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When I did my solo records for A&M in the early eighties, Joe Chiccarrelli, my engineer brought in a spectrum analyzer for mixing and when soloing a track you could see sonically where things sat in the mix in terms of volume and eq.
Certainly there must be a virtual version of this device.
Does anyone recommend any particular brand?

My favorite, and I mean favorite by a mile, is one which probably is no longer available, but you might find it. It was created by Elemental Audio Systems, from whom I bought it. Later, they sold their whole product line to Roger Nichols. That company has been on the rocks pretty much ever since. I don't know their status now, but they have closed their doors at least once, and yet someone within the company was still selling the plugins. I'm told they aren't exactly the same as the original plugins, so maybe it's not a good bet.

That said, my other set of meters is the Waves PAZ group. By comparison, they seem to be of low resolution and amateurish, but they do deliver the goods.

If you can find the Elemental Audio Systems IXL meters, or perhaps even their later versions for Roger Nichols, they are really, really nice. But there's no shortage of meters out there. I'm sure someone will post some good ones that are easily found.

Shooshie

RNDigital used to offer a free version of a Spectrum Analyzer. You can not get it from their site anymore. I have it and use it often, it is pretty nice. I did a search for it online, and found it. I am not familiar with this site and who it is, but they have a link to download the plugin. You have to scroll all the way down toward the bottom, just above the picture of it, for the link to the apple version. The apple AU version is 1.4. Take a look and if you want to trust this site you might download and try it out.

http://www.brothersoft.com/inspector-free-267539.html


PR

I like and use Waves PAZ, but also don't forget the spectrum analyzer built in to the Masterworks EQ plug-in. Just click the FFT button on the right side, and there's a basic spectrum analyzer right there in DP!
I use it all the time.

Cheers,
Erik

Perhaps you would like to check the one bundled in Ozone:

http://www.izotope.com/products/audio/ozone/

The demo works with no restriction for 10 days. Cheers.

Nugen audio Visualizer, http://www.nugenaudio.com/visualizer.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ,

zaratero wrote:Nugen audio Visualizer, http://www.nugenaudio.com/visualizer.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ,

I just checked out the Nugen Audio Visualizer, and I think it is most like the Elemental Audio Systems meters than any other that I've seen. The reviews are good and it looks good, so if it behaves well in DP, this is the one I'd go for, since the EA Systems meters are no longer available.

One thing that is important to me in an analysis tool like this is the ability to customize the colors so that they mean something to me. Nugen allows that. The rest of it is pretty straightforward -- an analysis meter has got to tell you exactly what's there, or it's not worth the weight of its pixels, so I assume that it works.

Shooshie

There's also a free one here that's kinda nice:

http://www.bluecataudio.com/Download/Home/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Scroll down the page to Bluecat's Free Plugin Pack.

Phil

Don't forget SpectraFoo from Metric Halo !
It's my go-to app for any picky sound analyzing, such as long time averaging.

Inspector free is handy for basic informations.

Don´t forget DP comes with MW Equalizer with the great Spectrum view function!!!!

Here's free one:
http://www.bismark.jp/bs-spectrum/index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I also have Audiofile Engineering's Spectre, which has a ton of meters. It's not a plugin, though. You run it standalone, and use the Apple AuNetSend plugin to send it the signals.
http://www.audiofile-engineering.com/spectre/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Radiogal wrote: Don´t forget DP comes with MW Equalizer with the great Spectrum view function!!!!

Of course. Here's my tip :
- set a DP trim plug to +10dB before MW-EQ
- set a DP trim plug to -10dB after MW-EQ.
Then you'll be able to really *see* something in the analyser window of WW-EQ. If you don't, many things will stay buried in the ground level.
Doing so, you won't bring any distorsion, by grace of Motu floating 32 bits architecture.

The best thing I've come across for this usage is GlissEQ from Voxengo.
It's a good EQ (my go to EQ these days...) with a useful dynamic behaviour but it's also a well sized spectrum analyzer with a big plus :
You can display the track you are tweaking on the analyzer AND up to 3 other tracks on this same analyzer (with diferent colours).
For me it's a killer feature when it comes to tweak problematic kick & bass tracks.
http://www.voxengo.com/product/glisseq/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Shooshie wrote: I just checked out the Nugen Audio Visualizer, and I think it is most like the Elemental Audio Systems meters than any other that I've seen. The reviews are good and it looks good, so if it behaves well in DP, this is the one I'd go for, since the EA Systems meters are no longer available.

One thing that is important to me in an analysis tool like this is the ability to customize the colors so that they mean something to me. Nugen allows that. The rest of it is pretty straightforward -- an analysis meter has got to tell you exactly what's there, or it's not worth the weight of its pixels, so I assume that it works.

Shooshie

I feel it is the most straightforward metering plug, I´ve used others, built "windowsets" for them, customized for different delivery medias,....
after all that hassle, I plugged this beauty on and have never looked back. It´s there, everything I want to use is in the right side of the plug. No presets, nothing, after 6 months I´m getting used to it. That´s when I know a plug is here to stay. Spectrafoo or other analysis softs go way further,
Spectre is a nice piece of soft to look at, but I won´t be using those tools real time while mixing, so this is just what I wanted, and it´s a very fair deal, a very good one I´d say. It has allowed me to get rid of the laptop for anaylisis while mixing.

It behaves well in DP in my setup, it´s not exactly CPU friendly for my ancient G5, but it sits in my Stereo Control Room aux channel, and I bypass it when I´m not using it. When I bring it up, it might choke the CPU a little when starting up if the session is already heavy enough, but it won´t bring it down.
Regards.

Don't forget Spectrafoo.
http://www.mhlabs.com/metric_halo/products/foo/


/B