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Accurate and boring or colored and fun

DanielT

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I'm thinking about what type of solution I should get. Thank you for the tips and advice I received in the thread, even though I can not really, yet, concretize what I am looking for.

https://audiosciencereview.com/foru...he-buck-combination-amplifier-speakers.26465/

What about nowadays with the old (prejudice?) That exact speakers, those with a straight frequency curve, low distortion are dull to listen to? Thinking of studio monitors in the first place. Why would they be dull? Isn't a colorless sound the best, in the long run, if you do not want to get tired of listening? I myself have never heard any well-constructed monitors so I can not comment.

Here is what a sound engineer I have had some contact with said:

I have worked in the studio and as a sound engineer all my life

My studio monitors are straight, flat and piss off dull but damn accurate!
At home I want to cuddle with a little voodoo-flum and cuddly sound "


He likes old tube amps and vintage speakers, among other things.

I can understand him per se. He wants a different sound in his spare time. But for the rest of us who are not professional sound technicians. When we get home after work . We have not at our job listened to and analyzed music all day, so maybe that is exactly the preference? Curious about your attitude and your sound ideals.

Edit.
Isn't it easier to have a solution that does not color the sound and when, if you want a colored sound, you plug in an EQ?
I suspect that a colored sound may at first seem attractive (for example, an elevated "disco" bass) but that you get tired of it in the long run.
 
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Mart68

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Some people want to hear the sound of the recording.
Some people want to hear the sound of the equipment.
I'm in the first camp. Most enthusiasts IME (maybe not on this site though) are in the latter camp.
Personally I feel being in the latter camp is a fundamental error of approach. But a man must make his own decisions and live with them.
 
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DanielT

DanielT

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Some people want to hear the sound of the recording.
Some people want to hear the sound of the equipment.
I'm in the first camp. Most enthusiasts IME (maybe not on this site though) are in the latter camp.
Personally I feel being in the latter camp is a fundamental error of approach. But a man must make his own decisions and live with them.
No, I did not really understand the point of colored sound, ie as you say listen to the equipment.

Maybe if you are looking for high SPL then you can compromise and accept a more colored sound. It happens daily in professional PA contexts, right? But as a non professional within PA, at home, listen to music well ... no I do not think so. Although high SPL is nice to have ..:)
 
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DanielT

DanielT

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i prefer not to have permanent EQ in my speakers.
I have nothing against EQ, but i like those with sliders for frequence,gain and Q. And not one fixed build into equipment.
However, for some recordings, I have occasionally, when I want to color the sound with the use of EQ. Take, for example, old hard rock recordings. They can have a surprisingly thin base. Sure, the recording is that way, but hmm do not know if it has to do with the recording technology of the time and what you could get on recordings regarding the lower frequencies or if it was a sound ideal that was popular then?
 

tomtoo

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However, for some recordings, I have occasionally, when I want to color the sound with the use of EQ. Take, for example, old hard rock recordings. They can have a surprisingly thin base. Sure, the recording is that way, but hmm do not know if it has to do with the recording technology of the time and what you could get on recordings regarding the lower frequencies or if it was a sound ideal that was popular then?

Put a littel to much bass in and you have mush. But you see thats the good part without build in EQ in the speakers.
I would never say that someone has to listen always linear. Listen to music is fun and people are different what they enjoy most. But a linear system gives you a line how it was intendet. Than change for your taste is no crime.
 
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tomtoo

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See i not like to make out of how people listen to music a dogmatic religion. Its just my point of view, that you adapt to FR. And i think adapting to a linear FR has some advantages.
 

Benedium

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The answer is simple: if accurate equipment sounds boring to you, it's your music that's boring, not the equipment.

Best post!
I guess if there was a food analogy, it's like if you are one to always add extra salt to every dish u buy. Then one day you buy a dish that has already been cooked with loads of salt...
 
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Benedium

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Oh actually does this mean most recordings are made too dull? It happens so often that people naturally developed habit of adding 'salt'. Is it like a chicken and egg problem? Which came first? Dull recordings or salty amps?
 
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DanielT

DanielT

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The answer is simple: if accurate equipment sounds boring to you, it's your music that's boring, not the equipment.

I like the music. It's just sad that on some old recordings it is rather bad with the lower frequencies. I also imagine that high-pass filtered solutions, around 50 Hz, were used on recordings until the late 70's. Of course, what is NOT on the recording, you can not EQ. If it does not exist, it does not exist.

A little EQ on SOME songs, where it is possible, every now and then when you feel for it, there is now nothing wrong with it.

Even if the chef has created an extremely well-composed dish and wants it to be enjoyed as it is presented, it does not prevent me from salting or peppering it a little extra. Me and the chef have just a little different views on how it should taste. Not always, but sometimes. Haven't you done that? If you think there is a lack of salt or pepper, for example.

On the other hand, to remix old recordings and compress them. That can happen, or will happen is that the result will be catastrophic.

The picture , Earth, Wind & Fire with That's the Way of the World from 1975 and Maroon 5 with Best 4 U from 2017:
 

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Mart68

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I have a couple of (analogue) EQ units, a Sansui and a Klark Teknik, but have to say I never feel the need to use them.

If the bass was a bit thin (for my taste) on some old 70s rock recording I'm fine with it because that's the art as intended and who am I to second guess it.?

Not that I have any issue with anyone EQing to their heart's delight. Buying a heavily coloured system is a good way to long-term dissatisfaction though. Although given the circle of confusion all systems are coloured to some extent. Accuracy to the recording is a ballpark but it's better to be somewhere in the park than out in the street.
 
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DanielT

DanielT

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Let's say this. If you are in a cheap hamburger place and after you get the french fries salt them, nothing raises an eyebrow. If, on the other hand, you are in a Michelin 3-star restaurant and want more salt and or pepper, the situation is different.It's probably not time to change the top chef's creation.

If you like recordings with distorted guitars and if you are a real cracker for distorted guitars, then there is nothing wrong, if you at home, and if you would have the opportunity to get it MORE distorted. Even if it goes against the creator's intentions. You do not permanently destroy the artwork itself. It's just a temporary setting.

Speaking of permanent. Not so successful, so to speak:

Amateur restoration botches Jesus painting in Spain

https://www.pri.org/stories/2012-08-25/amateur-restoration-botches-jesus-painting-spain
 

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tomtoo

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Let's say this. If you are in a cheap hamburger place and after you get the french fries salt them, nothing raises an eyebrow. If, on the other hand, you are in a Michelin 3-star restaurant and want more salt and or pepper, the situation is different.It's probably not time to change the top chef's creation.

If you like recordings with distorted guitars and if you are a real cracker for distorted guitars, then there is nothing wrong, if you at home, you would have the opportunity to get the recording at that point to sound more distorted. Even if it goes against the creator's intentions. You do not permanently destroy the artwork itself. It's just a temporary setting.

Speaking of permanent. Not so successful, so to speak:

Amateur restoration botches Jesus painting in Spain

https://www.pri.org/stories/2012-08-25/amateur-restoration-botches-jesus-painting-spain

Sure, get a DAW and push your music trough a complete effects chain if you enjoy doing so. But dont complain if some say its not there taste.
 

Frgirard

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I'm thinking about what type of solution I should get. Thank you for the tips and advice I received in the thread, even though I can not really, yet, concretize what I am looking for.

https://audiosciencereview.com/foru...he-buck-combination-amplifier-speakers.26465/

What about nowadays with the old (prejudice?) That exact speakers, those with a straight frequency curve, low distortion are dull to listen to? Thinking of studio monitors in the first place. Why would they be dull? Isn't a colorless sound the best, in the long run, if you do not want to get tired of listening? I myself have never heard any well-constructed monitors so I can not comment.

Here is what a sound engineer I have had some contact with said:

I have worked in the studio and as a sound engineer all my life

My studio monitors are straight, flat and piss off dull but damn accurate!
At home I want to cuddle with a little voodoo-flum and cuddly sound "


He likes old tube amps and vintage speakers, among other things.

I can understand him per se. He wants a different sound in his spare time. But for the rest of us who are not professional sound technicians. When we get home after work . We have not at our job listened to and analyzed music all day, so maybe that is exactly the preference? Curious about your attitude and your sound ideals.

Edit.
Isn't it easier to have a solution that does not color the sound and when, if you want a colored sound, you plug in an EQ?
I suspect that a colored sound may at first seem attractive (for example, an elevated "disco" bass) but that you get tired of it in the long run.
You quote one guy and make a generalization.
In mastering, the hifi speakers are numerous.
I'm a music lover. I use k+h o300 and kh420.
Not to hear the recording, not for the high fidelity but for their sound discretion.
 
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DanielT

DanielT

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I have a couple of (analogue) EQ units, a Sansui and a Klark Teknik, but have to say I never feel the need to use them.

If the bass was a bit thin (for my taste) on some old 70s rock recording I'm fine with it because that's the art as intended and who am I to second guess it.?

Not that I have any issue with anyone EQing to their heart's delight. Buying a heavily coloured system is a good way to long-term dissatisfaction though. Although given the circle of confusion all systems are coloured to some extent. Accuracy to the recording is a ballpark but it's better to be somewhere in the park than out in the street.

But was that really the intention with these 70s recordings? If high-pass filtered solutionsw then were routinely used, then it is not certain that the musicians liked it? Or maybe it was just accepted ? It would have been really interesting to hear from someone who worked on recordings in the 70's about it.
 
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DanielT

DanielT

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Sure, get a DAW and push your music trough a complete effects chain if you enjoy doing so. But dont complain if some say its not there taste.
But wait now. I did not say that I like overcompressed,overmixed, over EQ and so on music as a rule. . On the contrary, I dislike the modern mixed compressed recordings.. Just note that there are those who like it and it is up to them.

What I do sometimes (not so often mostly because it is awkward), is that on a single song turn a little on an EQ. This applies to a few frequencies on the EQ band.
 

Mart68

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But was that really the intention with these 70s recordings? If high-pass filtered solutionsw then were routinely used, then it is not certain that the musicians liked it? Or maybe it was just accepted ? It would have been really interesting to hear from someone who worked on recordings in the 70's about it.

I don't know if it was intended or not. I'd guess if they had vinyl and/or radio replay in mind they would not mix and master for deep bass, at least on the potential singles.

Whatever, what we've got is what we're given. I generally avoid re-masters of old recordings even if they do 'sound better'. I want to hear it as it was in 1973 (or whenever it came out originally), however good or bad.
 
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DanielT

DanielT

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You quote one guy and make a generalization.
In mastering, the hifi speakers are numerous.
I'm a music lover. I use k+h o300 and kh420.
Not to hear the recording, not for the high fidelity but for their sound discretion.

Well aware of that. A little provocation to start a discussion. Apologies for that.

I have absolutely no idea what kind of hifi solution sound engineer, in general, have and listen to privately.:)
 
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DanielT

DanielT

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I don't know if it was intended or not. I'd guess if they had vinyl and/or radio replay in mind they would not mix and master for deep bass, at least on the potential singles.

Whatever, what we've got is what we're given. I generally avoid re-masters of old recordings even if they do 'sound better'. I want to hear it as it was in 1973 (or whenever it came out originally), however good or bad.
Me too

I think many others also does so, disapproving of re-masters of old recordings that is.Maybe start some kind of Me too movement? Of course it has already done so (bad joke, ...not the "real" movement my so-called joke)
 
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