calibratign software RTI ANALYZER ON PC

[David Aliperti]

HI i want to install a software for audio measurments on my pc, how can i calibrate it, i mean, i want to have a real reading of value, do i have to get a stand alone device and to compare with audio card and fix settings?

[Seth Bloombaum]

It depends what software and what you wish to measure. Measurement is usually used in playback and reinforcement.

For Sound Pressure Level, SPL - this is an absolute measurement, and is usually done with a dedicated device, which comes calibrated. Nady and Radioshack sell inexpensive ones. Phonic has a midrange device that also does other measurements.

For sophisticated measurements that sound engineers use to tune their systems to large venues, SMAART software is one of the leaders. This allows measurement not only of system performance across frequencies, but also across time. Very small time errors add up to very big performance issues.

Is this the kind of measurement you're concerned with?

[David Aliperti]

both, spl and spectral analysis, I understood that for spl i need a calibrated measure but for audiomeasurment i can use a pro software on my pc, and to feed the mic capsule with music material caming out from loudspeaker

[Seth Bloombaum]

Here are the Phonic RTA models.

Most recently, I've been using a DBX Driverack 260, which is an integrated processor, rather than a dedicated measurement device. Although it includes room delay correction, it doesn't measure time-domain errors. But if you want to provide EQ based on pink-noise measurements, it does very well at this. Also includes other output processing commonly used in live sound work.

The SMAART software is currently sold by EAW, though it's been licensed to different companies at different times. Not sure what the situation is in the EU.

For either the Driverack or SMAART, you'd also need a measurement microphone. DBX makes an inexpensive mic, higher end mics from Audix, B&K, Earthworks, others...