Soaa-
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2010
- Posts
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I've been wondering about this lately: some people, especially rock/metal listeners, seem to prefer a V-shaped EQ on their music. Some explanations were offered, ranging anywhere from an inexplicable increase in enjoyment to equal-loudness contours.
I've been thinking about this for a while, and tried making sense of all the relativity in the world of audio.
Let's make a few sound assumptions first.
Why, then, have people been adding bass and treble to their sound? Sure, there's the explanation that cheap gear only reproduces midrange, so a V-shaped EQ would bring some bass and treble back into the sound, but... with hi-fi gear?
Here's what I think. Recordings these days are all affected by the loudness war, but drums and cymbals need a lot of headroom to have proper impact. Sadly, marketers have continually won against the sound engineers, and the dynamic range of recordings has been decreasing over around the past 15 years. As a result, instruments that set the rhythm, e.g. drums and bass, have been more and more recessed in the mix, and people have noticed.
So what do people do to remedy the situation? They attempt to reverse the damage without fully comprehending its nature, by using a V-shaped EQ. It sounds good, but it seems many don't know exactly why. And even with the EQ, the sound isn't ideal due to dynamic range compression and mids that recess when the other frequency bands try to take over.
All that to say, if the recording is produced with levels that reflect real life, there shouldn't be any need for EQ. It's unfortunate that it's not the case. Thus, headphones that emphasize the bass and treble and color the sound will still be around, and people will confuse it with equal loudness contours and there will be endless fruitless debates on flat vs. non-flat. And there will always be a Grado crowd. /puts up shield
What do you guys think? Am I missing anything?
I've been thinking about this for a while, and tried making sense of all the relativity in the world of audio.
Let's make a few sound assumptions first.
- When we listen to real sounds in real life, there is no equalizer applied between the sound source and our ears, thus the sounds are produced flat, i.e. without any coloring.
- When we listen to real sounds in real life, the sounds enter our ears without compensation for the equal loudness contours.
- In an ideal sound system, sounds are reproduced exactly as in real life, i.e. flat and without compensation for the equal loudness contours.
Why, then, have people been adding bass and treble to their sound? Sure, there's the explanation that cheap gear only reproduces midrange, so a V-shaped EQ would bring some bass and treble back into the sound, but... with hi-fi gear?
Here's what I think. Recordings these days are all affected by the loudness war, but drums and cymbals need a lot of headroom to have proper impact. Sadly, marketers have continually won against the sound engineers, and the dynamic range of recordings has been decreasing over around the past 15 years. As a result, instruments that set the rhythm, e.g. drums and bass, have been more and more recessed in the mix, and people have noticed.
So what do people do to remedy the situation? They attempt to reverse the damage without fully comprehending its nature, by using a V-shaped EQ. It sounds good, but it seems many don't know exactly why. And even with the EQ, the sound isn't ideal due to dynamic range compression and mids that recess when the other frequency bands try to take over.
All that to say, if the recording is produced with levels that reflect real life, there shouldn't be any need for EQ. It's unfortunate that it's not the case. Thus, headphones that emphasize the bass and treble and color the sound will still be around, and people will confuse it with equal loudness contours and there will be endless fruitless debates on flat vs. non-flat. And there will always be a Grado crowd. /puts up shield
What do you guys think? Am I missing anything?