Metric Halo Spectrafoo Standard

SpectraFoo was designed to provide all of the tools you need for a powerful suite of digital meters, with all of the resolution of hardware meters at a fraction of the price. With more than 15 individual metering tools, SpectraFoo gives you all of the information you need to analyze and prepare your audio, for production, performance, mastering, or broadcast. SpectraFoo was created for live sound engineers, musicians, post-production houses, and broadcast facilities.

Digital Level Meter

This three-in-one digital level meter can simultaneously display Peak, RMS, and VU levels. The meter uses color to distinguish the different modes. The Peak and RMS meters each have independent, resettable peak hold functions. The meter also contains a numerical counter that indicates the largest number of consecutive samples surpassing 0dBFS. The calibration of the meters is referenced against 0dBFS.

Peak and RMS Power History

See the history of the information displayed by the Peak and RMS meters. The light grey "tick" marks indicate the passage of one second of time, and the height of each color for each time “slice” indicates the Peak (yellow) & RMS (purple) power levels of the program. The ratio between these two levels is responsible for the “perceived” volume” of program material. When there is a large difference between the Peak and RMS levels of program material, the perceived volume will be low as compared to the peak levels on the tape. Conversely, when the difference between Peak and RMS levels is small, the perceived volume will be louder. This instrument can help you determine how much compression and limiting is needed for specific program material.

Spectragraph

See spectral performance with widths as small as 2/3 Hz with Foo's real-time, high-resolution spectrum analyzer. SpectraFoo creates a new analysis up to 84 times per second, allowing you to see musical structure even at the highest tempos.

Customizable with Peak, Instantaneous, and Average traces, the Spectragraph is fast enough to create a highly detailed, animated “movie” of sonic events. Visualize your audio with the Spectragraph and see details of your recordings you've never seen before - like phase structure, overall spectral balance, dynamic range, frequency range, and low-frequency roll-off.

Spectragram

This Real-Time Spectral Power History Analyzer utilizes the same FFT resolution and scale as the Spectragraph to correlate not only frequency and power, but also time. The result is a visual “sonic fingerprint”. Like the Spectragraph, the true power of this instrument lies in its synchronization with the live audio signal. After spending some time “calibrating your eyes to your ears” by watching the Spectragram while listening to music, the instrument literally becomes a waterfall of musical information.

This tool is very effective for precisely identifying frequency overlap and masking effects, such as a bass drum track and a bass track occupying the same frequency range and obscuring each other. It gives you a good picture of the rhythmic aspects of program material and is very helpful in pinpointing timing problems in dense arrangements. The Spectragram represents the power of frequency events through a color scale.

Power Balance History

Compare the power balance between the two input channels as a function of time. The Power Balance History meter is very helpful for precisely identifying the aspects of mixes that don’t have a natural flow of energy between the left and right channels. It is also great for power-balancing natural stereo recordings and two-channel measurements of equipment.