Using analyst to look at guitar pickup response

I did this switching a couple of pickups in a guitar to see differences.

I used Ozone which has a setting to accumulate incoming audio, not just analys a certain time period - and give you a nice chart of frequency content and levels.

This feature also has a very nice comparison chart you can use to compare different mixes and see what you might go for to make the sound more alike.

I ran my test with picking(5-10 quick picks) a single string open, at fifth and 8th fret.
And did this on each string.
Then I did the same with chords.

In Ozone you can save these different charts and easily put them over eachother.

I learned a lot from that - both on pickups and mastering mixes.

Much of the character of different pickups comes not from overall static frequency response but rather dynamic frequency response, e.g. transient response and the way different frequencies' amplitudes decay during the sustain portion. You'll need something more sophisticated than Analyst for that, something that plots frequency response over time, like a waterfall plot. I don't know of any plugin that does that.

Thanks for the responses. I'll just go by manufacturers specs and my ears lol

Man that looks awesome Cornielious- must check it out. Thanks for posting that link.

Stone House Studios


"Blue Cat Audio's Analysis Pack gives such great visual feedback on my tunes that I'm thinking about ditching the speakers altogether."

WoW.  Now that's a glowing compliment.  Personally, I can't wait to start mixing my tunes without listening to them.

Has anyone shown this to Pete Townshend?

Brian

The industry understood long ago that music is all about undulating curves on a screen. ;)

Quite a number of years ago I got hold of HarBal which is a visual feedback program for audio content. It allows you another one of your senses to be involved in the audio production process.

I spent quite a long time looking at what sound was like. - at least in so far as HarBal showed it.

The idea being that at various times your ears can be fooled but the visual representation would remain the same.

It's a great training tool and certainly has it's uses. It's soon to come out as version 3 with a further evolution of the HarBal concept.
 
I waffled and didn't make my point.
 
using harBal gives you an interesting way to view audio material. You can get a free trial and use it to get some of the visual feedback you're after about your guitar pickups.

Just use the infinite setting in Ozone and it works beautyfully. It accumulate a frequency profile as long as you wish.

And you can learn a lot seeing how old vinyl is profiled and modern cd's.
Interesting to see recording after recording follow the same pattern.

And works well to profile a guitar as well.

And Ozone is cheaper than this bundle pack. And you get plenty dither algorithms and other stuff useful especially for sonar Studio users which got no good ones as standard.