| Subject: Re: Addressing Equalization under Different Circumstances |
Author:
Har-Bal
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Date Posted: 18:27:01 09/04/03 Thu
In reply to:
Alan
's message, "Addressing Equalization under Different Circumstances" on 18:22:17 09/04/03 Thu
Hello Alan,
I relate to your observations about the changing response of human hearing with time and illnesses. I've always been frustrated with loudspeaker design for the same reasons. That is, you build and
adjust your crossover one day and think it sounds brilliant to only find that a few days later it doesn't. I tend to get inflamed Eustachian tubes either from colds or allergies which plays havoc to my
hearing sensitivity in the lower mid range.
What I can say in favour of Har-Bal is this. It gives you an independent assessment of the tonal balance of a recording. Independent in the sense that it is not affected by how your feeling and
whether your hearing is today affected by gastric reflux, allergies or colds. So if you have recordings that, on balance you think have a greater tonal mix you can use them as a reference in Har-Bal and
do what one user of Har-Bal suggested - fly blind.
Like you, I've always been concerned as to why some recordings sound so much better than others and why, for that matter a lot of analog recordings seem to have a more listenable quality. It is now my
believe that most of the perceived quality simple comes from the spectral balance and the reason why analog quite often sounds warmer is because of its tendency to clamp down on the harsh parts
(through tape saturation).
My suggestion to you on learning more about the troubling frequencies is to take a close look at your music collection. Sort them into the recordings that sound good and those that sound bad and then
look at the average spectrum of each using Har-Bal. Doing so, you'll quickly start to see which regions of the spectrum are responsible for the types of sound quality that you here. Try adjusting out
the anomalies and re-listen to the track and see if your interpretation of that spectrum region is correct. Once you've done this for a dozen tracks you'll find that you are quickly building an
understanding of what makes a good mix.
The one thing that you should be aware of, however, is that you will generally only get uniform spectrums across the whole band for tracks that have sufficient instruments in the mix. Depending upon
the instrumentation in the mix you'll need to adjust your perception of what is the ideal balance. This will come with experience and you can always rely on listening to the mix as the final arbiter.
Perhaps my partner, Earle Holder, can send you extra examples. Also be sure to read through the tutorial in the help file fully to obtain a solid grounding in using Har-Bal. Also take a look at the
forum on our web page as this has some discussions that are relevant.
To give you my basic understanding of various portions of the spectrum:
120Hz and lower, These frequencies are generally responsible for warmth in a recording. Too much and the recording will sound muddy.
120Hz - 600Hz, these frequencies give depth to a recording, giving vocals and other instruments a strong sense of presence without being clinical. On the other hand, these frequencies are where you're
most likely to experience problems with vocal resonances. Too much in this area can be particularly fatiguing.
600Hz - 3kHz, these frequencies also give presence but of a generally harder nature. High output in this region is fairly common in rock music as it gives it a hard edge that suites the genre.
3kHz-7kHz, is the area where vocal sibilance resides. 3kHz-5kHz is a very common peaking area in rock music because human hearing is pretty sensitive here and extra output here makes it sound louder.
It also adds a harshness that is particularly fatiguing so don't over do it. Because of the high sensitivity in this region you can add warmth without loss of clarity by attenuating this region a bit.
7kHz-, Cymbals etc, and all the other components that add the sense of quality and accuracy. Above 10kHz too much output may make your recordings sound like they are lacking some definition.
Hope this helps.
Regards,
Paavo.
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