This is sometimes caused by room reflections in recording spaces without acoustic treatment. Sometimes one or two narrow frequencies overpower the rest in an audio track. You may not notice subtle noise in the context of a mix, but it can pop out distractingly after mastering compression.Ī spectrum analyzer can reveal high frequency noise so you can filter it out before it becomes a problem. Similarly, recording noisy sources like some vintage gear can result in extra energy in the highest frequencies where the noise floor overtakes the signal. Make sure to reduce or eliminate excessive low frequencies that don’t contribute positively to the mix. Hot tip: Too much bass in your mix reduces the maximum loudness you can achieve during the mastering process. Many home studio monitor setups have limitations when it comes to the deepest bass and highest highs.įor example, if there’s a buildup of energy in the low end, you might not notice how bad it is if your speakers or headphones don’t reach down to the sub bass.Įven though you can’t hear it, that information still exists in your mix and can cause issues with mastering and poor translation to other listening systems. Here are a few examples: Issues at the extremes of the spectrum There are a handful of situations where a spectrum analyzer plugin can reveal issues you might not otherwise catch. You need to learn to listen critically to find issues and solve them the right way.īut visual feedback can act as a helpful reference if you’re ever in doubt.

Your ears are always your best resource when it comes to evaluating your mix. Spectrum analyzers designed for music production show the amplitude of different frequency bands across the hearable spectrum. Today, spectrum analyzers are found in dedicated VST plugins and audio effects like EQ that alter frequency balance. This became common in the DAW era since spectral analysis is easy to perform with digital signals. These tools have been used since the mid 60s to design and build audio equipment.īut as music production developed, spectrum analyzers started to appear in the mixing and mastering process to give producers more info about their tracks. The original spectrum analyzers were technical devices meant to evaluate a wide range of signal types in traditional engineering. Master a track.Ī spectrum analyzer is a tool that lets you visualize the frequency balance of a signal. Our powerful, AI-driven mastering engine listens to your song and delivers pristine, studio-quality music that’s ready for release.

Music spectrograph visualizer