What do they indicate and How do I use these markers?
I know I saw something on this, but I can't find it again.
Thanks,
Bax
Nodes on the Average Energy (green ) line
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Paavo
Re: Nodes on the Average Energy (green ) line
Hi Bax,bax3 wrote:What do they indicate and How do I use these markers?
I know I saw something on this, but I can't find it again.
Thanks,
Bax
I assume you are referring to the dots on the spectral lines in version 1.5, correct? These indicate nothing more than playback focus. That is which traces correspond to the output you are listening to when playing. If you have the original spectrum displayed and playback your EQ track when you toggle the EQ button in and out you will see the nodes jump from the Harbalised traces to the original ones and visa versa. They have no other siginficance. You can switch them off by the way.
Regards,
Paavo.
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Har/Bal
Nodes on the Average Energy (green ) line
The three traces are inexorably connected so that if you apply a filter to one that same filter is applied to all. To have a clear idea on what the difference is between the peak and the average spectrums requires a bit of an understanding on how the spectrum is measured in the first place. The way Har-Bal does it is the traditional FFT spectrum estimation approach of taking windows (short time frames 16384 samples long) and calculating a periodogram for it. A periodogram is
just the magnitude squared of the discrete Fourier transform of the windowed data. Now the average spectrum comes about through averaging all periodograms together for the entire track. The peak spectrum comes from taking the peak spectrum magnitude from all periodograms for the entire track. The red trace is just the geometric mean between the two.
Why Har-Bal records both relates to how, in some music, problem resonances can stand out more in the peak spectrum than in the average one. An example might be a particularly strong instrument solo in the middle of a track that has one or two really loud resonances of short duration. If loud enough it will stand out in the peak spectrum but if they don't last long then they wont be very visible in the average one. Such a loud resonant peak might well be uncomfortable to listen to but if all you had to go by was the average trace then you might well find it difficult to figure out where the problem lies.
What I've found is that if you want the dynamics of the track to sound controlled then concentrate on the peak spectrum trace (yellow) and if you want to preserve the dynamics but just get the balance right use the average spectrum trace (green) and if you want a compromise use the geometric mean trace (red).
Paavo
just the magnitude squared of the discrete Fourier transform of the windowed data. Now the average spectrum comes about through averaging all periodograms together for the entire track. The peak spectrum comes from taking the peak spectrum magnitude from all periodograms for the entire track. The red trace is just the geometric mean between the two.
Why Har-Bal records both relates to how, in some music, problem resonances can stand out more in the peak spectrum than in the average one. An example might be a particularly strong instrument solo in the middle of a track that has one or two really loud resonances of short duration. If loud enough it will stand out in the peak spectrum but if they don't last long then they wont be very visible in the average one. Such a loud resonant peak might well be uncomfortable to listen to but if all you had to go by was the average trace then you might well find it difficult to figure out where the problem lies.
What I've found is that if you want the dynamics of the track to sound controlled then concentrate on the peak spectrum trace (yellow) and if you want to preserve the dynamics but just get the balance right use the average spectrum trace (green) and if you want a compromise use the geometric mean trace (red).
Paavo
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Har/Bal
More Info
If you have a large high Q peak in a spectrum it will be indicative of a resonance that lasts a long time. Likewise something more transient in nature will have a broad spectrum (low Q). So if you're adjusting out a sharp peak in the spectrum it is unlikely to be a transient.
What you should think about is what type of instruments you have in your recording and what there characteristics are. For instance, cymbals have a long decay time so will exhibit strong narrow resonances at the high end of the spectrum. If you try and flatten these out then you're effectively putting a dampener on the cymbal, which will ruin it's quality.
My piece of advice would be this. Peakiness is not a problem as such and you should only attempt to address narrow peaks if there is something obviously problematic in the recording when you listen to it. Only if it clearly sticks out in the spectrum and you can hear a problem should you try to control it.
Also, if there are few instruments in the mix be more conservative about what you change because it is highly likely that there will be holes in the spectrum simply due to a lack of instruments. Attempting to fill these is likely to destroy the character of the instruments.
Paavo
What you should think about is what type of instruments you have in your recording and what there characteristics are. For instance, cymbals have a long decay time so will exhibit strong narrow resonances at the high end of the spectrum. If you try and flatten these out then you're effectively putting a dampener on the cymbal, which will ruin it's quality.
My piece of advice would be this. Peakiness is not a problem as such and you should only attempt to address narrow peaks if there is something obviously problematic in the recording when you listen to it. Only if it clearly sticks out in the spectrum and you can hear a problem should you try to control it.
Also, if there are few instruments in the mix be more conservative about what you change because it is highly likely that there will be holes in the spectrum simply due to a lack of instruments. Attempting to fill these is likely to destroy the character of the instruments.
Paavo
Nodes on green line
I haven't checked to see if you have all ready done this, but an idea might be to have these nodes corrispond to the "signigficant frequances" that you mention in your tips.
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levit71
Re: Nodes on green line
I like this idea. I think it'd definitely make it easier to visualize the placement of various frequencies.bax3 wrote:I haven't checked to see if you have all ready done this, but an idea might be to have these nodes corrispond to the "signigficant frequances" that you mention in your tips.
Igor