Calibrating Monitors?

Ella_Guru

Hi, I'm finally switching to monitors after years of just using headphones to record. I remember a while back reading an article in computer music about configuring monitors for position, level etc. At the time most of it went right over my head. Can anyone here please explain the hows and whys of monitor calibration? Thanks.

frobisher

Moving to monitors should make a very big difference to the quality of your mixes. Although you'll probably have to get used to them in the same way that you did with your headphones. There are some rules when it comes to postioning speakers, off the top of my head I think that you should be positioned 38% down the length of the room. I think this also might apply to distance from floor to ceiling. Experiment with moving them within the room try diffent positions around your sitting position. Pro studios have no parallel walls and even the ceiling/floor aren't parallel but I don't think you're going to have that luxury!

If you want to get into improving room acoustics (an extrmely good thing to do) and getting the most from your monitors your going to need bass traps and maybe some broadband absorbers (no they don't soak up your internet connection. They absorb sound across a wide band of frequencies. I've been meaning to put a post dedicated to this, I'll try get it done later. Keep your eyes peeled!!

squibs

As a starting point:

Make sure you wire them correctly and in phase.
Use good stands. Quiklok do fairly cheap but solid studio stands. Thomann stock them.
Tweeters should be about ear level.
Make an equlateral triangle with the two speakers and your head as the 3 points.
Do not have the speakers too close to the room corners as this can cause the bass freqs to be exagerated
Toe the speakers out so the left one is pointing to the left of your left ear and same with the right. This generates a localised stereo sweet spot roughly where your head is. Adjust to taste. If you often have an audience in the room, you'll need to toe them out more so others can hear the stereo image. Some monitors are more forgiving than others here and will generate a wide sweet spot when toed out quicte a lot. My tannoy reveals are pretty poor in this regard.
The triangle should be reasonably large - you will get better stereo spread when the speakers have some distance between them. Of course the further apart the speakers, the further away you'll need to move to be in the "sweet spot".
Then you'll need to make sure the room sound is okay. That's a whole 'nother discussion.

counterpointaud

All good advice, but bear in mind that even if you follow all of it, it doesn't gaurantee flat response at listening postion.

A speaker system includes the room, and there are too many variables to get a definitive answer on a web forum.

If you are not used to critical listening and A/B testing...there are several measurement kits available which include a measurement mic and a some analysis software to help you on your way.And at least you will have a concrete guage as to what is helping and what isn't. They aren't expensive...Behringer make a flat omni for 40euros (ecm3000?), and some of the software is free (names escape me at the moment), so you just need a clean preamp really.

Be prepared to spend a day or so moving things and measuring. Probably a two person job.

I personally don't subscribe to the theory that walls HAVE to be unparallel to stop standing waves. If this is done in a haphazard way it can cause more problems than it solves IMO. And it's expensive if you f';k it up.

Also I personally don't recommend monitors that 'self correct' to a room using DSP. They suffer from translation problems, I assume due to the weird thing they do to phase correct your rooms problems. Maybe some day it will be that easy.

Mike Stavrou's book, 'Mixing with your Mind' has a good, down to earth methodology for getting the most out of your speakers via positioning them. A very worthwhile read besides that also. Be careful with spreading speaker to far apart, you will lose your centre image and have an exaggerated stereo spread that doesn't translate well to all systems.

Frobisher is right about bass traps...I honestly don't think you can have enough in a non purpose-built control room. Most problems are in the low freqs. You can build these easily with rigid rockwool (AW45 I think) and wooden frames. 4" thick is best.

Put them in all corners is possible...that means floor to ceiling, wall to ceiling etc. at a 45 deg angle.

Also another good trick (regarding absorbstion)is to use a mirror to see where the first reflections from your speakers will be. In other words, sit in your listening postion, and get a friend to place a mirror in varius places on the walls, ceiling, and console. If you can see your tweeters in the mirror, you need to absorbtion there.

A good listening environment is of HUGE importance in mixing.

Nathan