Monitors or headphones first? The spending order for a first home studio

Headphones first. For most people starting a home studio in a bedroom, a good pair of closed studio headphones does more per dollar than monitors, because speakers are only as accurate as the room and placement around them, and headphones skip the room entirely.

That is our view, not a law. Below is what you can do for free first, then the order we would spend in, and the cases where monitors should come first.

Free first: use what you already own

Before buying anything, you can do real work on what is in the house:

• The headphones or earbuds you own. They are not neutral, but you can learn them. Play three or four commercial tracks you know well in the genre you make, at a moderate volume, and compare your mix against them often. Familiarity beats fidelity you do not understand.
• Your phone, laptop speakers and car. Treat them as check points, not mix tools. If the vocal disappears on a phone speaker, it will for many listeners.
• A free trial of headphone correction. Sonarworks offers a fully functional 21-day free trial of SoundID Reference, and says it supports over 500 headphone models. That is enough time to hear whether a calibrated curve changes your decisions before you pay for anything.
• Free placement fixes, if you already have speakers. Genelec's placement guide costs nothing to follow: a 60 degree angle between the speakers, the listener at the tip of an equilateral triangle, and the listening position at least one metre from the walls. Our studio monitors guide walks through it.

If you are working from a laptop alone, our laptop-only home studio guide covers the rest of the free setup.

Why headphones usually win the first purchase

Genelec warns that when the listening position sits badly against the room's resonances, "this can seriously affect low-frequency reproduction" (Genelec). In a small untreated bedroom, that is the normal case, not the exception. A new pair of monitors in that room can tell you the bass is too loud at one seat and missing a foot away.

Headphones avoid the room. They have their own faults (the stereo image sits inside your head, and long sessions tire the ears) but those faults are the same every day and in every room, which makes them easier to learn.

There is also a price argument. beyerdynamic lists its closed DT 770 PRO at $199.99, and that is a pair many producers keep for years. A pair of monitors plus the stands, cables and treatment they need to work well usually costs more, and the speakers alone do not fix the room. We have not quoted an INR price because we could not confirm a current Indian list price from the maker.

The spending order we would follow

1. Closed-back studio headphones. Closed backs also let you record a voice or instrument without the backing track bleeding into the mic. Pick the impedance to match what you plug into; beyerdynamic sells the DT 770 PRO in 32, 80 and 250 ohm versions (beyerdynamic). Our headphones guide explains impedance and open versus closed.
2. An audio interface, once you need to record or want a cleaner headphone output. See how to choose an audio interface.
3. Basic acoustic treatment for the spot where you will sit, before speakers, not after. Our acoustic treatment on a budget guide sets out what to do first.
4. Monitors, sized for the room. In a small room, smaller is usually safer than bigger; the monitors guide explains why.
5. Room correction, last. It refines a decent setup rather than rescuing a bad one, and speaker calibration in SoundID Reference needs a measurement microphone (Sonarworks). More in room correction explained.

When monitors should come first

• You already have a treated or naturally good room, such as a larger space with soft furnishings and a desk away from the walls.
• You make bass-heavy music and need to feel the low end, and can sit at least a metre from the walls as Genelec advises.
• You cannot wear headphones for long for comfort or health reasons.

Even then, keep a pair of headphones for checking detail and for late nights.

What we think

The usual forum advice is "get monitors, real producers mix on speakers". That is true in a good room and misleading in a bedroom. Spend on the thing that will tell you the truth in the room you actually have. For most first studios that is headphones, then treatment, then speakers.