[Mr.T]

"isw" wrote in message
...
For individual playback, that will certainly work, if all you want is
for it to "sound right". It'll be somewhat more difficult if you want it
to *be right*.

What *IS* right in the context of a non test record? Do you use the same
speakers as the recording and mastering engineers?

But in any case, it's most assuredly *not* the way the
original recording engineer did it. His gear was set up to provide
equalization to a specified curve, and if he was any good, he'd check
regularly -- whenever he changed the cutting stylus, for example -- to
make sure that it stayed that way. As for tools, one of the main ones a
record cutting engineer had was a good microscope -- you can do EQ
directly by measuring the groove.

Which all ignores or misses the point I was making. What was on the final
master tape depended on the engineers hearing, speakers, and most
importantly his opinion of what it should sound like. Approximating the EQ
curve is trivial compared to knowing what the original *live* sound was
really like, or even what the recording engineer/producer heard on their
monitoring system at the time.

It's true that, prior to acceptance of the "RIAA curve" as standard,
each manufacturer had its own preferred EQ, but whatever it was, they
stuck to it.

And if you think that somehow guarantees a perfectly flat response compared
to what was originally heard/meant by the producer/engineer/artist, then you
are living in cloud cuckoo land.

MrT.