I read the Tutorial a couple times now & I'm starting to get the hang of it, I think.
Please clarify the meaning and usage of the 4 lines on the chart/graph.
Thank you,
Lucky
4 line clarification please
First of all, I clicked something that made 2 of the Lines plus the Close Ref. & Swap Ref. boxes closed. How do I get them back?
Next, One Line is Peak, the other is Average. After applying InuitQ I'm supposed to make subtle changes to Peaks & Valleys. Right?
But what are the other 2 Lines? What do they represent? How should they be used to obtain best quality Masters?
Thanks,
Lucky
Next, One Line is Peak, the other is Average. After applying InuitQ I'm supposed to make subtle changes to Peaks & Valleys. Right?
But what are the other 2 Lines? What do they represent? How should they be used to obtain best quality Masters?
Thanks,
Lucky
The two lines that disappeared are the peak and average traces of the reference that is open. Since you closed the reference the traces disappeared and the "swap reference" button greyed out.
There is another two lines (default colour grey) that represents the shape of the original spectrum and some dots on either these lines or the peak(yellow) and average (green) traces of the filtered / EQ'd spectrum depending on whether the EQ button is in or out. This gives you a visual cue to that which you are listening to.
All these traces can be switched on an off via the toggle buttons on the bottom right hand side of the Har-Bal window.
Cheers,
Paavo.
There is another two lines (default colour grey) that represents the shape of the original spectrum and some dots on either these lines or the peak(yellow) and average (green) traces of the filtered / EQ'd spectrum depending on whether the EQ button is in or out. This gives you a visual cue to that which you are listening to.
All these traces can be switched on an off via the toggle buttons on the bottom right hand side of the Har-Bal window.
Cheers,
Paavo.
I opened Ref. File. All that is there are the tutorial Refs. I see source file & filter file. I'm not seeing File/Ref?open item. Please assist.
Aplying IntuitQ is easy. Figuring out what Freq.Levels at opposite ends of Spectrum & from that point on gets hazy.
I'm not skilled enough to listen & say "Oh, there's too much happening at 60k Hz or it needs nulling at such and such a Freq. level or all those other things you talk about in the Tutorial. The same goes for the other things that the Tutorial doesn't even mention. Directions please.
I'm trying understand how to adjust Db levels to make them more in line with Commercial CD's. I can't find the features you mention in the Tutorial.
Also I've tried Matching a previous file I created from a Previous Har-Balized original Song of ours & that doesn't work either. I click Match File, select the Song & it isn't anything like what I Har-balized. ???????
There's more but this is enough for now. Forgive my slow-ness. I'm sure it's just the learning curve.
Appreciate the help.
Lucky
Thank you,
Lucky
Aplying IntuitQ is easy. Figuring out what Freq.Levels at opposite ends of Spectrum & from that point on gets hazy.
I'm not skilled enough to listen & say "Oh, there's too much happening at 60k Hz or it needs nulling at such and such a Freq. level or all those other things you talk about in the Tutorial. The same goes for the other things that the Tutorial doesn't even mention. Directions please.
I'm trying understand how to adjust Db levels to make them more in line with Commercial CD's. I can't find the features you mention in the Tutorial.
Also I've tried Matching a previous file I created from a Previous Har-Balized original Song of ours & that doesn't work either. I click Match File, select the Song & it isn't anything like what I Har-balized. ???????
There's more but this is enough for now. Forgive my slow-ness. I'm sure it's just the learning curve.
Appreciate the help.
Lucky
Thank you,
Lucky
Hi Lucky,
It seems that most of what you are after stems from inexperience with the product and the mastering process. The only way to learn is the "Hard Way"! You have to get in there and try things for yourself for the knowledge to be etched into your mind.
As far as not having a grasp of the frequencies and sounds that I mention in the tutorial, that too is an inexperience issue. I'd suggest trying to familiarise yourself with how various parts of the spetrum sound. The easiest way to do that is to load a track up that you like in Har-Bal and play it back. Then while playing click on the gain cursor (parameteric EQ) and apply a reasonably low Q (say less than 2) boost at the frequency you want to know about. Now toggle the EQ in and out and listen to the change in the way it sounds. Undo undo the change and then do the same at a different freuqency. Do this at these frequencies and you'll start to pick up a mental picture of how excess energy at various parts of the spectrum alters a tracks sound:
50Hz, 100Hz, 200Hz, 500Hz, 1kHz, 2kHz, 5kHz, 10kHz
After doing familiarising yourself with the way things sound when you have too much of a particular band then try the reverse. Instead of boosting apply a cut at those frequencies in turn. You'll now pick up a mental image of how the lack of energy at a particular band of frequencies alters a tracks sound. Then the discussion in the tutorial should become a little clearer.
Cheers,
Paavo.
It seems that most of what you are after stems from inexperience with the product and the mastering process. The only way to learn is the "Hard Way"! You have to get in there and try things for yourself for the knowledge to be etched into your mind.
As far as not having a grasp of the frequencies and sounds that I mention in the tutorial, that too is an inexperience issue. I'd suggest trying to familiarise yourself with how various parts of the spetrum sound. The easiest way to do that is to load a track up that you like in Har-Bal and play it back. Then while playing click on the gain cursor (parameteric EQ) and apply a reasonably low Q (say less than 2) boost at the frequency you want to know about. Now toggle the EQ in and out and listen to the change in the way it sounds. Undo undo the change and then do the same at a different freuqency. Do this at these frequencies and you'll start to pick up a mental picture of how excess energy at various parts of the spectrum alters a tracks sound:
50Hz, 100Hz, 200Hz, 500Hz, 1kHz, 2kHz, 5kHz, 10kHz
After doing familiarising yourself with the way things sound when you have too much of a particular band then try the reverse. Instead of boosting apply a cut at those frequencies in turn. You'll now pick up a mental image of how the lack of energy at a particular band of frequencies alters a tracks sound. Then the discussion in the tutorial should become a little clearer.
Cheers,
Paavo.
How well match loudness or the match loudness range tool works is dependent on how similar the material you are matching is. If they are spectrally and dynamically totally different then it is unlikely that the match will be good.
No loudness matching algorithm is perfect as it is a rather complex problem to solve in a consitent manner. It all has to do with the complexities of loudness perception. If it doesn't match well automatically then you'll have to do it manually which means loading your reference track as a reference (must be a playable file and not an analysis file) and the track you want to match as your session track and then playing the track back while toggling the Ref button in and out and audibly comparing the loudness of each. You adjust the gain slider until the match is to your liking.
If find the best approach (particularly if the two tracks are very different in dynamics - say one played loud throughout and one with thematic changes) is to listen to an instrument common to both that has about the same relative loudness in the mix. Most of the time that'll be the lead vocal part unless it is istrumental pieces that you are working on.
Hope this helps.
Paavo.
No loudness matching algorithm is perfect as it is a rather complex problem to solve in a consitent manner. It all has to do with the complexities of loudness perception. If it doesn't match well automatically then you'll have to do it manually which means loading your reference track as a reference (must be a playable file and not an analysis file) and the track you want to match as your session track and then playing the track back while toggling the Ref button in and out and audibly comparing the loudness of each. You adjust the gain slider until the match is to your liking.
If find the best approach (particularly if the two tracks are very different in dynamics - say one played loud throughout and one with thematic changes) is to listen to an instrument common to both that has about the same relative loudness in the mix. Most of the time that'll be the lead vocal part unless it is istrumental pieces that you are working on.
Hope this helps.
Paavo.
They are all the same arrangements, Instruments & Vocals On each of the Songs in this Project.
Maybe I'm missing something in the Procedure. I load the Song I want to Master. Then open an Existing EQ Filter. That is all I am finding that resembles a Reference. The only thing in the Reference are the Tutorial examples.
Is there a way to Save References that I am missing? How?
The Intuit Match Loudnes & Match Loudness Cursor's are for adjusting part's of a Song aren't they?
Am I missing something? Probably!
Thanks,
Lucky
Maybe I'm missing something in the Procedure. I load the Song I want to Master. Then open an Existing EQ Filter. That is all I am finding that resembles a Reference. The only thing in the Reference are the Tutorial examples.
Is there a way to Save References that I am missing? How?
The Intuit Match Loudnes & Match Loudness Cursor's are for adjusting part's of a Song aren't they?
Am I missing something? Probably!
Thanks,
Lucky
-
Gordon Gidluck
- Posts: 40
- Joined: Sat Dec 04, 2004 7:18 pm
- Location: Arkansas
- Contact:
Hi Lucky,
There is a thread or two which discusses reference files.
These files have an extension of .anl . If you do a search on your computer for *.anl you will find that an .anl file is created by Har-bal for every wav file you open with it. So, to use a reference, all you have to do is to go to File->Reference->Open and browse to the .anl file that you want.
If no reference file exists for a wav file, just open the wav file with Har-bal. You should find a reference file in the same folder as the wav file.
Gordon
There is a thread or two which discusses reference files.
These files have an extension of .anl . If you do a search on your computer for *.anl you will find that an .anl file is created by Har-bal for every wav file you open with it. So, to use a reference, all you have to do is to go to File->Reference->Open and browse to the .anl file that you want.
If no reference file exists for a wav file, just open the wav file with Har-bal. You should find a reference file in the same folder as the wav file.
Gordon
Hi Lucky,
I clearly recall making mention of opening a reference in the tutorial and how you do it. There's nothing special about a reference. It is either an anlysis file or a wav file in one of the supported formats. In the previous post I was suggesting opening a wav file as a reference so that you can toggle the reference during playback.
You open the reference with the menu File>Reference>Open or the open reference tool bar button (how about reading the tool tips to find the right button). If you are still confused then perhaps you could try the free video demo that Earle put together. I'm sure he shows how to open a reference.
Cheers,
Paavo.
I clearly recall making mention of opening a reference in the tutorial and how you do it. There's nothing special about a reference. It is either an anlysis file or a wav file in one of the supported formats. In the previous post I was suggesting opening a wav file as a reference so that you can toggle the reference during playback.
You open the reference with the menu File>Reference>Open or the open reference tool bar button (how about reading the tool tips to find the right button). If you are still confused then perhaps you could try the free video demo that Earle put together. I'm sure he shows how to open a reference.
Cheers,
Paavo.