Monitors on desk or stand

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Do you prefer to have monitors on your desk, or on a stand?


If you like to use stands do you raise them higher then ear level?

Do you like to keep them ear level?

Or maybe even slightly lower then ear level?
 
On a desk is almost universally much too close (and typically, too low). It'll work in post and editing rooms, but when you're actually shooting for some amount of accuracy, room setup and monitoring placement is far too crucial (even with nearfields).

You have to "build the room" around the mixing point. Yes, you want to be around ear-height, yes, you want convergence maybe a yard (or considerably more if the space allows) behind you, yes, you want your head to be .38 the length of the long wall from the short wall (for starters), etc., etc., etc.

Exactly where the speakers wind up is dictated by the mix point.
 
Absolutely ear level, there's no question about that. Years ago I got two of those Ultimate Support Systems keyboard stands (the ones that look like swing sets) and I have a lot of parts to make stuff with from them. I made a big stand for all my gear and it has two arms coming off of it for my speakers, so I guess you'd say that they were on stands.

I don't really like the Ultimate Support stands and plan on redoing them sometime. The aluminum sounds bad.

One thing I've done for a long time and really like is that I set my monitors on concrete cinder block caps. Those are pieces of concrete around 2"x8"x16" they sell for on top of a concrete wall. They totally isolate the speakers and prevent any vibration being transmitted through the stand.

I have several other pairs of speakers on a speaker switch set up higher up that shoot over my head and if I have to edit a hihat part for 2 hours I'll switch to them.
 
Yea, I got some Rokit 8's G2 coming so I figured they would be too big for my desk and I'm looking at some stands for them. I have plenty of room to work with I'm just going to have to do some rearranging when they get here. I want to get it right the first time before I start adjusting my ear to the new monitors.


I'm very excited actually to mix with them as they are my very first monitors. :)
 
Do not overlook setting up your room. This can quickly and easily become the weakest point in your set up. Can never stress that enough
 
Do not overlook setting up your room. This can quickly and easily become the weakest point in your set up. Can never stress that enough


I just made a thread about that in the studio building forum waiting on some advice for proper room treatment
 
Monitor Placement

Hello:

Monitor placement and room response are nasty critters. Just take one of those Radio Shack or equivalent sound meters and measure the output of your monitors with a good constant level sine wave signal source. CD's for hifi testing are good. Sweep through the frequencies. You'll be amazed at how the standing waves happen in the lower frequency range. Changing the frequency even only a few cycles makes the amplitude peaks move around the room. Or just moving your head a couple of inches toward the front or back makes a huge difference in the amplitude. I found a normal ceiling height and flatness, even with fiberglass treatment, and bass traps was the biggest offender. Eq, and the like is not going to solve this one. For me, it lead to using headphones with HRTF plugins. But present technology still needs some work. Headphones are also full of problems.
 
I just made a thread about that in the studio building forum waiting on some advice for proper room treatment

Have you read the Ethan Winer articles? I don't have the links handy but I'm sure someone can get em to you. He goes over pretty much all you'll need to know
 
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