reverser, most editing software has some way to view the spectrum of a track or set of tracks. Even if yours doesn't, I'm fairly sure there's free software that does it on a stand-alone basis.
But the only time I find it useful in equalizing a recording is in one of my side "businesses." I sometimes have to help out a friend of mine who's a professional transcriber, because people give her the most amazingly god-awful recordings to work with--microcassette dictation tapes that were recorded at half speed using the built-in microphone with the subject halfway across a noisy room, etc. With those recordings I can use spectrum analysis to see where the low-frequency room resonances are, and what the high-frequency limit of the information on the tape is.
With music recordings, mostly I leave things alone because it's hard to find settings that are an unalloyed benefit unless something in particular really, really bothers me and I can identify what it is by ear. Like, in the 1970s I used to record with the wrong type of omni microphones for the recording distances I was using, and nowadays when I come across one of those old tapes I fix it in the transfer, and I feel a lot better about those recordings now as a result. But the corrective EQ that I use doesn't come from a spectrum analyzer--it comes from knowing the difference between a free-field and a diffuse-field omni microphone, which I didn't know back then. Looking at a spectrum of the recordings before and after, I'm not even sure that the difference would necessarily be apparent.
With music recordings, spectrum analysis could give you some hints if you already know what you like and what you don't like in the sound of a recording. But music doesn't usually have a regular, smooth spectrum--it has whatever kind of spectrum it has, which is very particular to the type of music and the room and the type of recording you've made. So I don't think you can begin from the visual--I think you have to listen and form opinions about the spectral balance, then maybe the spectrum analysis can give you a way to refine those opinions further.
For people who want to really learn what aspects of sound are in what frequency ranges, I recommend David Moulton's "Golden Ears" training CDs. They're not cheap, but this particular skill is so valuable that I've never heard of anyone who resented the cost after they went through learning it.
--best regards
Topic: Spectrum Analysis (Read 7137 times)