There's a member of this forum (
deathy) who is a "gray" noise evangelist.
Here are some of deathy's interesting posts:
Re: Perceived Loudness - a suggestion
Re: Mixing quick tip with Pink Noise - his method of producing "gray" noise
I would be remiss if I didn't include his disclaimer:
I admit that I am not completely sold on using it all the time anyway, for the same reasons as what I detailed earlier about following the curve perfectly not being interesting enough to me.
My thoughts:The Fletcher-Munson Curves (1933) have been considered inaccurate (since 1957) and revised into ISO 226 (1987).... and again in (2003). There are reports that indicate these ELCs still do not accurately articulate the concept they purport (
http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/oja.2012.24016).
You'll notice (
on ISO's site) they indicate some points which (to me) reduce the applicability of this in production. ..."the source of sound is directly in front of the listener; the sound signals are pure tones; the sound pressure level is measured at the position where the centre of the listener's head would be, but in the absence of the listener; listening is binaural; the listeners are otologically normal persons in the age range from 18 years to 25 years inclusive."
It's not that the spec doesn't apply
at all to any real circumstance (this is a laboratory finding, not a scientific theory or law)... the thing that irks me is that it's based on population sampling (asking people) and tested in a fabricated scenario with an overly reduced sample. But, say it
is accurate for a satisfyingly large amount random people, it is still dependent on listening volume.
That is to say, when your listener changes the volume (what!?), or is in an environment where volume changes by location (due to speaker placement, occlusion dampening, etc... like a club or car), this consideration is undone. Also, quite a few people enjoy the freedom of EQing music for their listening pleasure... but only some do it manually. Many rely on consumer electronics manufacturers to perform this for them. You've undoubtedly heard of this... SRS WOW, ST Dynamic Bass, SRS TruBass, Beats by Dre, the Loudness feature in many car-stereos, and other audio processing (bass mangling) features of sound systems. Producing music with this processing "baked-in" doesn't make sense to me, as in these situations it would be doubled. The likelihood of your music being enjoyed without distortion and fatigue is severely diminished.
I don't consider the manner of audio reproduction as part of my art; I don't personally manufacture any headphones, speakers, cables, subwoofers, or hardware DSPs. For me, the art is the message not the medium. Not to say I balance levels on a whim. I attempt to have levels in my music in a "safe zone" where listeners naturally expect them to be... so they can leave their bass boost on, or not immediately reach for the volume / EQ knob when my music plays. Pink noise accomplishes this well for me.
