Do you find yourself mixing/balancing your pleasure listening?

[Zac]

Due to my circumstances I mainly listen to my music collection via my Android phone using the power amp app. This has functions like gain, graphic equilizer and limiter. I love it.

When I get to plug in my best headphones I rarely do much apart from adjust the gain, I never use the limiter.

Thing is I have to use lesser earplugs late at night and find i can spend a good five minutes playing with gain and eq for every album I play (I'm an album listener).

My music mainly comes from 60s to mid 2000s so it's surprising how it can be tailored.

So... am I alone in this mixing habit? If I ever had a 70s hifi rig with graphic eqs I'd never stop tinkering.

[esselfortium]

When I'm listening to music, I generally leave the EQ and other effects controls disabled. It sounds fine as it is, and it also means I'm getting a clearer and more consistent picture of how my own mixes sound in comparison.

[Zac]

When I'm listening to music, I generally leave the EQ and other effects controls disabled. It sounds fine as it is, and it also means I'm getting a clearer and more consistent picture of how my own mixes sound in comparison.

Hey thanks for replying. I should highlighted more that my lesser earbuds don't sound fine as they are, they're cheap, so I'm equing to compensate... and I find it needs to vary album to album

[CaliforniaBurrito]

It sounds fine as it is, and it also means I'm getting a clearer and more consistent picture of how my own mixes sound in comparison.

Good point.

I also have a cheap Android and the crappiest earbuds I can find. I want to know if my mixes are coming through okay on crappy ear buds rather than trying to make them sound better with balance. I don't do much of other listening though on my crappy ear buds other than for personal mixes. I listen to all other music on my production cans so I can maintain a solid perspective for when I'm producing my own music.

[normen]

I turn off any processing and that doesn't even just extend to listening on my headphones.. If on stage I have to use lots of EQ on a SM58 going to the PA to make it sound good then either the PA sucks or something else is wrong. So yeah, I shouldn't have to use an EQ or ANYTHING to get the proper sound. If I do something is wrong imo.

Maybe its because most people think Beats headphones are "good quality" and they obviously didn't experience a large far field system in a studio where you simply hear what is happening in the recording. There IS clearly a point where things become more "objective" and that is the space where people usually mix. Theres probably a point about the bass being as loud as it is in that recording because somebody very experienced decided on that, probably together with the musicians that did the music I am enjoying. I WANT to hear the differences in the productions - if all music I play on headphones sounds somehow the same I know that headphone is messing with my perception. Same with those "enhance music" features in audio players - terrible.

Edit: The other way around - do you sometimes pitch shift the bridge in a song to make the music fit more to your liking? Maybe if you're mixing EDM tracks as a DJ but not if you're listening to "normal" music, right? But then again sure, some people liked to listen to some songs on LPs at "45" speed on their vinyl players

[CaliforniaBurrito]

I tried a Dolby music preset on my phone with my cheap earbuds for a while last week and it did indeed enhance my experience. Then for a couple days I was wondering why my album in progress was sounding like shit with auxillary out to car speakers. Harsh high end and nasty resonance coming through. I thought I was done for until I realized I still had the mixing preset turned on. I damn near lost my mind; it sure was nice to turn it off and hear the real deal.

[O1B]

60's.... Ill name actual songs. Parliaments' I'll stay - 74'. Few songs of that era don't need a Boost, IMO.
And, this was one of the BEST grooves - where I'm from.

this, too Beatles' Love Me Do '62:

As great as the 'music making' was, IMO Drive circuits available today trounces the acoustics created back then.
Back then, there was no Moog, no Biscuit, no Weapons of Mass Destruction, no MS-20 filters, etc.

What is was was loose and electric. No Speed. No VELOCITY.

My First Aid Kit:
EQ - EQ Tone Job - effective, and more efficient than 'bell' or 'band' surfing
Drive - Moog MF Drive - show JUST NOW MUCH MORE is possible sonically today. SEE Sub 37 CV JFet Circuit.
Flange - EHX EPITOME - amazing how a proper clean flange can make vocals pop right out.
Delay/RVB - EHX Canyon - same as flange, or creating an appropriate 'space'
Separate Sub track - Moog MF 101 - while everyone else cuts below 60hz.... what a joke.

A Resonator and an Envelope follower are in the chain as well.
The Old School is to be studied - maybe revered, - but also to be improved upon, if you're up to the challenge.

Aside: I do accept that I have been lucky to have preserved my hearing the way it is.
I listen low to get Godzilla sounds.

NOTE: I understand that a lot of us have lost precious sensitivity - which is crucial to the process.