Do You Equalize?

In the car...yes. Home...just some treble cut on the occasional bright recording.

 

The flip side, Sooooo many great sounding recordings, why waste time on crap recordings. I'm not going to torture myself or do system acrobatics for an artist that can't get it right.

My biggest pet peeve is distorted vocals. I can't stand them. My ears can't take it in any form. There are some local bands that I'd like to support but I'm not going to buy their albums because I can't stand to listen to their recording, even if the music is great.
Another example, I can't stand the Black Keys. Their distorted vocals cause me pain. After one song I'm reaching for the volume knob to turn it down. After three songs I'm done.

So I pick and choose what I listen to based on what I like that is listenable. If it is painful it is never heard again because there is plenty of excellent sounding music out there to fill my shelves. Why waste time on crap recordings when there are enough great recordings to fill a lifetime of musical enjoyment.

 

This song was going through my mind when I read your post...

 

I was listening to the "indie" station on the way to work...each song is a wall of distortion...that is the "trend" I suppose. No EQ can fix that.

 

Because they maybe crappy but great music anyway to the fan ?

 

"I was born to equalize ..."

 

@bhazen. Now that is funny!

 

I use the EQ buttons on my Yamaha receiver , I have a specific Eq that I like when I am listening to my cds , I like Mild bass and nice detailed treble ( never exaggerated )
occasionally if I feel that there is a cd or a song that needs a bit less/more bass/treble then I change the EQ but only very delicate changes.
as DaleClark said , it gives some layer of flavor to the music like flavor to a food.

Because it is very much a matter of personal taste
I don't think there is a wrong way to listen to music , those who enjoy to listen with flat EQ or with EQ.

 

Only for cutting not boosting

 

My idea of music reproduction has gravitated towards fewer processes in the chain, not more. Each time I clean the process up things get more and more clear. Crossovers, transistors, anything digital, all gone by the wayside. I have kept a CD player and while the music sounds great in a way, the presence suffers. Now, the bass is great, the noise level is awesome, but the sense of having the performer in the room suffers. So, processing with equalization is not something that attracts me, at least not in the mid to upper registers.
Have to admit though, pretty often I feel like I could improve the presentation by accentuation of a frequency range. My understanding though, is that this equalization will be at the expense of presence. I don't really know for a fact that phase relationships suffer with equalization in home audio, but much more knowledgeable audio experts seem to think so.

 

Yes, single malt attenuated...

 

You must really hate the drop in sound quality from mastering engineers EQing the master tape instead of just transferring it flat!

 

After a lot of experimentation I stopped using the equalizer for a while. Lately I have been experimenting with a single cut of about 1.5 to 2 db at 3640 hz where there is a peak in the frequency response. Earlier, I noticed this took out harshness which crept in when boosting around 2k. This appears to be an improvement. It's entirely possible this works because of a room problem.

 

I have a Realistic EQ, model 31-2020 as part of my system. Most of the time the adjustments just stay put (progressively boosted highs and lows, attenuated mids) but sometimes I mess with them for certain songs.

Those against equalization say that equalizers are just to compensate for crappy speakers or improper room set-up. Even if that is the case, at least EQ's are a convenient way to substitute if one cannot afford the best speakers out there. Of course for the WORST ones, nothing can really help.

Admittedly, the downsides of using an external EQ - more equipment, wiring, another layer of distortion (however subtil) and one more component to mess up.

Mine has the LED spectrum analyzer which is kind of cool to watch. EQ's are kind of fun to play with.

 

No

 

There are several posts above approving the use of a DSP which flattens the response of the entire system in room, something like what Legacy uses. I am not using a separate component, just a VST plug in with foobar. At this point I believe I found a speaker/room interaction by trial and error.