Studio Design and Monitors - Posted on 2013-03-13 by Eric Sullivan

Hey Guys!

This week was about studio acoustics and design. Studios are not always in a space that was designed specifically for the purpose of being a studio. Even if the space was designed for this purpose there are things that should be considered when designing the space. The acoustic isolation from external noises is important. Noises can be transmitted through the air, ground, or the building structures themselves. Next is the frequency balance of the room should not adversley affect or alter in any way, the sounds of the instruments and monitors. Acoustic seperation between instruments within the space is another important aspect. Reverb control within a room is another factor. Reflection can give our brians a sense of spatial awarness. Reflections can effect the intelligibility of the music. Finally, the cost or budget to create a studio space is a factor. 

There are many different types of studios with unique features, functions and budgets. The professional recording studio, audio-for-visual production enviornment, project studios, and portable studios are different examples of studios. With all of these studios, the factors mentioned before are always relivant. There are ways to achieve the desired studio space through constructionsuch as floating room, staggered stud walls, acoustic foams and partitions along with diffusers. When designing a control room, studio monitors are a factor to keep in mind.

Studio monitors are used to hopefully, accurately portray the music in order to make decisions about EQ, leveling, processing and mixing. Monitors, both passive and active, have crossover networks that split the frquency into different bands. The frequency bands are sent to the different size speakers theat can most accurately reproduce those frequencies. Active speakers are popular because of their compact design, sound quality, expandability for additional speakers and lack of a need for external power. When monitoring it is good to be centered between the two speakers in order to hear them equally. While monitoring and mixing, the stanard level is around 85 db. 

Stay tuned next for digital audio basics!