Home Studio Setup, Pt. 3

In this series, we’re covering the basics of getting your home music studio set up correctly. Last time, we talked about why great monitoring matters, and why it’s a critical area you should invest in for your home studio.

Now, we’ll get into the practicalities of how to do this. How do we find the best speakers, at an affordable price point?

Tips for finding the right speakers for you

Actually listen to the speakers you’re considering before purchase! Or, at least make sure you’ve got a good return policy from your provider, if you buy before listening.

This is a very personal choice: you’re going to be spending a lot of time in front of these, so you want to be comfortable and happy. I’ve had personal experiences with certain brands of studio monitors giving me searing headaches after sitting in front of them for more than about 5 minutes. That’s why you want to get some time in front of these, in the real world, before purchase.

I’d suggest going for an in-person listening session of at least 10-20 minutes, comparing different reference tracks that you’re very familiar with using several different sets of speakers, as a good starting point to plan your search. Make sure your speaker choice works for you, and that you can return them if not!

More speaker research tips

Where do you listen to a bunch of studio speakers in one place? You can still find specialty pro audio shops that have in-person demo rooms, especially in the larger metropolitan areas, and it’s worth taking the time to listen in-person to some examples.

I wouldn’t do this at a Guitar Center, personally. In Phoenix, AZ there’s a quality pro audio supplier called EAR Pro Audio, and they’ve got a demo room. Give them a ring!

Here’s a caveat for anyone dipping their toes in: if you don’t really care about mixing, postproduction, and the technical side of music production at all, you can get by with using even less in your studio. Providing you’re using your space as a demoing/writing space, and not also expecting to get professional results out of low quality gear with that same space.

Why we start with trusted brands in pro audio

The reason we go with trusted pro audio brands that are a little more expensive, is that these speakers often have much less of a “hyped” sound. They might sound a little cold and clinical compared to your home stereo system, but they’re also much more accurate. Trusted pro audio brands include all of the classics: Adam, Genelec, PMC, Focal, Yamaha, among many others.

Consumer or prosumer gear by manufacturers like Rokit are tuned by the manufacturer to sell as many units as possible, not necessarily to be accurate listening devices used to make music.

To be fair, Rokits are getting better/more accurate over time, but they would not be my first choice for an accurate studio monitor. Also note: as Rokits improve in quality, they’ve also increased in price. Now, we’re at a point where, for the same price, you can do much better.

I’ve already done all of the specific gear research for you. More detailed information on all the gear needed for a quality home studio (headphones, speakers, interfaces, and more) can be found in my Home Studio Gear Guide. It’s updated regularly as the gear market changes.

Why not to use the absolute cheapest speaker option in a pro setting

The reason we don’t skimp too much on price when it comes to monitors in the pro recording studio, is that we want a perfectly clear window through which to make our musical decisions.

The lower the price, generally the more inaccurate the speaker, meaning anything you hear through it will color the sound of your music. Making music then becomes like trying to paint while wearing dark sunglasses. If you’re not seeing things accurately, you can’t make accurate and consistent creative decisions. Same goes in audio; if you’re not hearing accurately, you can’t make accurate and consistent musical decisions.

Especially if you’re re-recording your music in a professional setting before release (still the most cost-effective way to make music, despite what you might have heard), you don’t need to go full pro expensive at home. But, I’d suggest starting your research with at least mid-range speaker options, in the $600-900 per pair range if you can manage it.

Keep in mind, the best speakers in the world will still sound pretty meh when used in a room with uncontrolled acoustics.

Now, if you’re trying to build a pro quality setup to do pro audio in exchange for money, the game changes dramatically! If you want your studio to be the reference that others use to make their artwork, accuracy and highest quality really do matter.

A pro quality monitoring setup for an audio tracking and mixing space can easily cost $2,000-5,000+, and it’s probably also worth thinking about a subwoofer as part of that system. On the audio mastering side (my personal area of expertise), the prices go up even more: you can spend $100k+ on mastering quality reference speakers, if you really want to.

Spending that kind of money on speakers is not something I would ever suggest for someone just starting out. But, I would try aiming for the middle range in your speaker choice, rather than the very bottom, even if you’re just getting into this kind of thing.