So,what’s the difference between a nice pair of hi fi speakers and true studio monitors?

Well. hi fi speakers exaggerate the lows, and generally the highs, to establish maximum impact. This may be good to listen to, but it’s seldom accurate. Studio monitors are designed to be incredibly accurate to insure a real reproduction of what’s actually being recorded. They’re also built to much sturdier and exacting standards than hi fi speakers, to cater for the vigourous demands of studio use.

Monitors must be very transparent sounding to enable you to mix parts of the music like vocals, bass and even reverb trails without each part colliding into one and other.

To fully understand the idea of monitoring, you must understand that it is an art. It’s more than just conveniently placing a pair of speakers in the room.

We’re all varying, as are studio monitors, and all of us use the ones with which we’re most comfortable and might optimum judge the mix. I’ve used Yamaha NS10s, Dyn-Audio and Tannoys over the years, but have performance tled with a pair of Alesis M1 active for near-field monitoring and a pair of Alesis Monitor Two’s for midfield monitoring. They are my personal prefer ence and what I am used to. There are more expensive monitors available on the market, but surp growing ly accurate solutions may be achieved with less expensive monitors just by following a few simple rules.

When monitoring, you are listening to the placement of sound, dynamics, eq, reverb trails, echoes and delays etc. Correctly placed monitors allow you to do this. Hi fi speakers, still nice, do not!

A professional, well recorded mix will sound good on anything, and that is the single the majority vital principle to remember. If you use a pair of hi fi speakers to monitor, your mix can well sound excellent to YOU on THOSE speakers, but I guarantee it will not sound excellent to others elsewhere!

Now,the 1st rule is, do not use hi fi speakers to monitor.

Nearfield monitors are intended for mounting close to the listener. The idea is to boost the direct acoustic path betwixt the speaker and the listener by making it shorter, thereby giving less occasion for the reflected sounds to get back in and muddle things up. With nearfield monitoring, the surrounding acoustic environment becomes less of a problem. Still, try to optimise the listening environment whenever possible and be aware of the effect that the size of the listening room might have on low frequency response. Usually, the smaller the room, the stronger the bottom end will be.

The ideal placement of speakers is out in the room, away from side and rear walls, and reflective surfaces prefer tiles, windows or table tops. Unfortunately, and particularly in home studios, this isn’t always possible. So do what’s practical with the environment you have.

The physical spacing betwixt the speakers is  surprisingly vital, approximately 3 feet apart. A nice  set of monitors, if positioned correctly in a sensibly non-reverberant room, will give accurate determinations. There should be equal distance betwixt the listener and either speaker. In other words, the listener and the two speakers are the three corners of a triangle with equal length sides. Both speakers must be turned in accordingly so that from your prime position, you see only the face of both speakers. also, your ears should be level with the tweeters, so, if you are placement of the speakers is higher, perhaps on a shelf or wall mounted on brackets, then the speakers must be tilted down accordingly.

Virtually all studios use monitor speakers in the horizontal position. This session -up will  promote  a strongly focused center image, ideal for the vocalist, for example. And because the image width is narrower, the sounds may be placed with greater precision than when the speakers are placed vertically. additionally, in the horizontal position, there will be much less opportunity of 1st reflections from the studio environment colouring your mix.

Still, that isn’t to say that monitors shouldn’t ever be used in the vertical position. Obviously,  some manufacturers recommend that in ‘perfect’ situations, they ought to be. With vertical placement you hear the mix with the deepest and broad st soundstage possible. But this broad  a dispersion pattern might add strong reflections to the sound you hear, muddying the mix, hence the prefer ence for the horizontal position.

The rules for midfield monitors are the same as with nearfield, except that the three cornered triangle is much bigger, a lot of the time a minimum of six ft.

Now,the second rule is, place the monitors correctly, read the instructions that come with the monitors and attain a better understanding of your listening environment.

When recording for any length of time, you’ll get listening fatigue, So take regular breaks every few hours. It is amazing how divergent ly things can sound when you return refreshed.

There’s additionally an old saying; “If a song sounds amazing at low volume, it’ll sound amazing at any level. But a song that sounds amazing loud won’t necessarily sound amazing at a decrease volume”.

Think likewise of the effect on your hearing over time when never ending ly listening at loud levels!

So,the third rule is, take regular breakes when recording, make your regular listening level a sensible one and listen at louder levels only chance ally, for feel and bass purposes.

There’s of course, a place for the car stereo and hi fi in the process. When I am happy with the mix, I listen on my hi fi and car stereo. If it still sounds good, then I can be confident that it’s a good mix.

So,the fourth rule is, a professional, well recorded mix will sound great on any system. So use your car stereo and hi fi to ‘ final check’ your mix.

I don’t know if you have seen Metal Sanaz before, but she is certainly someone on there way to big things.

Metal Sanaz has carved a niche in the Music, Video, and New Media industry of the Metal/Hard Rock scene. Sanaz has exploded in the heavy music scene as one of the premier up and coming VJs. Her career has grown through her fame on MySpace and her work with Hollywood Music TV. Through her popularity on Myspace she has garnered over 1 million page views a month, 600,000 friends, 2 million video views, and has become the Official Host of Myspace: A Place For Metal. She has also served as co-host for the HD Live web casts of Linkin Park’s Projekt Revolution Tour and Operation Myspace in Kuwait, which included Disturbed, Pussycat Dolls, Filter, and Jessica Simpson. Sanaz also has a weekly radio show on Dave Navarro’s Spread Radio and does two live shows a month on SyncLive. At Hollywood Music she was the most popular VJ and can be attributed with doubling the site’s traffic. She was the host of HMTV’s Head Full of Metal show where she provided concert coverage and interviews with bands. She has used her popularity to promote bands ranging from local independent acts to bands receiving national coverage including Slayer,  Disturbed, Powerman 5000, Anthrax, Gwar, Otep, Cannibal Corpse, Exodus, Devil Driver, Bloodsimple, American Headcharge, The Genitorturers, Black Dahlia Murder, and many others. She is known and respected throughout the heavy music community. The emphasis has always been on covering the full music lifestyle that the fans want to see whether it’s interviews, live performances, studio work, backstage, after parties, or just hanging out. The goal is to provide meaningful media exposure for the artists of heavy music so that they can reach their fans and generate new ones, while at the same time providing the fans with a way to stay connected with and informed about the acts they love as well as discover new artists. Precious Metal epidosdes will initially be aired and archived on the Metal Sanaz MySpace page to leverage the traffic and visibility of this new media powerhouse. Plans for an exclusive network deal are in motion.
Not one to keep still, she is set to launch her own website in the coming months which will further her promotion of the Metal/Hard Rock genre.

Check out Sanaz today at www.myspace.com/metalsanaz

The Triple Door is one of the best Live music Venues in the greater Seattle area and in the United States. They have incredible talent performing there nightly and have great cuisine from China and Southeast Asia.

The Mainstage is The Triple Door’s centerpiece. Restored and updated from the bones of the historic Embassy Theatre, this 300-seat performance space is at once timeless and modern. The classic look of the gold-framed, red-curtained stage blends seamlessly with the contemporary, sleek, uncluttered array of half-moon booths and free-standing tables.

Arranged in tiers, the Mainstage provides clear sight lines from every seat. The intimate dimensions mean that even the late arriver to a sold-out show is no more than 35 paces from the stage. And for those get-up-out-of-your-seat acts, the tables directly in front of the stage can be cleared to make way for a dance floor.

Every particular of the Mainstage—in interior design, sound and lighting—is aimed at making the show come alive for the audience. Even the free-standing chairs used in the theatre have a special quality: they’re easy to rock in time with the music.

The Mainstage is also well-equipped for special functions, from large-scale parties to corporate or media events. And, of course, there is a fully-appointed kitchen—featuring a Wild Ginger-inspired menu—and complete service bar for all food and beverage requirements.

You can check out there upcoming events for live music and entertainment on their calendar. BTW, if you are in the greater Seattle area make sure to stop by:

216 Union Street

Seattle, Washington

98101