output and plug it into the input of a channel on your mixing board. Set all eq's of that channel to "Flat" or zero - straight up and
down. Go to your main house eq, and set all faders to "Flat" or straight across the zero center line. Take a deep breath now Al,
and double check that everything is so - you definitely don't want to mess up at this point, 'cause it's time to wreak some havoc!

*Now, before we go any further, it is absolutely imperative that no one else is in the room, and if anyone is, clear them out for a
few minutes because the ungodly noise you are about to unleash sounds like the end of the world, and is guaranteed to piss
everyone off like you've never seen before. If you hate the club, and never want to play there again - make sure the club owner
is in the building at this point, 'cause he is truly going to flip the hell out!

Now, turn on the Pink Noise generator on your Analyzer and SLOWLY bring up the channel that it is plugged in to. Bring the
fader up to a healthy level so the led's on the output of the mixer is around zero. It should now sound like the building is ready to
collapse. Since you can't pull this off for very long without getting fired, time is of the essence! Immediately look at the display
screen of the Analyzer. Every frequency that is above zero, go to your eq and pull it below zero. Every frequency that is below zero on the Analyzer, go to your eq and take it above zero. Quickly go down the line, and one by one adjust all frequencies on your eq until the Analyzer is showing a "Flat" response straight across the zero line. Your eq will end up being an exact mirror image of what the Analyzer looked like when you first started.

By this time, you should have everyone in the general vicinity in a panic and the entire staff yelling at you. Good Job! It's time to shut her down. Now take a good look around, and with the biggest shit-eatin' grin on your face, inform everyone that the club's 
new "Battlefield Afghanistan" ride is now over, they may park their barstools and exit to the left!

OK, so what you just did was called "Pink Noising the Room" and the purpose of doing that resulted in "EQing the Room".
- You filled the room up with a healthy amplified dose of Pink Noise through your PA system..
- All of those frequencies were bounced around, absorbed and reflected by everything and every surface in that room.
- The Analyzer mic picked up the combined resulting noise present in the room.
- The Analyzer converted the noise from the mic into a visual display of the individual frequency levels present in the room.
- By looking at the Analyzer display, you can now see which frequencies are too high or too low in the room.
- By going to your main equalizer, you can now make the necessary adjustments to compensate for anomalies in the room.
- You have now achieved a flat response, calibrated your PA system to the room, and in theory have perfect sound.

Makes sense, right? Well - to a point, and here's the real lowdown. In a fixed environment, for example a recording studio, or
your home theater, where nothing in the room ever moves or changes location, and the temperature is constant, EQing a room with Pink Noise works extremely well, and with great results.

On the other hand, Pink Noising an empty room in advance of a live band performance is just about pointless. Not only will the noise piss everyone off during the day, once the room fills up with people and bodies that evening, all frequencies in the room change dramatically. Once the band starts playing, all of the additional noise from the stage will seriously affect the frequencies
in the room. Once crowd noise is introduced into the room all frequencies change, and once all those bodies start generating
heat and the air movement from fans and air conditioning is introduced, the drastic change in room frequencies is amazing,
and can be seen on the Analyzer. Your EQ will now be all over the place trying to compensate for all the things now present
in the room, that weren't there when you Pink Noised the place earlier in the day when it was empty, and your main EQ will
look NOTHING like it did when you EQed the room earlier, So I ask you...what's the point? There isn't one.

Consequently, in a live band situation, the Analyzer is best suited as a tool to watch and monitor changes as they occur in
a room during the live performance and make real-time adjustment accordingly.
  

To submit an audio question to ASK ALDO, simply click HERE and type "Ask Aldo" in the subject line.

Website Design by Duane Regula

Q: Hey there Big A. I really enjoyed the page on Spectrum Analyzers - so much so that I actually took the big plunge and
purchased one. It does exactly what you said it would and more. I am very happy with the unit, but the one thing that scares
the hell out of me is the Pink Noise feature. I followed the instructions in the manual, and when I brought that shit up through
my system...Oh My God, Aldo, it sounded like the speakers were ripping to shreds and the building was ready to explode!
Did I do something wrong? 'Cause if not, I certainly don't want to go there again until you give me the full stink on The Pink.
Thanks Dude, You Rule!  Al Tenuater / Red Lion, PA  

Ask Aldo is a regular feature of  AAPS Productions.com , where visitors to our site submit audio related
questions, and our very own Aldo - the wizard of woofers, the master of midrange, the titan of treble, will
happily provide answers in basic, easy to follow terms that even the most clueless and novice of viewers
can grasp and understand, and hopefully in the end, maybe even learn something along the way!