EQ for which target listener?

[MrHCinDE]

Here's a question for those experienced with recording and sound engineering.

The background is that thanks to the events of the past 18 Months or so I've been experimenting with some home recording. Different mic placements, different rooms etc. After reading some useful posts on here and some trial and error, I could get pretty close to what I wanted the sound to be, or at least I thought I had.

With my usual everyday headphones playing directly form my iPhone, it was ok, apart from what I thought was a bit of ringing which I had put down to a resonance in the room or the uneven response of the microphone (Shure MV51). Actually I had used a bit of EQ to suppress that frequency range and I thought it sounded ok. Recently I got some budget (AKG K240, around €50) studio headphones for entirely different reasons, mainly because I wanted something semi-open and more comfortable for the endless zoom meetings. The AKG headphones have a very even response. When I listen back to the non-EQd raw sound with the AKG studio headphones, I realised the ringing is not so bad after all and was probably more to do with the uneven response of my other headphones.

Another effect I noticed is that the sound on my PC of the same files is totally different to the iPhone. On the PC it was woolly and airy, not far from a sound with a bucket mute. I suspected that the on-board sound of the PC probably isn't the greatest. I could EQ the sound to make it better on the PC but this gave unsatisfactory results on the iPhone. I also thought that the iPhone could be optimized for listening to pop music and less so for solo trombone. I found that by default Dolby Audio was turned on (on the PC) and by simply switching it off I could get a much more natural sound of my own test recordings and of classical music on CDs etc. also. The difference between the PC without Dolby Audio and the iPhone was much smaller and the track with the same EQ basically worked ok on both. I prefer listening to classical stuff on my PC without Dolby Audio now, though I may turn it back on for some other genres.

The question is, how do you allow for this when EQing a track? You can't know which headphones, smartphone, hifi, car stereo or whatever other device will be used and what sort of Dolby Audio / Bass Boost etc. will be turned on. Is there a middle ground to be found which gives an adequate listening experience on many devices?

[ithinknot]

Super low distortion, flat response monitors in an acoustically treated room, plus a lot of experience. (Followed up by checking the results in mono, on your phone, in the car, etc.)

There's a reason why mastering engineering is A Thing of its own. And why radio broadcasts have significant dynamic range compression applied compared to CD releases, moreso for talk radio and pop stations likely to be listened to in cars than 'serious' spoken word or classical music, etc etc...

At the lower end of the equipment spectrum, you can make educated guesses and compensate - like painting in sunglasses - but below a certain level it's hopeless.

Depending on the circumstances, I might do a location recording establishing mic placements using headphones that are significantly less flat than my studio monitors at home, but you need to have learned how the coloration differs. (Not to mention the difference in stereo field presentation - some people find this easier to judge in the field using a crossfeed matrix on the headphones, but either way you need know the difference as the end results will be listened to on normal headphones.)

[harrisonreed]

This question is at the root of being a tonmeister

[robcat2075]

I think you need a larger sample set than just two devices.

Try some other PCs and see if your computer is an outlier.

[harrisonreed]

When EQing, you should be in a treated room with the correct monitor setup. And you should also EQ with great open back headphones.

Then you bring it into your car, and listen there. Then you listen to it on crappy iPhone headphones. Then you try Beats by Dre. Once it's where you want, then you send it to a mastering professional.

It's a full time profession.

[baileyman]

I have a pair of Yamaha 7s (?) that play really bright. I recall that at one time commercial sound engineers would mix to these things because the sound in a car came out okay. Not okay in a nice room, however. My own preference at advanced age is for lotsa treble, less popular with my babies. John

[MrHCinDE]

Thanks all, some interesting stuff to think about. I hadn't even considered the human factor and personal preferences.

To put my original question in more context, I'm not realistically expecting to reach a professional sound quality with my simple setup, and in any case the recording setup and mix would not be the limiting factor in that respect as the better they are, the more you can hear the ... err ... 'quality' of my playing.

Initially I was just planning to send to a couple of friends and family etc. and possibly post on YouTube if I get anything down which I'm pleased with.

I get the clear message that mastering is really an art and best left to the professionals. For my limited purposes, I've tried out a couple of my test recordings on more devices now and generally speaking prefer the results on all devices when I aim for the sound I want with the flattest setup I have (i.e. basic semi-open AKG studio headphones) when mixing, then EQ the bass down slightly. Overall, I try to use a light touch. Since I'm working in Garageband on my iPhone it's really easy to go and plug in to various devices and test, I can even try out EQ and other settings on-the-fly in Garageband on my phone which is quite handy for experimentation. It must sound a bit odd to anyone walking past my car though.

[ithinknot]

I get the clear message that mastering is really an art and best left to the professionals. For my limited purposes, I've tried out a couple of my test recordings on more devices now and generally speaking prefer the results on all devices when I aim for the sound I want with the flattest setup I have (i.e. basic semi-open AKG studio headphones) when mixing, then EQ the bass down slightly. Overall, I try to use a light touch. Since I'm working in Garageband on my iPhone it's really easy to go and plug in to various devices and test, I can even try out EQ and other settings on-the-fly in Garageband on my phone which is quite handy for experimentation. It must sound a bit odd to anyone walking past my car though.

Sounds good. Not trying to be discouraging - the point is simply that this is an art that begins and ends as a matter of opinion, with near-infinite potential expenditure on time and tools in the middle. With the equipment (and goals) in question, you're going about it the right way