Har-Bal Users Forum BBS

Hi Guys,

This is my first post on the forum so please be dentle with me....lol

Myself and a vocalist are using pre-recorded backing tracks for live and recorded work, has anyone have any dealings in the weird world of backing tracks...?

When I have completed my final master I then use Har-Bal but the results seem to affect the vocal, should I use Har-Bal before I mix the tracks together so I only use Har-Bal on the backing track prior to mixing? or am I just doing something wrong.

Many Thanks In advance.

You should be aiming to get the mix plus backing tracks looking balanced with a minimum of applied EQ from Har-Bal. By the sounds of it, that isn't the case.

Look at where your mix spectrum is going wrong and then look at the backing track spectrum to see if there is any commonality. Try scuplting the backing track on it's own to fit into the mix better. Another thing to keep in mind is dynamics. In a live recording live vocals will be pretty much limited in dynamics by hard limiting. Your post recorded backing vocals probably not. That will make them much more dynamic and "bigger" and so won't sit very well in the mix. You'll need to apply the same sort of dynamics processing as would have happened in the live situation to make it consistent.

Other than that, I'm not sure what to suggest.

Regards,


Paavo.

If you are referring to 'karaoke' tracks, a lot of these are already 'mastered'.

I think you might be better off just mixing in your vocals without applying HB. If the tracks have already been 'mastered' you won't really be adding anything. It's a tough mixing job, it always sounds like a vocal plus a track. That's the way it goes.

This is the same problem with using a lot of sample libraries, the samples are so overly preprocessed to sound good on their own (sales device) that they don't work well 'remastered', let alone in a mix.