Har-Bal Users Forum BBS

I am mastering College Choir concerts.

While intuition would lead you to believe that songs should be EQed for each song (track), that is nearly impossible for me.
I am bringing in a SPDIF signal from a DAT or VS2480 recorder for the audio which is then matched into the video for a DVD. Thus, it's extremely hard to break up tracks in the mastering process.

I am not getting the results I had hoped for!

I think I understand the basics for HarBal, but I have PSPaudioware products (Vintage Warmer) and Sonalksis, so the tutorial doesn't help me much.

1) Is the resulting EQ analysis of any real value for an hour-long wave file?

2) Is there a way to load in a 3 to 4 minute song, determine the EQ, and then save the frequency "fixes" so they can be applied to the whole hour as a template.

(inside the concert - there are frequent series of noise, applause, etc. that might distort the analysis. However, if I fix the whole hour - the results are not good. I can't (very easily) EQ all 30 songs and then match them back to video).

3) I have been importing audio at 48Khz and 16 bits for DVD video compatibility. Would it be better to bring the audio in at 24 bit? If so, will I get dropouts going back to 16 bits?

4) What's the best way to increase the overall volume level prior to using Har Bal???

Any help would be appreciated. Being able to figure out the necessary EQ for a single track and then applying it to the entire hour would be helpful!

70s Rocker wrote:I am mastering College Choir concerts.

While intuition would lead you to believe that songs should be EQed for each song (track), that is nearly impossible for me.
I am bringing in a SPDIF signal from a DAT or VS2480 recorder for the audio which is then matched into the video for a DVD. Thus, it's extremely hard to break up tracks in the mastering process.

I am not getting the results I had hoped for!

I think I understand the basics for HarBal, but I have PSPaudioware products (Vintage Warmer) and Sonalksis, so the tutorial doesn't help me much.

1) Is the resulting EQ analysis of any real value for an hour-long wave file?

2) Is there a way to load in a 3 to 4 minute song, determine the EQ, and then save the frequency "fixes" so they can be applied to the whole hour as a template.

(inside the concert - there are frequent series of noise, applause, etc. that might distort the analysis. However, if I fix the whole hour - the results are not good. I can't (very easily) EQ all 30 songs and then match them back to video).

3) I have been importing audio at 48Khz and 16 bits for DVD video compatibility. Would it be better to bring the audio in at 24 bit? If so, will I get dropouts going back to 16 bits?

4) What's the best way to increase the overall volume level prior to using Har Bal???

Any help would be appreciated. Being able to figure out the necessary EQ for a single track and then applying it to the entire hour would be helpful!

It appears that there is a lot of information you are missing regarding the use of Har-Bal. Most of it can be found in this forum.


Correct use of Har-Bal here

http://www.har-bal.com/ipw-web/bulletin ... .php?t=225

Is there a way to load in a 3 to 4 minute song, determine the EQ, and then save the frequency "fixes" so they can be applied to the whole hour as a template.

Go here http://www.har-bal.com/ipw-web/bulletin ... .php?t=128

http://www.har-bal.com/ipw-web/bulletin ... .php?t=164

If you are eq'ing an entire hour you may want to use Har-Bal to first balance the spectrum and the use compression, preferably multiband across the entire track esoecially if you have noise and applauses throughout the track.

If you decide to break up the tracks you can use the following technique to insure the volume level is consistent across the entire track.

I use the "match loudness" feature in Har-Bal as a reference for my limiter.
When I use this feature I just write down the gain number. I then pull the fader back to 0.0, record the newly EQ'd file and open the limiter. I then set the outceiling at -0.1 and the threshold at the number indicated by har-bal. If there was an increase in Har-Bal of 4.3, I set the threshold for -4.3. It works every time and the volume level is consistent throughout the entire album.


Cheers

Earle