smoothing out the midrange with har-bal and samplitude

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Gordon Gidluck
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Joined: Sat Dec 04, 2004 7:18 pm
Location: Arkansas
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smoothing out the midrange with har-bal and samplitude

Post by Gordon Gidluck »

Working on some live recordings recently. Piano and vocal. The very heavy in the mid-range and some distortion on my playback system when pushing the levels.

What I did to cure the recording was to identify mid-range resonances with har-bal. Then apply eq cuts. Samplitude was used as well to bounce (render) to a file very short segments where distortion occurs.

First a general eq treatment was in order. Har-bal was used to identify the dominant areas. Usually this occurred in 600-700 range and then the first harmonic above that 1200-1400 depending upon the key of the song. I did these wide eq adjustments in Samplitude. Usually a cut of 3-4 db with a Q factor of about 3 was required.

After the general eq treatment, there were usually still some problem frequencies needing an eq cut. This is where har-bal excels above other tools. I previewed the song in Samplitude until I heard an area where there was distortion. Then I bounced a short segment of the distorted region to a small file. The small file was then opened with Har-bal. This would identify the exact frequency which needed the cut. I would usually do a narrow parametric cut at that frequency and also the first harmonic. This was very evident on the frequency trace.

I did my parametric cuts in Har-bal. After rendering the eq changes in Har-bal, I would have to rename the file so that Samplitude would think it was the same file as before. This works ok if you have repeated eq changes to make.

So, the general idea here is to use a DAW editing program to create a short snippet of a problem area of a track. And then use Har-bal to analyze it. Repeat the process as much as required.
HarBal
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Post by HarBal »

H Gordon,

Good idea.

You'd be happy to know that what you have proposed will be achievable (and probably more quickly and easily) all within the Har-Bal I have planned in my re-write. I've partially written my new analysis engine that will make all this possible but it needs quite a lot of testing before I'm convinced the code is doing what it should be.

Cheers,


Paavo.
Gordon Gidluck
Posts: 40
Joined: Sat Dec 04, 2004 7:18 pm
Location: Arkansas
Contact:

Post by Gordon Gidluck »

Paavo,
That sounds great! Anything you can do to streamline and improve the workflow is certainly going to add value.

Gordon
Carmichael
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Joined: Wed Mar 02, 2005 3:05 pm

Harbal As A Channel Strip

Post by Carmichael »

Currently the way I mix is to analyze every track with har-bal. I don't bounce anything extra, I just direct harbal to the proper file in the audio files folder. I do not process the track with harbal, I set my track eq to simulate the harbal filter. What's the best filter for a track could be a complex subject, but at the least, it helps to see what you're dealing with.

For me, the best track eq is to treat it like a master. I like a fairly flat response for most instruments throughout their range. So if a vocal comes in at 250 hz, I like to see it relatively flat up to ~ 10 khz (but dont get carried away from 4khz to 9 khz). This forum has some excellent posts about how best to approach this, and I think it takes hundreds of hours of experimentation to get good with harbal.

Most people would disagree with this approach (flat response for each instrument). For instance, this is the opposite of the "give each instrument it's space" advice that is usually given - to notch holes in instruments so other intruments / vocals can peak through. I find that concept is useful at times, especially to protect the lead vocal, but doesn't work for me on a songwide basis.

Anyway, just my 2 cents. But, I don't know how I would live without harbal.

Perhaps I should have posted this under the mixing thread.
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