Audio by Harman

[VAkena]

What do I tweak in the EQ to get the best bass response possible? 

[vanished]

The best response?  Leave it as is, that's how the recordings were intended to be played

[WWicket]

Just now, Ryan_Vickers said:

The best response?  Leave it as is, that's how the recordings were intended to be played

That assumes his speakers are reasonably accurate across frequencies and in his room.

[vanished]

Just now, WWicket said:

That assumes his speakers are reasonably accurate across frequencies and in his room.

I suppose, but if they aren't, we can't exactly help set it up can we?   That would require listening in person and tuning it until it sounds right.

[Volbet]

That depends on a lot of factors. Like, how do speakers sound now and how do you define good bass response?

 

Bass is usually defined as everything between 20Hz-400Hz, so you can play around with the EQ in that frequency range. 

[PineyCreek]

Bass on the left, treble on the right, mid-range in the middle.  Play with it until it fits your preferences and it's not distorted.  It's very difficult bordering on impossible to tune audio without being present.

[PineyCreek]

EQ settings if you're playing with them will also vary quite a lot based on what music you're listening to.  That is, for example, more treble and bass for techno, or more bass for rap, etc.  Your preferred EQ curve is going to be different for each kind.  If you're old enough to remember WinAmp, think of the many presets the EQ had.

[VAkena]

3 minutes ago, PineyCreek said:

EQ settings if you're playing with them will also vary quite a lot based on what music you're listening to.  That is, for example, more treble and bass for techno, or more bass for rap, etc.  Your preferred EQ curve is going to be different for each kind.  If you're old enough to remember WinAmp, think of the many presets the EQ had.

I primarily listen to contemporary R&B and Pop. Bass is one of those things that really makes the music come to life IMO. I've got headphones designed especially for it, tweaked the EQ on my Android phone but on my PC it doesn't sound as 'punchy' as I'd like.

[WWicket]

14 minutes ago, PineyCreek said:

EQ settings if you're playing with them will also vary quite a lot based on what music you're listening to.  That is, for example, more treble and bass for techno, or more bass for rap, etc.  Your preferred EQ curve is going to be different for each kind.  

Disagree-- best practice is to EQ to counter-balance issues with your speakers and your room for accurate sound reproduction. The artist will balance the music the way he thinks it should sound during post-production, regardless of genre.

[PineyCreek]

14 minutes ago, WWicket said:

Disagree-- best practice is to EQ to counter-balance issues with your speakers and your room for accurate sound reproduction. The artist will balance the music the way he thinks it should sound during post-production, regardless of genre.

I think both statements can coexist.  Even with the same speakers, if I'm listening to radically different musical genres back to back, a single EQ setting will not be good enough for me.  Speaker quality and characteristics undoubtedly play a massive role in EQ setting, but so does the predominant sound frequencies that each genre or even each song uses, not to mention the personal taste of the user of said speakers.

[WWicket]

6 minutes ago, PineyCreek said:

Speaker quality undoubtedly plays a massive role in EQ setting, but so does the predominant sound frequencies that each genre or even each song uses.

The artist/studio engineers should be EQing as appropriate during mastering. You shouldn't need to EQ for a genre or song unless the music you are listening to is poorly mastered. And odds are strongly against random Joe being better at mastering than the professional mastering engineer that EQ'd the song already.

[PineyCreek]

1 hour ago, WWicket said:

The artist/studio engineers should be EQing as appropriate during mastering. You shouldn't need to EQ for a genre or song unless the music you are listening to is poorly mastered. And odds are strongly against random Joe being better at mastering than the professional mastering engineer that EQ'd the song already.

Well...now that I think about it, my position comes from years of listening to music at the dawn of digital music and the Internet...nothing sounded good with a flat EQ.  From that perspective and the ever increasing sound mastering quality, I'm thinking that your argument is more viable than mine now.

[vanished]

10 hours ago, WWicket said:

The artist/studio engineers should be EQing as appropriate during mastering. You shouldn't need to EQ for a genre or song unless the music you are listening to is poorly mastered. And odds are strongly against random Joe being better at mastering than the professional mastering engineer that EQ'd the song already.

Sometimes I find myself either getting lucky, or them being not so professional