Best Studio Monitor Speakers

Now that you’ve finally decided to take your song writing/recording hobby to the next level, you need to make sure that you have the best equipment so you can produce better mixes. Just to give you a brief background,  when I started to record songs, I was just using my crappy laptop, multimedia speakers, a cheap condenser mic I bought for $4 dollars, and a free recording  software I downloaded from some torrent site. Home recording for hobbyists is really cheap, that’s what I actually thought during that time. However when you start appreciating your work, there will come a time when you’ll really want to purchase quality recording studio equipment so you can make better recordings. Then you’ll realize that setting up a home recording  studio isn’t so cheap after all. If you don’t have enough budget to buy everything that you need to complete your studio at once, you might just want to buy them one by one. You can start by shopping for the best studio monitor speakers.

The brands that come into mind when we talk about the best studio monitor speakers are M- Audio, Pioneer, Alesis, KRK, Yamaha and Behringer. However, there’s no exact answer as to what really is the best. The best studio monitor for sound engineer X may be just ordinary for sound engineer Y. The best studio monitor for you really depends on your personal preference based on your budget and your needs. One of the important things to look for in a studio monitor is of course the quality. What you’ll want is a monitor that you can use for a long time.

Common misconception about studio monitors

If you’re a beginner and this is your first time to set up a recording studio, you might think that studio monitors are supposed to make your music sound good. That’s not true, in fact, studio monitors aren’t used as a tool to improve your tracks, it is used to give you a real or an accurate representation of each track so you can mix them down better into a final song. This is exactly the reason why we don’t use hi-fi speakers when recording because those speakers are designed to make all your tracks sound nice and pleasing to your ear. If you use a studio monitor when recording, you can be assured that it will sound better in other types of speakers, you get the point?

How much to spend on studio monitors?

If you’re just going to use it at home, you don’t to spend more than 200 bucks. A small studio monitor will do. There are studio monitors that you can find online for less than $100, the cheapest I saw online is only for $50. However, if you’re planning to do pro-recording someday, you might just want to invest in a more expensive monitor.

Active vs. Passive Studio Speakers

Another thing to consider when buying studio speakers is whether to get passive or active speakers. Active speakers are self powered, no need to buy a separate power amp. Passive on the hand will require to buy a power amp.

Set up your studio the right way!

The best studio monitor speakers or any hi-tech gadget in the world means nothing if you don’t know how to use them the right way. You can learn more about monitor placement by watching or reading tutorials on the internet.