Is it just me?

AlanRatcliffe · 2014-01-23T12:06:40+00:00

I seem to have developed a kind of hypersensitivity to sound. Nothing to do with volume or pitch either - more with the detail of it. On one hand I can sleep through a thunderstorm or in a nightclub. But if the bedside clock is ticking out of synch with the clock in the bathroom or the one in the kitchen (on the other side of the house), it'll keep me awake for ages. Similarly, the "swing" of the car's indicator irks me as it's too "loose". I'll focus on the reverb in a film's soundtrack if it doesn't match up to the room I'm seeing (and I'll miss what's being said because of it). Speaking to someone, I'll be hearing the tonality of their voice and the sound of the room around it, instead of listening to what they are saying. I won't remember their name 30 seconds after I've met them, but I'll recognise a voice on the other end of a telephone ten years later. It's kind of a mixed blessing. I have albums where I love the music, but I can't listen to them because of the recording/mixing. I know some nice people that I can't talk to because their voices grate. I hear the detail that escapes most people, but sometimes I wish I could turn it off. Anyone else experience something similar?

AlanRatcliffe

Oh yeah - also turn down the level of your subwoofer - most films have too much low end and that's where the volume problems really come in. Speech is almost always exclusively from your centre channel, so if you turn it up (or turn sub, stereo front and rears down) you can boost speech volume and intelligibility.

Oh ...and always set to flat frequency response - hear your films and music the way they were intended, not with some crude EQ curve designed to make your "beats pump" or action movies even more thunderous than they already are.

Bob-Dubery

Alan Ratcliffe wrote Oh yeah - also turn down the level of your subwoofer - most films have too much low end and that's where the volume problems really come in. Speech is almost always exclusively from your centre channel, so if you turn it up (or turn sub, stereo front and rears down) you can boost speech volume and intelligibility.

Oh ...and always set to flat frequency response - hear your films and music the way they were intended, not with some crude EQ curve designed to make your "beats pump" or action movies even more thunderous than they already are.

Yes. And check your TV set too. Mine has all sorts of EQ "programs" on it, plus various "extensions". On my TV the only way to get away from the EQing is to select "custom" and then set that flat (and hope that it really is).

Manfred-Klose

was talking on the landline telephone the otherday, and i was thinking wow these frequencies sounds nice, i must take the telephone apart and build a mic pre out of it ?

AlanRatcliffe

Manfred Klose wrote i must take the telephone apart and build a mic pre out of it ?

Just use any mic pre and a pair of filters: a highpass set at around 400-500Hz and a lowpass at about 2kHz. Compress to taste

Manfred-Klose

Just use any mic pre and a pair of filters: a highpass set at around 400-500Hz and a lowpass at about 2kHz. Compress to taste - See more at: http://www.guitarforum.co.za/general-music/is-it-just-me/15/?action=post;num_replies=23#sthash.xJd70gxJ.dpuf

yeah its easy to get that sound in the DAW, but taking things apart sounded like a fun idea in my head.
i wont actually go and do it. just strange that i noticed the sound of it.

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