stevev wrote:cheers Stuart
I went back in there today to run over couple of the points that RJ brought up abut doing some sweeps and listening for holes. None were apparent, although when I was playing a drum track and paying close attention to the panning, it did seem like the overheads had lost a bit of correlation.
I then moved everything in to an equilateral position as suggested and played the same track. The correlation was lot better and the center of the mix was more definite. I've got to say I quite enjoyed listening to the 'wider' mix, although as a day to day working proposition i think you're both right and i'll tighten it up to an equilateral spacing.
At the moment that put's the focal point at 45% room length. I could probably get that down to around 41% with a bit more tweaking, but I probably wont get much lower than that. Does 45% sound like it's getting to far out?
Hi Stevev,
Hey ... glad you ran some testing for your own self ... this way you hear for yourself !
To relay what positioning I have with my monitors [currently]:
A diagram would possibly be easier to convey, but I'll try to verbally describe it ... wish me luck
We've always heard that speakers should be in an equilateral triangle, with the tweeters aimed at the listener's ear [or back of the head]. My experience, working large scale consoles was that much of the time was spent leaning into this 'focus'.
Now in the DAW world, there is little need to stretch 2 or 3 feet to reach trims or EQ's ... and another [as suggested by Gullfo - and others] was to toe out the monitors so that the 'focus' was anywhere from 6" to 24" deeper into the room.
In other words ... 1st establish your equilateral setup. Once in position, keeping the same distance between the monitors, toe them OUT so that the 'point of focus' is behind the listeners head.
Currently, I have mine focused 16 inches behind the original equilateral point.
I used a microphone stand with white paper wrapped around the tubing, with a 'plumb bob' hanging to the floor. On top of my monitor, I centered a squared Laser that I positioned aligned to the center point of the tweeter squared to the cabinet. The laser beam could then be aimed at the center of the mic stand positioned at the exact distance.
Both monitors where aligned this way.
I learned long ago just how difficult it turned out, to critical place an object in a real 3-dimensional space, that were centered at an exact distance apart, precisely aimed, AND symmetrically placed within the wall boundaries.
I also printed out a HUGE protractor template that could be taped to the floor, along with other tape markers positioned on the floor, combined with the laser, allowed me to do this much more accurately. [Oh yeah ... I THOUGHT I had done good with a tape measurer, string, and a protractor]
However, the laser [which I had from the construction phase] proved to be invaluable. It again came in handy when I replaced my isolation gummy gels under the monitors. I could pinpoint the aim rather easily. It will also make experimenting with different focal points much easier and predictable.
Some may say that I may be going too far in this alignment process ... but ... when the room and the treatment yield such a level of sonic 'Control', the criticalness of being able to [basically] 'Time Align' your monitors and minimize phase aberrations will influence every sonic decision that will be made. So yeah ... I think it worth the extra effort.
Sorry for the long winded post ... hope something in there is useful