Have you ever been in a studio and embarrassed yourself by A/B-ing your mix with that amazing sounding Nirvana record and the band walks in and screams, "Hey, don't make us sound like Nirvana!" Well, before you loose your coolness the next time (or geekiness - if that's what you strive for, like me), you should buy a DOD Real Time Analyzer. They're cheap (around $300) and they're great for so many things. I can't tell you how happy I am now that I can figure out what frequencies are lacking or out of whack in any given room without having to A/B. This is a piece of equipment every freelance engineer should own. This 31-band analyzer includes a "specially calibrated" mic to measure the frequency response of a control room, live room or club (for you live-sound folks) as well as a line-level 1/4" input (so you can run a mono mix into it and check out your overall frequency range). There's also a pink noise generator if you want to impress your friends...

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