Submit Hint Search The Forums LinksStatsPollsHeadlinesRSS
14,000 hints and counting!


Click here to return to the 'A 'perfect' iTunes equalizer setting' hint
The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
A 'perfect' iTunes equalizer setting
Authored by: MostlyHarmless on Sep 03, '04 12:45:23AM

Re: noise generator and spectrum analyzer

I made an effort at doing that a couple of years ago... with a pink noise .wav file, the built-in mic on my PowerBook, and the spectrum analyzer in Amadeus. It turned out pretty well, actually.

On my desktop Mac I looped the pink noise in iTunes. On my PowerBook I watched the real-time spectrum analyzer and adjusted the iTunes EQ until all the frequency bands were about the same (ignoring the extreme upper and lower frequencies where the built-in mic was obviously not registering).

Once the pink noise looked good in the analyzer I did some listening tests to fine-tune the EQ settings -- since holding a PowerBook in front of my speakers wasn't quite the same as using a genuine calibrated mic. At that point I had a good EQ preset that made the system sound _much_ better.

The next step would be to combine my baseline preset with the official Apple EQ presets. I thought I'd just dig into com.apple.iTunes.eq.plist and add & subtract from each band as necessary to create calibrated "Rock/Pop/Loudness/etc." presets. The EQ property list is kinda scary lookin' though, and I never got around to trying anything with AppleScript -- but after it was calibrated I didn't really use the other presets anyway.

It seems like the easiest way to incorporate a baseline speaker calibration into the other presets, short of an actual hardware EQ, would be to loop through all the standard presets with AppleScript and create new, calibrated versions. If I could work out the proper syntax for "make new EQ preset" I'd be good to go...



[ Reply to This | # ]
A 'perfect' iTunes equalizer setting
Authored by: DavidRavenMoon on Sep 03, '04 09:09:57AM
I thought I'd just dig into com.apple.iTunes.eq.plist and add & subtract from each band as necessary to create calibrated "Rock/Pop/Loudness/etc." presets. The EQ property list is kinda scary lookin' though, and I never got around to trying anything with AppleScript -- but after it was calibrated I didn't really use the other presets anyway

After I noticed that there is an eq settings plist on the iPod, I thought this would be a great application for some adventurous programer/developer out there. Write an app that would allow modifying the iPod's EQ presets, with some type of GUI, like an EQ.

I haven't really made any tests to see if the iPod can actually copy custom EQ curves from iTunes, but I haven't found any documentation that says it can.

I haven't done any of this in a while, but I always thought you were supposed to use white noise for calibration. White noise has an equal distribution of frequencies, while pink noise has a low pass curve and therefore has less high frequencies. It's warmer, so it's pink. :)

Regarding iPod battery life. Yes, this is true. using the EQ shortens your battery life. But I can't listen to my iPod without EQ! Gotta hear that bass! (I'm a bass player) :)


---
--
G4/466, 1 GB, Mac OS X 10.3.5

[ Reply to This | # ]