Setting up your studio monitors is critically important, and here are pointers to get you started.

Place the monitors away from nearby walls, both behind and to the side. I like to have at least 3′ behind my monitors if I can, and the farther the walls are away to the sides, the better.
Place the monitors in an equal-sided triangle, with the speakers at two of the triangle corners and the third corner being your listening position.
Place the monitor tweeters at or slightly above ear level.
Aim the center focus of the tweeters slightly behind your head, not directly at your ears.
Isolate the monitors from your desk or stands using isolation stands, such as the IsoAcoustics Acoustic Isolation Stands or Argosy Spire i-stand Speaker Stands or Ultimate Support MS-80 desktop monitor stands.

Learn Your Monitors

Once you have the monitors set up in your studio, you need to acclimate your ears to how they sound. Despite all monitors claiming to be “flat,” they each sound a bit different and will also respond differently in your room. Over the years, I’ve reviewed and evaluated many different studio monitors, in a number of different rooms. The number one tool I’ve used to quickly learn a pair of speakers is a reference collection of music – songs that reveal particular aspects of a monitor’s performance: bass response, treble clarity, imaging, dynamics, and so on. It doesn’t matter what songs you use, just that they tell you something about the monitors. I like to use a variety of musical styles, and I always include some of my own mixes. I play the songs back at the highest resolution available – off a CD or preferably at 24-bit resolution through a great converter. A minute or so of listening to each song tells me what I need to know, and I move on to the next song. In 20 minutes, I’ve got the monitors figured out, and I can get to work!

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