Har-Bal Users Forum BBS

Toast with Jam does Red Book, if you are using a Mac.

Start with a singer that has a great sound. Have a good mic - nowdays you can find good ones for about $750 - $1000. And have a good preamp - preferably a tube preamp. Then you won't have to do much. If you've recorded a lousy sound, no plug-ins will fix it. The better the sound IN the less you'll f...

This is the perfect combination for me - Har-Bal & T-RackS. Using Earle's suggestion of preset 'Opto + half inch' in T-Racks. I ONLY alter the 'Input Gain' in the multiband-limiter section. This is where you can make a HOT CD - just listen and don't overdrive. In this 'Opto + half inch' preset t...

I'm leery of anyone named bobcats, I mean Bob Katz.

This 'black art' of mastering is mostly fascinating to me simply by the pseudo-cloak of what it supposedly is not.

"Are you saying that dither is supposed to be inaudible?" I would think the affect of dithering should be inaudible - or at least nearly. The idea is to end up with a version of your 24-bit (or higher?) file in a 16-bit format that is as close as possible in sound. I keep thinking I shoul...

I've been on that 'shootout'.

I don't get it.

You're, NOT supposed to hear 'dither'.

These examples range from snowstorms to sandstorms. I don't get it.

Earle, I had either sent to you or posted a screen capture of what a few tracks from this Green Day album looked like after I had imported them into Pro Tools. You commented that they looked like a 2x4. One can't argue with the success of this particular album. They know their market. It's at about ...

Revision on that JT CD, it's about -13 dB. Lots of dynamics.

Green Day's is still at -4.5 dB.

I can usually only take about 3 tracks - no matter the playback volume.

Green Day's 'American Idiot' is at -4.5 dB RMS.

This is the loudest record I have ever heard.

I seem to remember a recent James Taylor CD at about -9 dB RMS.

Of course, Green Day's record is made to hit you smack dab in the center of your head a pulverize you.

If you like your mix... In my experience, Har-Bal should be used to 'fine tune' your mix, to observe and correct areas within the overall frequency curve of your mix. I think it's an obvious temptation to 'copy' a commercial frequency curve. But that is a mistake. You are going to completely alter t...

This effect is great! I should've experimented before I posted about any potential mono problems - there aren't any. As Paavo said, it's ONLY the 'L R Thingy' that is affected, in fact it just dissappears. So there for any problems that show up when monitoring in mono are due to the original stereo ...

Earle,

This " The LR Thingy " is very cool. I just recently tried it on a vocal trio (tenor, alto, soprano) with piano. It really does move the sound out in front of the speakers.

Have you had any concerns if a track, affected this way, is played back in mono?

"This guy has a doctorate in DSP, so we should listen."

This has only been opinion and conjecture. And, I only have a master's in Music Theory and Composition.

But, gee-whiz doogle, thanks for the temporary elevation!

p.s., stick with Samplitude, it obviously sounds better to you.

Possibly. I've been working on this artists' "album" off & on for about 4-5 months.

If it was this song, it had different drums (not BFD). And 'Beat Detective' had yet been used.

dke, Thanks for listening and critiquing. I think your comment is right on the money about the guitar. I now think it's a bit loud overall. And, the 'tone' was/is extremely difficult to control. There are, as you put it, some nasty frequencies in there. Maybe I'll try to invert the Har-Bal EQ curve ...