Graphic Equalizers and Ethos

[Alex_UK]

Rob - can I buy your discs? (I've looked before, without luck on Amazon, ebay etc.) More than happy to pay for them, (PayPal gift) if you have any available - drop me a PM if viable.

[Kris]

Undoubtedly the addition of a graphic equaliser, or some similar device at the point of playback, regardless of how much more 'listenable' the effect makes certain recordings, does not fit in with the philosophy of achieving the highest fidelity possible with reproduced music - end of.

Ok Marco, I have a totally genuine situation here, and I would be interested to get your opinion. Actually, I'd be interested to get the opinion of anyone who hates equalisers and wouldn't entertain them in their systems. . .

I've just put on a 15ips tape from the mid 70's. It's a live vocal recording which includes some round the table interviews. It's an important recording for various reasons, and part of our social and geographic heritage. I'm surprised it's at 15ips as it's not a studio recording (a river can be heard flowing in the background). But anyway, I have no idea what the tape type is, nor it's fluxivity, or if it was recorded with NAB or IEC eq, what the recording bias was, or anything. I didn't even know it was recorded at 15ips until I put it on just now.

Unfortunately, there are no test or alignment tones at the start of the recording to help me, and no documentation came with the recording. Thankfully, there is very little tape shed. The tape does have some mould on it in places, so I baked it first as a precautionary measure.

Ok, so I've tried playing it back using NAB eq, IEC eq, and at various overbiases at 10kHz. I usually find -3dB works well on old tapes, but not this time. The NAB eq sounds too dull, the IEC eq is far too bright. My own eq, set up for Ampex 456 sounds better, but I can almost guarantee that the tape isn't 456 or even BASF 911.

I'm wanting to transfer this recording to CD and/or FLAC, and obviously, I want to achieve the highest fidelity possible.

So folks, how would I listen to and transfer this recording whilst adhering to Marco's Philosophy? What would you do to listen to this recording?

Genuine question, I'm not intending to trip anyone up or cause any problems, I'm just interested in your point of view.

Btw, now that Christmas is out of the way I can finally take some photos of my system to put in the gallery. . . . .

P.s been away for a few weeks, back now

[Beechwoods]

I think you find yourself in the position of being a mastering engineer, in which case it would be valid to EQ the signal to achieve a natural sound, ideally by use of a reference or by use of an educated ear. It's like pre-broadcast live recordings are often extremely dry, because they were designed to be broadcast through kit which would compress and alter the sound as part of the broadcast process. If the tapes are subsequently heard without the affects of the broadcast stage applied they don't sound as they were ever intended.

[DSJR]

You'll have to trust your ears AND familiarity with your monitors...

My mastering engineer friend who HATES contemporary music had to do a Marianne Faithful compilation for Decca early in his career. he compiled the tracks together and eq'd the whole to sound good on B&W801's. The resultant disc was hopelessly shrill according to him and that was the last time he deliberately eq'd anything unless he absolutely HAD to - and that was rarely on the 50's and 60's recordings he mastered for low-priced Decca CD's...

Another compilation mastered by Nimbus is the original radio series of Hitchiker's Guide To The Galaxy. Now, I've heard the original masters of these shows and the sound is very "dry" and almost muted. The CD's sound too "toppy" and the shrillness is now an excessive glossy sparkle now I have better speakers with well behaved tweeters (those old HF1300 Celestions aren't perfect, but in their fairly narrow range they're superb).

[The Grand Wazoo]

Kris,
As was my original premise - Sometimes you can't get at the source and a bit of careful and sensitively applied EQ is your only option.

[Dave Cawley]

Ok, so I've tried playing it back using NAB eq, IEC eq, and at various overbiases at 10kHz

Isn't bias a recording function?

Dave

[Beechwoods]

It is. Playing with any bias controls would have no affect on playback, but the playback equalisation curves mentioned would.

[DSJR]

I could never detect a large difference between NAB and IEC curves on playback...

[Marco]

Kris,
As was my original premise - Sometimes you can't get at the source and a bit of careful and sensitively applied EQ is your only option.

Or simply leave it alone and just enjoy it (or not) as it is?

If that's your opinion, then that's fine, Chris. I just want to hear what my system reveals on any given recording (nasty or good), without introducing further artifice into the signal path other than that already added by the sonic signature of my equipment. That's the best way I can put it.

If I were going to introduce anything further into the chain, it would be more capable equipment and/or cables (and/or set-up thereof) which resulted in making better sense of a particular bad recording. I most certainly wouldn't employ a graphic equaliser or use tone controls to 'pep up' the sound of my existing equipment. Other people may choose to do differently, and of course that's up to them.

The point however, which people seem to be missing here, is that it's not in any way guaranteed (certainly to all tastes) that sensitively applying EQ (or otherwise) is going to 'cure' a bad recording (or even make it more listenable) - certainly not in my experience. There is always a trade-off with these things, so it will depend on what your chosen compromises are.

I'd love to 'magically fix' some of the poor recordings I own, but the fact is, for me, applying EQ only succeeds in ruining dynamics and attack by adding unwanted distortion. Therefore I choose the lesser of the two evils, which is simply accepting how recordings sound, good or bad, the way my system (as is) reproduces them.

That, for me, is what striving for genuine high-fidelity with recorded music is all about!

YMMV.

Marco.

[Rare Bird]

I can finally take some photos of my system to put in the gallery. . . . .

P.s been away for a few weeks, back now

Look forward to the pics Kris. Hope you had a great break anyway..I was away for a week aswell