Not yet mate - I'll give them a go asap.

Matt, here's a run-down on the Span I did in another thread:




Here's a step by step, which I hope will clarify how to use Span:


DISPLAY

In Console View, insert the Span VST into the FX bin of whichever strip you wish to analyze - this can be in any track, bus or in your Master strip.

I'm not sure what the Span default settings are, but when you start playing your track, you should see a real-time waveform in the main window of the GUI. What you choose to display here is dependent on the various controls in Span.

First off, the most important thing to set is what you want Span to display - the five choices are:
* Avg - Average [of the left and right channel summed]
* Max Maximum [of the left and right channel summed]
* L - Left Channel only displayed
* R - Right Channel only displayed
* L+R - Both channels displayed [left channel is blue, right channel is red]



The graph represents two values of any point on the curve/s displayed - the horixontal x-axis represents the frequency of the sound, the vertical y-axis represents the relative level [gain, volume?] of the sound.

The range of frequencies displayed can be altered using the buttons arrowed below so you can view a broad spectrum or effectively zoom in to a narrower range:



For those that prefer the 'step' view, Span allows you to display the curve in eight different column 'widths':




ANALYZING

Once you're happy with the display, Control Click anywhere inside the graph window. Where you place the pointer determines what you hear. The frequency band heard corresponds to where you place it on the x axis and the volume you hear that frequency at is determined by how 'high' up the y axis the pointer is.

The green 'envelope' [probably not the best description of it] that appears causes the frequencies it encompasses to be be heard in isolation as the level of the frequencies outside it are lowered by the program - this shows a full volume audition of the sounds at around 100Hz:



Shifting the pointer around changes the values of the sound you can audition - this is at 5kHz:




If you do download Span, there is a bit more detail about the settings and what the other controls do in the readme text file found in the unzipped folder.

ORIGINAL: montezuma

Hey Steve...that's really far out man! I'm dl'ing that now but will have a look after I get back from work.

Sorry about all the 60's lingo...I'm in a weird mood this morning.

Peace brother.

Groovy

ORIGINAL: No How

That's an awesome post, Steve. I've been trying to learn how to use that Span for months. You're a scholar and a gentleman.

No problem Rick.

I can't believe a VST that is just that good is so free!!

I second the Span. I've been using it for two years and it has become indispensable. The Roger Nichols stuff(which is not free) doesn't even come close to giving you the flexibilty of the span.

Thanks for the post, Steve!

ORIGINAL: esmail1

Thank for these. In particular, I found Basslane to be particularly effective in placing the bass perfectly in the mix. Uses very little cpu also:

20. BASSLANE

+1 for BassLane. Simple and subtle, but powerful.

Big thanks for your kind remarks guys.

But please don't forget this is a joint effort between myself and Legion

Basslane...'controls the stereo field'...what does that mean exactly?

Exactly, panning the bass content to the center without effecting the other parts of the spectrum.

If you don't use extreme amounts of hpf there's bass information in almost everything wich will smear the stereo field. Maybe you don't want all the instuments panned center (I hope you dont ) so then the plug only centers the bass freqz and not the other information, Remember to use it after panning as it will otherwise pan all bass you have just tried to center...

ORIGINAL: retrosaurus

Maybe an addition step to take against SPAM would be to bump useful threads to the top, so as to push useless ads off the first page more quickly...

What a good idea - BUMP!!

Hey Nigel - how cool is that, I'm off for a listen now - congratulations

And big thanks for the kind words

Steve

That's superb Nigel - I love the Parliamentary Questions at the start, nice touch.

The mix and production are top notch too my friend, and the lyrics well though out.

Good stuff indeed

Steve

Bump