Hi all, Elektronauts newbie here.
If anyone is aware of a similar thread please feel free to redirect me.
I’m moving into a home with my girlfriend next month and will have my own dedicated studio room for the very first time. To simplify my workflow/time (and because I’m becoming a bit of a minimalist), I’m considering having my desk just be my computer, some active monitors, MIDI controller, and a small mixer.
Monitor shopping has been lots of fun, and I’m leaning towards some of the PreSonus offerings (USA! USA!), but am just wondering what components I should be considering to round out the signal path to optimize and provide the best power, clarity, and transparency of sound between the computer and monitors. I will be running Logic Pro from a Mac Mini, and have a small 5-channel ART TubeMix mixer. Are there any other pieces or outboard gear I should be adding to beef-up/power/clarify what’s coming out of the computer and into the montitors?
I also like to record and occasionally playback with headphones (Grado SR80’s).
Thanks in advance!
Between computer and speakers, a good quality audio interface will be better than the computer’s built in audio interface.
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My mixer (ART TubeMix) can also double as a 16-bit, 48kHz audio interface which is plenty hi-fi for my purposes. I don’t intend on using much/any hardware or recording live audio with this setup.
I’d be inclined to keep it simple - under normal circumstances you want to know what’s going on in your sound so you can learn how to make music that translates to other systems. I’d therefore steer away from anything that beefs things up…do that inside your DAW, not after?
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That makes sense, and is something I’ve considered. I guess that’s the real benefit of active monitors, I just worry about things being underpowered or weak and coloring the sound.
So a good pair of monitors is really all I need to get sorted at this point then?
Good call, I had this in mind as well. Is some sort of buffer necessary between the stand and monitors themselves? Like a foam pad or rubber feet or strips?
Good question. 
My monitors came with a short of padding underneath, and the stands came with some small gluable triangles. Best research if either the monitors or the stands come with something!
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If your intent is to add something to your setup to improve the sound quality, IMHO your best option would be to replace your Art Tubemixer with an audio interface which does less but costs more.
No absolutely not necessary. Top end speakers, whether floorstanding or stand mounted, do not include foam/rubber pads.
The norm is sharp metal studs, either on the speaker itself or the stand. Some studios even build speakers into a wall because rigidity is everything when it comes to speakers.
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I’m not looking to improve sound “quality” per se, mostly just make sure everything is clear and properly powered, routed, and configured. Seeking transparency and flatness vs. sweetness. I don’t see much reason to buy another audio interface if I already have one that works fine and is simple enough for my purposes. Anything higher than 48kHz doesn’t add much value and eats up storage anyways.
I’m definitely going to get some of those Auralex foam isolation pads for the monitor stands. Now I’m trying to decide between desk monitor stands or floor ones. Have to consider my mischievous cat as well…
Just for your information, bit depth and sampling frequencies are just two of the parameters you might look at to determine the quality of an audio interface.
Other parameters, which are arguably more important, are values for Frequency Response (which should include +/- dB values) and Signal to Noise ratio (both weighted and unweighted).
Further parameters include values forTotal Harmonic Distortion + Noise and Channel separation. Although, due to the state of current technology, pretty much every device should be satisfactory in these areas.
Be mindful that if you are using active speakers (where the power amps are inside the speakers) your audio interface is a pre-amp as well as a DA/AD converter.
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