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About the M1 Active
14 M1 ACTIVE REFERENCE MANUAL
About Nearfield monitoring
In the early days of recording, most recording studios used big monitor speakers
almost exclusively. Unfortunately, they also required high powered amplifiers and
expensive acoustic treatment (often poorly done) of the entire control room. Still, a
well-constructed big monitoring system really was impressive to listen to, a fact not
overlooked by the studio owners who wanted to impress the record company
executives who paid for the big studio's time. These big systems had big level
control knobs, and clients enjoyed "cranking-up" the volume. Fortunately, recording
engineers and producers eventually learned that this was not the best way to
accurately mix music because it wasn't the way most people listened to their radios,
cassettes and CD players. Also, big monitor systems and the costs for the required
control room acoustic treatments were going through the roof (no pun intended),
particularly beyond the budget limits of smaller project and home studios which
were growing in numbers. A new way of accurate monitoring was needed: nearfield
monitoring.
Nearfield monitors, by their definition, are intended for mounting close to the
listener. The idea here is to improve the direct acoustic path between the speaker
and the listener by making it shorter, thereby giving less opportunity for the always
present indirect (reflected) sounds to get back in and muddle things up. With
nearfield monitoring, the surrounding acoustic environment becomes a much less
significant factor in establishing the monitor system's sound character.
A good set of small monitors properly placed in a reasonably non-reverberant room
and properly powered will yield surprisingly accurate results at budget prices.
Carried to another studio, the same monitor should also provide repeatable results. In
fact, some recording engineers carry their own speakers around because they know
how they will sound in almost any room. Now, even the big studios use smaller
speakers to augment their big monitoring systems, and nearfield monitors have
become proven tools in the recording business.
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Like any speaker system, your M1 Active speakers will work best when properly
positioned in a suitable acoustic environment. Achieving proper speaker placement
is usually straightforward, but even with nearfield monitors, speaker placement and
the acoustics of the listening room itself are too often overlooked and can become
significant contributors to an inaccurate and uninspiring monitoring environment.
Avoiding reflections in the studio
While nearfield monitors are more forgiving of the surrounding room acoustics, it is
always prudent to optimize the listening environment whenever possible. First, the
user should be aware of the effect that the size of the listening room can have on low
frequency response. In general, the smaller the room, the stronger the bottom end
will be, although placement within a larger room can also make a difference. This
has to do with the way low-frequency waves travel in closed spaces. If you find your