Seeing what’s in the recording – Spectrum Analysis

[JonFo]

So, you’ve wondered just why a sub might be important, or why a certain frequency on a given recording is a bit strident, and would love to ‘see’ what’s going on in the recoding.

Wondered why some people on this forum obsess about bass and mid-bass performance?

Well, thanks to modern technologies, we can all examine our various recordings in great detail now.

It’s very educational to see just where in the frequency spectrum the majority of the sound is.

As I’ve tuned my system over the years, the ability to visualize the measured response in-room is important, but just as important has been to know what to focus on (given ones tastes in music).

There are several programs out there for visualizing audio, but a nice free one is the Spectrogram ver. 16.

The cool thing is you can either just analyze the tracks (from CD or a .WAV file) or actually play them in real-time and correlate the audio to the spectrogram.

So next time we have a debate whether recording X has amazing (or sucky) bass, we can respond with pretty pictures

Oh, and for the analog junkies, fear not, the app can also analyze from the line in, so you can really see what that warped record is doing to your infrasonics :devil:

 

[Gordon Gray]

Hi JonFo,

Who, on this forum, is obsessed with mid bass / low bass performance more than you?

GG

 

[JonFo]

Hi JonFo,

Who, on this forum, is obsessed with mid bass / low bass performance more than you?

GG

Darn, I've been found out

I was watching the spectrograph of Caroline Lavelle's Waiting for Picasso from the Spirit album, and man, the under 400Hz range was lit up all the way down to 20hz the whole way through. But it sounds great here

 

[Gordon Gray]

HI JF,

If I may speak for others, your passion and the knowledge that you have shared with all of us, is most appreciated.

GG

 

[Burke]

HI JF,

If I may speak for others, your passion and the knowledge that you have shared with all of us, is most appreciated.

GG

+1 to Gordon's comment.

Thanks

 

[RUR]

HI JF,

If I may speak for others, your passion and the knowledge that you have shared with all of us, is most appreciated.

GG

I'll second that! As always, Jonathan has been extremely helpful in integrating a recent subwoofer acquisition, a work still in progress as I strive for Jonfo© levels of FR accuracy.

 

[User211]

Oh, and for the analog junkies, fear not, the app can also analyze from the line in, so you can really see what that warped record is doing to your infrasonics :devil:

All that is required is a quick look at a Descent to know what records can do down below

Looks like is does temporal FFTs as I posted on this thread: http://www.martinloganowners.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8426

How cool are the Aphex Twins?

Will have a play with it sometime. Maybe catch the DSOTM bass I never got round too

 

[amey01]

HI JF,

If I may speak for others, your passion and the knowledge that you have shared with all of us, is most appreciated.

GG

Agree Gordon - thanks Jon.......

 

[JonFo]

...
Will have a play with it sometime. Maybe catch the DSOTM bass I never got round too

Hey Justin, since my orginal image link seems to have gone dead, I replaced it with a screenshot of the DSOTM, Money track at 2:30, just for you

Bass is not too bad, but it is more in the right channel than the left.

This is from the the MoFi gold CD of DSOTM.

 

[JonFo]

HI JF,

If I may speak for others, your passion and the knowledge that you have shared with all of us, is most appreciated.

GG

+1 to Gordon's comment.

Thanks

I'll second that! As always, Jonathan has been extremely helpful in integrating a recent subwoofer acquisition, a work still in progress as I strive for Jonfo© levels of FR accuracy.

Agree Gordon - thanks Jon.......

Aw shucks

Thanks guys, I really appreciate the expressions.