Pink noise Generator / Spectrum Analyzer..Do I need one?

[Bonafide]

I understand the purpose and the philosphy behind these but I have never used one or seen them in action. I am not a hobbist's but a working career musician who does all of his own recording / engineering. My gear is not "high end" (I couldn't even tell you what that means anyway other than a price tag) per se but it is all upper mid range -priced. My recording enviroment has been acoustically treated with both sound board and traps, and the only spot in the room that is 'live' is the cieling. I am pleased with my mixes and how they translate to other systems but this has all been done by ear. Can a Pink Noise generator or Spectrum Analyzer improve my mixes? Are they primarily for my monitors? Can I use one with out the other? Sory for so many questions or if this has been beaten to death before. Thanks in advance. Cheers.

[Guest]

Reading your post, I would say that if you are happy with how your mixes turn out, then you don't really need an analyzer. (I will go a little bit farther and say that I don't think you need an analyzer, period.) I've only recently started using one to "see" my mixes, and that's mainly for curiosity's sake. (Hey, I wonder what the overall frequency response of this mix is...) You have probably deduced by now that you can use an analyzer without pink noise, but I'm not sure that pink noise is as useful without something to analyze what's happening to it. As for pink noise with an analyzer, I think those are wonderful tools for setting up audio systems (especially PA's), but if everything is set up and working the way you want it to, I really don't see the point of getting one. If you had some odd problem that you couldn't pinpoint, I'd say that they might help you locate it and exterminate it. Otherwise... Now, none of this is to say that I'm some amazing engineer with decades of experience and ears of platinum that can tell me that the vocal has just a little too much energy around 2.5k, and that pulling that frequency down 2 dB with a Q of 1.62 will fix my problem. It is to say that I don't feel that those tools will give you (or me) any "clouds part and light shines through" revelations. If there's a problem, you know what it is in general, and you move to correct it using your ears. Off Topic: You said that you live in Santa Barbara in the "music scene" thread. I may be coming out your way in a bit. Things aren't so hot for me in Phoenix (metaphorically speaking, of course.) [img]http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img] -Danny ------------------ Of all the things that I have lost, I miss my mind the most.

[Bonafide]

Hey Danny, Thanks for the info.. I generally trust my ears anyway. I really don't care which frequencies are prevelant in 'someone else's mix' even though I often refer to my fave mixes when mixing, thats just for monitor referncing mostly. My recording / engineering technique is a bit unorthodox sometimes (So I have been told on occasion by purists) but the results are commendable. I may build a pink noise / spectrum analyzer from a couple of kits I saw and just check it out for the hell of it. BTW SB is a cool place if you can afford it. There was band from Pheonix?(maybe Tucson) years ago called 'Caterwaul'. Cool different band. Cheers.

[Ethan Winer]

Bonafide, > I may build a pink noise / spectrum analyzer from a couple of kits I saw and just check it out for the hell of it. < You can find plans for building these on my web site, along with a pink noise Wave file to download. Go to my Magazine Articles page: [url=http://www.ethanwiner.com/articles.html]www.ethanwiner.com/articles.html[/url] Then look for "Sepectrum analyzer and equalizer design." --Ethan