I’m using a big desk
with a shelf on the back as my studio workstation. Being partially
sighted, I need my screen fairly close in order to see the details. I’m
thinking about buying some studio monitors to put up on the back shelf
of the desk, but will the fact that my screen is in front, albeit in the
centre of the speakers, be a problem? Would the problem concern stereo
imaging more so than frequency response? The screen is a 24-inch model
that is mounted on an arm for maximum flexibility.
It’s
better for acoustics if everything, where possible, is placed
symetrically in a room. If you require a large screen in a studio,
for any reason, it’s a good idea to place it between and behind your
monitors.
Via SOS web site
SOS
contributor Martin Walker replies:
To get the flattest frequency
response from your loudspeakers, you need to install some acoustic
treatment to damp down the room ‘modes’ that make each room resonate at
certain frequencies, depending on its dimensions.
On
the other hand, to get the best stereo imaging, the left and right
halves of your studio should, if possible, be a mirror image of each
other, and you should place the loudspeakers symmetrically with respect
to the walls and fit acoustic absorption at the ‘mirror points’ on both
side walls and the ceiling. ‘Early reflections’ bouncing off these
points will obscure the details in your mixes and make it more difficult
to pinpoint where each sound is panned.
Even
your gear should, ideally, be installed in a symmetrical fashion. For
instance, avoid placing cupboards, shelves, desks or keyboards on one
side of the room only, since the sound bouncing off them will result in
an unbalanced stereo image that will muddle your imagery.
Moreover
(and here’s where we get to your specific query), you can get
troublesome reflections from audio bouncing off other objects between
your ears and the loudspeakers, such as mixing desks and forward-mounted
monitor screens. Maintaining a clear area in front of your
loudspeakers is the secret of good stereo imaging, although, thankfully,
most modern flat-screen monitors will result in far smaller acoustic
problems than the old (and relatively massive) CRT monitors.
A
quick way to hear what difference any object is having on your stereo
image is to temporarily drape a duvet, or similar, over it while
listening to a mono signal being played through both loudspeakers (solo
acoustic guitar might be a good one to try). If, with the duvet in
place, the phantom central image between your loudspeakers becomes
better focused and more concrete, as if a physical player is sat in
front of you, then that object is interfering with your imaging.
There
are several possible ways to avoid such audio compromises. The easiest
is to place your monitor screen further away, either between the
loudspeakers or behind them. This generally means you need a larger
screen, and some studios hang huge monitor screens on the wall behind
the speakers so their clients get a good overview of what’s going on.
However, even with 20/20 vision, this approach is often not good enough
for detailed editing, so a second, smaller, screen is generally mounted
much closer to the operator. Keep this as low as possible so that it’s
out of the speaker’s line of fire.
Another more
specialised, but elegant, alternative that I’ve spotted in various
studios is a monitor screen recessed into a hole in the desktop. An
easy version of this is to remove your monitor stand and lay your screen
at an appropriate angle on your desktop, well below the critical area
in front of the loudspeakers.
Yet another
approach is the one you’ve already adopted. Since your screen is
“mounted on an arm for maximum flexibility”, you can simply push it back
out of the way of the loudspeakers for critical listening. This is a
great idea for any musician; if only we had a similar option for
mixing desks!
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