Details make a big difference: The placement of your monitors and speakers might seem irrelevant, but it compromises the way you listen and the final quality of your music…
Now or perhaps some time ago, you took a big step in your music production journey, and decided to purchase a proper pair of studio monitors. Congratulations then, you are about to level up the quality of your music!
However, there is one very important – and often overlooked – question that you should ask yourself before you plug, play and listen: “Where exactly should I put my speakers?” .
Before buying them, you probably already knew in which room you were planning to install them, perhaps a bedroom or any other spare place. But did you think about the precise place in the said room where you would finally place them?
The critical decision of where to install your studio monitors
The placement of your studio monitors or speakers, relative to each other, and relative to different surfaces in the room and your ears, is very important to getting an accurate representation of your sound . And it is that this affects both the frequency response and the stereo image itself.
It’s also worth noting that another aspect of creating an accurate monitoring environment is acoustic treatment or conditioning : The use of materials to absorb or diffuse problematic sound frequencies.
Acoustic conditioning is a subject that deserves a whole book, so in this article we will focus only on the placement of the monitors and speakers; we’ll outline seven rules of thumb that should help you make better decisions about setting them up in your own room or studio.
With all these considerations, the size and dimensions of your room or studio will determine how well you can follow these tips; and even if you can’t, it’s still very helpful if you know how the sound coming from the speakers is ultimately affected by the position of the speakers.
Rule #1: Set your listening position 38% of the way into the room
Even before placing a speaker, you should fix possibly the most important position of all: Yourself!
Don’t forget that your location (and your ears in particular) in relation to your speakers is key to what you hear.
In general, we assume that most of us will be working in a room with rectangular dimensions , so you’ll often see this ‘38% less than room length’ tip mentioned in articles on the subject.
The reason for this is to avoid sitting in the center of the room, where phase cancellation can occur on lower frequencies.
Bass also tends to perform better throughout a room, as the waves have more space to disperse.
Avoid using a cube-shaped room , whenever possible, as sound waves reflected off the same dimensions of the room will contribute to certain frequencies sounding too high and others too low. This problem of resonant modes occurs with most room shapes, but a cube exacerbates such acoustic problems.
Rule #2: Form an equilateral triangle between your monitors and your head
This might be the most universal rule that applies to all studio setups, and it would be hard to find anyone who disagrees: It is so because it forms the basis for creating a precise “sound field” in your room.
Of course, the size of your room will determine exactly how big said triangle will be , as will the other factors mentioned in this post ; but once you’ve established your listening position, you should at least be able to establish a starting point from which to work.
Those of us working in very small rooms must be careful not to compromise the stereo image by forming a smaller triangle with the speakers too close together . With that said, check out the rather humble studio setup here …
If the pros can do it like this, then there’s no reason you can’t either (although you don’t want to get much closer than that!). Once you’ve set up your equilateral triangle, it’s also a good idea to adjust the angle ( toe-in ) of the speakers so they’re pointing towards you .
As for the height position of your studio monitors, there is a bit of debate as to whether the tweeters or the woofers should be the drivers that should be at the same level as your ears. In either case, you don’t want to be looking up or down at them, as long as they are about ear level .
Rule #3: Avoid placing your monitor in a corner
Room corners are generally considered problem areas in the context of a music studio. And as a result, corners are often places where you’d find acoustic treatment in the form of bass traps, since the lowest frequencies tend to accumulate in such spots.
Now imagine placing one of your monitors and speakers in a corner: Complex reflections combined with direct sound from your woofer will cause large increases in perceived loudness at certain low frequencies.
In addition, it turns out to be a little more complicated to determine the distance between the speakers and the rear wall to them. A distance of one meter (about three feet) is considered a safe amount; however, this is often not possible for many of us, due to space limitations.
As we move the speakers closer to the rear wall, the direct sound from the drivers can start to smear with early reflections, compromising transients and stereo imaging . If we keep moving the box closer and closer to the wall, this problem may be alleviated, BUT it will be replaced by a different problem: A boost in the bass .
So if you can’t help but place your monitors in these positions, at least be aware of the ways it can affect the sound you hear, which will guide you to improve it.
Rule #4: Make the distances from the monitor to the side and rear walls different
Another measurement we need to be careful with is how distances from different surfaces are related to each other. After you have set the position of your speakers from the back wall, you may want to check that this distance is not equal to the distance from the side walls .
If these distances happen to be equal, then you would have the undesirable situation of running into standing waves , which once again results in a large buildup of low frequencies.
Also notice in the diagram above how the distance between the speaker and the side wall is the same on both channels . This concept of symmetry is important in designing a music monitoring environment. If these distances were different, it is likely that reflections arriving earlier from the side would end up distorting the stereo image, skewing it to the left or right.
Rule #5: Don’t put monitors on their side!
Let’s face it, some speakers look great when placed on their side. However, if you really want to get accurate sound in your studio, then you shouldn’t do it (unless the speakers are specifically designed for that setup, with rotating tweeters ).
One of the reasons this can compromise sound is due to proper alignment between the woofer and tweeter. Because the frequencies are divided between these two (and sometimes three) parts – or pathways – speaker cabinets go through a lot of precision construction engineering to ensure that all sounds reach your ears in phase.
If you turn the speakers to the side and tilt them, this alignment will now be skewed, and could alter the accuracy of what you hear. We’re assuming you’re worried about getting an accurate representation of your sound if you’re reading this tutorial, so you better not!
But we insist that some loudspeakers are compatible with a knockdown arrangement, and include a special design to modify the phase alignment between their transducers.
Rule #6: Avoid placing your monitors directly on a desk
If you are starting to build your studio, you might be tempted to include a larger table or piece of furniture and place everything on top of it. But this is something you should avoid whenever you can!
A speaker placed directly on a desk or work table will reflect sound from the surface on which it is placed, especially if it is installed at the back of a deep desk. You could also further compromise sound clarity by vibrating the desktop itself.
If you can’t help but mount your speakers on your desk in the end, make sure you at least get a couple of isolating pads to put under your monitors (they’re often called IsoPads ). They are usually made of thick acoustic foam and sometimes even come free with a set of speakers. We have also seen other types of support that have the same purpose: Decouple the monitors from the surface on which they rest.
If you can, use specific monitor mounts so that each one is properly isolated, thus reducing the chances of unwanted reflections and vibrations compromising your sound.
The layout of your monitors and speakers affects the sound
In short, many of us will never set foot in a perfect studio environment, let alone own one, so we need to work better with what we have . Perhaps you have noticed that most of the problems that arise have to do with the low frequencies . And many of these problems find improvement with the use of acoustic conditioning .
Even if you can’t create the ideal monitoring environment for your music, and you don’t have the option of placing your monitors and speakers where they should be, it’s important to know how your placement will affect your monitoring and adjustments of your sound .