Are you listening to music wrong? feat. Philosophy Tube 

Here's my opinion on flat eq settings as an aspiring sound engineer: Unless your speaker's tone is so true that what you hear is pretty much identical to what the sound engineer heard in the studio while mixing the song, I wouldn't keep the eq flat. Maybe the mids or the treble aren't pronounced enough for your speakers, maybe you can't hear the kick drums, maybe the upper bass, low mids, or the mid bass is too scooped. There are many reasons why a stereo system should be equipped with an equalizer. Plus, some people have different tastes. One person might want to boost the 3-5khz range so that the brightness is more pronounced, while the second person may think it sounds harsh and grating that way. Person two might want to have the 250-1000hz range boosted so that it sounds more warm, while that might give person one a headache. Get what I'm saying?

I'm far less productive without music. I'm easily distracted and music or podcasts make it easier and faster to regain focus.

If I'm listening to music I'll always try to pay full attention to it - except if I'm driving, for obvious reasons. I also only ever listen to albums front to back.

I was a sound technician for a while. I agree in spirit about the EQ, but different rooms just need different equalization. You are spot-on about stereo should be stereo, and everyone just boosting the bass is annoying as hell.

Being an bit of an audiophile myself, I cant stand how people dont know anything about accurate music reproduction. The worst offenders though are people who use youtube to get shitty 128kbps mp3s (which sound way worse than regular 128 kbps because of youtube compression and how the programs encode the mp3) and then blast them on their cheap sub $20 earbuds. They never hear how the song was originally intended because they have a shitty lowfi mp3 and their headphones cant accurately reproduce the music. And dont even get me started on dynamic range, compression, and brick walled "remasters". Also fuck you Rick Rubin.

4:50 Turns into an Audiophile. Welcome to the club. (ONE OF US! ONE OF US!)

Can I just thank you for that tangent about halfway through? I hate when people "Pump the bass" and when my DLs glitch.

That rant about flat response and monitor positioning made me so damn happy!

Maybe music may make me drive like shit, but on a long trip Black Flag is the only thing keeping me from falling asleep at the wheel

There is no wrong way of listening to music. Whatever is most comfortable to you is in your own opinion, the right way. Do not let other people dictate what you should / should not do.

EQs should only be used to cut frequencies as a corrective measure. Engineers often say that EQs shouldn’t even have the option to boost frequencies, because it never results in a more natural sound.

hahahaha I loved your final desperate eq/speaker-placement rant

On the stereo thing you mentioned, it reminds me how I hate it when you buy a pair of ear buds and the manufacture doesn't label which ear bud is left or right.. I listen to music through my iPod and RU-vid mostly.. I even listen to it in school because I am a music major.. So you can pretty much say I'm surrounded by it all day..

I just started watching your videos (thanks to Mat Pat) and I already need to thank you for Ganymed. I don't know why but the very instant I heard the sound of the synth, they had my attention and I had to hear more. Thanks dude!

That footage of a violinist playing amidst brain surgery is actually a really heart warming story.

for some reason dramatic choral peices like Woods and Hymn of Acxiom sound amazing with the bass cranked up

Whenever i find a new song that i think sounds cool, i listen to it non-stop until it gets annoying. Tell me i'm not the only one who does this.

holy shit i used to watch these videos repeatedly years ago when they came out and i scolding back through your vids, i never realized you had abby fucking thorn from philosophy tube on! thank you for showing younger me abby, even if i didn’t remember her (also your videos are amazing lmao)

One of my most favorite things to do is to lie in bed with the lights out and turn the music down on low and just listen to it. I recently discovered that I can rip CDs to Lossless Audio and it's been amazing. I hear EVERYTHING.

Line through tube amp just can't beat, unless your using a pair of monoblocks and a tube preamp.

Good episode as always but damn, Kudos for that Copyrights namedrop. Just listened to them and they're instantly a new favorite of mine

Flatten EQ settings? Not all speakers are built the same, you need to adjust EQ, to adjust up sounds that speakers may naturally attenuate. For example if you have shitty tweeters you will need to adjust the high frequencies. Stop being a hipster and learn something.

Music is too important to not give your full attention to. I rarely listen to music outside my house and if I do I make sure I'm in a place where I can finish a whole album. I don't use shuffle either. But so many people don't do this. Everyone just treats music as background noise and sadly I think that's what the music industry treats it as too. Pop music is so simplistic and repetitive. They probably expect you to be listening to it while doing homework or something. If people gave their full attention to most pop music they'd probably get really bored really quickly. If more people gave their full attention to music then they'd probably be less scared of more advanced genres.

That last little rant around 5:00... I reached out to the screen and whispered "someone understands"

It's been proven that People with ADD/ADHD actually work better with music. I usually listen to fast music when working out, slow music when writing essays, dubstep when playing video games, and rock during almost anything else. But when I study and do school work I prefer not to listen to music. I find it doesn't distract me, in fact I forget I'm listening to music and it blocks out unwanted sounds and causes me to focus.

I listen to fast as shit music in my headphones at school (mostly terrorcore, frenchcore, and some speedcore. BPM range between 190 BPM - 1000 BPM) and then when I get home I blast some chill doomcore on my speakers

Best way to experience music is on Acid. Drop some with a good friend you trust, put on your favourite music, close your eyes and let the music take you away. A real friend and i love to trip to the Grateful Dead and Spacetribe. One Love

Setting your EQ to "flat" levels, doesn't work with every speaker. I've played on enough amps to know the EQ ends entirely different for each one (if trying for exact same sound) because the way each amp processes and quality of speakers. I can use cars as another example of how vastly different speakers can be, most cars I have to raise the high and low end just to make certain instruments more clear. Perhaps the audio engineer didn't want me to hear guitar and bass clearly, but I sure do.

Maybe it is because I hang out with a bunch of people are happy with "just being," but I am glad that you mentioned that cracking in crappy quality downloaded music. I yell at my friends all of the time about that and somehow that makes me the wrong one...

Finally someone who knows what they are talking about! L & R! Flatten the EQ! Thank you!

I listen to music all the time, and being a musician myself, I can appreciate the way people mix songs specifically. But I disagree with the whole 'left-right' speaker thing or the flat eq. It shouldn't really matter how or why you listen to the music, as long as you enjoy it. That's the point of any art form- the creator wants people to enjoy their work. Screw it if I listen to my music with the left ear bud in my right ear sometimes, or turn up the bass a little, it doesn't affect how much I love the music at all.

I suppose I listen to music for the lyrics. The stories and poetry of it. When I get an album I try to memorize it so I can sing along and sing it to myself. I hate having a song stuck in my head without knowing all the words.

see i don't agree with the statements made here. when im playing video games i feel like outside sources distract me a lot and my attention gets taken by tv or my phone or family members. but when im in a raid with my guildies rocking out to my favorite music i find myself way more focused and pumped. i generally do WAY better than i do when im not listening to anything 9 times out of 10. i have never experienced what you say when it overloads the mind and reduces productivity. when i listen to music i drown everything else out and get 110% focused on what im doing and everything else doesn't exist. just me, the boss, and my music.

that rant at the end was rather relatable

When it comes to two bands I kick back turn the lights out and listen, that being Aphex Twin and Boards of Canada. Besides that i tend to just thrown in something loud and angry any old time. Also you talked a little about not listening to music in the right way, but what about things that are meant to sound bad. I have a shit load of black metal cassettes that I listen to on a crappy old Walkman but If i pumped them through my good stereo would that be right? The tapes are supposed to sound bad so should I not listen to them on my shit Walkman? Also Black metal best metal.

I feel like I'm always playing something and I make it a point to check out a new album everyday

I listen to music while I do homework and game. I also noticed that songs with lyrics are kind of distracting, which is why I listen to fast, electronic music. When I'm giving a song my full attention if I'm hearing it for the first time or just listening to a song I love again, I use studio monitor headphones to hear it exactly how they intended. But finding .wav or .flac formats for the songs is really hard unless they use Bandcamp or something, because vinyl is freakin expensive as hell, and it gets damaged if you listen to it too much.

Bish don't tell me how to set my equalizer! I kinda have to mess with my car stereo eq, it sounds...weird and really different flat in the car compared to thru a pair of headphones. Why?

The episode made me think of those messages on back covers "To be played at maximum volume". Is that where the "loudness war" comes from? I can enjoy the music at half the volume too, thank you very much and don't need a high end stereo for it either. In the end, if a song is not good (or doesn't appeal to you) then playing it on a SACD format on an expensive equipment won't change your mind about it. I am a bit skeptical about the music in car experiment's results, unless you're like Wayne and Garth listening to Bohemian Rhapsody, in which case you're legally obligated to sing it in a theatrical fashion wherever you are. I, ehr, read that somewhere. I would attribute the lack of paying attention to *inattentional blindness* which isn't necessarily the music's fault (so more of a correlation rather than causation). It's like running over someone and you say "my God, the person appeared out of nowhere" which while technically untrue (unless you've mastered teleportation) can be explained by this blindness. The visual stimuli is too much for the brain so it filters out a lot of what is in front of our eyes. Personally I found music to make me more focused at tasks, whether I listen to emotional music like Nick Cave narrating how he kills women or Kraftwerk's "Autobahn" a polar opposite. That being said there is a genre that requires your undivided attention (more or less) and that is opera. Otherwise it would be like having a movie on your TV while you're watching RU-vid and commenting. So I should stop here and watch the movie. Hope I didn't miss an important plot point.

I listen to music when I do homework, but it definitely drags the process out for me. If possible, I listen to music with my undivided attention- from pop to rock to hip-hop to classical. It's the closest to being religious I'll likely ever become.

I listen to a song on repeat until I get tired of it, and then I continue to listen to it until I can sing it. I've memorized whole albums this way.

White noise while working increases my productivity. So does isolation ambient, and kind of dark ambient, most witch house tracks and some specific classical pieces on loop. However, heavy electro, metal, heavy stuff in general, pop, dance, upbeat stuff etc destroy me. I just stare at the screen for 10-15min before snapping out.

I think my brain is doing trying to tell me something. I listen to music on youtube all day, but whenever I need to type or something, I automatically pause whatever I'm listening to before I start writing. It's weird..

My preferred time to consume music is when travelling.When I was in school I spent a lot of time at lunch or on the bus listening to music.Often the same albums over and over again in their entirety.Which gave me a chance to really extensively experience those albums.When you're hearing an album for the 5th time today it sounds different then the first time.Music from that period in my life means so much to me and I know it better than anything I currently listen to.It actually makes me sad to lose that.Now a days I'm listening with better headphones,in complete silence.But It's a very different feeling.Sorry this comment is so long.

I wouldn't call myself an audiophile, but I think you should put on that vinyl and actually appreciate it. But when I want my surroundings to shut up, I take the mp3. But still, people, flaten your eq settings.

I listen to music when I'm working on something or doing housework. The genre depends on the day and how I'm feeling, honestly. Most of the time it's alt/indie rock, but if I'm trying to relax, I'll put on some modern folk (Mumford & Sons, The Head and The Heart, City and Colour, Daughter, etc). Show Tunes, however, are my favorite. La Vie Boheme is a really fun song to blast while you're cooking.

i have super sensitive hearing and have to turn the higher frequencies down, i turn the bass up because my stereo does not give the right levels but i do go too far

What is the clip at 1:27 from?

I don´t listen to music very often anymore as music gets most of my attention. I´m a programmer and can´t focus on my work while listening to music as music is more important to me than work or anything else. This just works when I have to do really dumb work that does not interfere with me listening to songs. I use music to change my mood, I use it to ramp up my performance while doing sports. Music kills my thoughts while doing analytic work but makes my day in comination with simple tasks. I´m a musician after all... maybe that´s the problem.

I just listened to the episode of Stuff You Should Know on numbers stations. I think they could probably make a pretty cool topic for a video. They are short wave radio transmissions that are probably used by governments to communicate with spies, but know one knows for sure. They can be quite creepy and groups have dedicated themselves to figuring them out. There is even a album featuring nothing but numbers stations recordings called The Conet Project that has been sampled by Wilco on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and used in the movie Vanilla Sky.

I have my music on all day, I listen to mainly Hip Hop tracks that hold a message and not just cars, money & women. But without the music I finish my work atleast an hour or 2 later because I work so slow without it. Without going too deep I think music has taken over my life, my only source of music is my mobile phone with hundreds of maybe even over 1000 tracks at this point & early this year my memory card in my phone went corrupt and I lost ALL my music, I was close to depressed for about a week, I know this is pretty minor but I realised that without music my life I felt pretty shitty. Im here because of Rob Dyke by the way, he gave you guys a great plug on his channel. Also I would tell ANYONE to watch a documentary called - "Music Inside" I watched it on Netflix, it's an amazing documentary about how music can help care home patients with illnesses by touching them through heart and soul & triggering memories rather that just throwing drugs into the mix.

I usually listen to instrumental metal or classical while I drive or work (if work allows), since it keeps my brain stimulated but not distracted. Whenever I buy a new album, I generally give it a good listen with a decent set of headphones and give it my full attention. Any music goes while doing work around the house.

I guess that sometimes the listening attention varies from person to person, but I feel that because I play instruments along with my daughter we listen to music way differently than our friends do.

I listen to black metal, hardcore punk, and midwest emo. There really isnt much in between. (I actually listen to a myriad of different genres, but those are the 3 big ones)

I do enjoy most of this. I like that you are investigating the effects of music. The Equalizer statement I believe is incorrect to a degree. Yes to many people bump the low end which produces terrible results. The true problem here is that producers use expensive studios equipment and speakers, most individuals in turn listen to music with poorly made stereo equipment. Very few people get to hear the entire range of frequencies that a producer may intend to be heard. I have a set of KRK headphones that are made to accurately reproduce the song without changing any of the EQ settings, oppose to headphones such as Beats, Sony, Etc. When I listen to music using my KRK headphones I rarely change the EQ settings because the headphones are made correctly and I get to hear the entire range of frequencies that were intended to be heard without any built in modification of the EQ. What most people try to do when they try and change the EQ settings is improve their speakers or headphones because most of the time they come stock with the cell phones or mp3 players people purchase. Most cheap speakers I come in listening range of require modification of the EQ settings to fix the horrible settings built in by the O.E.M. I rarely raise the Bass. I usually increase the mid to high end frequencies and lower the bass because everyone and their mothers want more bass :( Love the video though!

This is like saying "You're enjoying your food wrong".

I have listened to about 8 different songs in the past 3 months...but I have lisened to them whenever I want to work hard...It prevents me from watching videos or playing games during work time. it is distracting but not nearly as distracting as other things. I try to work with no stimulant but I just cant with a computer in from of me, the very computer im doing the work on. The music also has a rythem that i can work to, i try not to lisen to anything to loud or too slow because both just don't help

gotta keep the EQ on my stereo a little tweaked, turn the treble up just a bit. i have hearing problems so sometimes my high end perception can get muddied

I feel that bit rate/speaker rant on a spiritual level.

What is the best way to listen to music? Make your own music, by your self or in a band. It is the most rewarding way to listen to music.

I used to think that listening to music made me work faster, but after much experimentation I have stopped listening to music while doing activities such as homework and drawing. I also stopped listening to music while working out since I found it to be distracting. With that said though, I do listen to music before a workout, and while running. Most of the time I like to just lay down and listen to music, or dance along to it.

Does anybody know the classical piece at 1:05?

whenever I'm on an FPS, flight simulator, or fishing simulator, I'll hook up in ear phones for my music and put up my over the ear headphones. I could do it all with one headphone, but it feels a little more immersive this way somehow. there's something poetic and relaxing about these bullets flying about your head and not having a care, and tranquil when pumping up Ice T or something as you watch the waves kiss the shores. maybe I'm strange like that.

IDK about you but my work productivity goes up when i listen to music. When I don't listen to music I have to use my hands or mouth to make noises and this bothers others, and if I don't have any noise as anchor i can't concentrate at all.

Dude, I agree with your sentiments on stereo setups, especially because I am an audiophile! I hate headphones like Skullcandy and Beats by Dre because their bass is insanely exaggerated and everything else sounds crappy! Not to mention I prefer to listen to high-resolution digital such as FLAC as well as vinyl with high-quality equipment. I know all about hi-fi gear, especially turntables.

You're really into punk rock, based on your background!! That's awesome!!

Listening to records is great, it really allows you to appreciate the music

Subbed for the Copyrights reference!

"Dinosaur!" "Ball!" "DINOSAUR!!" "BALL!!" ...Dinosaur balls?

dude, the eq rant +1!

I have different I guess stages? When I listen to a new album it can only be at night in my room with a certain lighting set up and the the lyrics on my right screen and all my music files on the left so I can read the lyrics to feel it more and then drag which songs I want into my phone. Then after that I listen to it on my phone with noise cancelling earphones in between worktime at school or when I'm on the bus

the rant at the end is on point

first off, you should listen to music in whatever way you enjoy it the most. secondly, EQ allows you to tweak the sound in a way that is most attractive to you. there is no objective quality to it in practice.

It really depends what I'm listening to. For example, dark side of the moon needs a dark place in the room. I get as comfortable as possible and turn off the lights to create a sensory deprivation type situation, which makes the music much more intense and you hear all the little details hiding behind the main sound I used to listen to faster more "epic" music while I walked. I normally speed walk, and it seems to be appropriate. Listening to it while I'm just sat there feels odd, in the same way that violently headbanging to classical music would be. Classical music is normally accompanied with a thoughtful stare out of the window or a slow walk in the rain (not in a depressing way, I enjoy the rain). More relaxed music with an interesting but not overwhelming meaning to it is often my go to when I'm just on my computer or generally relaxing. What is strange is that I never realised my music habits were so easily categorised, only Pink Floyd has a deliberate ritual so to speak.

I have a rule of 5 when it comes to new albums. I listen to an album a minimum of 5 times in 5 different ways before I come up with a verdict. At morning, at night, when I'm in a good mood, when I'm in a bad mood, and on shuffle. But I also just listen to a lot of music all day. Different music for different moods and different reasons. Ex: if I have a lot of mindless repetitive work that needs done I listen to my "productivity" music. Which is generally metal and punk. Music that's heavy, fast, and mostly importantly has a strong predominant beat. Rammstein, Combichrist, Slipknot, Sick of it All, Black Flag, and Rise Against are some of my favourites for that.

Music is Art. There is no wrong way to listen to it, and there is no right way to listen to it. Just like there is no wrong way to look at a painting. You guys just over think too much.

I cannot agree with you more, I am a stereophile. Me stereo setup is one to be proud of. It is setup correctly, with sound deadening panels to stop early reflections of sound, and the enclosures were designed to provide a nearly completely flat response. Whenever I setup speakers at work, I always set it up to be flat and neutral. I get very annoyed when people boost the bass (same goes with my vehicles radio). People wonder why a speaker blows or they kill a receiver. And it is due to misuse and abuse of the "clipping" knob/level (bass boost).

I also have so much appreciation for music that I play instruments and really love progressive music. Rush and Dream Theater are my two favorite bands.

I tend to listen to a new album on headphones at least once all the way through.

What the fuck are flat eq settings? I have a stereo set up and move the speakers to better fit wherever my new sitting-spot goes so that I get the right and left channels all good, but aside from that I don't fuck with any of the settings.

I am extremely particular about what music I listen to in certain situations. When I paint or draw it has to be sad music, when I'm driving it has to be happy, if I'm playing a video game I want hard rock or alternative music. If it doesn't fit my criteria of the moment, I turn it immediately. I'm one of those station hopper types that drives other people nuts in the car lol.

Talking about your point on EQ and Audio Setup, what about remixes of song that pop out wildly on RU-vid? It's literally a song taken and altered to sound like the "author" (Erm... second creator, perhaps) wants it to sound like. The same goes for interpretations of songs (i.e. Hurt by Reznor, which was gloriously remade by Johnny Cash). Plus, sometimes, your headphone, ear plugs and speakers, if of bad quality, can alter the sound just because of general crappiness. For example, my computer has a tendency to completely kill of the bass. When I listen to Tool on it, it only sounds like Maynard's voice with drums. So, IMO, it's perfectly ok to alter a song, if, in the end, you like it more, but most of all, if you don't pretend you created it.

I listen to albums as intended front to back, and I leave eq level unless there is something wrong with the sterio ie old and wore out.

i have the left right speaker argument with a friend regularly. I choose to listen to it whatever way I want and not by some arbitrary guideline set down. It's still the same music and I hear all the notes and parts the way I want to and not how some engineer thought I should. Especially true when listening to the beatles when they pan the drums to one side and the guitars to the other.

I've noticed that fast music makes me walk faster than slower music. So when I need to get home quickly, i'll listen to Slayer rather than say, Turnover.

I spend a lot of time drawing or writing whilst listening to music. I find it makes me more productive, as without it I get distracted easily. I listen to fast, heavy music; mostly Folk Metal.

Interesting. I've always preferred silence when I'm working. That may be because my co-workers and I could never agree on music. But even when working alone, in a garage under a car for example, I like quiet. I can't think with someone screeching away or a DJ blathering about whatever DJs blather on about. Driving was always the opposite. Whether just driving around, or driving for a living, I needed music or talk radio or something to absorb my mind. (never had an accident) As to the right way to listen to music, nothing beats live, so long as it's orchestral, acoustic, or the sound guy actually knows what he's doing. Half deaf sound guys have ruined so many shows and volume is NOT the end all be all of live music. I'm not really sure one can criticize stereo setups. In an ideal world, we could all leave our EQs flat, but variances in mixing/mastering, recording quality, amplifiers, speakers, cables, etc really screw things up. As an example, I've got 2 copies of The Jesus and Mary Chain's "Psycocandy" album. One I got in the 80s when it was first released on CD and the other I picked up less than 10 years ago. They sound COMPLETELY different. The newer one was not "remastered". It was just a newer release of the same music. As to the idea that professionals have done the work for you, well, that subjective, just as their version of perfection is. A lot of newer stuff is insanely bass boosted, it's like a nonstop brown note. My wife picked up a Lorde disc. When she plays Royals in the car, even quietly, it makes my totally deaf left ear buzz uncontrollably. Rant complete.

The new Copyrights record is awesome. And everything else from them fotór that matter. And most of the posters in the background are super cool too.

I usually listen to music when I'm making it or prepping for a gig, or when I'm gaming to get me pumped up

I actually do turn out the lights and listen to albums straight through in the dark... unless case I'm streaming it on Bandcamp, in which case "dark" is relative because my laptop is hella bright...

so what music are we supposed to listen to while working? most of this video was about some other video!? so odd. I love how fast you talk & love your passion, tho! I'll have to start following you so I understand everything you're saying. I love to listen to jazz or reggae at work.... jazz or anything w/o words is best when I need to concentrate.

I mostly listen to music on my way to school, while walking somewhere, when I just wanna chill out at home, and occasionally when I'm doing homework. The music I choose depends on my mood. For example, I had a crush on this girl recently, I listened to a lot of songs about love. My mental state shifts with the seasons, and my musical preference follows it. In summer, in tend to be somewhat happier, "chillaxed" as kids would say (says the guy who had his 18th birthday recently), so I listen to happier, lighter stuff, while during Winter, I'm worrying about school, and can't really relax,so I tend to shift towards darker, gloomier stuff. But there are some albums that I can listen to at any time, anywhere, in any mood, like, for example, Wish Upon a Blackstar, from Celldweller.

I buy records and sit and listen to them sometimes, but a lot of the times I listen to stuff with the AUX chord in the car just to break the silence.

I usually end up lowering highs a bit in eq.. if I dont my ears hurt from too high of pitches... eq flat sounds horrible to me.. imo there is no incorrect way.. there is only what you like and what you dont like.. music is so incredibly relative to the individual.. what you hear may not be exactly the same as what another hears.. like myself as I touched on earlier.. I hear higher pitches more enhanced than most ppl.. eq for me is to create more comfortable listening.. also like condiments to a sandwich...

Aw... I was hoping this was going to talk about how to listen to different types of music. In my experience if one dislikes a certain type of music it is simply that they don't know what to listen for. That is how to listen to it. I grew up in an exclusively classical family so I had to learn how to listen to other music, going from alternative, (like Björk) to Rap and Metal. Now I enjoy most all types of music except for classical avant garde... I still don't know how that's supposed to work...

This was a great episode. Thank you for all of your research and hard work. Have you seen the movie "Rubber"? Oh, it is epic!

Music is addictive. I need to hear music or sing to myself. I drive better when I hear or sing to music. My mom gets really really mad if she doesn't get her "music fix ". I grew up on Slayer and Celtic Frost.

I'm feel that when we listen to music to kill boredom, eg- on the way to work or while doing boring work then you trivialise music so I try to listen to music when I'm going to pay attention or a soundrack/ background to stuff I like doing like gaming or painting.

I'm a scatterbrain (I don't drive, no work, I am a student) and I prefer chaotic(noisy, fast beat, loud singing) music. I fair better when I distract myself with music while working on projects.