Initial thoughts And Suggestions

This area of the Forum is where you can post your suggestions and ideas for future update releases of Har-Bal, as well as any gripes you may have on the software, its useability and its interface.
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Robert H
Posts: 19
Joined: Tue Apr 26, 2005 8:28 am

Initial thoughts And Suggestions

Post by Robert H »

I bought Hal Bar a few days ago and Ihave some initial thoughts I would like to share.



The idea behind hal Bar is great and undoubtedly many are going to find this software incredibly useful including myself.

Now for some suggestions. Im sure some have already been suggested. And there may be some things I mention here that are aready implemented?

1. A function to allow the user to shift the whole spectrum either left or right. This would save time when you want to get your spectrum roughly in the same ballpark when comparing/matching with a reference filter.

2. Some Character addition to the EQ is needed if Hal bar is to remain competitive. I find the EQ to be good but some flavour as an option should be added. Covultion/sampled EQ would be a perfect choice. I dont think you would have to sample a hardware unit to quite the extent the Hydratone people do but you could do some basic flavours with some Hi end gear to give Hal Bar character if the user requires. This would be great for Hal bar I have no doubt of that. voxengo has many of these features and they are very very good.

3. A function that allows faster switching spectrums. Im working on a mix I like what I have and save the Spectrum and start working on another one etc etc. I want to be able to switch between spectrums fast and in real time. Firium has this function and allows the user to morph different spectrums. Hal Bar doesnt need to Morph as theres no need for that during mastering. Being able to swicth easily between spectrums would be very useful. Around ten readily available woudl be great.

4. Im not sure about this one but Hal Bar doesnt seem to allow full free hand drawing of curves? I think this is an essential feature.

5. A standalone VST halbar Spectrum display. I realise this may not be music to your ears because why would anyone need to buy Hal Bar if they can simply use a spectrum analyser and a decent Phase/paramteric EQ to achieve the same results. Well it should be sold with the full version of hal bar. Lets face it one can download a free Spectrum analyser from a certain site and do just as Im saying but your display is the best one out there. Simple and clean.

6 No. Vst implementation. I totally agree with your policy regarding this. However it does mean you are cutting out a lot of potential buyers so at least adding the spectrum analysis only version would sort of pacify those that want VST functionality. I woudl like it.

7. While your not actively promoting EQ match (and rightly so) I still think the feature should be there with a big red button :). I woudlnt use it on a mix but I can see the use of this if I have done a sampling session consisting of kik drums. I was wondering if batch Analysis could do this? Anyway, match eq would be great for this type of thing.

8. Match Loudness. having a bit of difficulty with this one. I have some thoughts but will wait before I post them. Exactly what is going on here? Is there something going on in the background or is this simply changing gain?



Thats all for now. I will probably add to this as I use Hal Bar. It seems Im best to write these things as Im using it. Im sure theres more I wanted to say I just cant remember et the moment.


Hal Bar is a great tool and already I have remastered a couple of tracks which Im very happy with. I would have been even more happier if I was able to add character to the mix (hence Convultion). I then wouldnt need to bring teh track in to my DAW to do further work. I generally get my RMS in teh right ballpark when I mixdown and would rather finish the process entirely within Hal Bar. Your site seems to push the...... use Hal Bar and then import to a DAW when in reality this is not always nescessary if the engineer/producer is slapping compression/limiting on during the mixdown. All Im saying here is that totally promoting the use of an L2 is maybe not the best suggestion and could actually be destructiove to the mix. personally I try and stay clear of L2/L3. If I do use one it would be an L1.
Robert H
Posts: 19
Joined: Tue Apr 26, 2005 8:28 am

Post by Robert H »

So Halabar,

none of my observations were worth a reply then?...Hmmm, ok
har-bal
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Post by har-bal »

Robert H wrote:So Halabar,

none of my observations were worth a reply then?...Hmmm, ok
Rob

It's Har-Bal not Hal-Bar :)

1. A function to allow the user to shift the whole spectrum either left or right. This would save time when you want to get your spectrum roughly in the same ballpark when comparing/matching with a reference filter.

******Please explain. If you place the cursor in the middle of the graph and do a wide "Q" you can move your track into the ballpark (up or down) with one swoop. It would not be a good idea to move the spectrum to the left or right to match the reference because because you will be uncovering masked frequencies and destroy your mix***************************************

2. Some Character addition to the EQ is needed if Hal bar is to remain competitive. I find the EQ to be good but some flavour as an option should be added. Covultion/sampled EQ would be a perfect choice. I dont think you would have to sample a hardware unit to quite the extent the Hydratone people do but you could do some basic flavours with some Hi end gear to give Hal Bar character if the user requires. This would be great for Hal bar I have no doubt of that. voxengo has many of these features and they are very very good.

**************There are specific programs/tools for convolution. Har-Bal 's specific nature is EQ****************

3. A function that allows faster switching spectrums. Im working on a mix I like what I have and save the Spectrum and start working on another one etc etc. I want to be able to switch between spectrums fast and in real time. Firium has this function and allows the user to morph different spectrums. Hal Bar doesnt need to Morph as theres no need for that during mastering. Being able to swicth easily between spectrums would be very useful. Around ten readily available woudl be great.

**************This is a good idea, we will consider it. You can create a filter and you are meaning to have the abilty to recall it in an instant******************

4. Im not sure about this one but Hal Bar doesnt seem to allow full free hand drawing of curves? I think this is an essential feature.

*******************You have both vertical and horizontal movement************************

5. A standalone VST halbar Spectrum display. I realise this may not be music to your ears because why would anyone need to buy Hal Bar if they can simply use a spectrum analyser and a decent Phase/paramteric EQ to achieve the same results. Well it should be sold with the full version of hal bar. Lets face it one can download a free Spectrum analyser from a certain site and do just as Im saying but your display is the best one out there. Simple and clean.

********************This is a great idea and we are addressing this issue**********************

6 No. Vst implementation. I totally agree with your policy regarding this. However it does mean you are cutting out a lot of potential buyers so at least adding the spectrum analysis only version would sort of pacify those that want VST functionality. I woudl like it.

**************We did not say NO VST implementation, we said we are postponing it because the Mac market has placed trememdous demands on us for a Mac version of this program**************************

7. While your not actively promoting EQ match (and rightly so) I still think the feature should be there with a big red button Smile. I woudlnt use it on a mix but I can see the use of this if I have done a sampling session consisting of kik drums. I was wondering if batch Analysis could do this? Anyway, match eq would be great for this type of thing.


*******************I can assure you this will never happen my friend. EQ Matching has got to be the worst feature on the planet. Ask any real mastering engineer**************

8. Match Loudness. having a bit of difficulty with this one. I have some thoughts but will wait before I post them. Exactly what is going on here? Is there something going on in the background or is this simply changing gain?

************This is a great feature. You can read more on it here and the proper way to use this function
http://www.har-bal.com/ipw-web/bulletin ... h+loudness
*************************

Thats all for now. I will probably add to this as I use Hal Bar. It seems Im best to write these things as Im using it. Im sure theres more I wanted to say I just cant remember et the moment.


Hal Bar is a great tool and already I have remastered a couple of tracks which Im very happy with. I would have been even more happier if I was able to add character to the mix (hence Convultion). I then wouldnt need to bring teh track in to my DAW to do further work. I generally get my RMS in teh right ballpark when I mixdown and would rather finish the process entirely within Hal Bar. Your site seems to push the...... use Hal Bar and then import to a DAW when in reality this is not always nescessary if the engineer/producer is slapping compression/limiting on during the mixdown. All Im saying here is that totally promoting the use of an L2 is maybe not the best suggestion and could actually be destructiove to the mix. personally I try and stay clear of L2/L3. If I do use one it would be an L1.

*************There are a number of great limiters out there that folks can use. Believe it or not the majority of them are using the L2. *************************************

***********************Har-Bal is an extremely valuable and easy tool to use. There are quite a number of studios worlwide using our tool and are always writing us requesting we leave Har-Bal simple in terms of functionality. It does what it does best and using the Loudness Technology can't be beat.**********************************

**********************We are not trying to compete with the other hundreds of products out there. We are just trying to give the consumer the best product we can that really works without charging them an arm and a leg and providing the best possible support we can. People don't want a bunch of useless bells and whistles anymore they want an application that is robust and simple to use :) ****************************

************************Remember this though. If you load your track and you are using reference file that extends further out to the left and right and your doesn't it is because the frequency area used when you created your song may not have used the entire spectrum. ***************************************

************************The uses and possibiilities with Har-Bal are limitless.Experiement and have fun. It is a great scientific tool. We have some extremely high end folks in this forum who are doing amazing this with Har-Bal. *******************************

Cheers

Earle
Robert H
Posts: 19
Joined: Tue Apr 26, 2005 8:28 am

Post by Robert H »

Thankyou Earle for your reply. Apolgies on my calling your software Hal Bar :oops:

All your points taken and uderstood. Since I posted the initial message the one feature that I definitely would like is the fast changing of spectrums. I thought this one would be one of my least wishes but it turns out its probably the biggest one. Still, I understand that for some a feature like this wouldnt be nescessary. Good to know your thinking about that one anyway.

:)
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