Once you have your inputs squared away and you’ve recorded something it’s time to worry about hearing it back. This can be as simple as using the speakers built into your laptop or the speakers hooked up to your desktop or it could be a more major investment into studio monitors. Ultimately, the choice will come down to your intentions and your disposable income.
Like I said, you can use computer speakers but you should listen to them critically with some pre-recorded music and decide if you even think they are giving you the full frequency range. Many of these speakers are lacking bass and high end and the end up sounding rather tinny and full of mid range like a transistor radio. Some computer speakers have separate bass boosters but these tend to be really bass heavy and not at all representative of what you want when trying to mix your recordings. They will definitely do in a pinch to get you started but you will probably want to move away from them rather quickly.
That brings us to headphones. This is an excellent choice early on and it can be easy on your budget but there are lots of choices. There are many different kinds of headphones from ear buds to open and closed back designs. The open and closed back headphones are further differentiated by how they fit on your ear. Some fit right on your ears and some are meant to go over them. Open back are good if you want to hear more bleed from the room and closed back are better if you want to be in your own world. Ultimately it comes down to personal preference for fit, comfort, and sound. Try to find a place that has a few different types in stock and see what fits you best both physically and aurally and remember that you might have them on for extended periods of time so comfort is a prime factor.
I like to use Sony MDR-V900 because they sound great, they are comfortable, they have a coiled cable that stays out of the way, and they pack up into a small bag. They are also very flat in their response and that’s important. They aren’t made anymore though but there are lots of options out there. You should probably look for studio headphones and steer clear of pairs that advertise extra bass. In the beginning it doesn’t matter but if you ever want to mix for commercial release you will want something flat so you don’t get a misrepresentation of the frequency range of your music.
Finally, you will eventually want some nice speakers but you should look for studio monitors rather than stereo speakers. Why? Well stereo speakers are made to enhance pre-recorded music and fill the room. They also usually favor lows and highs because those are the kinds of things people are impressed by when listening. Studio monitors are made to be flat across the whole frequency range and are also usually meant for “near field” listening. In other words, you make a equilateral triangle with your head and the two speakers and that’s the best place to listen. If you go to big studios or even many home studios you will often find several pairs of monitors of various sizes in a switchable array but one good pair will take you pretty far. I use some self-powered monitors from M-Audio called the BX5-a but they are no longer made. I like having self-powered monitors because the amplifiers are already matched to the speakers and I don’t have to do any additional wiring.
I use my audio interface to handle all of the output stage stuff but I do use an external mixer so it’s easy to tun down the speakers while recording. You could definitely plug either the headphones or the studio monitors right into your computer with the right cables though.
