Near, Mid, Far Field Studio Monitors: Why you should(n’t) care. - AcousticsInsider.com 

I don't know how to thank you enough Jesco. I will refer ANYONE trying to understand/optimize homestudio acoustics to your channel. The way you simplify this stuff for us is such a blessing.. much love 💕

1. Establish sweet spot 2. Buy big speaker 3. Treat room accordingly

Really not sure why there isn't any videos on this. Glad someone made one!

I personally think "voodoo" is completely fine. In the culture I grew up in "voodoo" isn't harming anyones beliefs or personality as far as I know. Now that statement of mine does not imply, that I doubt there are or were people or communitys who were or are offended by that word. I think your slogan does what a slogan should do, which is getting to the root of the topic it describes and I think you managed that brilliantly. I immediately got what your channel and your target in these videos is about and I personally couldn't come up with a replacement for that slogan that hits home like the "voodoo-one". I suggest to keep it. You obviously don't want to harm or disrespect anyone with that slogan and don't have any bad intentions with it.

This helps answer many of my questions. thank you for the the explanation!

Thank you for this info! Super informative!

Thank you for this video. You probably saved me $5,000.00 on speaker costs. I will keep what I have and try them in my new control room. 4312's and NS10's. I will certainly watch all your vides as I progress in building my control room. Thank you!

Very good explanation! Awsmome video as always! Yeah i like the slogan too..

Also love the channel, killin it!

Nothing wrong with the slogan if you ask me mate. You spend a lot of time making these videos, your intentions are clearly good. Thanks for another video

Excellent explanation 👍

Hey, thank you can for making this brilliant piece of information comprehensible. I was wondering if there's still an active link I can find to the test you proposed for finding the ideal speaker position for your room? Thanks!

I saw you on the Present Day Production video and really enjoyed the interview and great information that you spoke of. I thought I'd stop by and give you a Sub. This is the first video I clicked on your channel and it is really opportune because I am facing a decision whether to buy 3-Way 8 inch monitors or the 3-Way 5 inch monitors (Kali Audio In-5 vs. Kali Audio In-8 monitors) for my home studio. I prefer to get the 8 inch versions, but I am not sure if they will be too big for my control room. I am going to give your phantom software a try....Again, I really enjoyed the interview on Present Day Productions with Mark and James. All the best... Philip NYC Area

I was always thinking what a clear and original slogan "voodoo" is. Please, keep it. Everyone is aware of general mystery of this topic, not because somebody is stupid and wrong, but because the very subject is complicated. And you are simplifying it for people without adding any more mystery. That's what "voodoo" means. It is not about being wrong (that is ok, everyone is sometimes wrong), it is more about overthinking the mystery of a subject.

Acoustic is like voodo - many people see results but have no idea how it works! So voodo is appropriate

As a studio designer and loudspeaker manufacturer, I agree with everything you're saying (you always want to be in the nearfield), but : - We don't use the term "far-field" but rather "studio-main", or just "main" studio monitors. - In my mind, the term near, mid, and main isn't as much related to the acoustic field you're in but (and you touch on this) the size of the speaker array on the baffle, because it will affect how close you can be to the speaker and still maintain the correct summing in the crossover areas, and the dBSPL capabilities of the speaker. A typical 1x8" woofer with a tweeter doesn't have the headroom to work well at 3 meters.

Don't worry about the tag. It works at it is.

C’mon Voodoo, please don’t change it. Eventually we won’t be able to use words, the line must be drawn somewhere.

I usually agree with your opinions but I think this is a bit misconstrued. "In the near/far field" is relative to the acoustic source. In the near field of a specific monitor, the port and woofer would be considered two separate sources, and in the far field they would be considered one acoustic source (this is just one random example). If you have a small, untreated/untrustworthy room, you wouldn't want large, far field monitors that would require you to be further away. You'd want the smallest monitors possible (near field speakers) so that you can sit quite close but still be in the far field. This allows you to have a high ratio of direct:room sound, as you mentioned.

Recently we got the term “ear field monitors” too.

Nearfield monitors make great passive bookshelf speakers. You can connect them directly to an external amp, if you have a dome tweeter u don't have to worry about it blowing.❤ There said something new about something so etc blah blah blah 😮 The silk dome tweeter converted directly to passive and connected directly to the external amp also gives a warm sound that is often associated with valve amps.🎉

In my example, to hear ANY decent low end I need to place my speakers around 10cm away from the wall and I need to sit around 140cm from the front wall. (My room is 445x378cm) While also my phantom center is perfect when my speakers are 168cm apart. So the problem is that I either go for reasonable low end or a phantom center.... Could anyone please help me? :/

Do note that some near-field active monitors are unable to handle playback levels required at further distances. Some of their internal amplification is insufficient for said usage, resulting in clipping, and others have drivers incapable of handling the magnitude of propagation, resulting in driver break up and sharply spiking levels of distortion

A hot subject. There are quality "bookshelf" loudspeakers which are marketed as "near-field' monitors and some can really energize a room with sound. I want to downsize my speakers without "downsizing" the sound. I don't want to sit 4 feet away from the speakers nor would I want to crank up the volume just to hear some detail while sitting further away from the speakers. Small speakers can't move the same volume of air - there are always trade-offs. It's finding the right balance.

If you have monitors on stands and the platform of the stands does not protrude in front of the monitors, are those foam monitor stands beneficial at all?

Your channel branding is fine, most of that is complaining by people with nothing other to do than complain.

typical near field setup is a 3 feet equilateral triangle but i noticed i hear more details when i move my head forward closer to about being 1 feet away from the speakers (smaller distance=higher perceived loudness). at such close distance i can now lower volume to get a normal listening loudness (but details perception return to previous state as volume is lowered). but lower volume also means lower room reflections, so same details as with the 3 feet equilateral triangle but lower room reflections it seems all good, what is your take about such "super near field" solution ? thanks

“Without all the voodoo” spoke to me. Leave it.

You probably don’t even need a slogan, tbh. I always thought it was kinda long, regardless of anyone’s feelings in either direction. Do you know if there’s any accurate data on MLV vs VPR membrane bass traps effects on frequencies below 100hz? (Preferably DIY ones, properly built of course) There seem to be a lot of conflicting opinions on which is more effective...

So if my desk can handle the weight, I should be ok putting Urei 809As on my meter bridge! Sweet!

any chances you could make a video explaining in what situation a water bottle (empty or not) could work as an acoustic absorber? i found out that the bottles of my favorite water are tuned exactly to the frequency peak in my room and i’m gonna die on the hill that says i will make use of these bottles to decrease that resonance.

"Done with facts, not feelings" although I'm sure someone would be mad about that now, too. You seriously deserve a zillion subs.

Nice--constant information for one who know's and can explain. Ideas to change your "....without the Vu-Du" : Without the; Snobbery, Non-Sense, Fluff, Sales Talk, Extraneous, Jive, Ego? lol. Best of Luck Sir & Job well done.

True story, Yamaha NS10s were originally meant to be hifi speakers. After mixing engineers started using them in recording studios, they were then marketed as nearfield monitors, ha ha!

I have a small Room and i want to buy the midfield monitors " Event 2030".. what you think about it?

Awesome info, thank you

I'm cool with 'voodoo'. I don't think it's gonna be seriously offending anyone. Anyway, good video, thanks. A question for you: I like Gregory Scott's Kush After Hours with UBK videos - more laid back than your approach. In his video 'Your SPEAKER SETUP Makes Mixing HARDER!' (ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-gvUgFlx-F4c.html) Gregory says at 1:36 "My rule of thumb is that if you can reach out and touch your speakers - even if you have to lean a little bit, then your speakers are too close". Gregory doesn't specifically talk about being in the acoustic nearfield or farfield. In your opinion, Jesco, is he referring to the idea of being so close that even with 'nearfield' monitors, you may be preventing the tweeters and midrange driver from aligning their waveform fronts before reaching you. You're commenting on this combining of waveform fronts at about 5:08. I have lots of respect for both of you (Gregory touches on acoustics, but he's covering mixing in general on his channel), so just trying to understand. How are we meant to know for any given nearfield speaker, whether we are too close? (i.e. inside the distance within which the wavefronts have not combined). Thanks.

Thanks for breaking everything down super easy, I'm always struggling with breaking these myth that people have on acoustics. They're so many people searching for better hardware, but they don't seem to understand how much of an impact good acoustics have. I've got on old pair of genelecs 1030 in my newly built super acoustic treated (15 tuned helmholtz and 21 QRD diffusers and loads of absortion) everybody is amazed on how good those sound in there 👍 and I bought them for 500$ used. Once again thanks for the great videos, makes me have something to point to when encountering an acoustic denier 🤣

Great video, thanks! If voodoo is innapropriate (is it really?) I would replace it with "mystique".

Seeing your sound thru the forest.

What is the "low-end sweet spot"?

Forgive my ignorance... what’s offensive about the use of the word voodoo?

Hu??! What’s wrong with “without all the voodoo”?? Good slogan.

Without the voodoo... "Explained clearly & simply" "introduction to terms & concepts" "room acoustics 101" "without the jargon" "for the non-technical" "without the word salad" "plain & simple" And possibly break it down with occasional pauses that contain a brief summary of what preceeded and a sentence describing what comes next... Cheers 😎

Voodoo is a great way to describe it. Don't chnage it

It does matter. Actually matters a lot when youre deciding to spend 2000+ dollars on a pair or youre even remotely considering the acoustical properties any control room especially one your building. If your logic was true that you always want near field without room then everyone would mix on headphones.

l like the definition of Voodoo used for this purpose -"based on highly improbable suppositions : extremely implausible or unrealistic"

... but with out the "Mumbo Jumbo" :)

I missed why woodoo is not ok... you can change it “without all the myths” or “demystified”

You could replace voodoo with wizardry so you don't have to change much. Or.... "Home studio acoustic hacks"

👍🏻👍🏻

Keep on rockin' Jesco. How about "Without All the Spin Doctors"? Cheers.

I got ur slogan - without all the bullshit xDD

Instead of 'voodoo' you could simply say 'confusion' or 'misconceptions' or 'mystery'. Wanting to advance in sensitivity and thoughtfulness in the words we use is a positive. Kudos to you for realizing the possible impacts of your words, and being open to change.

I put mine as far out in the field as I can, so about 500'

"Without all the flutter"

Tower speakers would obviously be terrible at nearfield. If you position yourself at ear level, nearly all the woofers soundwaves would barely make it directly to your ear.

So basically it's back to listening?

You can say "without all the mumbo Jumbo", that's what I would say

“ Acoustics treatment training by decoding all the voodoo “

"without all the Christianity" would have the same meaning. I'm sure no one would be offended by that religion being used in place of the Voodoo religion for the slogan, look how fine they are with Voodoo being used.

Ist "Critical distance" die direkte Übersetzung von "Hallradius" ?

Without the mystery

voooooooooodooooooooooooooo!

"mystery"?

You need a new slogan that has no voodoo

without all the woo woo

Keep Voodoo. I like it. The PC police really go too far sometimes.

with out all the hocus-pocus.

Voodoo! Please don't change it just because some small minded people think using the word automatically makes things worse somehow. It's fine. Going by that process of thinking, you'll have to ban a lot of words from your vocabulary :) Your content is relevant, accessible & easy to understand. Isn't that the whole point of language?

How about, "without all the technical mumbo jumbo" ?

I tell people that acoustics can seem like black magic due to all of the inconsistencies when conducting tests and how there are so many contradicting theories and that without measurements it can be very hard to put in words a description that multiple people can/will agree upon. Also there are so many ways to get to a solution in acoustics. How about "without all the black magic " or "without all the black magic explanations that leave us with more question than answers. Thanks for all you are doing!

with out woo or quackery

so its all just big monitor trying to sell us more woofer?

Very few to no people associated with those religions will probably ever watch these videos. However, you accepting that using the term voodoo in this way is inappropriate, really says a lot about your character. Of course some people here will not see any problems with the term being used derogatorily. But who are they to decide wether or not can use potentially offensive terms. Showing you are a caring human being is way better marketing than any slogan can ever be anyway.

Without all the Mystery....

Listen with your ears..?

"Hocus Pocus"

If you are offended by the word voodoo maybe you shouldnt be in audio. LOL!

I wanna know if having a room full of books will help with reflections.

How about 'snake oil' instead of 'voodoo'?

replace "Voodoo" with "Woo Woo"

The one middle class college graduate who is potentially going to be offended by voodoo would probably find something else to be offended by. Appeasement was a bad idea when Neville Chamberlain threw Poland under the bus and it's poor policy now.

Do not change your slogan for the .0001% (probably 2 people who are easily offended by virtually everything). Voodoo is a very clear term we all understand. ❤

Far field sounds like Garfield! :))

Don't change the slogan please! If it were up to the PC police you hardly could use any words any more these days. Thank God it's not! Don't be like Gearslutz, please. The "voodoo" analogy works perfectly. While I'm totally sure no one is going to be offended by this, a wise man once said "taking the risk of offending someone is necessary in order to think." While this is leading quickly away from talking strictly about your slogan, I believe it to be too important to not mention it. I'm horrified by the idea of the kind of Orwellian future we're facing IF we as a society give in to the ideological dictatorship that is trying to be raised globally. Sorry for my little rant there. As you would say "What I want you to take away from this is, that the word voodoo in this context is just fine ;-)". Much love 💕

Whoever put that comment in your ear, you should have just said…………

Anyone who is threatened by you using the term Voodoo in this context needs therapy. EDIT: If they get really upset you could say “Woo Woo”

Here are some more: Hocus pocus Mumbo jumbo -oops, I just checked this one: Origins. Mumbo Jumbo is an English word often cited by historians and etymologists as deriving from the Mandinka word "Maamajomboo", which refers to a masked male dancer who takes part in religious ceremonies. In the 18th century Mumbo Jumbo referred to a West African god. Smoke and mirrors

Come on Voodoo really ?. So soft soft soft. Take a stand for Fuk sake

FWIW, ironically your RU-vid video's audio is too low.

How about without all the steer manure?

Use 'voodoo' everyone knows you are not trying to hurt anyone. C'mon.

W/out all the diaper filler!'??? Eh mate?

Jonasu - Black Magic.... 6 million plays on RU-vid and 26 million on Spotify with the word "Voodoo" repeatedly in the lyrics, it should be banned!!!

Just use "Myths" or more specific, "Internet Myths" as the internet is the largest portrayer of myths that I have seen in my almost 70 years.

Seriously? This comment? It's beyond silly. Don't let people police your speech. I guarantee nobody, including this guy, actually care that you use the term voodoo. "Just once I'd like a touch of voodoo. Also, that term might be outdated. I dunno but something about conflating black cultural practices with nonsense seems ...off. Good channel and advice though."

I actually really appreciate Jesko trying to be sensitive with language and was bothered by the slogan before. Some people seem to not get the point of sensitive language... I mean it's not at all about policing, but about being aware of the meaning and consequences of the words you use. Equating "voodoo" with ~"unnecessary nonsense" is disrespectful towards a Black religion and it hurts people. If you still wanna use the term in such a way, be aware that you're potentially hurting people. And if you're taking your reflections a step further, see which patterns a person from a white-Christian context reproduces when disrespecting a Black religion. I'd just tame down my ego and not use it this way (what's the harm of not using a word in a certain way, compared to hurting many people?!). Why not finding another word with a similar meaning for the slogan? Like actually "without the nonsense" or "systematic/evidence-based"

Let's try to resist the authoritarian PC movement, please. Voodoo is a great slogan, and it isn't "appropriating" any culture. :)

Voodoo... seriously? It's all about context! When talking about acoustics... voodoo, wizardry, witchcraft or plain old magic can only mean one thing - that you're explaining something that appears unexplainable or supernatural. Voodoo is part of the English language... so it means what you intend it to mean - nothing more, nothing less.