It's no secret that the placement of your studio monitors can have a profound impact on your mixing and mastering results. In this article, we'll take a look at some common monitor placement options and their associated benefits and drawbacks.
For the best possible sound, while mixing, it is important to have your studio monitors placed in the correct position. There are a few things to keep in mind when placing your studio monitors. So let's get into this...
Studio Monitor Placement: 10 Tips
1. Verify the orientation of your studio monitors
When setting up your studio monitors, it's important to pay attention to their orientation. Many monitors should be placed vertically, as horizontal placement can degrade the stereo image, however, certain models can be placed horizontally or vertically. If you do choose to orient your monitors horizontally, they should form a mirror image of each other, with the tweeters on the outside. This will help ensure that you get the best sound quality possible from your monitors.
2. Position your monitors along the short wall
Is the room rectangular or square shaped? If it's a rectangular room, you should aim your monitor speakers at the length of the space. The closer to the back wall you can get, the better.
This is for a couple of reasons:
- Moving the back wall further back makes the reflections off the back wall become less likely to bounce back to your mix position.
- The low-end frequencies are actually very long, so the low end actually takes space to develop. If you give the low end more room to develop, you end up getting a more even low-end response.
In general, long-throw placement for studio monitors is ideal, with your speakers firing down the length of the room.
If you're working in an unusual-shaped space, it's best to play around a bit. There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to speaker placement, but in most cases, there will be one method that delivers the best response.
The same logic applies to square rooms as well, since the walls themselves might be constructed of various materials or thicknesses, so you may find that one method of aligning the speakers is better than another.
3. Make sure your speakers are away from walls and corners
It's not advisable to mount your studio monitors against a wall. Rather, the ideal position for your mix is approximately 38% of the room length from the front wall, roughly a third of the way from the front wall.
To figure out how far away you need to be from the front wall, multiply the room's total length by 0.38. This will provide you with the number of feet or meters that you have to be from the front wall.
4. Place your mix position symmetrically
The next consideration is the mix position symmetrical, what’s on each side of it. If one side is a wall and one side is an open space then the balance of your stereo signal will be off. If there’s a window with curtains on one side you may want to use acoustic treatment or even just curtains on the wall directly opposite this window. The more symmetry you have in your room the better decisions you can make about the stereo image of your mix.
5. Your speakers should make an equilateral triangle with your listening position
Nearfield studio monitors should be placed in an equilateral triangle configuration, as shown in the image below. This is a triangle with all sides being of equal length. When you're sitting in your mix position, the distance between the monitors is the same as the distance from each monitor to you.
Next, you'll want to turn the speakers toward you a bit so that they are pointing at you. When you look at each speaker and only see the face of it, but not the sides, you've got them positioned correctly.
If you're thinking about this placement, you may install the speakers on either side of your computer or video display. To prevent visual anomalies in your computer display, make sure they're magnetically shielded.
6. Have the monitors high-frequency drivers at ear height
You’ll want to set your speakers up at about head height so that the tweeters are at ear level. Hopefully, your desk has a shelf that allows for this, but if not you can use monitor stands behind your desk to get the monitors up to the right height.
Large speakers can be a bit of a pain to place, especially if the tweeter is above your ears. Inverting the monitors so that the tweeters are on the bottom is a simple solution that actually works. It may look a bit odd, but it's definitely worth trying if you're having placement issues.
When placing your monitors make sure that you don’t have the tweeter in the center of the room vertically. This is quite easy to figure out if you measure the height of your room and make sure your tweeter isn’t at the halfway mark.
7. Try to avoid reflections from hard surfaces nearby
Acoustically hard surfaces, like windows, drywall or plaster walls, can reflect sound in the same way a mirror reflects light. This can cause sound to be altered when the direct sound from the speaker combines with a reflected sound - a phenomenon known as comb filtering.
To avoid this, try to position your speakers away from hard surfaces or cover them with acoustic panels to help diffuse the sound. This will ensure that you get the best possible audio quality in your home.
8. Find a location for your subwoofer
The objective of good subwoofer placement is to arrange your system so that your subwoofer becomes a natural part of your full-range monitors without overpowering the rest of the bass sound in the room or emphasizing any one particular frequency or frequency range.
If you're looking for the best location for your subwoofer, there's a quick and easy way to find it. Just temporarily place the subwoofer in the mix position and play some program material that has a lot of bass. Then move around the room until you find the spot where the bass sounds best. Concentrate on areas that are on the same plane as your studio monitors. Once you've found the ideal location, you can fine-tune the positioning for even better results.
Keep in mind that since low frequencies are non-directional, people cannot tell which way they're coming from, so you aren't restricted to placing it facing the mix position. With a little trial and error, you should be able to find a location for your subwoofer that gives you the best possible bass response in your room.
9. To get around problems in your space, utilize the tools available to you on the monitors
If you find that your monitors sound “muddy,” or if your mixes lack low end everywhere but your mix environment, try adjusting the acoustic space controls. These controls cut all frequencies below a specific frequency by a fixed amount, which can help to improve the sound quality of your speakers. Simply adjust the controls until the speakers sound “right” to you. You may be surprised at how much of a difference this small adjustment can make.
10. Studio monitor isolation pads are worth the investment
Studio monitor isolation pads help to tighten up the bass reproduction imaging of your monitors by decoupling and isolating the speakers from the surface they are standing on.
These are not always necessary with all studio monitors as they sometimes have a rubber pad included on the bottom of the monitor. Isolation pads can also help to fine-tune the height of your monitors in addition to providing more decoupling and isolation. Acoustic treatment companies such as Auralex Acoustics or Isoacoustics both make monitor Isolators.
Final thoughts
Studio monitor placement is key to getting the best sound quality from your monitors. By following these tips, you can position your monitors in a way that minimizes reflections and gives you the best possible audio quality. Additionally, using isolation pads can help to improve the bass response of your studio monitors.
If you’re still shopping for some studio monitors, take a look at our picks for the Best Studio Monitors for Home Recording.
