Studio 101 – Part 18: Your Monitoring System

Last time around, we focused on getting your hands on your mix by using hardware controllers. This month we’ll talk about the end of the mixing chain: your monitor speakers.

Good monitors are necessary for proper mixing—without sonic accuracy, it’s hard to complete a mix. In fact, you may never end up with an end product that really satisfies until you get some decent monitors. Bad mixes don’t translate well to other speaker systems in other rooms. There may be too much or too little bass in the car, distorted high frequencies and inaudible vocals on your home stereo, phase issues on mono table radios, weirdness on headphones and earbuds… So, having a well-chosen, accurate set of studio monitors is crucial.