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Re: How do we listen?

Subject: Re: How do we listen?
From: "Peter Shute" pshute2
Date: Sun Aug 18, 2013 3:17 am ((PDT))
So you're using your computer as a hearing aid to restore sounds you can't =
normally hear? My hearing drops off from 6kHz, but for some reason I've nev=
er thought of doing it with any of my recordings either.=0D
=0D
I did once try it with some generated tones to see how high I could go if I=
 boosted it, and was surprised I could hear quite high frequencies. (Maybe =
15kHz?) But then I wondered how safe it was to be listening to boosted soun=
ds. Although I perceived them as close to inaudible, I wondered if the leve=
ls might have been high enough to damage my hearing further, so I stopped d=
oing it. I've toyed with the idea of asking an audiologist for advice on wh=
at's safe, but they don't seem to bother testing above 8kHz if the graphs t=
hey give you are anything to go by.=0D
=0D
I would have thought that unless the equalisation you're using makes your h=
earing equivalent to "normal" then it wouldn't be useful for determining wh=
ether a recording would sound good to someone with normal hearing. I.e you =
might have boosted the HF to unnaturally high levels without realising.=0D
=0D
Peter Shute=0D
=0D
Sent from my iPad=0D
=0D
On 17/08/2013, at 10:22 PM, "Max" <<maxcatterw=
>> wrote:=0D
=0D
=0D
=0D
While editing a rain recording I'd made yesterday, I suddenly wondered, how=
 do other, critically eared people, listen to their recordings while editin=
g? What I mean is, do you listen to them with the default amp setting, or w=
ith either bass/treble or equalizer adjustment?=0D
In my particular case, when listening to either edited or commercial sound,=
 I adjust via graphic equalizer (computer) or bass/treble (hi-fi), to compe=
nsate mainly for high frequency hearing loss. What I find odd is, that it w=
as only yesterday for the first time, that I did this while editing! I have=
 an Asus Xonar Essence STX card in my computer, which is a reference qualit=
y headphone amp primarily, but I use it with my monitors also. With this, I=
 normally leave the equalizer setting on 'Default' while editing. But yeste=
rday, out of the blue, because I wasn't particularly impressed with what I =
was hearing from the point of view of reality, it suddenly occurred to me t=
o use the equalizer. I was very quickly hearing a wet dripping rain sound t=
hat was far closer to what I was hoping to achieve! You may all think what =
an idiot, but to me it was unnerving, because I realised that previous reco=
rdings that had been binned, may not have been as bad as thought at the tim=
e.=0D
Just curious=0D
Max=0D
=0D
=0D
=0D





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