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General Asylum General audio topics that don't fit into specific categories. |
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General Asylum General audio topics that don't fit into specific categories. |
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In Reply to: RE: So why do you expect an unnatural response.? if our hearing is the way it is? posted by hahax@verizon.net on August 20, 2012 at 20:11:02:
"A recording is usually balanced properly when listening at the level it was mastered at, at least assuming a good recording engineer."
Loud portions of recordings are generally mastered by listening at 85 dB. The reason for this has to do with the ability of ears to hear details better at louder volumes, up to the point where the ears begin to distort. Also, beyond this volume level loud sound quickly begins to damage one's hearing. (Even 85 dB will damage one's hearing if the music is continuously at this volume level for hours a day, as happens when playing loud pop music which comes compressed.) Recording engineers may find themselves unemployable if they lose their hearing.
If you attend performances of live acoustic music, 85 dB roughly corresponds to what you will hear at the best seats in the house, but at the conductor's podium the levels might be louder. Peak SPL at an audience seat has been measured at 105 dB during Mahler's 8th symphony, this is about as loud as you will ever hear when it comes to acoustic music. If you do not listen to recorded music at volume levels similar to those used during record production you will not hear an accurate representation of the recording and your reproduction of recorded sound can not possibly sound like "the real thing". With most recordings you will miss out on some lower level details, even if you have a very quiet room and excellent hearing. Whether this matters when it comes to musical enjoyment is a completely separate question.
IME it makes sense to adjust low frequency response to compensate for the characteristics of one's room and speakers. It does not make sense to constantly change this response when one plays back at lower volume levels, as I do when my neighbors are present. The music is going to sound different, so one may as well just get used to it, as Elizabeth suggests.
If you have a system with inadequate bass response one symptom of this is a need to play at ever louder volume levels in an attempt to achieve a frequency balance. If you find yourself doing this, then one cure is to fix your system, which may mean changing the equipment, moving the speakers and/or listening position, or employing some bass boost, provided it is done in moderation. Use of a calibrated microphone and measurement equipment is a good $200 investment, if one plans to go this route. If you have a system with excessive energy in the 2 kHz to 8 kHz range relative to the lower frequencies, it will sound harsh, particularly when played loudly. For various reasons, many recordings will sound harsh if your system's frequency response is flat in this range. The tonal balance was adjusted by equalization (or just selected by microphone choice and microphone positioning) so as to sound good on speakers with a slight high frequency roll-off. If you constantly feel the need to turn the volume down, perhaps this is because your system is too bright, relative to the recordings you are playing. If you have a system that has excessive response in the 2 kHz to 8 kHz range and inadequate low bass response it may sound poor regardless of what volume setting is used. One turns it up for more visceral impact, only to start getting a headache from the harshness. If one finds oneself in this sad situation, it would be best to modify one's system.
Tony Lauck
"Diversity is the law of nature; no two entities in this universe are uniform." - P.R. Sarkar
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Follow Ups
- RE: So why do you expect an unnatural response.? if our hearing is the way it is? - Tony Lauck 07:49:41 08/22/12 (0)
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