Did you know that you can use your monitor speakers as your main speakers instead of just as an auxiliary output? Monitor speakers are generally smaller than standard speakers and have a very different frequency response. As such, they’re not designed to be used as the primary speakers in your home listening environment. However, you can use them to great effect with your audio monitoring setup by connecting them to a separate speaker output on your mixing desk. You will now have two speaker outputs: one for monitoring and the other for your monitor speakers. Let’s see how!
How To Connect Speakers To Monitor
Step 1: Find your monitor speaker outputs
The first thing you need to do is find out where you connect your monitor speakers to on your mixing desk. The speaker connections will be labeled something such as “Mono Aux”, “Mono Speaker”, “Mono Out” or “Mono IO”. You may have more than one speaker output, but the more the better. This will allow you to set your speakers up bi-amp style if you want to. A BRIEF WORD ON MONO OUTPUTS: Many desks have a mono output, which is only suitable for one speaker. If your mixer has a mono speaker output, only ever connect your monitor speakers to it. If you have a choice between mono and stereo outputs, always use stereo.
Step 2: Connect the Speaker Outputs
Connect the speaker outputs to your monitor speakers. In most cases, you will connect the speaker output to the “+” and “-” terminals on the speakers. This will connect the speakers directly to the mixer. You can use either banana plugs or spade connectors. Once you’re done, you should hear sound coming from your speakers. If you don’t make sure the connections are tight.
Step 3: Configure your speaker monitors
You now have two outputs on your mixing desk. One is for your speaker monitors, and the other is for your monitor speakers. The next step is to configure each output. You want your monitor speakers’ audio to go through your “send” channel, NOT the main output. You want your monitor speaker audio to go through the “send” button on your mixing desk, NOT the main output. The reason for this is that mixing on your monitor speakers will have a negative effect on your overall mix. If your mix sounds good on your monitor speakers, then it won’t sound good on any other speaker. While this might be a great way to mess around with your friends, it’s not a good way to mix music.
Speaker Monitoring Benefits
- You can hear yourself.
- You can get a good idea of how your mix will sound in a room.
- You can cut out the sound of your computer’s fans and other noises that you don’t want to hear.
- You can practice making mixes without taking the risk of damaging your speakers, or worse, hurting yourself or someone else with it!
- If you are recording in a studio with a monitor speaker, then you don’t need to worry about damaging your speakers if you go over a certain volume level on the mixing desk (which is very easy to do).
- If you are recording on the road (or do live gigs), then it makes it much easier to mix on monitors since you only have one set of speakers with which to work! In Conclusion: Speakers are great tools for any musician when use properly. They allow musicians to get their ideas down quickly and easily by providing them with an accurate representation of what they have created. However, if musicians abuse their speakers by playing at too loud of volumes, or not listening to their monitors at all while they play, then they could damage their equipment and/or themselves as well as others around them who may be nearby or even hundreds of miles away from where they are performing at that time!
Monitor Speaker Mixing Tips
- When mixing on your monitor speakers, make sure to listen to the monitors before you play the song so you can get a good feel for how the mix will sound.
- Use the “EQ” knob on your mixing desk to change the bass and treble levels of your monitors if they are too low or too high.
- Use the “Pan” knob on your mixing desk to adjust each speaker’s position in a stereo image (left and right).
- Don’t use volume faders/knobs that have a lot of gains: These can cause problems by distorting when you turn them up or down, as well as causing feedback.
- Don’t use compression/limiting: This is because it will cause distortions when you turn it up or down, and it won’t sound natural at all!
- Don’t use EQ: If you want more bass or treble, then use an equalizer instead!
- Don’t use headphones: They don’t accurately recreate what’s going on around them and may cause issues with your ears!
- If you are using a mixer with an aux send channel (like most mixers), then don’t send any signal through that channel unless someone else is playing their own instrument in another room, otherwise, it will probably be very loud in the other room and could damage their equipment or even hurt them!
Conclusion
There are many great reasons to use monitor speakers for your monitoring. This can help you gain a better feel for your mix in a live environment. It will also help you avoid fatigue caused by long mixing sessions on headphones. By monitoring your speaker system, you get to hear how your mix will sound in a club or on other people’s personal sound systems. The only downside is that your mix won’t translate as well to headphones. That being said, it’s a great way to get a feel for your mix without having to use headphones. Speaker monitoring is a great way to get started with mixing, as it gives you a better idea as to what you’re doing wrong with your mix.
FAQs:
What are the benefits of using monitor speakers?
The biggest benefit is that you can hear your mix in a live environment, as opposed to on headphones.
Is it better to use one or two speakers?
It depends! If you only have a couple of speakers that are decent enough for mixing, then it doesn’t matter if they’re side-by-side or front-to-back, but if you have an expensive set of monitors and they’re not good enough for mixing, then it would be best to use them in an L/R configuration so you can get the most out of your system.
What are the benefits of having side-by-side monitors?
They give you a wider stereo image so that when you compare your mix with other people’s mixes, it sounds more natural and realistic since they will be placed in the same place as your mix was created in the first place! You also gain more depth and dimension with stereo imaging since there will be a “hole” between the left & right channels on each speaker which gives your mix more width and depth than just using one speaker per channel!
