User Manual

WAVELAB
25 – 638 Analysis
3D Frequency Analysis
This function allows you to view a wave file in the frequency domain rather
than in the time domain. Although a wave display (time domain) tells you a
lot about where one sound starts or ends in a file, for example, it doesn’t
say anything about the timbral contents of the file. A frequency graph (fre-
quency domain) does.
The graph used in WaveLab is actually something often referred to as an
FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) plot.
Creating the graph
1. Select the part of the file you want to analyse.
If you select a stereo recording, a mix of the two channels will be analysed.
The length of the selection affects the accuracy of the analysis. For short se-
lections the result will be very detailed. For longer selections (over a minute
or so) it will not give equally detailed results, since the harmonic content
might vary “between the measure points”, which is then not shown in the
display. You might for example make a separate analysis of
the attack (be-
ginning) of a sound, since the most drastic variations usu ally occur there.
2. Select “3D Frequency analysis options” from the Analysis menu and click
on the Frequency tab. Adjust the settings if needed.
These are the only settings that cannot be redone when the graph is already open.
3. If you only want to see a plot for a part of the frequency range, adjust the
“From” and “To” values.
The range must always span at least three octaves.
4. Decide if you want the frequency axis in the graph to be linear or logarith-
mic.
Logarithmic is often the most natural choice since each octave (doubling of the frequency)
is then represented by an equal distance on the frequency axis.