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Acoustics 101 - Chapter 5: Monitor Mounting
Practical Guidelines For Constructing Accurate Acoustical Spaces

Monitor Mounting

Many times a studio owner will build a decent wall then sabotage himself by nailing up a shelf to support his “nearfield” loudspeakers, or “monitors.” The problem with this is the monitors generate high SPLs (Sound Pressure Levels), transmit the sound through their cabinets and into the shelf, then the shelf excites the wall and transmission throughout the rest of the structure occurs. So, if you must rest your monitors on shelves, do what you can to isolate the loudspeakers from the shelves and the shelves from the structure, such as covering the shelves with a layer or two of SheetBlok or Platfoam. If supporting your shelves with angle irons (which are not pretty if left exposed, but very functional and easily hidden with Studiofoam), place a strip of SheetBlok or foam weatherstrip tape on the back of each angle iron, then screw it to the wall, preferably using plastic wall anchors with your screws whether or not you are screwing into wallboard or directly into studs. The plastic anchors actually help filter the sound traveling through them.

Another monitor mounting solution is to suspend your monitors from the wall or ceiling by using rubber tie down straps and eye bolts. The eye bolts should be screwed into sturdy studs and into the monitor cabinets at sturdy points. From there, rubber tie down straps can be used to adjust the monitors to the required angles. The obvious advantage of using rubber straps instead of metal chain is that the rubber straps help better isolate the monitor cabinets from the structure. Please be careful doing this because we do not want – and are not responsible for – your monitors falling on your head.

If you intend to set your monitors on shelves that rest on or overlap the top of your console, it is important to not only isolate your monitors from the shelves with SheetBlok, rubber feet (Radio Shack part # 64–2342), or our highly regarded MoPADT monitor isolation pads, but also the shelves from the console. Remember that everything resonates (vibrates) at a certain frequency – even consoles – thus producing unwanted sound. Also, do not forget to place Studiofoam pieces on the top of your meter bridge to stop those pesky early reflections.

For those of you who have large monitors that are to be flush or “soffit” mounted in your walls, the old school of thought about resting them on concrete–filled cavities has generally been debunked. These days we know that concrete is so dense it transmits sound very well, so it is better to simply build good, sturdy soffits, then place the monitors in them using the aforementioned methods to isolate the monitors from the soffits. The inside spaces of the soffits themselves can resonate, so damp them appropriately, by floating them from the floor and walls and by lining them with SheetBlok, then lining the soffits with Platfoam so your monitors are “wedged in.” Be extra careful when constructing your soffits to make sure the monitors are at precisely the same downward angle and precisely the same distance off the center line from your mix position because, as you may know, you and your monitors should form an equilateral (all sides the same length) triangle, otherwise you will forever think your channel balance is off. For more great help on soffit–mounting – including construction details – check out the SAE Reference Material site and click on the “Construction” link on the left side, then on the “Speakers” tab that appears at the top of the page.