YouTube Sound Quality/Accuracy??

tm3

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I found an old thread addressing this but decided to revisit and see if anything has changed in 10 years.

I watched some uke comparison videos on YT and really couldn't hear much difference in sound quality from uke to uke. A little, but nothing striking. My obvious conclusion was that the reason is my lack of tone discrimination, which is probably true, but I also came across the statement that all YT audio undergoes "compression and equalization" (a bandwidth thing?) which tends to homogenize the tones.

Just wanted to put this out to see where the truth lies and to find out if YT sound comparisons are not valid.
 
Probably depends a lot on your speaker...
 
Straight from youtube: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6039860
That'd be the best youtube is able to do, and I'd assume the uke samples are all originals so they'd qualify for content ID.
So, youtube transcodes your audio, and for best audio, it needs to match youtube's codec settings. It also means that youtube audio can be pretty good, if the content provider follows the rules.

For uke sounds evaluations, assuming the recording was done as best as possible (i.e. follwing youtube recommendations, using as flat response mic for the frequencies, obtaining as dry a sample as possible, etc.); you also need to use monitor (flat response) speakers/headphones to listen. Most of us don't use monitors when listening to music (in fact, we don't want to). So, chances are you need to buy a set; the most recommended way is a pair of Sony MDR-7506 (they give ok results and the best part is that they are dirty cheap).
 
Oh, some folks toss around terms like compression and equalization, but many don't understand what they mean (there are lots of kids online and they do post things). If you think about it, why would youtube want to put equalization on any audio? EQ isn't the same as normalizing a signal (I think this is where the confusion comes from). Doesn't make too much sense. As for compression, youtube transcodes your signal, so compression also doesn't have too much meaning (transcoding just means playback, re-record; I think the confusion is that the whole signal might get re-record get a lower bit depth, but this isn't what compression means in this case, i.e. this isn't what that compression knob on the mixer does).
 
I found an old thread addressing this but decided to revisit and see if anything has changed in 10 years.

I watched some uke comparison videos on YT and really couldn't hear much difference in sound quality from uke to uke. A little, but nothing striking. My obvious conclusion was that the reason is my lack of tone discrimination, which is probably true, but I also came across the statement that all YT audio undergoes "compression and equalization" (a bandwidth thing?) which tends to homogenize the tones.

Just wanted to put this out to see where the truth lies and to find out if YT sound comparisons are not valid.

I would think that there are a lot of variables involved, like how the person recorded the video, (good quality recording gear? Correct placement of microphones? I know nothing about those things, but think that they must make a difference.)

The other part of the equation, I think, is what speakers or headphones you are using. IMO, that makes a huge difference in listening to music, (not sure how much difference it makes on YT, though, since I haven't tried that recently.) I just got really good quality headphones, and am amazed at how I can now hear things I never heard before on recordings that I've listened to for years. I obviously had hoped for a better listening experience, but am surprised that it's making as much difference as it does.
 
Audio quality is always determined by the weakest link:

If you record some ukes at Abbey Road with world class equipment and technique but listen to them on your iPhone speaker, they're only going to sound as good as your iPhone speaker.

If somebody records some ukes on their iPhone mic but listens to the files in the Abbey Road control room, it's still only going to sound as good as the iPhone mic.

Youtube compresses audio files to take up less space, but very few people will actually notice this. The recording and listening equipment makes WAY more of a difference.

Something I always point out is that if several ukes are played by the same player, they're going to sound similar. The player makes a huge difference in how a uke sounds.

Hawaiʻi Music Supply, from what I've seen, makes the best demos and records with hugely expensive gear. But Corey or Kalei or Herb or Mika play the demos! These guys know how to make any instrument sound good in their own way. This is the most homogenizing part of the equation, IMO.
 
When I grew up it was the time of HiFi where young people with good hearing like myself bowed to the God of accurate sound reproduction. I think I would have been able to hear subtle differences between instruments in those days with the equipment I had. Now I am much older and my hearing has likely lost ability to distinguish at highest and lowest frequency ends, and I listen to compressed audio from YouTube on a phone. So yeah I don't expect anything, though I am 100% certain that none of the ukes I heard on the videos sound anywhere near like what I sound on my various ukes. Not sure if that is a good or bad thing.
 
Straight from youtube: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6039860
That'd be the best youtube is able to do

Good info!

Oh, some folks toss around terms like compression and equalization, but many don't understand what they mean (there are lots of kids online and they do post things).

I got the "YouTube compression and equalization" term from a (supposed) expert, but I don't know if he really knows what he is talking about.

I would think that there are a lot of variables involved, like how the person recorded the video, (good quality recording gear? Correct placement of microphones? I know nothing about those things, but think that they must make a difference.)

The other part of the equation, I think, is what speakers or headphones you are using.

Audio quality is always determined by the weakest link:

Youtube compresses audio files to take up less space, but very few people will actually notice this.

Yes! I figured that minimizing the variables was important. I've changed from listening through my TV speakers to through my amp and moderate quality speakers -- next step will be my semi-audiophile headphones.

When I grew up it was the time of HiFi where young people with good hearing like myself bowed to the God of accurate sound reproduction.

I used to have some friends who were into the audiophile hobby. They would argue endlessly about speakers and claimed to be able to actually hear the difference between different kinds of wire. I've also seen some studies claiming that "audiophile experts" consistently fail in blind testing, so who knows?

Other than that, if the ukes are recorded on the same black boxes, you could have a valid comparison.

After all the input, which I appreciate, I'm going to focus on a consistent setup (ie same video using same recording setup just switching from uke to uke), and headphones on my end. If I still don't hear any, or minimal, difference then I'll conclude that I have a tin ear. Which might end up saving me money in the long run as I won't have to invest in a better sounding uke!
 
Also keep in mind that the uke is just a thing that has no sound on its own. It is the player that creates the sound, and that is mainly what we hear in videos.
 
Good headphones play a big role in hearing differences, but exposure also plays a big role. The more videos you watch and pay attention to, the better you get at picking stuff out - especially when it’s someone like Corey playing all of the ukes.
 
Hearing range varies in humans. Typically,
Young Healthy humans in general have a hearing range from 20 to 20,00 Hz.
Above 20,000 Hz is called ultrasound (Ex: Dog whistle, Bats.)
Below 20 Hz Infrasound (Whales, Earthquakes.)

Sub-bass20 to 60 Hz
Bass60 to 250 Hz
Low midrange250 to 500 Hz
Midrange500 Hz to 2 kHz
Upper midrange2 to 4 kHz
Presence4 to 6 kHz
Brilliance6 to 20 kHz

https://www.teachmeaudio.com/mixing/techniques/audio-spectrum

A typical bass guitar can only produce sound with a very good amp and speaker down to about41 Hz
A Piano down to 100 Hz (Bozendorfer Imperial Grand and Large Pipe Organs go lower.)

Most microphones and speakers cannot reproduce the full frequency spectrum.

Hearing loss starts as we age.

When I was in my 20s ultrasonic door openers, would give me instant headaches. The squeal from color TVs made it impossible to watch some brands, and these days at 70 years old, ultrasonic toothbrushes and dentists tools make me crazy.
 
Broadly speaking, this topic shouldn't even be about Youtube.
It applies to ALL recorded media.

At the end of the day, the ONLY true representation of how something sounds is through your own ears in person, LIVE.

As soon as something is recorded, regardless of the quality, will only be a representation of how the original thing sounded.
You are literally listening to the end result of sound waves flying into a microphone, which converted it to electrical signals, which got converted to digital information, that got stored as a certain file format... then played through an audio device that recreates the soundwaves based on what was recorded.

Thus, the real solution is to listen to recordings with a grain of salt.

How I view recordings of instruments is that it shows what the instrument has the potential to sound like when recorded, taking into account the quality of the recording equipment used, and the skill of the person that did the recording.
 
When I was a lad, I had a tested range of 16 Hz - 22KHz. Age 16.

I spent 3 years as a DJ in the late 70s, 24 years as a firefighter, 12 years as a Barista, and now, as a 64-year-old secretary, I am smack dab in the center of an office that at any time can have 4-6 people on conference calls, or speakerphone calls.

My tested low is somewhere around 150Hz to 12 KHz on the high end. I can't even hear the lower two strings my uke bass without headphones, and if I'm lying with my right ear on a pillow, I can't hear my wife's voice at all. Not what I would call a good time. (I like my wife an her voice).

So I got hearing aids. Which I can't wear while playing uke, because of ghost tones; can't wear at the office because of all the background noise and inconsiderate people on conference calls and speaker phones who not only don't wear headsets, but speak super loudly into their respective microphone; can't wear at the coffee shop because of the background noise and conversations; don't wear them in bed, so of course I still can't hear my wife; and only wear them at the theater, where the pipe the sound board out through a t-coil. (Now I can hear the shows!)

YouTube? Glad I can hear it without having to crank the system up to 11.

On the other hand, it is so easy to tell the different tones from my ukes when I play acoustically, I can discern the difference in demos on The Ukulele Site when good players are playing, on YouTube.

Even without headphones. (on my computer, NOT on a smartphone or tablet)

That's by 2 bits. (Used to be two cents, but you know... inflation.)

-Kurt​
 
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