Har-Bal Users Forum BBS

Dear Earle

Thank you for all your help I have learned alot from you, and all the mastering books written by all the great mastering engineers, and I have realised that I have evolved, I really really like the FIR filter systems, which is planted in your Harbal.

I am building a 64 bit system with windows 64 bit. All DXP.
I have recently bought a CD called Maximum Bass, by the Ministry of sound. And I have found the stereo image, of thr whole CD is for example:- left is -2.37dB peaks, and right is:- 0+dB clipping.(I jut wanted to know is it some kind of new fashion, or are people just deaf, and they just cannot hear it, sooner or later I think that people are going to realise this, and the record labels will have to pay people for the damage done to their ears)

i have come across many CD's through my studying, some of them go above 0+. few songs maybe, but this particular CD isall the 20 songs are clipping on one side (the right side) and the stereo is shifted. DO YOU THINK THIS IS CORRECT.
??????????????????
Thanks william

william g wrote:Dear Earle

Thank you for all your help I have learned alot from you, and all the mastering books written by all the great mastering engineers, and I have realised that I have evolved, I really really like the FIR filter systems, which is planted in your Harbal.

I am building a 64 bit system with windows 64 bit. All DXP.
I have recently bought a CD called Maximum Bass, by the Ministry of sound. And I have found the stereo image, of thr whole CD is for example:- left is -2.37dB peaks, and right is:- 0+dB clipping.(I jut wanted to know is it some kind of new fashion, or are people just deaf, and they just cannot hear it, sooner or later I think that people are going to realise this, and the record labels will have to pay people for the damage done to their ears)

i have come across many CD's through my studying, some of them go above 0+. few songs maybe, but this particular CD isall the 20 songs are clipping on one side (the right side) and the stereo is shifted. DO YOU THINK THIS IS CORRECT.
??????????????????
Thanks william

William

What you are now discovering is that in order to find imperfection in something you have to learn it completely. The more evolved you become in your craft the attention you will pay to the process.
You will ask yourself over and over again how some of these CD's were approved for released from the studio. You asked if I think it is correct for a cd to have clipping on all the songs for an entire album. I am sure you know my answer to that one. It looks as though they forget to apply limiting. Even setting the limiter at -0.1 outceiling and 0.0 for the threshold would of solved this issue.

What can I say except that you should "continue to evolve". Maybe ultimately you will be one of the few engineers that take the process to another level.

Cheers

Earle

Earle,

What exactly is the difference between the limiter settings "outceiling" and "threshold"?

Tom

tcatzere wrote:Earle,

What exactly is the difference between the limiter settings "outceiling" and "threshold"?

Tom

Tom

How are you today!

The purpose of the limiter is to ensure that the output signal level does not exceed this threshold.

If the peak limiter threshold is exceeded for more than a few milliseconds, additional gain reduction is applied to reduce the overall signal level to within accepted limits without distortion.

Cheers

Earle

Hi Tom,

From what I understand of limiters, the outceiling level is the level that the limiter output should never cross. Everything above that level is clipped. The threshold is the level at which the limiter tries to limit to. If the outceiling and threshold are set to the same level then the limiter is functioning as a hard limiter in which it has to respond instantaneously to bring the level down. If you leave a gap between outceiling and threshold then it has the opportunity to respond with a slower attack. The purpose of that is to soften the sound of the limiting.

Regards,


Paavo.

Earle,

If you know that some compression will be required in the mastering chain, is it best to employ it before or after Har-Balizing . . . or. doesn't it really matter?

Tom

tcatzere wrote:Earle,

If you know that some compression will be required in the mastering chain, is it best to employ it before or after Har-Balizing . . . or. doesn't it really matter?

Tom

Tom

Introducing compression into an unbalanced spectrum is a definite no,no.
You should always place har-bal first in your mastering chain.
When the spectrum is balanced the compressor doesn't have to work hard at all.

Earle

tcatzere wrote:Earle,

Introducing compression into an unbalanced spectrum is a definite no,no.
You should always place har-bal first in your mastering chain.
When the spectrum is balanced the compressor doesn't have to work hard at all.

Earle

Earle,

What is the best point in the chain to add a little reverb?

Tom

tcatzere wrote:

tcatzere wrote:Earle,

Introducing compression into an unbalanced spectrum is a definite no,no.
You should always place har-bal first in your mastering chain.
When the spectrum is balanced the compressor doesn't have to work hard at all.

Earle

Earle,

What is the best point in the chain to add a little reverb?

Tom

If you really must add reverb...add it before using Har-Bal.

Earle

Thanks, Earle, for your input.

Tom