Clarity

G

grahamL

New member
Hi. I'm hoping for some experienced advice.
I've been home recording and playing keyboards/guitars for a good few years.
My issue is "muddy" audio from my headphones. I monitor exclusively on headphones.
I have a good laptop with 16Gb RAM.
My soundcard is M-Audio M-track Solo.
My headphones are AKG K77 Perception.
Would upgrading the AI and/or. Headphones clear up the Middle "mudiness"? Or what advice can you give on a pensioners budget?
Many thanks
 
you need to identify which component is the culprit. Take a recorded track and monitor on your headphones via the interface. Then plug the headphones into the computer direct, and swap to the computer audio and play the same track. Still muddy? Then it’s the headphones. Prove with another pair of any quality headphones. Does it change? If computer and interface are different then it is likely to be the interface. I’d use a music track you know is commercially well produced. Something with sounds you can validate against reality. Pianos, strings, clean voices. The danger with your own recordings is you probably recorded them with the current equipment, so you cannot trust it not have not been affected. Listen to other people’s music, just in case your system IS truthful and your own recordings ARE muddy! I’ve done this myself when I had a dodgy driver in a speaker. I mixed with the poor frequency response and in my case, the resultant HF took your head off on other people’s systems.
 
I doubt that the interface is the source of the problem. Most interfaces are pretty much +/- tenths of a dB from 20-20K.

Unless you are putting EQ on tracks, the computer and DAW shouldn't contribute to a muddy sound. They are basically just storing the data that is given to them.

The first place I would check would be the headphones. They vary a LOT! I don't know the K77s. I have K240s and to me, the are among the most neutral headphones I have (4 different types). My Sony 7506 are a bit bright, which means you hear lots of details. My Sennheiser Hd280s are relatively dark. When jamming with my friends, I had used some other Sennheisers, but the bass was almost not present and what was there was distorted. Yesterday I used the 280s and the bass was very strong. So headphone choice can make a big difference.

If you take the same track and play it in a car, does it sound muddy?

As for something that a pensioner can afford, that' is one of the reasons I like the K240s. I got them for $70 and have 2 pair. For a while, people were touting some Tascam 200 headphones that were $30. I took a chance and ordered a pair, and they were dreadful. All bass and no mids or highs. I wouldn't have said they were worth $3, much less 30.
 
Could also be mid frequency buildup. It happens to me a lot caused by instruments that produce the same mid frequencies that over lap. Alone the track sounds fine but in a mix the sound is muddy. In those cases I identify the offending frequencies and pull those back with EQ.
 
The trouble with describing audio is words don’t work. I don’t know if my muddy is the same as anyone else’s? I know exactly what something sounds like for me to say it’s muddy. To explain it, I’ve got to use more undefined words? An excess of mid is a problem we all know well as it’s so easy to do, but I’m not sure I’d call that muddy. I tend to use it for those songs where the bass and the piano or keys left hand are doing similar stuff, so low mid or high bass? Indistinct bass for me. Where I have trouble, as a bass player, actually hearing what notes or rhythms are being played. I hear bass but it’s a wash of low stuff, not notes.
 
Make sure your computer's Eq is off. Check "Audio" and "Audio Devices" in computer settings, sometimes an Eq is set to default.
 
You are a "pensioner" J? Get your ears tested. We all lose the upper octaves as we age. Most men in their 50s cannot hear past about 12kHz. Then you can have a sudden temporary loss caused by a build up of wax.

I would suggest comparing your work with 'off air' stuff but much depends on the sources and where you are. Here in UK THE best source is BBC radio Three. The continuity announcers always have clear, well balanced speech. We have a commercial classical music station "Classic FM" and the 'DJs' work the mics far to closely and you get mud!

My son in France can get R3 'iPlayer (but not live broadcasts) You might be able to do the same? Start at www.bbc.co.uk

If no joy and you want some, PM me. SHOULD have said (if no one else has?) you could be listening at too high a level. That boosts bass.

Dave.
 
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