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do you use EQ?

post #1 of 233
3/1/08 at 12:35pm
Thread Starter 
YES?vote and comment
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post #2 of 233
3/1/08 at 12:39pm
Yes, but only to do minor adjustments to the sound, when needed.
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post #3 of 233
3/1/08 at 12:47pm
The response might be more accurate if you asked the question only of those whose source even supports custom EQ settings. Most lack this feature, thus the user couldn't employ a useful custom EQ setting even if they wanted to.
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post #4 of 233
3/1/08 at 12:53pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by ILikeMusic View Post
The response might be more accurate if you asked the question only of those whose source even supports custom EQ settings. Most lack this feature, thus the user couldn't employ a useful custom EQ setting even if they wanted to.
hmm if possible!
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post #5 of 233
3/1/08 at 1:09pm
Thread Starter 
please write.... "why? do you use or dont use eq?"
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post #6 of 233
3/1/08 at 1:30pm
I adjust the EQ to create a sound that I enjoy more than without it.
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post #7 of 233
3/1/08 at 1:36pm
Never!

A: You should but gear that sounds right to you in the first place and not try to fix it after the fact.

B: A recording is what it is the way the artist thought it should sound.
Would you buy a painting and then bust out the crayons because you think it needs more color? Of course you could, but it's not what the artist intended.

OTOH, there are some deaf artists/engineers out there who's output sounds like crap (Amy W.) and using EQ usually makes it sound different but not necessarily better.
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post #8 of 233
3/1/08 at 1:40pm
Yeah, now that I am using great gear, EQ becomes less important. I used to pretty much need to beef up the bass and the treble to get the sound I liked. But with the Edition 9, for instance, I really don't feel the need to EQ.

I would have liked to see a "only occasionally for very minor tweaks" option. (I didn't vote.)
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post #9 of 233
3/1/08 at 1:50pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Todd R View Post
Never!

A: You should but gear that sounds right to you in the first place and not try to fix it after the fact.

B: A recording is what it is.
It's offered the way the artist thought it should sound.
IMHO...

A: If I can use EQ to make it sound right to me with the gear I have, and it's free, I see no difference.

B: I bought the recording for me to enjoy, not to make the artist feel good.
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post #10 of 233
3/1/08 at 1:53pm
No I don't use EQ, I prefer it to be "as it is"
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post #11 of 233
3/1/08 at 2:10pm
No more than +4db for the sub bass.

Anymore and my ETY's sound too dark. Just a hint of a boost fills in the lower end better without ruining the rest of the spectrum.

and @ Todd:
A: nothing is perfect, and EQ is a simple and free tweak to make what was already good even better. I also find using too much EQ or doing dramatic changes usually kills the sound. Plus every recording studio has EQ, why shouldn't I?

B: Most of the time the artist doesn't even have a say on how it is being recorded. And how they thought it should sound on THEIR gear is different than on your gear. Maybe I am actually making the er4's true to how the artist really want it?
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post #12 of 233
3/1/08 at 2:18pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by RubenNYC View Post
IMHO...

A: If I can use EQ to make it sound right to me with the gear I have, and it's free, I see no difference.

B: I bought the recording for me to enjoy, not to make the artist feel good.
A: Then why did you buy it if didn't sound right to you?

B: You miss the point. It's has nothing to do with making them feel good, it's for you to hear it the way they intended it to be heard.

For example: I was listening to Peter Gabriel's album "US" last night.
I hadn't played that one in a really long time, and my first reaction was "holy crap there's too much bass".
Now if I would have grabbed the 'Ol EQ and knocked the bass down right away, I might have missed a lot of really cool but subtle bass lines and other low frequency info that came later in the recording.

Besides, I've yet to hear an EQ that didn't screw up the sound in some way.
It's like dumping ketchup on a steak.
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post #13 of 233
3/1/08 at 2:22pm
No EQ here - I like it "as is" as well.
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post #14 of 233
3/1/08 at 2:22pm
All this 'I want to hear it as it was meant to be heard' stuff is really misinformed for a host of reasons...

1. The best DAP/IEM combination in the world won't ensure that you are hearing playback exactly the same as the recording engineer did... there will be many variances inherent in your equipment (unless your source, amp, and transducer were carefully designed by the same engineering team to work together, which is virtually never the case in the consumer world.) These variances often need to be corrected.

2. Even if your equipment is perfect there are often large and unpredictable variances in IEM frequency response based on how they fit an individual's ear. These variances often need to be corrected.

3. Even if your equipment is perfect and your IEM miraculously presents a perfectly flat frequency response in your application, recordings themselves are sometimes poorly engineered. These often need to be corrected.

What people often miss is that EQ can be used to restore the intended sound as well as move away from it.
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post #15 of 233
3/1/08 at 2:33pm
I voted yes. I don't use EQ on my MS-1s, but I do on my Shure E3c, because they are quite "midrangy," so I bump the midrange down a little, to make them sound more neutral.
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