ahh i seee. Like they say, knowledge is power. Im glad the internet, this and a few other forums are around. Ill have to see about taking a class or two if i can find any in my area. Im in the tri cities in michigan, saginaw, midland, bay city. Thank you for the information, all of it. Hopefully this thread will help any other new comers so they don't have to bug you guys so much. :-)
There are 2 parts to the "measurement situation".
The easiest is what I call "knobology". That is learning how each program works and how to view or do certain things. They all do and perform pretty much the same-but how they look and operate varies greatly.
The second and hardest part is knowing basic measurement-what to look for-when you see something odd what other tests and so forth to run.
Any "measurement guy" can quickly learn a measurement program. But simply knowing what the button do in a program does not even begin to give you an understanding to what you are looking at.
Before taking classes I HIGHLY suggest getting the program (I use Smaart and TEF mostly and do not suggest TEF for your situation), playing around with it on your own, read and view various tutorials on line, read the manufacturers forums/questions etc.
THEN attend a class. THe more you know going into it, the more you will get out of it.
If you go in "cold" you will be quickly overwhelmed and won't get a lot out of it.
But NOTHING replaces actually MEASURING and in different conditions/situation/different products and so forth.
What may work well in one situation does not work at all in another. You have to figure out WHY it is not working and what you can do to get it to work. Or the compromises you have to make.
The more you learn-the better understanding you will have about how this "audio stuff" works (and doesn't)