Spectrum Analyzer

[Newbie dude]

What are they for?

 

[giraffe]

analyzing the frequency response of a room
or a speaker
or maybe a mic

mostly stuff like that.
not all that useful for mixing.

 

[Massive Master]

Pretty lights that clients think are cool...?

 

[Yareek]

Well, most people would frown on me, but I do occasionally check one. Anytime I hear something weird and I can't figure out what's going on, I'll check to see if there's anything going on with the spectrum. For instance, I mixed out a song, and it kept sounding muddy and dark. Checked the spectrum analysis against a CD, and sure enough the highs were pretty low compared to the rest CD.

I wouldn't mix with one on though. And I sure wouldn't EQ while staring at it.

 

[Middleman]

I'm using one pretty rarely these days but as I was learning, it was indespensible in understanding how to hear various parts of the spectrum. There are some very inexpensive ones out there that will give you an idea of where each track sits in the mix.

Here is one I use http://www.brainspawn.com/products/SpectR-Pro/ which is around $55.

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

I have one on all the time in the studio (the clients love the moving lights and I use it as an SPL meter - which is an extra feature it has on it...)

I also teach students and it IS very useful to show them EQ frequency and bandwidth control.

It is NOT a tool that should be used to replace your ears though....

 

[mshilarious]

I have one on all the time in the studio (the clients love the moving lights and I use it as an SPL meter - which is an extra feature it has on it...)

I also teach students and it IS very useful to show them EQ frequency and bandwidth control.

It is NOT a tool that should be used to replace your ears though....

The spectrum meter in Wavelab is colored like a rainbow . . . it's beautiful I keep it on all the time

The correct use would be if you heard something and thought "what the hell was that?" With an analog console, you take a guess, set up a parametric EQ and sweep until you found it. In a DAW, sometimes that can be a bigger pain, so maybe the spectrum meter is faster. Either way, the more experience you have, the less you need it.

The incorrect use would be if you were staring at the rainbow meter, and your favorite color was blue, and there just wasn't enough blue to make you happy, so you turned up 5kHz.

 

[metalhead28]

I agree with these guys, and by the way if you're looking for one here's a free one from Elemental Audio.

http://www.elementalaudio.com/products/inspector/index.html