It goes without saying that the more you send on monitor speakers, the better accuracy you’ll have in monitoring. But what many people fail to realize is that even expensive speakers in a room with dense reflections create an extremely unbalanced soundtrack. Bass frequencies build up dramatically in reflective environments, and mixing in such a setting can produce a hollow soundtrack as you attempt to compensate. We don’t have time to delve into acoustic treatments and design right now, but here are a couple basic principles. One, try and break up any reflective surfaces in your listening environment by adding absorbent surfaces. This could be something as simple as hanging a coat in a strategic place, or something more involved like carpeting the walls. In the case of sound editing, a cluttered office can be a good thing. The more you can do to dampen the sound reflections, the more neutral your sound is going to be.