Re: [Rhythmbox-devel] Rhythmbox Equalizer

[Brendan Martens <shrift gmail com>]

> Why would you want to equalize Rhythmbox, but not your whole audio
> output?

I don't really  understand the controversy over this. Having an
equalizer for just music totally makes sense. Music sounds different on
almost every set of speakers you listen to it on, and therefore often
requires a little tweaking to make it sound "right" whatever that means
to you. It is totally acceptable for people to enjoy listening to music
with a different eq setting on it. If I like more low end in one song,
maybe the next guy likes a little bit more high end in it. This could be
for a whole slew of reasons, maybe the next guy is going deaf and can't
hear the high ends so well. Maybe his speakers have a hole in the mid
that needs some tweaking to be heard properly. And personal taste is an
entirely acceptable answer here.





> You do realise that an "equalizer" is designed to counter the
> frequency
> response of your audio setup (i.e. "equalize"), not to "MAKE THE BASS
> SOUND PHAT PLZ"? :P

As mentioned above there are a slew of reasons why one person may need
to have their music equalized differently than the next person. You said
it yourself, eq is for adjusting for a person's audio setup, and as
almost no one's audio setup is exactly the same, there is a use case for
having a unique customizeable eq setting for every single audio setup.
And if I like "phat bass" who are you to tell me I'm wrong for that?
Fact of the matter is every single audio system I've ever worked with
needs eqing to get the low end sounding like even the artists want it
to. This is because no audio system can faithfully reproduce the
original signal, no matter how hard they try.




> Personally I don't see the point of having something to do the latter.
> Audio engineers put a hell of a lot of effort making music sound
> exactly
> how they want it, 

There is good reason for equalizing with just about every track in a
person's library. The audio engineers may have worked hard to get a song
sounding how they wanted it to, or how the artist wanted it to, but they
certainly did not have your specific audio setup in mind when they mixed
each track. Eq adjustments are necessary to correct the deficiencies of
an audio system, and beyond that the particular unique properties of
every different room that audio systems are used in.




> and I trust their judgements on how the bass should
> sound better than I trust my own (or anyone else's for that matter).

That is a bit silly. They are not you, they cannot get in your brain, or
the brains of every person that will ever listen to their finished
tracks.

Who are we to assume that we have a better understanding of how music
"should" sound to our users? For all we know it's the audio engineers
themselves listening to their freshly mixed tracks at home, and they are
certainly aware that their system at home is inferior to the one they
use in the studio (probably.)

This thinking also completely fails to take into account individual
user's hearing problems. Some people are more sensitive to different
frequency ranges. 




Anther great use case for an eq in the music playing program is for a
person at work. I find it is difficult to keep my music frequencies
sounding good while still not bothering my neighobr. There is a pleasant
middle ground, but my speakers have two knobs, one for bass and one for
treble, when I use those knobs I lose a lot of the audio spectrum that I
could otherwise be enjoying if I didn't have to cut out so much to make
the low end quiet enough for the office environment I am in.



Ok, I feel like I've ranted a bit, I apologize if I offended anyone. I'm
just applying a bit of an audio technician's perspective on the matter.
When I setup a PA system I want an eq involved regardless of the venue
or how many people are going to be involved. Individual user's PCs are
no exception.

Brendan