Proper Position Of Har-Bal In Mastering Chain???

[the-bertman]

Gentlemen. First let me congratulate you on a product that is revolutionizing a stale industry and is breathing life into lesser-knows like myself.

I'm an Indie Artist who's tackled all tasks on my CD's, including Mastering, thanks to you guys. After spending countless dollars and heeding bad advice from too many engineers, I decided to get off my butt and start carving some masters myself. You two are single-handedly responsible for taking a basement musician with a song-bank to the Commercial airwaves of the US! Yes I put in a lot of work but your product finally breathed a bit of fresh air into me and produced some results I could actually HEAR. It took my masters and gave them something that all Indies cherish - Playability! But enough about me......

I've read Earle's notes/tips/advice for some time now, and I'm puzzled at one particular area. In my mastering chain I put Har-Bal LAST. After EQ, Reverb, Multi-Band, Limiting. All articles I've read on your site seem to place Har-Bal after the mix and before the above-mentioned. I just can't seem to get a decent sounding result in this scenario. If I put it last I touch up some of the problem areas ( there usually aren't too many by this point ) but it does make a decent sounding master that plays well across systems. Being a rookie I realize that I'm probably doing something wrong, but my results are OK ( not Big Label but certainly good enough to get my music heard and save me a few bucks ).

Another concern I have is that I seem to always use the RED line for carving, rather than the yellow/green lines. This produces a smoother sounding WAV for me. Yes, I do use the yellow/green in extreme peak/valley circumstances, but I always return to the RED line. Am I wrong in doing this?

Oh yeah, I just ordered your 2.0 DVD so if you feel this DVD offers more than your tutorial on your site, then feel free to tell me to consult it instead of elaborating here.

Thanks in advance,

Tim Bertulli
( www.timbertulli.com )

[har-bal]

Hello Tim

First of all congratulations to you on your project!

When I put together that mastering tutorial it was actually to be used as a guide for beginners. It really doesn't matter where you place Har-Bal in the chain.

The fact that you are using it last simply tells me that you must be doing a great job of making sure your tracks are balanced during the mixdown and early mastering phase.
My hat goes off to you.

Har-Bal is a tool that should be used wherever it is needed. There are no real rules.

How about posting a link to your cd so others may possibly hear and purchase it.

BTW: There is nothing wrong with using the red line as your guide. Actually you may want to post your technique so others may follow suit.

Cheers

Earle

[the-bertman]

Thanks for the response Earle. You've provided reassurance that I can use this tool anywhere in the chain. In fact I use it all over the place. I use it for analytics on instruments, after the mix, and anywhere in between. The only time I do use it for processing is where I stated....at the end. And by that time I've scoured the mix so much that is should be pretty close. There's so much more I can probably use it for so I've ordered the Video. I love the new "Air" feature in 2.0. A little does go a long way ( < 10% ), but man does it compliment my VOX.

I will post my Mastering process in the proper forum. My websites are www.timbertulli.com AND www.dyslexiclove.com. Music genres are Roots Rock and Classic Guitar Rock respectively. Both sites contain CD Baby links for purchases. Used Har-Bal for both releases ( along with Waves ). Like I said, it's not Big Label ( nor will I be putting you out a job any time soon ), but radio seemed to like it so I did something right. And a lot of that is credited to Har-Bal!

Keep up the great work guys, and thanks for "keeping it real".

Tim