Reading a SpectrumAnalyser

[drenched]

Hi
im more of a musician than a engineer
and as a result am suffering the pains of home stidio production.
Weather it is Waves Paz Analyser or say SonicWorkx Spectrum Analyser (they all seem the same) Im not getting what the left vertical column represents. I under stand that the lower horizontal column is
frequency just like in a graphic EQ but in a gaphic EQ the vertical is simply db with
0db in the middle and in the analysers all I see is a display all below 0db. Im sure its simple to read if I knew what I was doing.
thanks

[Matt_Bauer]

G'day, I havn't seen SONICWORX but I can explain the PAZ analyser to you.

You're right, the horizontal part of the graph is frequency, and the vertical part is volume.

But remember, with digital, 0db is the highest value you can get, anything above that is just digital distortion. (Unlike tape, wher it just gets a bit crunchy)

So the Paz analyser shows you O at the top, and everything below is obviously minus.
Eg, -10db, -20db etc. etc.

Playing with the arrows on the right of the window allows you to zoom in and out if you want more of less detail.

Hope this helps, feel free to email me if you need more help.

Seeya, Matt.

[JC925602]

The low end of the graph will show the noize of your computer... if it can go that low.

JC

[moosh]

What should the low end of the graph look like?