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With all of the technology that comes into the studio you must never overlook the importance of how you hear your final performance and mix. You want to be able to find great depth of sound reproduction and integrity of sound when passed on to for the final mixes. There's nothing worse than going to a final mix and hearing your music sound somewhat 'different' on a 'better' speaker. As a rule of thumb, I keep 2 sets of monitors in my studio - good ones and less good ones so that I know it will sound coming out of a simple tv system too, enabling me to avoid extreme rumbles and bassiness.
Monitors
There really are 2 types of monitiors: active and passive. Active monitors have their own amplifiers built in to the speaker to power the sound. Passive monitors require an external amplifier to power the sound. There are advantages of each:
Active Monitors:
They have optimized power amps for each speaker (or sometimes one built in amp to power both speakers), short and direct connections between amps and drivers, more precise line level cross overs and very often each monitor can be manipulated into its own settings to properly adjust to sound balancing differences in the room.
Passsive Monitors:
These have a particular advantage when it comes to upgrading the studio. These monitors are generally less expensive than their active counterparts, but if you have a high end amplifier then the cost ofsets are worth it. With active monitors if you need to step up a level, it becomes more expensive having to buy the monitor and amp together, whereas with passive, you could upgrade just the amp, or just the monitors.
Whichever you choose the most important factor is to get some that carry a good range of high, middle and low sounds, are clear and are suited to the type of music you will be producing. How do you tell if they are suited? Easy - take a CD of your own music, or music that you would like to compose, and ask the sales assistant to play the CD on each set of speakers... and then use your ears to hear which sound you prefer. As a tip, go to the store during 'quieter' times of the day so that you can have the sales assistants give you more time to experiement (and if there's no one else in the store you get to turn the volume up even more). This quieter time of day is usually as soon as the store opens on weekdays as most musicians are 'late night' people and won't venture into music stores until afternoon. A good music store will have a seperate location for listening, so make sure you really work the speakers before you put your money down on the counter. Finally, do your homeowrk!!! Research reviews and opinions online and in other studios before you part with your cash. It's so worth the time.
Headphones
With headphones again there are two types, closed and open backed headphones. Generally speaking open backed headphones are more comfortable and good for wearing over long periods of time (i.e. you're working through the night while the household is asleep). However, the disadvantage of open backs are that they will let sound in and let sound out. So, if you're using headphones to reference or monitor a mix, or you're making live recordings, or in a room where other people will be bothered by the noise coming out of your headphones, get a pair of closed back headphones. Closed back generally keep noise inside the cam.
I will suggest though that whatever style you choose, its worth investing ina professional set. The three main brands of headphones I'd recommend would be Sony, AKG or Senheiser, but don't let me recommendations put you off another brand if you love that sound. You really want a headphone that doesn't 'change' the sound too much, either adding bass or embellishing the high end. Look for a 'flat' sound that will be good for referencing how much EQ you've added during the mix.
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