How to choose near field monitors. We’ve had a lot of people ask about this. By now we’ve all heard numerous pair of “reference” monitors and have no doubt all observed that for “reference” monitors they all sound quite different from one another. So how does one know what the right monitors are?
Define the purpose. Do you need monitors for mixing, tracking, general listening, editing, or mastering? You didn’t really think they were all the same did you? Obviously you can use one pair for all of this, but in practice most people find that there are different concerns to be addressed for different tasks.
For example, I generally do my main tracking sessions on a big pair of full range speakers I can turn up loud. I find this helps to really know what I’m getting on tape (or disk). Being able to turn it up and hear the full range of sound is important. This is also an important concern in mastering, but sometimes big speakers (unless you really spend a TON of money) have other attributes that cause problems in mastering applications. Speakers with three or four different drivers (required to get loud with full range audio) often have phase, dispersion, and other problems around the various crossover points. Plus the room has to be nearly perfect or its interactions will cause more problems.
For mixing it’s usually a good idea to have more than one reference. It’s not that hard to get a great mix on any one speaker system, but getting a mix that translates well to all systems is extremely difficult. One good way to improve the odds is to monitor on several different systems. Engineers use car and home stereos for this quite often, but it is also important to have two or three high quality references right in the control room. In the end, the only important attribute a mixing monitor needs to have is to make you create good mixes. Many people buy monitors because they think they sound good or are accurate (whatever that is). While good sound is always nice, this is a fundamentally wrong approach to buying monitors for mixing because the things you think make them sound good may also be things that cover up problems or otherwise mislead you in your mixing. The only reason to have monitors that sound good is for when you need to impress clients. Usually the big tracking speakers do a good job of this so don’t worry about it in a near field mixing monitor. The only way to know if a monitor is good for mixing is to mix on it. Everyone’s ear is different and they have different things they listen for. There is no one magic solution for this. Most engineers spend a lifetime choosing a monitor they like and they usually stick with them for many years once they do. Don’t assume that because person “A” used brand “X” that they are the “best” or “right” monitors. This is a personal thing. You just have to keep in mind that you are looking for what makes you do good mixes, not just what sounds good. You can’t go to a store and “pick out” a mixing monitor by auditioning them. You have to take them home and mix on them before you’ll know for sure. The good news, however, is that one can learn to do good mixes on almost anything, it’s just much easier with some than others.
These are some basic guidelines. Your Sweetwater Sales Engineer can help you more. This is a topic where an interactive conversation could really help you narrow down the choices. You can talk about characteristics you like and we can help point you in the right direction.