Do we have a regional difference? It would be called a spectrum analyser down here because it's showing you the audio spectrum... I should hope it were real time... Those relics were built in today's digital age of memory...
Both get used but I think
Real Time Analyzer is more common for audio spectrum specific devices as Spectrum Analyzer is often used to reference an RF spectrum analyzer.
Re
meter calibration, if it is in real dBu, what should we be mixing to peak at, 0 or -10? Talk to our broadcast brothers and they'll tell you -10...
How about +8dBu? I believe the -10dB reference used in broadcast is dBFS for digital metering, which using their standards equates to a +8dBu analog
level. Part the the broadcasters concern is not overmodulating as their output is legally limited and tied to a known input
level. Another factor is interoperability, being able to move signals or share media between multiple broadcasters.
Live sound does not really have these same issues and many devices do not clip until the signal
level is +18dBu or greater. Mixers themselves use different ballistics and 0 references for their meters, you cannot at all assume that a
console meter it is actually metering peak dBu levels. "dB" is simply a ratio of a
level to a reference
level and some
console meters calibrate 0 on their metering to be +4dBu or what is considered nominal
line level while others may even use their maximum output and place 0 at the very top of the scale. Even if two different consoles do use the same 0 reference, that does not mean you necessarily run them the same as one could have a higher maximum output
level than the other. And that isn't even getting into whether the
meter ballistics are showing more peak or average levels or digital
level metering, The important thing is to understand what the metering you have actually represents.
One common mistake is to look at just the the meters and not factor in the
fader. If the
meter is post
fader, which is typical of almost every output
meter, then the actual signal
level is a composite of what you see on the
meter and the
fader level. If the the
fader is at -20 then the signal coming into the
fader may actually be something like +24dBu and into
clipping despite the
meter showing 0. While proper
console setup should avoid this situation, it is still a good idea to consider what you are metering and how the other control settings affect it.
