frequency analysis

[b3groover]

Ok, so I recorded a billion hours of my trio +1 on tour last August and I'm just playing around, mixing stuff, having fun. We're thinking of possibly releasing some tracks so I decided to upload a tune onto our website for our forum members to check out.

Just for giggles, I did some frequency analysis. This is what I saw:



"Wow," I thought to myself, "that looks kinda bass heavy and mid-lite."

Then I looked at a professional track (Sting's "Heavy Cloud No Rain"... hey, it was on my harddrive from a CD my wife was burning... sue me...) and saw this:



Holy bejesus!!! Look at that bass! Granted this is a pop release and my song is swingin' jazz organ but the difference is startling.

So what gives? Am I reading the graph right in thinking that I might have some problems in the 1k and 2k areas? (the mix does sound a little "scooped" if you know what I mean) I'm just not sure how to read this thing, the two are so drastically different.

[b3groover]

Ok, so I did a little messin' around with a demo version of T-racks on that tune. Added a little mid-range bump, subtracted a little of this and that, and compressed a bit and limited.

The frequency analysis now looks like this for my tune:




That's a little better, right?

[djslayerissick]

as far as the look of the frequency analysis, i'd say you nailed it.

does it sound less scooped now?

is it clearer?

does it sound BETTER? or just louder?

[I'm Painting Again]

does it sound better ?

certainly looks more like the "Stung" track now..

I didnt have good results with t-racks..gave all my tracks digititus..made them sound huge though..

[Mr. Dipity]

does it sound better ?

certainly looks more like the "Stung" track now..

I didnt have good results with t-racks..gave all my tracks digititus..made them sound huge though..

T-racks sucks, big time. You have better plugins for 2 track compression and eq - pretty much anything else.

[b3groover]

It definately sounds "louder" which is not necessarily a good thing. However it converts to mp3 better... ie, it sounds better as an mp3 than before.

T-racks ain't no good, eh? What do you guys suggest? I can't afford no Waves or anything.

[parlormusic]

What software iare you using for frequency analysis?

[b3groover]

An old copy of Cool Edit.

[andyg666]

i use frequency analysis to isolate problem frequencies/feedback. for instance, i had a session last week where i was re-recording vocals on a vocal/guitar album. the previous recordist had used a close mic and a room mic on the guitar. the room mic had a bunch of what sounded like the 16K whistle from a television set. so to make sure i had the frequency nailed down before i applied a notch filter, i used cool edit's frequency analysis tool (it was 15750Hz, which actually made a difference in the sound vs. 16K when notch filtering).

but when using it as a tool for mastering, it's always important that you've used your ears first and use the frequency analysis graph to re-enforce and give some added detail to what your ears hear. different recordings of different types of music with different instrumentation are going to have different frequency information. the most alarming difference i see in the "after t-racks" graph is that your left channel has a huge bump above 10K that's not in the right channel. not to mention it's much louder. but yeah--the bottom line for me is always "does it sound better at the same volume?"

[KennyLusk]

Izotop's Ozone 3 does it for me.

[b3groover]

the most alarming difference i see in the "after t-racks" graph is that your left channel has a huge bump above 10K that's not in the right channel. not to mention it's much louder. but yeah--the bottom line for me is always "does it sound better at the same volume?"

Probably because that's where the ride cymbal is! And the drummer is swingin' hard on that baby!

There's definately something the mix is missing, I just need to figure out what.

[parlormusic]

Izotop's Ozone 3 does it for me.

Yeah, I love that program!

[djslayerissick]

you bastards just made my life more difficult. now i'm going through all kinds of recent mixes i've made and comparing the spectral analysis to mixes i like.

i'm suprized at how incredibly even and flat my mixes are across the whole spectrum. theres a little bit of a bump in the low end, but not much. but i've realized that flat is not actually a good thing. compared to pro mixes, i've got WAY too much treble air going on - from 15 to 20k. all the pro mixes i've looked at, even ones that are radically different styles, all seem to have a huge cut above 15k.

i'm thinking this is what makes my mixes seem 'harsh'. by cutting up there and raising overall volume a couple decibels except in the extreme lowend, i'm getting a little more volume overall and less harshness. i'm gonna be playing with this a lot.

[slowcolors]

i kind of aim for the straight line like you know white noise

[fuu drakka]

As far as mastering plugs go I would heavily disagree with the T-racks sucks stance. I would venture to say that the presets are pretty horrible, but if you set it manually it can kick the shit out of ozone, and even occasionally be more pleasing than the waves stuff. seriously no joke.