Engineers Sing The Praises Of Har-Bal Mastering Software

"Har-Bal makes all of the difference in the final product at MISA Studio," noted MISA Studio's Sam Casamento. "Any problem area is immediately visible in Har-Bal and therefore, very simple to address and adjust, resulting in a finished product unsurpassed in audio quality."

Sam continues "Before discovering Har-Bal, mastering was a slow and tedious process. Using spectrum analysis and making constant adjustments as changes in one range often made the previous change in another frequency void. This time equates to money as well as a struggle to meet deadlines."

"When you are able to focus in on the minutest details of a frequency, and properly adjust the amplitude in a specific range you can now realize finished products that are easy on the ear."

Har-Bal was the result of a collaboration between Paavo Jumppanen, an electrical engineer and an expert in speaker design and room acoustics, and Earle Holder, a highly sought mastering engineer in great demand worldwide, who will be releasing a book named "Mastering Audio Exposed!" in October 2005.

The Har-Bal software has received numerous awards, including the Keyboard "Key Buy Award" and EQ Magazine's "Exceptional Quality Award," with respected journalist Craig Anderton noting "If you have the ears to know how to use this clever program, HarBal makes fixing equalization problems in everything from samples to master recordings just that much easier."

The key to Har-Bal Harmonic Balancing software is its unique ability to allow mastering engineers to actually see these types of frequency conflicts and initiate the proper steps to correct them. The spectrum analyzer allows engineers the ability to actually see the frequency ranges monitors aren't able to reproduce.

By coupling spectrum analysis with digital filtering Har-Bal provides the most powerful, yet functionally simple means of re-adjusting the spectral balance of sound recordings, be they original new masters, or re-masters of existing works.

"Manipulation by visualization!," explained Sam Casamento. "I just could not believe how simple this made such a difficult task. Soon I was dropping in audio files of target sound concepts and desired end results and simply dragging and shaping the spectrum of my audio accordingly."

"I use Har-Bal daily," commented Lloyd a.k.a. Zumbido. "The visual aid is very beneficial to me if I am mastering like-songs and/or instrumentation. This is common for me with many of my clients (i.e., similar instrumentation or style). I still take commercially produced songs and 'study' them in Har-Bal to 'see' whether they are sonically representative of what my clients are trying to achieve, or why I do or don't like something."

"I was looking for mastering software as I had been approached to master a clients CD. The idea of mastering visually, as well as aurally, appealed to me - maybe because of my lack of experience in this 'black-art' at that time. I completed this first project with great success and took on a second project well before the '30-day money back guarantee' expired."

Unlike a typical digital equalizer, Har-Bal leaves the initial volume level unchanged even after performing spectral correction thanks to its "loudness compensation" technology. It allows engineers to easily tidy up the sound quality of mastered or un-mastered recordings while preserving the original intent of the producer and/or recording engineer.

Har-Bal also provides reference files, genre-based spectrum pictures based on some of the best examples of recording within their genre. The templates are compiled from hundreds of songs to give an accurate frequency range for any songs. In addition, users can access filter files, custom designed filters for specific songs either by Har-Bal users submitted in the Har-Bal forum, or from popular music heard every day.

Michael J Rhoden with Electric Einstein Studio for example has been working with a contemporary Gospel group for three years. "In the past few months I have Harbalized a few of their songs and they could not get over the clarity and power it added. I must say I used one of Har-Bal's filters that works quite well with many genres. It is based on pink noise. You can see the pink noise peaks and dips. It is very uniform."

"I initially utilized templates," explained Lloyd. "Now I generally use my ears. However, the visual aid is still very beneficial to me if I am mastering like-songs and/or instrumentation. This is common for me with many of my clients (i.e., similar instrumentation or style).

But perhaps most telling are engineers' initial experiences with Har-Bal as well as the varied recording projects they've applied it too. Bruce Bartlett for example, author of "Practical Recording Techniques" (Focal Press), has used the software for tasks ranging from restoring an early 1950's recording by improving its tonal balance to controlling overly loud tympani hits in an orchestral recording. "So far, in two albums I've been able to achieve more uniform song levels and tonal balance, and better quality because of the improved tonal balance," commented Bruce.

"My first project with Har-Bal was a sound clip for a comedic DVD," said Sam Casamento. "I was competing with two major studio's in L.A. and was comfortable for the first time that I would have a clip that would hold up to the pro's. After completion of the 14 second sound file I loaded it into Har-Bal, using a sound clip from the prior DVD release and simply adjusted the spectrums to match. It sounded great! And, I got the project."

"I used Har-Bal recently on an 15 year old experienced German Oompah band comprised of seasoned schooled musicians," recounted Michael J Rhoden. "The producer could not believe how musical Har-Bal made the music. It really brought it to life. Even if a customer doesn't want mastering in my studio, I give them an HB version to listen to before the final mixes."

Provided by the MusicDish Network. Copyright © Tag It 2005 - Republished with Permission