Future Forward: Technology Repairs And Purchases

Monitor or Speaker

Setting up your own home studio is something that many people are doing now. The ability to create chart-topping music has recently been made more available to the home consumer because of high-quality audio equipment for a lower cost. There have been numerous award winning albums that have been created using simple Digital Audio Workstations (DAW) and quality speakers. This guide will help you to begin your venture into organising an audio setup, in preparation for your adventure into the world of music, and provide practical advice for choosing the right speaker or monitor for your needs.

Speakers and Monitors

Having a good pair of speakers and monitors will make the difference between a good and a bad mix. However, it's important to be able to understand the difference between both of them. If you have a commercial setup such as some b&w speakers or similar, your music will have certain EQ boosts common to all commercially bought speakers. This will help to make the music more pleasing to the ear, and as such is good for listening to final mixes. Monitors on the other hand have a flat frequency response and are primarily used to mix. This allows you to boost certain frequencies and create something that is clean and easy to listen to. If you were to mix on speakers you'd run the risk of having too much of a bass boost, and playing final mixes on monitors can lead to them sounding a little lifeless. 

Open or Closed

Whilst you can get free standing speakers and monitors, you can also get headphone variants as well. Regular high quality headphones will work for listening to your music; however, monitors come in a variety of open and closed back options. These options differ slightly in the build construction of the monitor. Closed backs are better for cancelling out background noise as the ear cup is fully enclosed, but this can lead to some slight inaccuracies in the sound quality for the trained engineer as some sound waves get blocked. Open backs are more accurate as the frequencies can disperse, but they let in more sound externally. The best way to determine which monitor will work for you is to think about your environment. If it's a home studio with no soundproofing and lots of background noise, go for the close back. If you have a semi soundproofed studio, go for the open backed.

Reach out to companies like Tivoli Hi-Fi Pty Ltd to learn more.


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