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Gear / Technical Help => Microphones & Setup => Topic started by: NOLAfishwater on July 23, 2012, 10:15:37 AM

Title: Field Audio Analyzer
Post by: NOLAfishwater on July 23, 2012, 10:15:37 AM

For people doing on the fly mixes. This could be a solution if it be mounted in a box for field use. It appears that it is 12V DC. I personally would love to find a way to incorporate this in to my rig.

http://www.smarthome.com/76497/Velleman-K8098-Audio-Analyzer-Kit/p.aspx

(http://cache2.smarthome.com/images/76497big.jpg)
Title: Re: Field Audio Analyzer
Post by: runonce on July 23, 2012, 10:24:19 AM
I think that's for speaker level input...?
Title: Re: Field Audio Analyzer
Post by: NOLAfishwater on July 23, 2012, 10:34:59 AM
page 11 shows that it can be connected to Line Out.

http://www.vellemanusa.com/downloads/0/illustrated/illustrated_assembly_manual_k8098.pdf
Title: Re: Field Audio Analyzer
Post by: NOLAfishwater on July 23, 2012, 10:37:03 AM
looks like you would have to have one per channel.
Title: Re: Field Audio Analyzer
Post by: NOLAfishwater on July 23, 2012, 10:48:00 AM
this looks pretty crappy but could do the job for $99

http://fearlessnight.com/1301

Spectrum analyzer frequency display bands (each band is a bar graph column):
 Band     Frequency
1    12 - 37 Hz
2    37 - 61 Hz
3    61 - 85 Hz
4    85 - 110 Hz
5    110 - 134 Hz
6    134 - 183 Hz
7    183 - 256 Hz
8    256 - 378 Hz
9    378 - 598 Hz
10    598 - 964 Hz
11    964 - 1575 Hz
12    1575 - 2795 Hz
13    2795 - 4749 Hz
14    4749 - 7678 Hz
15    7678 - 12073 Hz
16    12073 - 20000+ Hz

(http://fearlessnight.com/products/SA2/spectrum-analyzer-big.jpg)
Title: Re: Field Audio Analyzer
Post by: NOLAfishwater on July 23, 2012, 10:55:47 AM
here's a smaller screen

http://www.waitingforfriday.com/index.php/Real-Time_Audio_Spectrum_Analyser


(http://www.waitingforfriday.com/images/thumb/f/ff/RTSA_running.JPG/600px-RTSA_running.JPG)
Title: Re: Field Audio Analyzer
Post by: NOLAfishwater on July 23, 2012, 11:04:45 AM
another one which looks way too big for what we do but still very cool

http://www.youritronics.com/forum/audio-spectrum-analyzer-v2-1-description-t169.html


(http://www.youritronics.com/forum/download/file.php?id=93&sid=b952942f34d519f0ec0a9dc458b67969&mode=view)
Title: Re: Field Audio Analyzer
Post by: Gutbucket on July 23, 2012, 11:34:43 AM
Could drive one of these from the headphone monitor output of the recorder.  A two channel recorder without provision for soloing monitoring one channel or the other could use a simple mono cable from the headphone out to the analyzer to monitor the mono sum.  If you wanted the option to monitor each channel individually, a simple switchable passive summing box could allow selecting between monitoring L (solo), R (solo), or the mono sum of the two.  Most multi-channel recorders have provision built-in for selecting which channel or channel combinations are output to the headphone monitor, so those would need nothing more than the correct cable. 
Title: Re: Field Audio Analyzer
Post by: myke2241 on August 05, 2012, 02:07:31 AM
why not just use a ipod touch or iPhone. far cheaper and more feature rich
Title: Re: Field Audio Analyzer
Post by: OOK on August 05, 2012, 01:24:05 PM
why not just use a ipod touch or iPhone. far cheaper and more feature rich

My question would be accuracy...  Lots of stuff on the iphone seems gimmick'ish to me...  your depending on an internal microphone that really isn't set up for recording music to give you an accurate picture of recording music.

 peace OOK
Title: Re: Field Audio Analyzer
Post by: John Willett on August 06, 2012, 05:54:00 AM
why not just use a ipod touch or iPhone. far cheaper and more feature rich

My question would be accuracy...  Lots of stuff on the iphone seems gimmick'ish to me...  your depending on an internal microphone that really isn't set up for recording music to give you an accurate picture of recording music.

 peace OOK

I use the iPhone 4S with the micW i436 measurement mic.

The App on the iPhone is "Analyser" that can incorporate a frequency compensation for the iPhone's response - these are an in-app purchase and are available for several different mics.


(http://www.mic-w.com/uploaded/News%20release/2012531151414544.jpg)

(http://www.ziogiorgio.it/images/2009/Marco/MicW_i436_2.jpg)
Title: Re: Field Audio Analyzer
Post by: NOLAfishwater on August 06, 2012, 11:03:25 AM
what about for a line in?
Title: Re: Field Audio Analyzer
Post by: DigiGal on August 06, 2012, 12:54:05 PM
why not just use a ipod touch or iPhone. far cheaper and more feature rich

My question would be accuracy...  Lots of stuff on the iphone seems gimmick'ish to me...  your depending on an internal microphone that really isn't set up for recording music to give you an accurate picture of recording music.

 peace OOK

I use the iPhone 4S with the micW i436 measurement mic.

The App on the iPhone is "Analyser" that can incorporate a frequency compensation for the iPhone's response - these are an in-app purchase and are available for several different mics.

I started a similar thread awhile back...  http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=152808.msg1934689#msg1934689

Never pursued it further because Chris Church brought up some concerns with using iOS devices for this type of application. 

Would love to see more info John regarding your experience in this area if you have a chance.
Title: Re: Field Audio Analyzer
Post by: myke2241 on August 06, 2012, 01:25:04 PM
why not just use a ipod touch or iPhone. far cheaper and more feature rich

My question would be accuracy...  Lots of stuff on the iphone seems gimmick'ish to me...  your depending on an internal microphone that really isn't set up for recording music to give you an accurate picture of recording music.

 peace OOK

actually it is pretty darn close. are you mainly looking for standing frequencies? you can also use the line or head phone out from your deck. I used a iPhone to set and check levels for about 50 rooms (each had their own recording device) at very large medial conference that ran 5 days. i have also seen front of house walk around with a Spectrum analyzer on their phones. The tools that are available are top notch and you would be doing yourself a disjustice by not trying out some of these tools.

i kind of disagree with Chris Church. there is a huge difference between running desktop OS vs a mobile OS. a Mobile OS is very light weight and apps built to run on those mobile platforms have to be very efficient. most take advantage of hardware acceleration for graphics.  none of the audio apps i used run all that slow on a iPhone 3g. mobile devices are getting more powerful everyday. being most are cheap (you may already own one) and small why not take advantage of what they can do.
Title: Re: Field Audio Analyzer
Post by: cybergaloot on August 06, 2012, 02:47:24 PM
I have a pile of free audio analyzers on my Android LG Lucid and they are interesting but so far haven't been particularly useful. Mostly just eye candy. I haven't found an external mic for it that looks like it is made for measurement.
Title: Re: Field Audio Analyzer
Post by: OOK on August 06, 2012, 07:48:03 PM
I use the iPhone 4S with the micW i436 measurement mic.

The App on the iPhone is "Analyser" that can incorporate a frequency compensation for the iPhone's response - these are an in-app purchase and are available for several different mics.

Looking at the mic specs it is not completely linear.  It has a bump in the top end..  Does that bump give a misrepresentation of what you are hearing in terms of the graph.  I guess it is all relative.  It is probably the best option right now for the money.  From 2khz down to 20hz it is flat.

Peace OOK
Title: Re: Field Audio Analyzer
Post by: myke2241 on August 07, 2012, 01:04:46 AM
I use the iPhone 4S with the micW i436 measurement mic.

The App on the iPhone is "Analyser" that can incorporate a frequency compensation for the iPhone's response - these are an in-app purchase and are available for several different mics.

Looking at the mic specs it is not completely linear.  It has a bump in the top end..  Does that bump give a misrepresentation of what you are hearing in terms of the graph.  I guess it is all relative.  It is probably the best option right now for the money.  From 2khz down to 20hz it is flat.

Peace OOK

If you know the mic's curve you accommodate for the difference. That is the difference between a user and a engineer. make the best with the tools you have. they are not garbage by any means.
Title: Re: Field Audio Analyzer
Post by: John Willett on August 07, 2012, 03:38:12 AM
I have a pile of free audio analyzers on my Android LG Lucid and they are interesting but so far haven't been particularly useful. Mostly just eye candy. I haven't found an external mic for it that looks like it is made for measurement.

The micW i436 (http://www.emerginguk.com/?portfolio=i436-imicrophone) is a class 2 measurement mic.  The app I suggested is not a free one and the in-app purchase is also not free.  The app and in-app purchase were about £12 together if I remember correctly.  Not a toy.
Title: Re: Field Audio Analyzer
Post by: John Willett on August 07, 2012, 03:42:20 AM
I use the iPhone 4S with the micW i436 measurement mic.

The App on the iPhone is "Analyser" that can incorporate a frequency compensation for the iPhone's response - these are an in-app purchase and are available for several different mics.

Looking at the mic specs it is not completely linear.  It has a bump in the top end..  Does that bump give a misrepresentation of what you are hearing in terms of the graph.  I guess it is all relative.  It is probably the best option right now for the money.  From 2khz down to 20hz it is flat.

Peace OOK

The in-app purchase in the Analyzer software takes all this into account so the software knows exactly what mic. is being used and takes everything into account - as I said in the post above, it's a class-2 measurement mic.
Title: Re: Field Audio Analyzer
Post by: cybergaloot on August 07, 2012, 11:37:29 AM
Here's a link to the micW i436 FAQ that might answer some questions.
http://mic-w-usa.appspot.com/i436FAQ

In the field, usually there is little we can do about the sound delivered to us as tapers other than find the sweet spot and adjust our mic configurations so its still mainly eye candy in that situation. Nice to know what the sound is doing though, at least roughly.
Title: Re: Field Audio Analyzer
Post by: NOLAfishwater on August 07, 2012, 02:30:20 PM
I am still more interested with something that could accommodate line in.