Is the Fletcher-Munson Curve What I'm Seeing on the Totalyser?

When I'm deep into a mix, I'll often glance over at the Totalyser.

And I kept noticing the same thing.

A lift in the lows.

A dip through the mids.

Then the top end doing its own thing.

It looked familiar.

And one day I thought:

Is that the Fletcher-Munson curve?

The Shape I Kept Seeing

I wasn't aiming for it.

I wasn't using the analyser as a target.

I'd mix until the track felt right, glance at the Totalyser, and there it was again.

That familiar shape.

It reminded me of the Fletcher-Munson curve.

So I started wondering if the two were connected.

Turns out, not really.

What Fletcher-Munson Actually Shows

The Fletcher-Munson curves are equal-loudness contours.

They show how sensitive our hearing is to different frequencies at different listening levels.

We don't hear every frequency equally.

Our ears are particularly sensitive through the midrange.

Bass needs more level to feel equally loud.

And that relationship changes as the listening level changes.

That's what the curves are showing.

Perception.

Not the frequency balance of a finished mix.

So What Was I Seeing?

The Totalyser is showing me the frequency content of the track.

Energy across the spectrum.

That's different.

A mix can have more energy in the low end and less through other parts of the spectrum for all sorts of reasons.

The kick.

The bass.

The arrangement.

The sounds I've chosen.

The type of music I'm making.

And in electronic music, that overall shape can sometimes look vaguely familiar.

Familiar enough that I made the connection.

But it isn't the Fletcher-Munson curve appearing on my analyser.

The Totalyser is showing me the mix.

Fletcher-Munson is showing me something about the way I hear it.

Two different things.

They just looked similar enough to make me ask the question.