Measurement equipment for beginners?

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Eddie East

Freshman
Jan 25, 2013
5
0
0
Alabama
Hi everyone

I'm looking to start putting together a test/measurement system to help with setting up my equipment. I'm mostly interested in something that's easy to use and learn. I really don't know where to start.

My rigs are much simpler than the majority I see posted here but we are expanding and getting quite busy. For most of my gigs now, I really don't need anything more than a simple setup but I'm starting to get offers for larger gigs that will require much more than I'm familiar/comfortable with. I would like to educate myself more before taking a larger gig and not being able to provide a good show. In one rig, I do have a DBX Drive Rack but I'm only proficient with a limited number of it's features.

Eddie
 
Re: Measurement equipment for beginners?

Do you have a budget in mind? As Tim said-it depends on what you want to measure and what you want to find out.

You can "measure" all sorts of things that give no indication of anything you want or need to know.

Easy-can mean all kinds of things. Usually it means limited-or not exactly accurate.

The "easier" it is-means the more limiting it is going to be.
 
Re: Measurement equipment for beginners?

I use the pink noise generator on the DBX along with the wizard to set up but I would really like to understand more about what it's actually doing. I would like a separate sound measurement system to possibly help me understand a bit more.

I'm not sure if that really makes much sense.. Mostly I'm trying to educate myself a bit more about sound.

Edit: As far as budget is concerned, I'd like to keep it around $500 or less if possible.

Eddie
 
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Re: Measurement equipment for beginners?

Eddie East said:
I use the pink noise generator on the DBX along with the wizard to set up but I would really like to understand more about what it's actually doing. I would like a separate sound measurement system to possibly help me understand a bit more.

I'm not sure if that really makes much sense.. Mostly I'm trying to educate myself a bit more about sound.

Eddie
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Education is a good thing, and as you discover more about what the DBX auto-eq feature is doing, you'll stop using it.

It is a fun path that many before you have started, and it can go as deep as your interest and knowledge want to pursue.

There are plenty of tools at various price points, but as you get more confident in doing measurements quickly in the field for live gigs, I recommend and use Rational Acoustics' SMAART.
 
Re: Measurement equipment for beginners?

Phil Graham said:
Education is a good thing, and as you discover more about what the DBX auto-eq feature is doing, you'll stop using it.

It is a fun path that many before you have started, and it can go as deep as your interest and knowledge want to pursue.

There are plenty of tools at various price points, but as you get more confident in doing measurements quickly in the field for live gigs, I recommend and use Rational Acoustics' SMAART.
Click to expand...

To expand on Phil's answer - to get good, meaninful measurements and know what to do with them - you'll need more than $500. Smaart, laptop, IO such as the Smaart IO, mic such as the TM-1, misc cables/adapters, and Rational Acoustics training. Or Systune and training from them. Less money and time invested than that and you'll have more guessing than knowledge/meaninful info.
 
Re: Measurement equipment for beginners?

Agreed that $500 is a bit short, considering the software and hardware required. Assuming you already have a laptop, you will easily spend half your budget on a mic and IO device. Can't say I'm familiar with all measurement software, but I don't think there is much available for around $300. Though I never bother to look, so may be wrong. I am intimately familiar with Smaart however, full disclosure I'm a co-owner of Rational Acoustics. As Smaart v7 may be cost prohibitive for your budget I wanted to make sure you were aware we will be releasing a new version in the next few weeks. It's called Smaart Di and will retail for $595. It shares much of the functionality of v7, but not all. Given your budget, this may be a more appealing option.

Whatever software you chose, ours or otherwise, I suggest spending a good amount of time getting up to speed on its capabilities as well as doing some measuring at home or in the shop to become familiar with its operation.

Welcome to the test and measurement world.

-A
 
Re: Measurement equipment for beginners?

Silas Pradetto said:
Jumping from Driverack auto-EQ to full-fledged FFT analysis and being able to interpret the results is not a hundred-dollar or few-days jump. It's a thousands-of-dollars and years of training and experience kind of jump.
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Is there an option that would fall between these two? Reading the replies, it seems that the upcoming smaart program and the I/O and mic required would cost me under a grand. I could manage the cost but the learning curve looks a bit steep.
 
Re: Measurement equipment for beginners?

Eddie East said:
Is there an option that would fall between these two? Reading the replies, it seems that the upcoming smaart program and the I/O and mic required would cost me under a grand. I could manage the cost but the learning curve looks a bit steep.
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No matter the equipment you can afford, it's the training and time learning that will be the highest cost. The only compromises you can make are with the actual gear; compromises with training means all the equipment is likely to do you no good, as you won't be able to set up or interpret your measurements correctly.
 
Re: Measurement equipment for beginners?

Eddie East said:
Is there an option that would fall between these two? Reading the replies, it seems that the upcoming smaart program and the I/O and mic required would cost me under a grand. I could manage the cost but the learning curve looks a bit steep.
Click to expand...

You could look at Parts Express - they cater to amateur speaker builders (mostly home stereo), and have one or two speaker measurement systems that have a USB mic, relatively simple software, etc. I'd guess that the newbie guides they include would be pretty good since they're not dealing with professionals. Dunno if it would work that well for live system tuning, but if nothing else it's a way to work with some basic test gear and learn what's involved.
 
Re: Measurement equipment for beginners?

There's Arta software as well, I keep a copy on my computer that I occasionally use as a reality check for what I'm seeing on Smaart 7.
ARTA Home

You could buy yourself Studio Six digital's Audio Tools with a few modules (including the single channel Smaart module) and either the iAudioInterface or iTestmic within the budget you have, a very handy tool, portable too!

Smaart DI is certainly an option worth exploring when it becomes available. You can buy a cheap USB interface and mic for around $200-300 if you look carefully enough.

Attending a Smaart class is an excellent investment even if you don't buy Smaart. The principles of measurement taught in the course apply to all dual channel FFT analyzers. $600 for 3 days well spent and give you a solid foundation for making sound system measurements.

For full disclosure, I do Smaart training here in Canada.

Welcome to the long winding journey to better sound!! :)
 
Re: Measurement equipment for beginners?

Arthur Skudra said:
You could buy yourself Studio Six digital's Audio Tools with a few modules (including the single channel Smaart module) and either the iAudioInterface or iTestmic within the budget you have, a very handy tool, portable too!
Click to expand...

I love the Studio Six Smaart module on my iPad. It's inexpensive, and even with the internal mic more than adequate for where I am at the moment. As I get a better understanding of this stuff and desire more accuracy, I will invest in their interface - but for someone getting started, especially if they already have an iPad or iPhone, their app with the Smaart module is hard to beat.
 
Re: Measurement equipment for beginners?

What are you hoping to achieve? Depending on the gear you have, thousands of dollars in measurement gear aren't going to make enough of a difference versus just setting it up and tuning by ear. Using the DriveRack auto EQ can be helpful, but I've never ended up using what it suggested. The problem with a system like that is it is only checking the EQ at that exact location. Unless your speakers are producing exactly linear results in the entire room (pretty much impossible) then the EQ adjustment isn't going to help for the rest of the room. It's really helpful in your home theater when you can put the mic right at your favorite chair and get the EQ right that way.

For a low cost entry into SMAART stuff, getting the iPhone module for Audio Tools is extremely cost effective. It does work with the built in mics, but realize that the calibration is going to be non existent that way. However, you can still make use out of it to fix major problems, or to see if the results are different from room to room.

In all reality though, if you learn how to properly deploy your gear in the first place, the improvement that you'll make by having measurement tools onsite is going to be quite small, especially for smaller systems.
 
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