Placement of monitor speakers: Is it normal to hear a lot more bass when stepping back?

Question

I recently purchased my first pair of studio monitors, KRK Rokit 6's. The instruction manual states...

...and accordingly I've placed the monitors 5' apart and 5' from me, with the acoustic axis level with my ears.

Sounds great, but when I roll my chair 3.5' back, I pass this threshold region no wider than 0.5', where I suddenly get slammed by a massive layer of bass and oomph. That sounds like what I want to hear! But have my ears just been trained to have too much affinity for bass? Yet, it feels like there's no bass at all when I return to where I'm supposed to sit. Is this common and expected with studio setups?

Answer 1

What you have is too much bass bouncing off the walls. You've created what are called standing waves in your room, which is very common. When there is a standing wave for any frequency, some spots in the room will have almost none of that frequency audible and other spots will have almost double. When you move around, you pass through both kinds of places.

The cheapest workaround is to move your speakers or listening position around until you are hearing the right amount of bass. Aside from being a pain, this create other problems like a very small sweet spot and usually if you fix one frequency this way you make other nearby frequencies worse, so your bass is inconsistent.

The most common solution is to deploy bass traps. These stop the bass from bouncing all around the room and starting standing waves. That way the bass goes from the speakers to your ears and is much more even in level.

The most expensive solution is to use a larger room. The larger the room, the lower the frequencies of standing waves. With a large enough room the frequencies are so low they are not even frequencies we can hear or produce from a speaker, so they don't matter.

This is one of the most common problems in setting up a monitoring system. Do web searches on standing waves and bass traps and you'll find more info than you wish existed on the topic.

Here's a Sound on Sound article on the topic.

And a decent article on monitor placement and treatment.

Answer 2

If you're using the set up purely for mixing in the DJ sense, as you've indicated, then it doesn't particularly matter how you position things. I'd suggest you go with your gut preference and what gives you what you feel you need to hear. However, you will find it an advantage to learn to mix in a variety of monitoring situations, the monitoring in DJ booths can vary widely and you should note that what you might hear on a dance floor doesn't reflect the levels normally available or wanted in a booth. Please protect your ears, blah blah blah.

When you're mixing in the mixing and mastering, sound engineering, near-field monitoring sense, then the set up matters, and the manual is just giving you a starting point. Todd's answer will be very relevant, though you should also note that studio monitors can sound very flat, and may take some time to 'learn'.

Answer 3

A couple of things to add on; If you are djing, then I assume you won't be sitting by your computer?? The way you describe it, it does sound like standing waves. If you are to produce, then you should get correctly set up. Using headphones with a flat response can help you get an idea of how your monitors should sound. Bear in mind that while producing music, you should be hearing the true, flat sound of the music. Which is different to what you hear in the club.

Something to try with standing waves, if you are low on funds, is a soft but heavy material in places around the room. Try a few in different places. This should absorb some of the energy from the waves, and give you a better sound for cheap. You should never really place monitors near a reflective wall. So try moving the whole desk around the room as well.

Answer 4

I think it is better to get a bigger room that is if your aim is to make music or a DJ. In order to make beats, you have to hear them first without any flair or flat. This way you will know how your music and beats real sound. It is also crucial to know how to set up studio monitors. This way whenever your ear is tired and fatigued, you can use your monitors.