Rack mounted Audio Studio Monitor Volume Controller

Studio Monitor Controllers

Most engineers start their home studios with a simple recording interface. When you’ve only got two inputs, a couple monitors and a set of headphones, it’s relatively easy to manage where the signal goes.

As you bring in more gear and evolve your studio space, you’ll soon come to realize that you’ve quickly outgrown this style of set-up. With expansion, it can become more difficult to route the signal where you want it to go.

Speaker Selection

Many engineers choose to include multiple sets of monitors in their studio. It’s not uncommon to see professional recording studios feature a pair of near-field monitors, a pair of far-field monitors, and one or two small cube-style monitors.

These different sets of monitors each have their own quirks, and allow you to hear how a track translates to different types of speakers. Rick Rubin famously keeps an old-school boombox in his studio for reference.

Monitor controllers typically feature multiple outputs so you can toggle between monitors with ease. Without a monitor controller, you’d have to crawl behind your desk and reconfigure your output connections manually.

source: https://vintageking.com/blog/2018/01/monitor-controllers/

Input Selection

Monitor controllers feature additional inputs.

These are typically used to monitor something other than your DAW through your studio monitors.

This feature is most commonly used to connect and monitor external playback devices — anything from a CD player, to a tape machine, to your phone!

Different monitors

One of the main reasons to buy a studio monitor controller is that you can switch between different monitors at the touch of a button. This can be very useful if you are working on a mix or tune an EQ, you can then experience with a push of a button how it sounds on another set of speakers – very good as reference material! I recommend switching between monitors at different times so that the reference is just as possible. Pay attention to how many monitors you want to connect and perhaps you can choose an old Logitech set as option B, so you can also experience that sound as a reference on the mix. Depending on the controller you can connect 1, 2 or more sets of studio monitors.

Mono mix

When mixing and listening to music, it can be useful to listen to it in mono. Many audio systems, for example on the radio, in clubs and at festivals, are mono. Does your mix sound bad on mono instead of stereo? Then you might not be able to give the quality you want at different locations. With a monitor controller, you can easily switch your system to mono at the push of a button. Mono puts both audio tracks right and left on a track, which we call mono. So that both speakers reinforce the same channel. Mixing in mono is a technique that many audio engineers use. More sophisticated systems allow you to mute an individual speaker so that you can detect problems in your mix.

Source: https://insideaudio.net/nl