using spectral analyser

I

Igormeister

New member
How many of you guys use spectral analyser ? Is it software ( which ) or hardware ? I think that analyser is great tool for begginer to develop " golden ears ", because today tracking, mixing and mastering is done on DAWs, so people develop " visual " thinking about audio. Analyser is great link between audio and visual perception - it is lot easier to cut that ringing at 3.4 kHz when you see it peaking on analyser.
So, how you use it ?
Inserted in last slot of master section when mixing / mastering ?
Which plug-in you recommend in terms of quality / CPU usage ?

I hope this will help anybody who ask:" What a hell is midrange anyway ? " ;)

Igor
 
I am not worthy...

Igor - I am using Sonar for recording and Wavelab for finishing/matering (although I can also use Wavelab as a .wav editor within Sonar for individual tracks). Anyway, Wavelab has a 3D frequency analyzer tool in it. Can I assume this is the same (or similar) as a Spectral Analyzer?

This is a tool that has gotten my interest, but I must admit to being somewhat clueless as to how to use it effectively. I think I have gotten relatively comfortable with most mixing fuinctions - but EQ is still an area that I struggle with (tin ears?). I think this analyzer is a tool that can help. However, I'm not sure what it tells me - other than the obvious: freqency amplitude versus time. Can it help in isolating where problems lie? Can you give some examples of it's use?

Appreciate any hints you can provide.
 
C-plugs has a nice vst frequency analyzer.Its free,60 bands,has "snapshot" ability and a readout of the mouse tracks the frequency to great resolution.
Yeah,I think my ears are pretty good,but if you play a 1243 cycle tone for me, could I identify it to the nearest 100 cycles?Hell no!These babies belong in our digital toolkit.

Tom
 
Analyser in Wavelab is great, but can give only static snapshots - useful for mastering, but not for tracking / mixing.
I use hardware RCF analyser, but focus is on software - Pinguin Audio Meter and PAS Spectral Analysis Pro are very good - but they all are stand-alone programs ( analysis of line input or .wav file ), can´t be inserted in master section like plug-in. Or you can install Pinguin on separate old Pentium1 with SB128 soundcard like me and have great tool for small money. ;)
Big deal about analyser is that you see what you hear.
From ground up: if you have set of drums and bass guitar, chances are that kick and bass will fight eachother for space in the mix - so use analyser and see which kick and bass frequencies are overlapping, look at the peaks - you can tune kick lower or change bass pick-up setup - big belly on analyser is region where all RMS power is concentrated - when you have peaks separated, it will sound good.
When miking instruments, experiment with mic positions and look how they reflects on frequency response.
Eq and analyser works together perfectly - say, you have some ringing in snare track - ringing ( resonance ) is frequency which last ( ring ) longest - last peak after snare hit - you can target it with precision of 5 Hz without cutting rest of spectrum.
Analyser is most important tool in mastering - you can have peak at 15 Hz which will kill club subwoofer - you can´t hear it on nearfields, but you can see it on analyser. Something can sound good on your system, but it lacks " fullness " - you will find hole at 40-80 Hz.
Listen to lot of pro mastered CDs and look at their frequency response.
Now try to equalize your mix to " look" and sound like this ( using analyser ).
You will find that some tracs in mix need slightly different eq to sit in the mix.
Again and again.
This way you learn to use eq in proper places, no matter which monitors you are using.

excuse my english ;)
 
Hey Igor,

Where can we find these software spectrum analyzers that you mentioned? Are they on the PC platform?

Tom,

Do I understand you correctly when you say that the C-plugs is a VST plug-in? If so can it be used in the Direct X platform utilizing the VST to Direct X converting software..i forget the name of that converter program..i remember that I have seen it free somewhere....
 
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Okay, I went into spectral view in Cool Edit, and aside from being pleased by all the pretty colors, this is what I found on the track I looked at:

* The strongest frequencies were between 350 and 750 kHz.

* Next was the band between 750 and 1050.

* Then between 0 and 350.

* After that, between 1050 and 1350.

* Then it tapers pretty regularly up to 20,000.

Cool Edit's spectral view is a snapshot of a recorded track, and I can only look at one track at a time. Aside from telling me what the most powerful frequencies are, I don't think this is gonna help me much, right?
 
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Lets keep this alive, some good info might pop up.
I posted a link to a BUNCH of links for free spectrum analyzers awhile back.. someone thats not as lazy as me look it up and post them here :)
More info on spectrum analyzers please.
Also, I love the idea of having it on my old Pentium 1 computer, running all the time while tracking and mixing. Never thought about doing that. Consider that done, for sure. Just like an outboard. :)
 
In the marginally less than immortal words of Dolemite: "Poo."

Here I was, in the search looking for spectral analyzers, and all along, you're calling them spectrum analyzers. Okay here's the link:

http://www.hitsquad.com/smm/win95/SPECTRUM_ANALYZERS/

Anyway, run *two* computers in the same room? One's noisy enough. But I'm just looking for a couple good excuses to retire this computer, so keep talking... How do you patch a second computer with a spectral analyzer into your recording chain? Let's see... mixer outs? What if you're recording a load of tracks at the same time? Or do you analyze just one track at a time?
 
monitor outs into inputs on other computers soundcard.

On total mix, look for cramped up areas, and then go through solo'ing tracks and see if you can pinpoint where problems lie. If its very slight in the mix, sometimes you can eq the whole mix, ie mastering.
 
dobro here's how it helps you

let's say you've recorded all your tracks and during the mixing process you decide that you want to beef up the bass a little. before you beef up the bass, you might want to take a look at the kick drum through the spec. if the kick is hitting hardest at 80hz, then you know not to eq the bass at 80hz.

once you've got the bass and kick working together, you decide you want to cut some of the deep end off of your synth pad track. so you take a look at the spec to see how much of the power from the synth you'll be removing by putting a high pass filter on the synth, and you can get a good feel for where to put the HPF frequency.

for the whole mix: you might put it through a spec to see where you want to place your freq seperators when using a multiband compressor.
 
Does anybody use the spectrum analyzer in Sound Forge 5.0? Im not sure that it is a plug in or a editing tool specificly for sound forge yet...this might be a good use for dual monitors...but if its a plug in..its probably gonna be cpu intensive
 
You are talking about a spectrum analizer and Its main purpose is to show you the volume of each frequency, so you can generate Pink noise and then using your Eq, you can tune your speakers to the room.

By the way In real player there is an analyser that has 31 bars.
 
crosstudio - good work, I can see it now.

tubedude - why run a spec screen all the time for tracking and mixing. Why not toggle between your tracker and the analyzer? Just for the convenience of cutting down on clicks?

Uh, tubedude - never mind - I just reread Igormeister's post above and it explained it.
 
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dobro said:
* The strongest frequencies were between 350 and 750 kHz.
Click to expand...

WOW! Between 350,000 and 750,000 Hz? Can dogs even hear that?

:D :D :D

Be that as it may, this thread has perked my interest. Does anyone have any suggestions for reasonably priced, quality spectrum analyzers? (I knew I should have stole one from EE lab in undergrad).
 
LOL - no, but I was wondering why all the bats around here were acting so funny recently...

350-750 Hz

Now all the bats have gone to sleep again.
 
Is it really necessary?

Just another toy perhaps? . .

Might be good for identifying any "birdies" in a recording?
Especially at the top end (at my age lol) . .

I suspect experienced ears could tell if a recording were
particulary 'un-balanced' in any area and comparison is sometimes
a good guide if one is tending to go 'over the top' . . Especially
if using headphones to mix down . .

But hey! I'm just a 'Newbie' . . What do I know?
 
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Not much good? Thats a huge amount of good, if it takes out the guesswork. EQ'ing is tricky business during mixing. It also allows you to see sub bass that you cant hear (until you get it in a club, and shit at how muddy it is).
They are plenty of good.
 
BBB said:
Does anyone have any suggestions for reasonably priced, quality spectrum analyzers? (I knew I should have stole one from EE lab in undergrad).
Click to expand...
I was looking for one a while ago and asked Fletcher (from Mercenary).

He suggested the Klark-Teknik DN60 hands-down (even over the new DN6000) - but it's discontinued so you have to search for a used one. I did that and found one in excellent shape........

Others have also mentioned the Behringer that TubeDude mentioned - certainly would be easier to find one, but if you can get a DN60, I'd recommend that... if Fletcher swears by it, you KNOW it's going to be good!

Bruce
 
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