depends on the monitors. I have two pairs of monitors in my studio, one pair has 8" woofers, and those don't really matter which way they are flipped. I think its because of how the drivers are arranged. Try to picture this... if I were to stand them upright, the woofer is pretty much at the very bottom of the enclosure, and the tweeter is about 1/2" away, essentially in the center of the enclosure. Because they are so close to one another, flipping it 180 degrees over doesn't seem to make much difference.

My other monitors have two 5" drivers, and a 2.5" tweeter. These, if flipped over, are radically different sounding, even though again, the drivers are very close together.

I also believe, through experimentation, that near-field mixing seems to be impacted less by which way the monitors are flipped, because the distances are short and one just aims the tweeters at your head and let the bass go "wherever".

In the various pro studios I have, there were no nearfields, the monitors were over the console room window, angled down a bit, seperated by a good distance, tweeters out, woofers closer to the center. I wish I tried them the other way, but I was just following the "norm"

Curious thing, for sure.

 

[baumer]

It's often suggested to put the tweeters/midranges further out, and the woofers closer in, because bass is less directional than higher frequencies, thus arranging your monitors this way often gives you a little better stereo imaging.

In my own experience, I'd have to say it more depends on the monitors. I have two pairs of monitors in my studio, one pair has 8" woofers, and those don't really matter which way they are flipped. I think its because of how the drivers are arranged. Try to picture this... if I were to stand them upright, the woofer is pretty much at the very bottom of the enclosure, and the tweeter is about 1/2" away, essentially in the center of the enclosure. Because they are so close to one another, flipping it 180 degrees over doesn't seem to make much difference.

My other monitors have two 5" drivers, and a 2.5" tweeter. These, if flipped over, are radically different sounding, even though again, the drivers are very close together.

I also believe, through experimentation, that near-field mixing seems to be impacted less by which way the monitors are flipped, because the distances are short and one just aims the tweeters at your head and let the bass go "wherever".

In the various pro studios I have, there were no nearfields, the monitors were over the console room window, angled down a bit, seperated by a good distance, tweeters out, woofers closer to the center. I wish I tried them the other way, but I was just following the "norm"

Curious thing, for sure.

Alesis suggests in the manual for the tweeters to be inside so as to avoid first reflections, and present a very concentrated center image. There was no avoiding having the right channel so close to a corner, but I guess that would more effect bass response?

 

[baumer]

This is one of my favorite parts - the pantyhose pop filter. It's probably a fairly common thing, but I hadn't heard of it until I picked up a copy of The Musician's Guide to Home Recording. I got a quite a ration from the clerk and bagger boy at the grocery store when I picked up the pantyhose. Those wankers...

 

[Raw-Tracks]

Arent the monitors placed wrong?

Horizontal/Vertical, Tweeters Inside/Outside. All of that aside. I think the monitor are placed incorrectly. They are too low and too far forward. It looks to me that when sitting in that chair, the sweetspot would be sitting on the floor, a couple feet behind the chair.

Hey, can I bum a light?

 

[distortedrumble]

lol some chairs like his sink when you sit in them so he could possibly have the sweet spot right there....as for the ashtray....i love it...mine needs to be emptied too. I should be posting pics of my studio in a week or so...finally bought a digital camera and now i gotta figure out how to work it

 

[frederic]

Alesis suggests in the manual for the tweeters to be inside so as to avoid first reflections, and present a very concentrated center image. There was no avoiding having the right channel so close to a corner, but I guess that would more effect bass response?

Alesis and every manufacturer that puts more than one driver in their cabinetry, in different locations in said cabinetry, are technically incorrect.

Here is an example of "correctly engineered" monitors, mad by Urei.

Notice how the high frequency driver is in front of the woofer - this significantly reduces the time and directional inaccuracies of having multiple drivers in different places of the cabinet. Coincidentally, monitors like these are often called "time aligned monitors" and if you have the pleasure sometime of hearing a set of monitors like this you'd be highly impressed. And your wallet will hate you. Yet its such a simple thing, actually.

You'll also find that a lot of "true pro" studios have monitors with one one full range driver, and a sub somewhere in the console room, since a smallish driver cannot produce 20hz-20Khz flat. None of these woofer/tweeter things that we all use in our studios (mine are like that too, no worries).

But, it all depends how anal you really want to be. There is an old proverb - "Perfection is the enemy of good enough".

I believe (and others may agree or disagree, by all means) that the feel, the cadence, the mood of what is recorded needs to be captured and faithfully reproduced with excellence, moreso than how accurately you're recording the sound.

Music to me is a living thing. Every time you (or I, or anyone) play a particular piece regardless of genre, it will be different than the last time you played it.

While there are technical reasons to put the tweeters out, or in, I personally believe that matters less than other things, that's all I'm saying.

But, the standard is to flip them on their sides, tweeters furthers away from each other. I'd try it both ways and see what sounds better in the room, quite honestly.

 

[deepwater]

I few of the pro-audio speaker companies I work with offer time aligned speakers. PAS at www.pas-toc.com has what they call Time offset correction
and Renkus-Heinz has it as an add on PC board.

It does make a differance but you can do it with electronics buy delaying the signals by using DSP controlers and Bi-amping.

 

[frederic]

It does make a differance but you can do it with electronics buy delaying the signals by using DSP controlers and Bi-amping.

Absolutely.

However, do know, I have a Urei monitor fetish