Anyone know some decent free SPL meter software & "white noise"?

[JinMTVT]

quick question here ..

i already got an ECM8000

can this mic ( nice nice mic ) be used for SPL measurements ?
if yes, how and with any softwares?

[joe carrow]

I believe that a lot of software would be able to give you an SPL, provided that you have a calibration file. What you would need to know is what voltage input at your sound card corresponds to what SPL at the microphone; this would be sensitive to anything in the chain between the sound card and the microphone. If you were using a mixer as phantom power (like I do), then you would need to have have an accurate way of setting the gain every time.

[JinMTVT]

i am using a berhinger ub thing with phantom power

mmm ..
would using the RS spl meter be easier?
i could always keep the ecn8000 for other stuff

but would it be more reliable to use the ECM ??
convenient ?
what do i need to measure for it to be precise?

[joe carrow]

The ECM8000 is excellent for its unmodified wide and flat frequency response. I'd really trust it for relative levels between 20 hz and 20 khz. It will tell you if you have a 2 db peak or dip in your response in this range.

What it won't tell you is if your speakers are producing 80 db or 90 db. If you don't touch any levels and have controlled conditions, it WILL tell you that one is producing 3 db more than the other.

Absolute SPLs really aren't that useful (at least not from any websites I've read) for designing and testing crossovers or oven room treatments. Bottom line- do you want to ensure that your speakers are flat, or do you want to ensure that you know the precise SPL they are putting out?

[JinMTVT]

ah exactly!!!
that is what i was thinking about

so the ECM8000 is very good for what I need
( measure relative SPL for frequency response of the driver/system )

can you guys recommend any easy to use softwares that also allows other type of measurements?

the only software i have ever worked with was ETF
http://www.etfacoustic.com/
was quite good, but non intuitive interface

[okk]

microphone for measurement.

Why don't you try WM61 or WM60 of Panasonic.
It's very cheap, only about US$1.00,but you need mount it by youself. DIY.

A lot of Chinese spk-diyer expirenced it. The high F range need a little bit calibrating. The calibration file can be found at internet.

[Spasticteapot]

Originally posted by joe carrow
The ECM8000 is excellent for its unmodified wide and flat frequency response. I'd really trust it for relative levels between 20 hz and 20 khz. It will tell you if you have a 2 db peak or dip in your response in this range.

What it won't tell you is if your speakers are producing 80 db or 90 db. If you don't touch any levels and have controlled conditions, it WILL tell you that one is producing 3 db more than the other.

Absolute SPLs really aren't that useful (at least not from any websites I've read) for designing and testing crossovers or oven room treatments. Bottom line- do you want to ensure that your speakers are flat, or do you want to ensure that you know the precise SPL they are putting out?

Actually, yes. I have some no-name speaker drivers, and can't figure out what the heck to do with them.

[RobWells]

Its not free, but Stryke audio (now Acoustic elegance) used to sell an excellent test cd with test tones / warble tones / pink noise / white noise etc.

The sites not working too well, but try the phone.

http://www.aespeakers.com/

Rob.

[campfreddie]

Originally Posted by bwaslo

Try using Praxis in "free/demo" mode, it will let you run it as a Real Time Analyzer and provides pink noise output (which is what you want with an RTA type analyzer, not white noise) from the soundcard.

PRAXIS Downloads

Hello Guys,

I want to use Audacity to record my noisy neighbors. While the sound is not too important to capture the decibel levels are. In other words I want to be able to show how high the decibel levels can reach at various times of the day and use that information as a “real world indicator” of noise. Any tips on this? And is there a particular view I can look at to see decibel levels via a flat mono microphone recording. Thanks