 While its sound-quality has often been derided, even by those who monitor through it, the NS-10 continues in use to this day and many more successful recordings have been produced with its aid over the past twenty five years than with any other monitor.By the mid-1980s the near-field monitor had become a permanent fixture.The larger studios still had large soffit-mounted main monitors but producers and engineers spent most of their time working with near-fields.