Hello!
Just purchased a SPL meter to calibrate the level of my monitors, namely this one:
Digital Sound 8928 Level Meter
OK, I'm a cheapo, as it's not licensed, but it's supposed to give somewhat accurate readings, right? Soundcard (Echo Audiofire) at +4 level, balanced connections, M-Patch 2 passive volume control, Adam A7 monitors.
Well, I've done the Blue Sky sattelite calibration steps (
http://www.abluesky.com/user/data/bs50081b.pdf). The 1kHz sine outputs 20dB FS, the 500-2500Hz filtered pink noise outputs around -16dB FS (on my soundcard). I've set up the attenuation level on my M-Patch 2 for the individual channels to read 85dB on the SPL meter (isolation headphones on - I still try to forget the headache I got when doing some acoustical test with pink noise for a few hours).
All is well, right?
Wrong! Almost every song completely blows my ears out at that level, even jazzy dynamic ones. Even by lowering the output level of my soundcard by -18dB FS, it's still a tiny bit louder than I've ever heard my Adams, be it for listening to music or mixing down songs. (and I think this is after ear-drum compression kicked in after testing it at the funkin' "calibrated" level)
What the hell could be going on? Even if I'm not used to listen/mix loudly, as I have somewhat sensitive ears (don't ever practise without ear protection on), and the loudness wars are raging, and the bloody SPL meter is off by 5-6dB, it's still way to loud...
Help?...
What the hell am I doing wrong?
Mihai Toma