Vocals out of a phone

maxman65

Member
I've noticed by playing a track back out of a phone that vocals seem obviously too high where they seemed ok through headphones . Gradually remixed vocals downward several times so they sit better in the mix . Perceiving vocal balance is really tricky . Maybe this is a good test ? Playing anything out of a phone sounds horrendous. I guess if you can get it good that way it says something . Maybe not. Who knows ??
 
I've noticed by playing a track back out of a phone that vocals seem obviously too high where they seemed ok through headphones . Gradually remixed vocals downward several times so they sit better in the mix . Perceiving vocal balance is really tricky . Maybe this is a good test ? Playing anything out of a phone sounds horrendous. I guess if you can get it good that way it says something . Maybe not. Who knows ??
That's one way of doing it.
 
A pretty common adage in recording is that if it sounds good on the best speakers you can get your hands on, it will usually sound OK on the worst.
 
One thing to understand is that a typical cell phone speaker has a frequency response from roughly 300 or 400 to 3.5 or 4K. It can also have a pretty high deviation in that range, on the order of +/-5dB from some of the measurement charts that I've seen. The addition of any low bass will be not be present, nor will any higher harmonics. So any significant musical content outside of that range will be absent. Since voice content is centered in that range, it will naturally be more prominent when played over a cell phone. But be aware that you are throwing away roughly 3 octaves of music on the lower end. That's a lot.

The question then becomes what will things sound like when you put them on a reasonably good system that goes down to 30 or 40Hz? Will the bass and low midrange that you didn't hear on the phone overwhelm the rest of the mix, or will it be non-existent and the whole thing sounds like a cell phone.

I'm not typical of today's listeners but the amount of time that I listen to music on cell phone is probably less than 0.1%. Maybe 1 or 2 songs a month, and those are more to let someone else hear something when a real system isn't available. I would never judge any mix by the way it sounds on a phone speaker.
 
When you mix on headphones (or on speakers that are close and wide), it's common to mix centered elements too high. Then on a proper speaker setup or in mono, vocals often sound loud.
 
Yes all great points . It seems maybe if you come just above being buried on vocals it sits with the music rather than sits over it . Interesting point about the narrow frequency range of a phone speaker . I've also experimented with subtle panning on double tracked vocals . Seems they can just about handle being at around 11 and 1 oclock left and right . Any further and it splits and weakens them. Typically you'd expect to go straight up the middle I guess but playing around is interesting
 
Is it any better when you plug in fancy expensive earbuds?
The phone itself is capable of much greater range, but those tiny microspeakers are never going to put out high quality sound. That's one reason that bluetooth speakers and earbuds are popular. Ear buds can be shaped and placed closer to the eardrum and create a "chamber" to give extended low range. A big part of speaker design is the enclosure.
 
I definitely wouldn't be worried about what a mix sounds like coming out of a phone's speaker. As mentioned above, use earbuds--that's how the vast majority of people are going to listen. That little phone speaker seems to be optimized for voice, which makes sense. I'll often have phone conversations with the speaker on--it's easier to make out the voice on the other end. But music? For any kind of critical listening? No way.
Is it any better when you plug in fancy expensive earbuds?
Yes.
 
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