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Would someone kindly explain to me the use of the Steinberg's Spectral analyzer and how to achieve the best results from it?

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Thomas W. Bethel Mon, 03/05/2007 - 05:05

It is a tool and like any tool you can use it for various purposes one of which is what it was designed to do (look at the frequency response as a waterfall display) or you can use it to visually master your music which is NOT the way to go.

God or what ever Deity you believe in gave you two of the best test instruments (your ears) available on the sides of your head for judging sound quality the only thing that is missing is the software (your brain) and the only way to get the software to start to function is to do a lot of listening to music and to start to make judgments on what sounds good and what does not.

It is like having self writing software the more you listen and make judgments the more you will be able to use your ears.

So if you are doing room eq adjustments or just looking at what your music looks like represented by a waterfall display it is a well written TOOL and you can have fun with it. It is only a tool and only designed to do one thing.....

Hint - the manual has a good description of what it can do

multoc Sun, 03/11/2007 - 19:16

Massive Mastering wrote: [quote=reginald]Would someone kindly explain to me the use of the Steinberg's Spectral analyzer and how to achieve the best results from it?

You don't get "results" from a spectrum analyzer. It's like a window that tells you the weather outside. But like any window, the best way to tell the weather is to actually open the window.

Very nice analogy I like!

amishsixstringer Sun, 03/11/2007 - 20:48

I did a test before, when I had my daw, but no monitors or anything with me and I was bored. I I tried to do an in the box cheap0 master of a mix I did awhile ago using only visuals. Talk about some shitty sounding stuff. I ran a mix next to it that I knew sounded great and was close to the type of music being played. I compared the RMS levels, the Spectrum Curve, the movement of each band, stereo anti-phase, and made them pretty much matched. Then, I bounced it and burned a CD to put in my car. Jesus, that was awful. Ears are pretty sweet tools. Not bashing the occasional check of the meters though. What's odd is that I usually do a mix without the meters, and then when it starts sounding pretty close I check it and the meters show about where I would want them to be. I suppose it's possible to get the meters to do what you want with different approaches and achieve completely different sounds.

Neil

dpd Sun, 04/15/2007 - 18:40

I've found a metering tool (I use Inspector XL) to be a very useful on a number of fronts: K-system metering, helps me to confirm, via measurement, things I am hearing.

One specific recent thing that the spectral analysis really helped me - I did a recording that took a direct output off a cheap, and poor-sounding, reverb unit. I was hearing a very irritating (read: non-harmonic) artifact throughout. Running a spectragram on that track really helped me isolate the offending artifact and design the necessary EQ to effectively eliminate it. Plus, now I have a better idea how to directly go from 'ear to knob'.

DrGonz Tue, 06/26/2007 - 04:32

And then... And then.... And then...

I have a thought that it would be wise to try to master a song by sight only and analyze that..... cuz then u start to see where u go wrong and try it again after hearing it. Who knows, nothing wrong in that? Its like playing chess blindfolded thats not a bad thing really. Just takes lots of practice
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