ABSTRACT

This chapter explains the functions of a monitor system, and describes the loudspeakers as information channels. The classical concept of studio monitoring has been 'The closest approach to the original sound', as the Acoustical Manufacturing Company stated in their advertising literature of the 1940s. The main functions of studio monitor loudspeaker performance are: to enable the users to detect things that may become problematical on the best domestic systems; to give the users the widest possible scope for artistic interpretation of what is being recorded. There is a fundamental difference between classical and rock music recording. It is generally true to say that reproduction of classical and acoustic music in the control room seeks to emulate the original acoustic performance. The rise of Internet downloads and the use of mobile telephones as a means of listening to music via 'ear buds' and 'microscopic' loudspeakers has introduced a new factor into the monitoring equation.