Good Monitors + Bad Room = Bad Monitors

Posted in: Listening, Mixing, Tips||Tags: acoustics, choosing studio monitors, home studio, listening, mix, mixing, room, speakers, tips

On my previous post, I wrote about some things you need to care about when choosing a new pair of studio monitors. Today I want to tell you more about the other important piece of the puzzle: the room.

Unfortunately, there seem to be a lot of people not considering it in their plans, and thinking that a more expensive pair of monitors will change everything…

Want to make a step forward on this and save yourself some money?

Don’t Be On The Same Boat!

Without getting too technical, the room may have a dramatic negative impact on the overall sound you’ll get from your monitors. That’s especially true for all of us home studio mixers, as we have to work in spare room that have not been built to sound good. They don’t sound that great…Fact.

And no matter how much money you spend for your speakers, a great pair of monitors in a bad room is a bad pair of monitors. Sad but true! They’ll always lose the fight against a bad room, it’s a matter of physics. If you think you can get much better results by just spending serious figures on new speakers without thinking about your room first, then you’re missing out…

I am sharing some handy informations on how your room can compromise your music in my free eBook “The Recording Roadmap” and, if you really want to have a leg up on other home studio guys, make sure to get your copy! There’s nothing to lose.

An Invisible Foe To Fight

However, for this post, let me try to make some clarity with a practical real world example, that you can even use as a personal test.

You think your actual monitors are sounding “meh” and you’re wondering about getting a new pair…So you go at your local store to hear some of them in action, and everything (everything!) sounds better than the monitors you’ve in your home studio. You NEED a new pair! Stop.

What you’re not caring about is to try a pair of the same monitors you have in your home studio…After all, what’s the point of hearing a thing you already heard for many hours? Big mistake! 

If you give them a try, you’ll instantly realize that even those monitors, the same exact model you bought a few years earlier, are sounding better at the store!
Ha! How is it possible? Well, it’s just the room… You’re probably hearing them in a large (and sometimes even treated) space there at the store, while your home studio is likely smaller than that. The room: you can’t see it but that’s the real game changer!

Now, I’m not saying that your room is crap and you can’t make anything good out of it. Not at all… I’m trying to save you some money!

So What To Do?

The point here is that you need to be aware of how your room is acting against you and then try to address the issues somehow.
Starting with the best placement for your speakers is vital and will cost you nothing; then you can think about getting some acoustic treatments to tame all those nasty reflections from scattering around and to even out the bass response as well. It will really make a difference and help you become a better mixer.

Keep the monitors you already have (or start with just a smaller set of 3” or 5” speakers), then bring your room into the equation and think about it.

It’s Up To You Now

I understand having a new powerful toy rather than panels is way more exciting, but just think you’re spending let’s say 700$ on something that will only worth you 400$ (or even less) in a bad environment!

And notice that smaller speakers doesn’t necessarily mean worse speakers. They’ll fire less energy in your room, the bass won’t be that “low”, but they can however sound and perform well. If your space is tight, I bet they’ll even perform better than bigger ones.

Now you can go where the market wants you to go and buy a new fancy thing you don’t need, or you can take the smart path and really improve your home studio with something useful. It’s up to you but I’m pretty sure you’ll make the right choice! I know you’re smart…You wouldn’t be here reading if you were not.

Have you ever struggled with your room somehow?
Tell me something about your adventure with a comment!