Monitor studio placement please help !:)

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Monitor studio placement please help !:)

Post by dawidawid123 »

good morning, I have a room in dimensions 320x180, my friend set the monitors at a distance so that there is a pretty mid but in the lower parts there is a bit of shit, I know that I have a small room, please help me set the speakers, I am currently sitting in 50% of the room .. , my speakers are Genelec 8040b, should I move them as far as possible to the basstrap and move closer to the front wall? I add photos

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Re: Monitor studio placement please help !:)

Post by Lophophora »

Hi,

With such a small room, there's not much you can do in terms of listening position since you're having almost no choice. Basically you probably have a little leeway to move back and forth from the wall with the window and that's all. Assuming your ceiling height is 2,5m, your room dimensions place you within the Bolt area which makes things a little better (room modes distribution is more even).

What you can do is measure your room frequency response/waterfall chart with Room EQ Wizard or similar, with various positions of your speakers and listening spot (more or less close to the wall), and see which one gives the best results.

But with that space, I'm afraid the only convenient thing to do is add more bass trapping (thicker panels). We usually underestimate the thickness that is necessary to absorb low frequencies. If you have enough room, try leaving an air gap (no larger than the panel itself) between the panels and the wall. This will extend their absorption range towards the low end.
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Re: Monitor studio placement please help !:)

Post by Sam Spoons »

As Lophophora says you will never get an even bass response in such a small room. The best way to evaluate bass in your situation is with a good pair of open back headphones, AKG, Beyer and Sennheiser are the names that pop up most frequently on here (I have AGK K702s).
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Re: Monitor studio placement please help !:)

Post by dawidawid123 »

Should I try to give the monitors as close to the basstraps as possible? what allowed me to move forward?
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Re: Monitor studio placement please help !:)

Post by Sam Spoons »

How difficult would it be to move them? I'd just give it a go and see how it all sounds, it's pretty much impossible to predict the effects over the internet.

BTW, personally I wouldn't bother with measurement software, it's so difficult to interpret the results and make meaningful adjustments based on the waterfall plots, just use your ears and some well known reference tracks.
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Re: Monitor studio placement please help !:)

Post by Drew Stephenson »

And get some decent headphones. ;)
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Re: Monitor studio placement please help !:)

Post by RichardT »

Your room is so small that the amount of space you would need for effective broadband trapping would make what remains really cramped. I agree with Drew - you’re better off getting a good pair of phones and mixing on those.
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Re: Monitor studio placement please help !:)

Post by Martin Walker »

+1 on the headphone advice.

It's probably not what you want to hear, but it will bypass your acoustic problems..

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Re: Monitor studio placement please help !:)

Post by Lophophora »

An alternative is to work on monitors and check your low end regularly on headphones. If it's clear in your mind that you can't trust your room but you can trust your headphones, eventually you'll get used to the right ballpark on your monitors.

If you work long hours headphones can get uncomfortable.
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Re: Monitor studio placement please help !:)

Post by worshiptuned »

dawidawid123 wrote: Sat Oct 16, 2021 11:01 am Should I try to give the monitors as close to the basstraps as possible? what allowed me to move forward?

Yes, in such a small room is the best solution. And avoid the 50% of the room listening position. You can turn the monitors a little more inwards, it's not ideal but at least you are not in the midst of the room where the resonances add up.
Between the two evils of a triangle between listener and speakers that is not equilateral and sitting 50% of the room, I think the former is the lesser evil.
And even if the room isn't good and you're mixing with headphones, you can rest your ears occasionally with speakers and get some more information.
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