Mix Analyzer guide
How to Read Your Mix Visualizations
What the waveform, spectrogram, spectrum, chromagram, and vectorscope actually tell you - and their limits.
Ears lead, eyes confirm
Visuals are powerful for one reason: they catch what your ears miss - a sub-bass rumble below your monitors, a brick-wall cutoff that betrays a lossy source, a phase problem that collapses your low end in mono. But they are a confirmation layer, not a target. Do not EQ to flatten a graph or chase a pretty waveform; a mix that measures perfectly can still sound lifeless. Use the visuals to diagnose and verify, then trust your speakers. Here is how to read each one.
Waveform
Level and dynamics over time - and a quick clipping check.
Spectrogram
Frequency over time in color - brightness, cutoffs, and noise lines.
Spectrum
Tonal balance at a glance, with resonances and low-end buildup.
Vectorscope
Stereo width and phase, and whether the mix survives mono.
Waveform and spectrogram
These two answer most questions. The waveform shows level over time; the spectrogram shows where the energy sits across the spectrum as the song plays.
What to look for
- Waveform: tall transient spikes mean dynamics are intact; flat, squared-off tops mean clipping or hard limiting.
- Waveform: a uniform sausage with no peaks signals heavy compression.
- Spectrogram: a hard horizontal line where energy stops, around 16-20 kHz, is the brick-wall cutoff of a lossy source.
- Spectrogram: a thin fixed line at 50 or 60 Hz is mains hum; broad dark up top means a dull mix.
Frequency spectrum and chromagram
The spectrum reads tonal balance; the chromagram reads harmony. Together they cover the technical and musical sides.
What to look for
- Spectrum: most full mixes trend as a gentle downward tilt from lows to highs - a rough target, not a rule.
- Spectrum: sharp narrow spikes are resonances or harshness; a bulge around 100-300 Hz is low-end mud.
- Chromagram: the brightest of the twelve pitch rows show the key and which notes dominate.
- Chromagram: watch the pattern shift to spot key and chord changes, independent of instrument.
Stereo field, vectorscope, and dynamics
The goniometer and vectorscope show how your stereo image behaves - and whether it will survive being summed to mono.
What to look for
- A round, busy ball of string means healthy stereo width.
- A tight vertical blob means the mix is narrow or mono.
- A horizontal line means out of phase - the channels will cancel in mono.
- Dynamic range graph: big rises and dips are lively; a flat ceiling-hugging line is crushed.
What the visuals catch most often
Across the mixes we analyze, a few patterns show up again and again in the visuals - and they line up with what the rest of our guides find.
The usual suspects
- A dull top end on the spectrogram - most mixes are light on air, not lossy files.
- Low-end buildup on the spectrum, the most common frequency flag.
- A flattened waveform and pinned loudness from over-limiting.
- Inaudible sub rumble low on the spectrogram, quietly eating headroom.
What Mix Analyzer adds
You get all of these visuals generated from your track in one place, next to the numbers and recommendations, so the picture and the read agree.
In every analysis
- Waveform, spectrogram, spectrum, and chromagram.
- Stereo field and vectorscope.
- A dynamic-range view.
- The measurements and advice that explain what the visuals show.
Frequently asked questions
How do I read a spectrogram?
Time runs left to right, frequency bottom to top, and color shows energy. Bright high regions mean a bright mix; a hard horizontal line where energy stops usually means a lossy source.
What is a goniometer or vectorscope?
A meter that plots the left versus right channel to show stereo width and phase. A round blob is wide stereo, a vertical line is mono, and a horizontal line means the channels are out of phase.
What should a frequency analyzer look like?
Roughly a gentle downward slope from lows to highs. Sharp spikes flag resonances and a bump around 100-300 Hz flags low-end mud. It is a guide, not a rule.
How do I see clipping?
On the waveform, look for flat, squared-off tops where the peaks should be rounded. A loudness graph pinned to the ceiling confirms heavy limiting.
What does a chromagram show?
The strength of each of the twelve pitch classes over time, useful for reading key, chords, and where harmony changes, independent of instrument or octave.
Do I mix to the meters or to my ears?
Ears first, always. Meters confirm and catch problems you cannot easily hear, but never EQ or push loudness just to make a graph look correct.
Further reading
- iZotope Learn - Understanding spectrograms — How to read time, frequency, and amplitude and spot artifacts.
- Wikipedia - Spectrogram — The three axes: time, frequency, and intensity.
- Wikipedia - Goniometer (audio) — The Lissajous figure, phase, and stereo interpretation.
- Sound on Sound - Goniometer — A vectorscope for stereo width and correlation.
- Wikipedia - Chroma feature — The twelve pitch classes behind the chromagram.
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