I've heard of this product for about 1-1/2 years and even checked out the demo about a year ago. I guess I didn't really believe it could do what it says it can do and didn't spend much time with the demo. It just sounded like some miracle "fix all your mixes" program.
But a couple of weeks ago I got the demo again and really played with it for awhile and I decided that it was worth purchasing.
Since purchasing I have revisted many of my mixes, read the manuals, done lots of careful tweaking and I just have to say that this is really a great mastering tool. I'm surprised to hear how many of my previous mixes sound so much fuller by using Har-Bal. I guess it's all in the visualizations that Har-Bal uses that lets you see where your peaks and valleys are. Smoothing them out visually is really cool. Once I spot the holes and smooth them out the mix sounds so much better. I know I have more to learn but right off the bat, and with a little time spent on tweaking the filters, I have gotten much better results. Sometimes the results are subtle but A/B'ing between no filter and filter lets me really hear the difference. Some of my mixes sounded good to me before but after tweaking with Har-Bal and comparing between filter and no-filter I found that quite a few of my original mixes almost sound hollow in comparison. If I had to say what it helps me with the most then I would say it is probably equalizing and smoothing out the lower registers. A lot of my mixes had some serious peaks and valleys in the low end and smoothing them out really really helped me with the low end. Thanks for making such a great tool!
Very pleased with Har-Bal!
Re: Very pleased with Har-Bal!
BCbc wrote:I've heard of this product for about 1-1/2 years and even checked out the demo about a year ago. I guess I didn't really believe it could do what it says it can do and didn't spend much time with the demo. It just sounded like some miracle "fix all your mixes" program.
But a couple of weeks ago I got the demo again and really played with it for awhile and I decided that it was worth purchasing.
Since purchasing I have revisted many of my mixes, read the manuals, done lots of careful tweaking and I just have to say that this is really a great mastering tool. I'm surprised to hear how many of my previous mixes sound so much fuller by using Har-Bal. I guess it's all in the visualizations that Har-Bal uses that lets you see where your peaks and valleys are. Smoothing them out visually is really cool. Once I spot the holes and smooth them out the mix sounds so much better. I know I have more to learn but right off the bat, and with a little time spent on tweaking the filters, I have gotten much better results. Sometimes the results are subtle but A/B'ing between no filter and filter lets me really hear the difference. Some of my mixes sounded good to me before but after tweaking with Har-Bal and comparing between filter and no-filter I found that quite a few of my original mixes almost sound hollow in comparison. If I had to say what it helps me with the most then I would say it is probably equalizing and smoothing out the lower registers. A lot of my mixes had some serious peaks and valleys in the low end and smoothing them out really really helped me with the low end. Thanks for making such a great tool!
Thanks for writing and letting us know that you find the tool helpful. Most folks have the biggest problem getting the bass region just right and that is where Har-Bal really shines. As the days pass and you become even more familiar with the product your understanding of the frequency spectrum will increase tremendously. You will be able to just HEAR mixed and know where the the problems areas reside.
We just hope that more folks would stop thinking of Har-Bal as snake oil and give it a channce and understand that it is really a better way of eq'ing one's music. There are no tricks here. It is just a good solid product.
Cheers
Earle Holder