Voicing, tuning, EQing a system/room

[Josh Scott]

I am looking at getting either SMAART or something similar. While I think I have the basic idea of what I am doing I would like to learn more about it to make sure I am doing it right. Are their any books that you would recommend? Or advice you can give?

I am thinking of saving the money and getting Electoracustics tool box, any thoughts? I have the trial the only thing I think I would like to have from SMAART is the auto delay.

[cmchamp]

Josh
For voicing - response analysis - I am still using Signal Scope.
I input two channels, 1 being a split from the noise source, be it pink noise, or program playback, the second channel is form the measurement microphone.
You're 3 hours north of me if you need assistance or face to face guidance.
C.

[Gracetech]

If you have the money go with Smaart. If you don't you may want to give TrueAudio a look. I went to get a copy of Smaart a while back and decided against it because they have jacked the price up so far. I've watched over the years as Smaart has been passed from one company to the next and the price goes up and up although the features are largely unchanged. In fact the latest release is just about annoying the way they have layed it out. I guess i just reached my limit on what i can tolerate. It's by far a great software and i do hope someone steps in and guides the company to a better UI and possibly better price point.

As Cory pointed out you always want a minimum of two sources. The one great thing about Smaart is it's ability to take up to 8 sources.

crt

[Brad Weber]

What are your goals? What might make sense for someone looking to start offering tuning services to others or that would be tuning systems routinely as part of professional design/installation services might be quite different than what might make sense for someone looking at a one time application or personal use. The type and complexity of systems you may work with can also be a factor. For example, the ability mentioned for Smaart and SysTune, with an appropriate interface, to use multiple microphones can be very beneficial for people tuning larger systems on a regular basis, but that requires additional hardware investment and may simply not be that much of an advantage in some other applications.

The step from a single channel RTA/FFT analyzer and amplitude/frequency measurements to dual channel systems and time/phase measurement and analysis can be a big leap for some. I'm a strong proponent of the importance of time relationships to what we hear, but I will also admit that measuring and adjusting time related aspects of a system is not always practical or justified. Deciding whether to make that leap or not can affect both the tools that may be appropriate and the knowledge required to use those tools effectively.

I have Smaart, EASERA SysTune and EASERA, the latter primarily for acoustics, and after having been to classes on each strongly suggest that if you get one of these that you try to attend a class on it, especially if you have not used similar analysis tools in the past. It's not just about how to use the software but also how to interpret the results, what you might want to do based on the results and most importantly, how to correlate the results with what you hear (and recognizing when the results may be questionable).

Chad, did it happen to be Smaart v.6 that you tried? The latest version, v.7, is the first release from Rational Acoustics (essentially the guys who developed Smaart and followed it through several ownerships that started their own company and bought the rights for Smaart) and is a significant improvement over v.6.

[Josh Scott]

I have a couple of goals, one to be able to confirm and isolate problems with our quad amped multi box system.

I do get phone calls from people wanting help with their sound systems and I feel it would be a nice tool to have and know how to use in trying to give people that best they can get with what they installed.

Finally I see it as a good thing to know how to use if I ever decide to look for another job.

Cory, I may take yo up on your offer, if you ever need an extra hand setting a system up let me know I would love to see how you do it.

[bobbycito]

one thing i would say is to always trust your ears with what ever option you go with i have seen when people are reading the response wrong and you listen to a source it sound like garbage but looks great on the screen.

I Like to work with smaart but still use and older version have not updated.