Menus vs. Buttons to See Changes

[EugeneB]

I'm new to Har-Bal and only beginning to use it.

My goal is to see how my EQ graph differs from my reference track and hear the difference. This is what I noticed:

1) The menu items "Apply"/"Match" under the Equalizer menu change the graph to show me Source Graph/Reference Graph, but there is no check-mark to show which mode I am in, so if I switch back and forth, I forget where I am and can't tell if I'm looking at source or reference;

2) The buttons on the toolbar (EQ/Air/Dynamics) change the sound, but don't change the graph, even when they are turned on. When I click these toolbar buttons, I hear a new sound, but the graph doesn't change, even the purple active wave is the same.

My expectation would be this:
- Upon clicking any toolbar button for EQ/Air/Dynamics matching, both the graph and the sound change accordingly, and also the clicked status of the buttons tells me which mode I'm in (Source/Reference).

Thanks

[HarBal]

Source and reference spectrums are displayed in different shades of colour. The reference is dark green, dark yellow and dark purple for average, peak and real time traces. Furthermore, the toggle reference button shows the checked state of reference session playback and the circles on the plots indicate the active spectrum (note how it jumps plots when you toggle EQ) your listening too.

Air and dynamics don't change the spectrum display because the prediction calculations required to display the changes are too complex to justify the cost of the calculation. The spectrum changes are easy and computationally cheap to calculated so that is why they are supported.

regards,


Paavo.

[EugeneB]

I'm still not entirely clear: I need to match my source track to a reference track (in all respects: EQ, volume, etc.)

1) First of all I processed the Reference track and exported its .HBREF file (does it have to be .HBREF or .HBF?)

2) I loaded my own track, and then clicked Reference -> Open...

3) In the dialog box, there are 2 input fields, .WAV and reference. I specified my WAV, and for my reference, the .HBREF file (did it have to be .HBF? I understand .HBREF is "fuller" and has more info, including dynamics, so I loaded that one)

4) After everything loads, I see that the 3 buttons on the toolbar are automatically ON: Air, EQ, and Dynamics.

At this point, however, when I play my track and switch back and forth between EQ (turn it on/off), I do not hear any difference. This has me a little worried because I'm not sure if the EQ has already been applied or not. I think I should hear changes in the EQ when I toggle this button.

For some reason, even though these buttons are automatically applied (ON), Volume Matching is not automatically applied, and I need to select the menu "Match Volume". Is there a reason for this inconsistency?

This was my main question; I also had a separate question about the volume being matched around 90% but not really 100% to the reference, and I created a separate thread on that, just above this one. Thanks

[HarBal]

EugeneB,

All you have done in the steps outlined is open your track and a reference. You have made no filter changes so your track filter will have a flat frequency response with no EQ, air, dynamics or limiting applied. Hence when you toggle the Air, EQ and Dynamics buttons you won't here a change.

If you want to match a reference you need to use the various editing tools to do so. Either use the intuitMatch tools or by hand using the gain and shelving tools.

Be aware though, that relying on automatic matching via intuitMatch (or any automatic algorithm for that matter) will only work consistently if the type of music and instrumentation is similar between the reference and the session. If not you are likely to hear mismatched results. The best way to do matching is not though automatic tools like intuitMatch but by loading your reference track as a playable file and using the toggle reference button to switch playback from the session to the reference and back again. Using this approach it is immediately obvious whether the edits you are making are on the right track as you'll hear how the timbre and loudness changes between the two. Just be aware that for the toggle reference button to be active the sample rates of the session and reference tracks must be the same.

cheers,


Paavo.

[EugeneB]

Thanks. So I guess I'll have to manually select the menus to apply filter changes.

Could you address the other question about volume? Part of the reason I bought Har-Bal was to achieve commercial volume matching (without distortion). As I wrote, I'm 90% there and HarBal does a good job, but still a couple units quieter my reference. Does that mean I have to change something in my mix, or manually turn up the gain a few more levels?

[HarBal]

I have a great disdain for "commercial loudness" and think most recorded material these days suck because of it. Mainly because of that, Har-Bal was never designed for loudness maximisation, at least not the extent pursued by commercial labels.

The short answer is therefore, you'll probably need an external multiband limiter to get your lost 2-3dB of volume if you want to go that way. For me, I never would cos commercial recordings sound like rubbish to me because of loudness maximisation.

cheers,


Paavo.