Bedroom studio, from big to small

The Lounge Other Gear
#1

Hey guys,

Ever since I’ve started the music making journey I’ve been upgrading and expanding my setup. I bought and sold so much hardware to a point that I’m tired of the endless search for instruments and ready to get some work done. I’ve got countless of potential projects waiting to be finished.

Apart from instruments, I’m running a bedroom studio with a large desk (90x180cm), two Adam a7x’s and two speaker stands. The adams where my first monitors and after working with them for a few years I feel that they might not be for me. They feel a bit forced and also might be to much for the current space. I won’t sell them just yet because you never know what the future holds and I totally know them.

To cut to the chase! I would like some advice on bedroom studio. I want to go from the big desk with stands to a small one combined with shelves om the wall. The shelves would hold the speakers too, making the adams to big for this setup. I know its a bit tricky placing speakers against the wall but I feel i can pull it off with the genelec 8010’s. Personally, I feel the genelec 8010 might be a good option for me as they are supposed to work in untreated spaces and I am totally amazed by the sound of my friends 8020’s.

Basically I wanted some feedback on this idea from people who are in a simular situation. And also how do the genelecs 8010’s translate, do you really need to combine them with a sub? In that case I can always a/b the low with the adams.

I added some pics to show the desk situation and the wall situation I’d like to start using.

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#2

There’s no way those tiny Genelecs are going to produce adequate bass without a sub, and in my experience it’s much better to have as full range a speaker as possible rather than going the sub route. Well controlled sealed designs are pretty good near walls (like my Neumann KH310).

You don’t seem to have any acoustic treatment. Covering about 50% of the walls with acoustic foam at 75-100mm will help massively. And a big rug. It’s helpful not working in an echo chamber!

Also check out the Output Platform desk. I have my whole setup on it including large monitors and the desk is smaller than yours.

Going backwards in your monitoring capability seems counterproductive to finishing stuff, unless you are very confident with working on headphones.

Here’s what mine looks like:

1 Like
#3

having a window in the room, you definitely want to get a set of thick curtains

#4

You already have a good pair of monitors that you know well, don’t change! Money can’t buy 3 years experience. Do everything you can to improve your room before you spend any more on speakers, it is time and money better spent.

There is no such thing.

No, not really. I love my Genelecs as much as the next guy, but the laws of physics apply to them none the less. If you put them against a wall, and in your case it seems against a window, you will have nasty low end reflections coming back at you and you will make poor mix decisions. Treating the walls and room for speakers-againt-the-wall situations is possible, but it must be done right to be affective and it ain’t cheap.

Bass traps, acoustic tiles, carpets curtains. They have no sex appeal, but they will improve your results much more drastically than changing a perfectly good pair of monitors for another. I know this, and many shit mixes I have done myself will back me up :wink:

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#5

Genelec even recommends putting speakers against the wall in some cases. It will give 6db of boost in the lower register, but they have a dip switch to level that out. Genelec has a lot of interesting documentation on speaker placement on their site. Like what frequency’s get cancelled when the speaker to wall distance is “X”. And everything applies to other speakers as well.

But I don’t think the Adams would be too large. I think the only time a speaker is too large is when they have a recommended listening distance longer than what you have available.

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#6

skip the sub the chances of it sounding good in that room are slim to none get a avatone you only need one with your Adams that’s all a producer needs

#7

the Adams should be fine close to a wall they don’t require the space only speakers now a days I can think of off the top of my head that can’t be placed near a wall are rockets

#8

if you are really diving deep into sub & want to hear it invest in a killer pair of headphones to check it

1 Like
#9

i agree with the AAdra about headphones. It’s a very worthwhile investment. Get the best you can afford/sounds best to you. Mines have really helped me - Saying that… since i got myself a sub my low end has drastically improved which I was unable to achieve on my headphones at least till I understood what it was meant too sound like but thats personal.

Sometimes just knowing whats going on down below for a month or two can help ALOT, at least from my experience it did. I could probably comfortably make music without the sub now because I have the understanding now of what it’s meant to sound like down below but the truth is I wouldn’t want to get rid of it just because it’s appealing to me. I had to buy the sub in the first place to find out whether it was going to work or not, and it did.

FYI my room is very bad sounding, no treatment. Using the Adam a3x’s and the sub 7 but my music still sounds fine… at least i’m happy with it. To me it’s about learning your room and that just takes time.

The thing that ALWAYS saves me, is my Sennheiser HD600’s no matter how shite my room sounds.

So yeah… good headphones would be my input but i’d also say don’t be scared to try out a sub if thats what you think you want… why not! Id say stick with ur monitors too because as was mentioned above money cant buy experience.

Not sure if this helps any but hey ho there u go

#10

a good place to start
http://tripp.com.au/sbir.htm

#11

I had 8020s with the bucket genelec sub, it was nice. Ended up buying a pair of 8040.
Headphones can destroy your ears.

#12

Thanks for the advice guys, I’m going to stick with the adams ( because in the end i wanted to buy off my troubles with another product again) and simply try the wall setup with them. And yes perhaps its time to build some acoustics:))

#13

Are you from Amsterdam? :slight_smile:

#14

Rotterdam:) How so?

#15

Ah de yellow licence plates?

#16

This is sounding so much better already:) I have some speaker pads for resonance on the wood so that’s cool.

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#17

Yeah, combined with how the houses look. :slight_smile:

#18

Aren‘t vertical speakers typically placed so that the tweeters are on the outer sides of the setup, while the woofers are placed more towards the middle. Should have something to do with stereo image and this notion of bass being mono.
I don‘t know much about room acoustics and whatnot though.

#19

Good call, my first time going horizontal