The beauty of the Har-Bal shelving tool

There are many features of Har-Bal we still haven't discussed in this forum. Below we will start sharing a few items. Please feel free to add yours.
Post Reply
har-bal
Site Admin
Posts: 647
Joined: Wed Dec 31, 1969 8:00 pm
Location: Atlanta/Australia
Contact:

The beauty of the Har-Bal shelving tool

Post by har-bal »

On the top right hand side of the menu bar there are two buttons.

They are called the low shelving cursor and high shelving cursor respectively.

For instance, you have your bass region nice and tight and you realize upon listening that you may need to add a little more bass.

Which frequency should you adjust?

Try this...

Click on the "low shelving cursor" and place your cursor at the 1k mark. Click your cursor and move it up just a little. The change is dramatic and all the frequencies are increased equally.

The same can be applied to the other side of 1k by using the "high shelving cursor" tool.

Try it and let us know your thoughts.
Earle
JTroska
Posts: 8
Joined: Thu Dec 08, 2005 11:18 am

Post by JTroska »

Wow! That's so simple yet effective! I'm embarrassed that I hadn't thought of it myself. :oops:

If I record a song using a lot of artificial instruments like synth bass and drum machines, the mix can be bass-heavy. I think the makers of those drum machines like to include a lot of low end in the samples so that they sound impressive through big PA systems in music stores. But they reproduce poorly through 6" car stereo systems.

Anyway, if I apply an "IntuitQ" to such a track, the result can be a diagonal line that weighs too heavily on the low end. The simple shelving trick is a great way to 'tilt' the EQ curve more flat.

It's really amazing what can be achieved with Har-Bal. I've gotten quite giddy over some of the results. I expect to have a 'live' rock recording to work on soon. Can't wait to try Har-Bal on that.
timejunkie
Posts: 7
Joined: Fri Apr 07, 2006 7:54 am
Location: Ontario, Canada
Contact:

Shelving

Post by timejunkie »

That is a great tip.

I had a couple of tracks that were low or top end heavy and this simple process cleaned thing up immediately.

This is really a wonderful program. I always struggled with EQ. After playing live for a great many years at jet airplane volume, my ears are not what they used to be. This program visually compensates for my self inflicted auditory impairment

I will recommend Har-Bal to all my musician and engineering colleagues.

Cheers,
Chip :D
Post Reply