"Great you convinced me, so what do I need to know about monitors then?"

Good question - it's not as simple as going to your local store and picking the ones you like best.... it CAN be, but as with all things audio, there's more to it than that.

First of all - the most important thing you have to realize is this: if you can't hear, or don't hear it properly, you have no way of knowing if something is recorded properly or not.

The second most important thing to realize is that monitors are really made up of two components - the monitors themselves, and the room they're placed in. The best sounding monitors in the world will sound like some variation of cow-droppings if placed in a poor-sounding, acoustically untreated room.

"But I heard that using nearfield monitors takes the room out of the equation?"

Well... that may be true - if you happen to be as close listening to them as you are when using headphones - but if you listen to your monitors at the more usual 3-5 or so feet, the room is definitely interacting with them.

OK - so first thing - think about the room acoustics of where you plan to use them, and consider using sound treatment as needed. (Great info on sound treatment is available here: http://www.ethanwiner.com/acoustics.html)

Next - what to look for in a monitor....

Well - the first characteristic is that it should be sonically balanced. There's no such thing as a flat monitor, but you certainly don't want a monitor to impart excessive or inadequate highs, mids, or lows. Put it this way, whatever frequency range is over-emphasized by the monitors, will be under-emphasized in your productions. This means that if your monitors are excessively bright-sounding, your projects will sound unusually dark and muddy as you will under-compensate the high-frequency range during production.

Second - shop at a dealer that will let you take the monitors home to test/audition (or buy them but be allowed to exchange them). Why? Because the dealer showroom has virtually no similarity to where YOU will be using them, so testing them in the showroom is about as useful as putting a blanket over them.

And finally - your ears have to be able to work with them... and everyone's ears are unique. So don't buy monitors because you heard that every studio in the world uses them - buy them because YOUR EARS like what they hear and you feel you can work with them. There are many monitor options available now, at all kinds of different price points, so there really is something for everyone.

"I found the monitors that suit me, so what's next?"

Now the fun begins - you LISTEN! Really listen.... to everything.... voice, music, dogs barking.... you need to really get a sense of what the monitors are telling you in your sonic space. There will undoubtedly be some sonic deviations in the response, and it's very important that you learn your monitors characteristics (in your room) so that you can compensate with the variations and properly balance your projects during productions so that they translate well across all sound systems. This can take weeks - and there are no shortcuts - you just listen as much as you can.

Also keep in mind your listening levels - the human ear has a frequency response that varies with sound pressure level (loudness in the room), and so it turns out that 83-85dB is the average at which the ear's response is most balanced. You definitely don't want to be listening at levels louder than that for extended periods of time. After all, if you go deaf, there goes your livelihood!