PreSonus Monitor Station V2 - Manual (Page 11)

Monitor Station V2 Owner’s Manual
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2.1.6 Calibrating Your Speaker Levels
Speaker calibration sets the output level of your speakers so that
a specific level shown on the Monitor Station V2’s meter equals a
specific acoustic level in your studio as measured in dB SPL. The
meter level most typically used for calibration is 0 VU.
Calibrating your speakers provides a few important benefits. First, calibration
establishes a comfortable maximum level for your studio environment.
A healthy monitoring level for a small control-room environment would
be 78 dB. For a large environment, 85 dB makes more sense. You can
estimate the best listening level for room sizes in-between.
Calibration also ensures that your left and right speakers are precisely balanced
with each other. This enhances stereo imaging and, more critically, allows you
to trust the stereo panning you hear as you work. When you perform a speaker
calibration, you separately set the level of each speaker to the same value.
Note: PreSonus does not suggest that the calibration method described here is
necessarily the best or the only worthwhile method of speaker calibration. Different
studio environments—with different equipment, clients, and purposes—may
benefit more from one of the many other methods available. If you want to calibrate
your studio monitors using a different method, we encourage you to do so.
What You’ll Need
Pink Noise. In the following steps, you’ll calibrate your speakers using 500 Hz to
2.5 kHz, bandwidth-limited pink noise at a level of -20 dBFS. (When calibrating a
subwoofer, use 40 Hz to 80 Hz, bandwidth-limited pink noise.) Many DAWs include
a tone generator that produces this type of pink noise and can be set to this level.
You can also download the required pink noise audio files for playback in your DAW
from a variety of free Web sites, or you can purchase a tone generator or test-tone
CDs from an electronics or entertainment retailer. If need be, you can use the chorus
of a modern commercial rock song as a quick-and-dirty substitute for pink noise.
Note: “dBFS” stands for “decibels full scale.” This is a measurement of amplitude level in
digital systems where there’s a finite maximum available level before clipping occurs.
This maximum level is referred to as “0 dBFS.” In a digital device with analog outputs,
such as an audio interface, the analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters
are configured so that 0 dBFS equals a certain amount of voltage. For example,
a 0 dBFS tone playing at Unity Gain from an AudioBox™ 1818VSL or FireStudio™
Project audio interface measures +10 dBu. It’s important to know the voltage your
device references to prevent overloading the input of the Monitor Station V2.
SPL Meter. In order to measure the sound-pressure level in your environment,
you’ll need an SPL meter. You can purchase an inexpensive SPL meter from an
electronics retailer or download an SPL-meter app for your phone. Make sure your
SPL meter can take C-weighted measurements and offers a slow response time.
When calibrating reference monitors in a studio, the acoustic level or sound-pressure
level (SPL) should be measured from the mixing position at seated ear height.
Essentially, you want the meter to measure SPL from where you listen, so position it
roughly where the middle of your head would be in terms of height and distance
from the speakers. (We’re assuming you follow the standard practice of listening from
a location facing an imaginary point precisely in the center of your speakers, creating
an equilateral triangle.)
You can place your SPL meter on a music stand or some other stationary structure
so that it doesn’t pick up handling noise or move during the procedure.
monitors
SPL meter