Spectrographs...

[danielmarshall]

How do you use them properly? I've noticed that many professionally mastered tracks that I've run through them can be quite varied in their appearance, so I'm assuming there's no ideal pattern to look for. So what can you use them for?

[eyeswithoutaface]

yeah i still struggle a little with their application, mainly because i do everything by ear, i know how a good mix sounds, but yeah good question

[RDR]

yeah i still struggle a little with their application, mainly because i do everything by ear, i know how a good mix sounds, but yeah good question

bloody awful answer though

try here for a humorous look at spectrograph imaging...

http://www.bastwood.com/aphex.php

try here as well. obvious but interesting

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectrogram

Fruityloops has an applet that lets you change visual images into audio sounds, its fun and wierd!!!!

[p_brane]

great link that first one, mad stuff

[dirty_bass]

Generally, you want a flat level across the frequencies on a spectra.
Everything peaking at some point at around the same level, with lots of dynamic movement across the spectra.
I use them to pick out any bias my ears may have missed, to check for naughty spikes, and good frequency distribution.
Your ears obvisouly come first, but they can be fooled.
With dance music you`ll tend to see a bit of a bulge at the low end probably around 80hz, as dance music is a little bottom heavy asa rule.

[danielmarshall]

Cheers Steve, that answers my question nicely

[dirty_bass]

no probs.
finding the right spectra helps too

basically they are best when you are at a loss with your track, somethings wrong, can`t find out what it is, have a look at a spectra and see if anything pops out.

[danielmarshall]

Sorta like a histogram for photos I suppose.

Oh, by the way I found not one, but two of your DB records at my local record store the other day. Nice to see your stuff filtering through to my shores :)

[dirty_bass]

DB has been available in OZ for ages.
Resident Advisor have been bigging it up for a good while, but obviously good record shops are hard to find everywhere except bloody Sydney.

Nice one though, good to know things have reached brisbane!!!

As an asside, a spectagraph is a great assistant to anyone not in a properly treated studio space.
You can`t always trust your monitors, especially in a room with bad accoustics, so it`s always good to refer to a spectra, as long as you know what to look for.

[Jay Pace]

It depends on what your track does.

Put a kick and a ride together in classic techno style. Get the volumes right so that its sounds "proper" to your ears.

Look at the spectrograph - usually the bass will be massively louder than the ride, but it will still sound balanced.

You can sometimes do things with the curve of spectrographs to make them look more flat, and compensate for the fact that bass has much more energy to it that treble. But you need to know what you're doing. I use the voxengo one, its helpful enough but can be misleading sometimes if its not set up properly. Or maybe I just don't know how to use it :)

Train your ears, trust your ears and use the spectrathingie to confirm or troubleshoot problems. Don't rely on the spectrathingie to tell you your mix is right, thats not what its there for and it can't really tell you that.

Ears Ears Ears - most important thing of all.
There's no substitute for training them, and it does take a lot of time to train the buggers. Still, all part of the fun.

[dirty_bass]

Unfortunately trained ears in a room with standing waves, bad mid range cross bounce, and a moving sweet spot, will be thrown off constantly.

but yes, ears should come first obviously