Itunes Equalizer
Aug 8, 2012 at 4:19 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 43
NimbleTurtle

NimbleTurtle

Now known as Lord Voldermort
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So the itunes equalizer has many options, including flat, acoustics, jazz, classical, etc. Is "flat" the way I'm supposed to hear it? The default choice that recorders intended us to hear it? I find "flat" to be extremely dull to listen to. Listening to the cello suite no 6. courante right now and the dynamic range is severely limited under the flat option. 
 
Anyone care to enlighten me? 
 
Aug 8, 2012 at 4:43 PM Post #2 of 43
Flat is the preset that sets everything to 0. Presumably, it's meant as a starting point to create your own manual eq settings from. It "should" be the same as not having the eq on at all. 
 
Aug 8, 2012 at 7:22 PM Post #3 of 43
Best to just disable it. It's pretty crummy.
 
Aug 8, 2012 at 8:44 PM Post #4 of 43
I always wondered about the itunes EQ. I like a subtle boost in 32,64,8K,16K ranges and I turn the DB level down a bit to compensate for the added volume as to not distort it. But I have wondered if i'm killing the audio rather than enhancing it.
 
Aug 8, 2012 at 8:54 PM Post #5 of 43
Turn it off completely.  That will play the recording without any alterations-- in a sense, the way the engineer intended you to hear it, but I dislike that statement.  You don't know what they intended you to hear unless you were using their mastering room.
 
If you find a recording to be dull, then it's a limitation of either the recording/mastering itself, or your headphones/speakers and other things in the audio chain.
 
If you want to use the iTunes EQ, it's best to EQ certain bars down.  The frequencies you want emphasized will stay at 0db.
 
Aug 8, 2012 at 9:16 PM Post #6 of 43
CDs are mastered to be played with a flat frequency response. If your headphones or speakers don't have a flat response, EQ can get you closer to what the engineers intended. Unfortunately, the equalizer in iTunes isn't really up to the job.
 
Aug 8, 2012 at 9:22 PM Post #7 of 43
Half the time the engineer isn't even mastering for a flat system playback.  Best to weed those songs out of your library to cleanse it.  
biggrin.gif

 
Aug 8, 2012 at 9:30 PM Post #8 of 43
I have supervised sound mixes. Every studio I ever worked with calibrated to flat response. If they hadn't they would have paid to fix it on their own dime.

The advent of home studios has led to sloppy engineering on many levels though. I always had the budget to do it with pros.
 
Aug 8, 2012 at 9:33 PM Post #10 of 43
I've never encountered that.
 
Aug 8, 2012 at 9:44 PM Post #11 of 43
how about using multiband EQ on VST host.. with log of plug-in you get many option to experiment and find EQ you like...moreover it works with any thing we play whether its iTunes, Youtube, 8tracks, foobar , VLC...
 
Oct 25, 2012 at 2:01 PM Post #12 of 43
I usually don't eq for the music sake. I eq according to what I hear and see on frequency response charts of headphones. I just got the ultrasone hfi-2200 (in no way neutral) and a touch of eq here and there makes them sound fantastic
 
Oct 26, 2012 at 10:39 PM Post #13 of 43
The frequency response charts of headphones can be misleading, especially because they often don't account for hrtf, or have a less than idael hrtf compensation.  Ideal way to EQ would be to take a lossless pink noise tone and EQ accordingly so that all aspects of its textured and layered sound are equally present.  Easy to pick out peaks in a headphone that way, finding nulls is way harder.
 
Jan 1, 2013 at 8:21 PM Post #14 of 43
On the itunes EQ i took mine all the way down to -12 db and started there, searching for what stood out. But I found everything ended up at or above 0. It did help quite a bit at making my yamaha planars sound wider ranged with the EQ on. Everything ended up somewhere between 0 and 6. I think I can agree that flat is intended by the sound editors of albums. However, some cans seem to over-emphasize ranges, and leaving those ranges at 0 and taking quieter sounds up worked for me.
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Mar 29, 2013 at 11:06 AM Post #15 of 43
The Itunes player isn't great and is also limited by the file type and the system you're playing it through.However, I've found that playback is greatly improved by turning on the sound enhancer via Itunes>preferences and then playing with the EQ manually.  Again, I have found an EQ setting similar to a standard metal guitar setting works best (v shape) ie, push the 64, 32 and 18, 16 leaving the rest in the middle.
 
EQs are completely subjective. There are "industry standards" if you like, but your ears should have the last say.
 
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