Sound for Video Session: Some Thoughts on Near-field Monitors/Speakers

In this week's Sound for Video Session I talk more about my search for the right near-field monitors for my post and mixing work. In that quest, I had a chance to listen to several more including those listed below. Still no final decision, but I’ve very tempted by the Focal Solo6 Be. My pocketbook is not quite so sure. :)

Links to gear we discussed or used to record this session:

KRK Rokit 8 G3 Near-field Active Monitors

Focal CMS 65 - Same as the 40s but with 6.5 inch woofers and bass response that reaches a little lower on the spectrum. These are on closeout so a good time to buy if you’re in the market.

Focal Shape 65 - These are the newer versions of the CMS. Will be included in our upcoming comparison

Focal Solo6 Be - Top-end professional near-fields from Focal. Beryllium tweeter

Presonus R65 AMT Near-field Monitors - pretty impressive “budget” option with ribbon tweeters

Adam A7x Near-field Monitors - Adam made the ribbon tweeter a bit more mainstream. Great sounding mid-range monitors

Antelope Audio Orion Studio Audio Interface (This is what I used to drive all of the monitors we tested)

Copyright 2017 by Curtis Judd

Choosing Reference Monitors for Editing Sound for Video

To edit your sound for video and film projects, you’ll need some speakers to play back that sound. You could just use whatever speakers for headphones or earbuds you happen to have kicking around, but its really difficult to get a consistent sound with these.

So what do you do when you’re ready to take your sound to the next level? You may want to look at reference monitors. These are speakers which are specially designed to play back your recorded sound as accurately as possible. This will help you find and fix any problems with your sound.

In this episode, we have a look at 5 different reference monitors (below) and talk through which of them might suit you best, especially if like me, you’re editing in a small spare bedroom at your home.

If you want to measure your monitors and room, you can use the free Room EQ Wizard. Here's a tutorial on How to use Room EQ Wizard (Courtesy of GIK Acoustics)

Also, special thanks go out to B&H Photo/Video for lending us the monitors for evaluation.

Focal CMS 40 Monitor 4” woofer - this was my pick for sound editing in small rooms. Priced at $425 USD each.

Focal Alpha 80 Monitor 8” woofer - this was the most exciting monitor and would work great in larger rooms. Steer clear for smallish rooms (e.g., 6 meters by 6 meters or less)

KRK Rokit Powered 8 Monitor I’ve had a set of these for 6 years and they’ve served me well. They’re quite good in rooms with bass traps

JBL LSR308 8” woofers. They’re quite good in rooms with bass traps, but do have rear facing ports - best for larger rooms.

Yamaha HS8 Very popular monitors in the music production world. 8” woofers. They’re quite good in rooms with bass traps, but do have rear facing ports - best for larger rooms

Sound for Video Session: Choosing Audio Monitors

Here are some more thoughts on things to consider when it comes time to invest in reference near-field monitors to take your audio processing to the next level.