the lesson is reference reference reference :)

There must be something altered between the two that you aren't seeing.

Actually what you're seeing is being correctly display. Your hats shouldn't be as high in level as your bass drum, snare drum, tom-tom's. Actual audio is not flat. Only your equipment needs to be flat. We don't hear flat. We don't record flat while we're recording flat. The frequencies that we are recording are not flat. The microphone is flat. The recording medium is flat. The instruments are not. The voice is not. And so you won't see flat in a multiband anything.

So not sure what you want? Not sure what you want to hear? Why does it matter what you see? If it sounds good? Then whatever it looks like? That's what you want it to look like. This particular information has been covered in many a pro audio book and magazines. Remember... a long time ago... people were shocked, to find out that the world was not flat. And that the sun did not orbit around the Earth. Which of course one would assume and did. For thousands of years. Until they read it otherwise in an audio trade journal. So it took everybody a couple thousand years to catch up to pro audio. We've grown a little beyond that concept.

In many spectrum analyzer displays, one frequently has the option of how one wants your spectrum analysis, displayed. You can usually choose logarithmic or linear. In which case, you might only see 500-20,000 Hz plus? And in logarithmic display, 20-20,000 Hz plus. Depending upon your sample rate. 44.1 kHz gets cut off at 20 kHz audio. 48 kHz gets cut off at 22 kHz audio. 88.2 up to 192 kHz sampling rates are respectively broader.

Dynamic range is 16 bit is 96 DB. At 24-bit it's over 140 DB, 32 bit and 32-bit float? Well you can imagine.

However, the electronics front end, input and backend, output, will really never be capable of more than 96-110 DB at best. The greater bit depth gives you greater flexibility in your postprocessing. It just doesn't change the physics of the physical input and output electronics. That's etched in stone. That's a given. That's physics. Software, is software. Then anything is possible in software and the external equipment that's capable of supporting that higher resolution stuff everybody is spouting off about. Like we're all supposed to be driving around in Maserati's with 4000 W stereo systems, right? I'm just saying... everybody hates me. Because I still use 16-bit at 44.1 kHz. That is except if the dedicated hard disk multitrack recorder wants to record a 24-bit? I'll record at 24-bit. And then it gets dummied down to 16-bit. But then I do most of my mixing in analog. I'm old school.

That's not to say I don't like mixing ITB or, in the box. I do. I can combine both analog and digital and have, since 1983. Now it's the latest craze called hybrid. Which everybody thinks is new. But it's not. However the equipment to support the home project studio on a higher level, doing that, is. It's the closest you can get to actually having a Neve, API, SSL, Harrison, et al.. And you'll save over $100,000 that way or more. Not that it's the lesser expensive way to go. It can be. But it isn't also necessarily so if you like high-end equipment. And who doesn't, when you can afford it? For instance, the hybrid system that audiokid has, is nothing short of phenomenal! He also has quite a sizable investment. Certainly not entry-level. No. Chris has the crème de la crème of hybrid systems. We can only drool. Which you have to be careful of because that can short out your equipment if you drool too much. So better have that drool cup handy.

The hybrid systems rely upon numerous premium outboard items. But the way that you get your mix is summed through a " summing box ". These summing boxes are either no different from the high-end consoles, i.e. API summing boxes, Neve summing boxes, the Dangerous summing box, Neos. Which I think is one that Chris has? And it has like 100 volt rails in comparison to the 24-30 V rails you find in Neve, API and others. Which doesn't make those bad but does limit the headroom from making it to the stratosphere. I don't mind if mine only gets me to the Cumulus clouds LOL. Mine only operate at 24 V and 30 V, API & Neve. Yet no one complains. That's all that matters. Of course maybe they would if they heard it through Chris's system? I have to keep my clients away from Chris LOL. I'm a little more industrial. A little less precise. And a whole lot more mojo.

There ya go. TMI again.
Mx. Remy Ann David

Oh yeah... you said you saw two different representations from the same analyzer. But you said one thing you look at was without the Fab Filter and one was with. Well yeah... of course you would see different, then. It's showing you what it's doing. That's what it's supposed to show you.

That is to say... some of the spectrum analyzers allow a snapshot of your initial reading, in a static picture. And then you can compare that to however you're manipulating the sound and what the differences are that you are hearing and seeing. With the ability to flip between the snapshot and the real-time spectrum analysis.. Kind of the way Pluto was found in 1928. Just no need to develop film.

It is any of this making sense for ya? I'm making sense to me... which is all that matters LOL.
Remy