I vaguely recall one (or more) of you sound gurus mention something about optimal height for studio monitors being at ear level. Is that correct?
The shelf I have them on is 6 feet off the floor, which makes the top of the monitors 7’ 2" off the floor. I’m 5’ 8" which would make “ear level” around 5’ 5" or so (just guessing).
With that said, would it behoove me to throw another shelf under that one for the monitors? It would be an easy task, but would it improve the sound at all? Would it be worth it?
Thanks for any advice.
In that case I think you’re looking at “optimal” vs “will be just fine.”
I think what you have will probably work just fine as is.
Optimal would be for you to be standing at a distance from each speaker equal to the distance between them, with them pointed at you, and the speakers at ear level. Also for the speakers to be sitting on insulation of some kind and out from the wall (even with the forward vent and speaker settings.)
But the perfect is the enemy of the good
There’s also stands you can get that will angle them down towards you but these are usually wall or ceiling mounts. Not sure about a shelf mounts. And a lower shelf would be a good compromise, yes. But if they are good enough for you now then they are good enough
As howard said, I’ve heard people (including my friend who is really into acoustics) rave about putting studio monitors on isolation pads. I honestly thought it was a gimmick, but appears to really help. Here is one for example and you can see the reviews for it. I don’t have my studio monitors anymore or I would have got a couple of these.
BTW, this may not be the size you need, just an example.
Yep, if you want more dampening, you could double up 2 cheap pads, but shouldn’t be necessary. You are mostly ensuring against added noise from the monitor vibrating against what it is mounted too, so just a thin rubber pad ( cheap mouse pad) is all that is really needed.
Are you”Playing your bass” thru the monitors? Or mixing thru them?
Do you stand while mixing?
If it were me, I would play thru my
amp for practice
Headphones for recording
Monitors for mixing.
I stand and / or sit while playing
Usually sit while recording, since I can’t figure out video editing yet, but sit while mixing.
yeah, I was going to ask this as well. It’s kind of what I meant when i asked if you used the monitors while standing, because most people use them while mixing.
Studio monitors and a listener should create an equilateral triangle in the ear height. Because of how bass waves propagate there should be at least a foot of a space behind the monitors. And ofc. some iso pads.
I generally have my amp on while practicing, and it drowns out the studio monitors. However, sometimes when I’m working on a song I like to practice when I first get up at 3 or 4 in the morning (that’s when my brain is at its peak), so in respect to my neighbors, I just play through the monitors.
The laptop in my music room sits on a tall cart, so yes I stand while mixing. I also stand while practicing, playing, and recording. I sit only when I take breaks.
Seriously though, I live in an apartment building and use my amp, but I wait until everyone’s gone off to work . . . so practice time for me is early afternoon. And so far, no complaints.
)
interesting idea, Jörg!
