Monitors.

FWIW, I use my monitors vertically and ear level right between the tweeter and woofer (as recommended by the manufacturer (which isn't JBL)). They're a meter apart, 70° from the wall, and I sit a meter away from them. I've put some sorbothane bumpers under them, which is an inexpensive yet super-effective way to decouple them from my desk. Works like a charm.

I'd suggest you directly send an email to JBL, as they might know better how they are meant to be set.

Have you tried to read the manual?

 

Afaik, you should have tweeters at ear level (or optionally, as nil said) and vertical position only

Yeah I've heard when placed horizontal you can get nasty phase issues due to each speaker cone being at a slightly different distance from your ear

The LED is supposed to be the indicator of ear level, iirc

  On 5/28/2018 at 1:36 AM, modey said:

The LED is supposed to be the indicator of ear level, iirc

thanks, i got that fixed, now i think it's just the matter of putting them farther apart. i wonder if having a computer monitor in the middle is blocking some sound. i'll take pics later...

It does not matter where you have your ear when jamming and making music, you're going to be on the move anyway but when you want to mix you really want to have the best chance at hearing what is going on so, yeah as people have said. Tweeter at ear level (unless stated different for that model) ideally set vertical (unless brand state it's cool either way) some foam or form of stand to decouple monitor from surface it's on. Most overlooked would be foam treatment in the places you need it (plenty of images on google to reference from)

Acoustic treatment can be cheap yet so crucial to a nice sounding room. Really worth considering indeed. Foam isn’t half as effective as rockwool etc... though. And it’s easy to build.

Edited May 28, 2018 by Nil

comprised fiber glass too.https://www.amazon.com/Owens-Corning-703-Fiberglass-Boards/dp/B005V3L834

My plan. Get some goodish monitors but save last mix down for in ear etymotic earphones. Home studio wise you'll never get a perfect flat response unless you have a professional team set the room up

  On 5/29/2018 at 2:49 AM, marf said:

comprised fiber glass too.https://www.amazon.com/Owens-Corning-703-Fiberglass-Boards/dp/B005V3L834

 

 

arent those hazardous if we inhale the particles?

Ive asked that too. I guess cause they are super compressed, No, And you cover them in fabric

  On 5/29/2018 at 2:52 AM, marf said:

My plan. Get some goodish monitors but save last mix down for in ear etymotic earphones. Home studio wise you'll never get a perfect flat response unless you have a professional team set the room up

I'm not sure if it's just the shape of my ear canals not being ideal for them, or something else, but I found my etymotics (hf5) are very mid-heavy unless I EQ them.. then again, perhaps that'd be good for mixing, ie. a good sounding mix on un-EQed etymotics would sound amazing elsewhere..?

Unfortunately using my speaker stands my computer monitor is blocking the ideal speaker triangle setup. So I might have to ditch the stands but I bought speaker foam so.... It's as good as it gets

is there a thread for diy acoustic treatment yet?

 

would love to see what some watmmers done on their studios

  On 5/29/2018 at 6:29 AM, Reinehr said:

would love to see what some watmmers done on their studios

I have a built-in wardrobe in my studio, which is full of clothes. Sliding the door open significantly dampens the reflections in the room. I'm also planning to put up some kind of curtain rail that divides the room in two, not just for acoustics, but also as a background/light diffuser for videos.

Edited May 29, 2018 by modey

I'm getting good results with treatment, but I did go to town on it. I'll try to find some pics before I put the gear in.

  On 5/29/2018 at 6:29 AM, Reinehr said:

is there a thread for diy acoustic treatment yet?

 

would love to see what some watmmers done on their studios

Depends on how far you want to go down the rabbit hole:

 

Slightly - https://forum.watmm.com/topic/82644-improving-room-sound/

 

Right down to the bottom - https://forum.watmm.com/topic/62408-2d-qrd-diffuser-make/

  On 5/29/2018 at 3:06 AM, modey said:

 

  On 5/29/2018 at 2:52 AM, marf said:

My plan. Get some goodish monitors but save last mix down for in ear etymotic earphones. Home studio wise you'll never get a perfect flat response unless you have a professional team set the room up

I'm not sure if it's just the shape of my ear canals not being ideal for them, or something else, but I found my etymotics (hf5) are very mid-heavy unless I EQ them.. then again, perhaps that'd be good for mixing, ie. a good sounding mix on un-EQed etymotics would sound amazing elsewhere..?

 

 

I used to own the etymotics, They never fit my ears. When I get them again Im getting a mold made at a hearing specialist

For isolation I have my monitors (Nil's old monitors) on some 1" hard rubber corks. you can get them for nothing on amazon, but mine were actually shipped with a set of high end Advent speakers back in the 80s, when I worked at a record shop we somehow ended up with the accessory kit for them but not the actual speakers, so I got it. A set of replacement logo badges, and some bog standard rubber corks with matching adhesive pads (that I don't use) for sticking them on to the speakers. It's one of those cases like speaker wire where some people get all bent out of shape about using fancy, expensive, specialty products but back in the day most of the high end manufacturers recommended lamp cord.

 

8 rubber stoppers is like $3usd.

  On 5/29/2018 at 8:02 PM, marf said:

 

  On 5/29/2018 at 3:06 AM, modey said:

 

  On 5/29/2018 at 2:52 AM, marf said:

My plan. Get some goodish monitors but save last mix down for in ear etymotic earphones. Home studio wise you'll never get a perfect flat response unless you have a professional team set the room up

I'm not sure if it's just the shape of my ear canals not being ideal for them, or something else, but I found my etymotics (hf5) are very mid-heavy unless I EQ them.. then again, perhaps that'd be good for mixing, ie. a good sounding mix on un-EQed etymotics would sound amazing elsewhere..?

I used to own the etymotics, They never fit my ears. When I get them again Im getting a mold made at a hearing specialist

I had a set of fancy, custom molded earplugs made for me back when I was playing a lot of loud rock shows and the fact is they work great but you body is always changing shape and in a couple of years they didn't quite fit anymore. I kept using them for a long time until I eventually lost one at a show I played last year, had the satisfaction of throwing the other one into a parking lot since a single earplugs isn't much use, and then got a set of $15 Hearos. They aren't as good as the custom fit pair were for the first couple of years but they are better than the customs were after that.

 

Point being, if you're considering having custom molded stuff for your ears, which is not a small investment these days, take in to account the fact that the fit might not actually age well.

  On 5/29/2018 at 8:02 PM, marf said:

 

  On 5/29/2018 at 3:06 AM, modey said:

 

  On 5/29/2018 at 2:52 AM, marf said:

My plan. Get some goodish monitors but save last mix down for in ear etymotic earphones. Home studio wise you'll never get a perfect flat response unless you have a professional team set the room up

I'm not sure if it's just the shape of my ear canals not being ideal for them, or something else, but I found my etymotics (hf5) are very mid-heavy unless I EQ them.. then again, perhaps that'd be good for mixing, ie. a good sounding mix on un-EQed etymotics would sound amazing elsewhere..?

I used to own the etymotics, They never fit my ears. When I get them again Im getting a mold made at a hearing specialist

I use the large tri-flange tips and they feel like they fit perfectly. I guess if I can actually get them to sound good with EQ then they've been inserted correctly.. I just didn't expect them to need EQing at all.

My monitors are a pair of Yamaha HS8 on some adhesive rubber pads (like 3mm). I think the tweeters are probably at ear level. 

 

It seems though that recently I am mostly mixing on headphones and the monitors are there just for listening music, and I don't really hear any weird out of place resonations or frequency bumps when I am listening, so I don't know maybe things just work. It can also be that I have stopped being anal about the sound and just assume that since all other stuff sounds good at home, there's no problem with the room either.

 

Anyways I live in a Japanese rental unit where my "studio" is a shelf around 240x50cm so besides putting tennis balls cut in half under my monitors (and watching them fall to their death in the next proper earthquake) I don't really know any easy solutions.

I've been meaning to try the squash balls inside ashtrays trick for isolating my turntable but I haven't got around to buying the ashtrays yet. Apparently it works really well.

  On 5/30/2018 at 3:04 AM, thawkins said:

My monitors are a pair of Yamaha HS8 on some adhesive rubber pads (like 3mm). I think the tweeters are probably at ear level.

 

It seems though that recently I am mostly mixing on headphones and the monitors are there just for listening music, and I don't really hear any weird out of place resonations or frequency bumps when I am listening, so I don't know maybe things just work. It can also be that I have stopped being anal about the sound and just assume that since all other stuff sounds good at home, there's no problem with the room either.

 

Anyways I live in a Japanese rental unit where my "studio" is a shelf around 240x50cm so besides putting tennis balls cut in half under my monitors (and watching them fall to their death in the next proper earthquake) I don't really know any easy solutions.

What are your headphones ?

  On 5/30/2018 at 3:04 AM, thawkins said:

It can also be that I have stopped being anal about the sound and just assume that since all other stuff sounds good at home, there's no problem with the room either.

 

Yeah, I think a lot of it is about getting used to your setup, and having that knowledge of how the speakers/room/headphones affect the sound, adjusting accordingly. Having said that though, the quality of my mixing increased considerably once I got the JBLs. Not much of a surprise considering I upgraded from a set of Logitech speakers haha Edited May 30, 2018 by modey