Correcting the Low End

[har-bal]

Link is below

http://www.eqmag.com/story.asp?storyCode=14193

Cheers

Earle

[zumbido]

I've been using Har-Bal on drum stems.

I do a lot of drum replacing with Drumagog. I also add a subtone (sine tone) with the kick.

Har-Bal helps keep the super-lows under control. And, balances out the overall drumkit sound within an album project.

Any progress on a 'synchable' version of Har-Bal?

[HarBal]

Unfortunately no. I've been tied down on design issues for the new much more comprehensive analysis engine that will be part of the next generation har-bal. Long way to go still.

Paavo.

[Carmichael]

Unfortunately, the Anderton article is somewhat vague on the use of harbal. When harbalizing bass, what is the goal (taming the biggest peaks, raising the floor, empathetic eq)? What does an ideal bass spectrum look like?

This is part of a bigger question. If using harbal on a single instrument, what is the goal and strategy (I know it differs from harbaling a mix)? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[HarBal]

As far as I'm concerned, there's no such thing as an ideal bass spectrum! The ideal spectrum is entirely track specific so you need to treat each on its own merits. My general aims for that region is reducing muddiness and providing better uniformity but you can't make good decisions without listening to the track and correlating the spectrum shape with the instruments that produced them.

On the matter of HB'ing the instrument tracks in a mix, the aim is to combat the problem spectrum components at the source (within the track responsible for those problem peaks). Essentially, it is a case of working backwards by doing a trial mix, analysing with Har-Bal and identifying the problem peaks in the spectrum. Then comparing those problem peaks with the spectrums of the individual tracks making up the mix and taming them there. Then remix and re-check the final spectrum shape. Did it improve in the direction you wanted it to and if not can you suggest why?

For recordings in which the instrument parts were recorded one at a time this sort of processing is essential all that should be required to obtain a balanced mix. For parts that were recorded simultaneously in the same studio or venue (a live situation) then leakage will most likely result in post mix spectrum anomalies that you cannot easily address prior to mixing. For these cases you can use Har-Bal in the final mix to combat the destructive interference of leakage.

Regards,


Paavo.