Hi , just a question , the spikes I get are clearly caused by the lead vocal, ( mixdown with out vocal gives a very balanced mix, no spikes) I get a huge spike at 500htz at 1.6k and again from 7-9k. leveling the 500htz is no problem but touching anything else leaves the a very dull vocal. I don't feel the vocal is to loud, Is this the "uniqueness of my vocal" ? I have tried different mics and the room is treated very well. I am a long time user and have used it on many projects, but on my own I have this problem. any ideas?
thanks,
LEAD VOCAL CONFUSION
The 1.6kHz spike is probably not a problem. The 7-9kHz region is silibance which you can control with de-essing techniques.
One question regarding your vocal recording. How close are you to the microphone when recording? My guess is that you are too close and this is probably the cause of the excess silibance and the strong 500Hz component. Provided your room is big enough, I'd suggest trying to record your vocal with a distance between 0.5 to 1m between you and the mic. The closer you are the louder the low mids and the silibance will be. Another thing worthwhile trying to minimise excess silibance is to not sign straight into the mic but angle yourself to it at something like 15 degrees.
If your still not sure how to proceed I'd be happy to take a listen to your mix and give you an opinion as to what the problems might be. Just email us a snipet of the track as an mp3 (something like 256kbps to maintain quality) to support@har-bal.com
Cheers,
Paavo.
One question regarding your vocal recording. How close are you to the microphone when recording? My guess is that you are too close and this is probably the cause of the excess silibance and the strong 500Hz component. Provided your room is big enough, I'd suggest trying to record your vocal with a distance between 0.5 to 1m between you and the mic. The closer you are the louder the low mids and the silibance will be. Another thing worthwhile trying to minimise excess silibance is to not sign straight into the mic but angle yourself to it at something like 15 degrees.
If your still not sure how to proceed I'd be happy to take a listen to your mix and give you an opinion as to what the problems might be. Just email us a snipet of the track as an mp3 (something like 256kbps to maintain quality) to support@har-bal.com
Cheers,
Paavo.
Hi David,
As a matter of interest, how big is the room in which you record the vocal. It could be the problem relates to wall, ceiling and floor reflections combining in constructive and destructive interference patterns. You could probably confirm this by moving your mic position to a different location. If the peakiness moves to different frequencies then that is most likely the cause. It might be worthwhile spending some time experimenting with mic location around your room to see if you can find the best position.
Regards,
Paavo.
As a matter of interest, how big is the room in which you record the vocal. It could be the problem relates to wall, ceiling and floor reflections combining in constructive and destructive interference patterns. You could probably confirm this by moving your mic position to a different location. If the peakiness moves to different frequencies then that is most likely the cause. It might be worthwhile spending some time experimenting with mic location around your room to see if you can find the best position.
Regards,
Paavo.
Hi Paavo, thanks for all your work , the file you gave me was great! I have done some expements moving the mic around the room and the frequencies do change except for the 500 hz area, this moves little. the good news is this is the easy place to fix with harbal 
I will do some more work on the the room and go from there. ( this is a different room form the orginal recording) thanks again for your "going the extra mile support!"
I will do some more work on the the room and go from there. ( this is a different room form the orginal recording) thanks again for your "going the extra mile support!"David
Hi David,
No problem. Glad your getting the end results you wanted.
The 500Hz issue is odd but by the same token,I've seem plenty of examples of it in commercial recordings so you are by no means not alone. Must be some unusual interaction and coupling between you and the mic or perhaps it is a quirk of your voice (a good one by the way).
Going the extra mile and giving you some filters to try was a pleasure! It is good to be able to give custom filters to folks so they can hear for themselves the benefits of Har-Bal, provided the right filter decisions are made. Giving out filters helps people like yourself to figure out how to get the results you want.
Cheers,
Paavo.
No problem. Glad your getting the end results you wanted.
The 500Hz issue is odd but by the same token,I've seem plenty of examples of it in commercial recordings so you are by no means not alone. Must be some unusual interaction and coupling between you and the mic or perhaps it is a quirk of your voice (a good one by the way).
Going the extra mile and giving you some filters to try was a pleasure! It is good to be able to give custom filters to folks so they can hear for themselves the benefits of Har-Bal, provided the right filter decisions are made. Giving out filters helps people like yourself to figure out how to get the results you want.
Cheers,
Paavo.