Har-Bal Tutorial

This video tutorial will give you a full overview of the features in Har-Bal and remove its mystery. Many more features have been added in out latest version 2.3

Click here for the video tutorial

Cheers

Earle

Engineers Sing The Praises Of Har-Bal Mastering Software

Har-Bal, the world's first visual mastering software, has been revolutionizing the mastering process since its launch in August 15th 2003, with sound engineers increasingly turning to the software to improve the quality and efficiency of a variety of studio projects. Harmonic Balancing provides a reliable means of correcting and removing the tonal imbalances inherent in any song, thus producing a more naturally pleasing and agreeable sound to the listening ears.

"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."

Paavo Jumppanen

Paavo Jumppanen
Developer/Engineer

As with many good ideas, Harmonic Balancing has its origins in a number of life experiences leading up to a seminal realization. The seed of the idea came from my time spent as a researcher at the University of Tasmania whereupon I was using homomorphic signal processing techniques in the analysis of laser schlieren signals in transitional combustion flows. My reference book on the subject (Digital Signal Processing by A.V.Oppenheim & R.W. Schafer ISBN 0-13-214107-8) had a particularly interesting section (10.7.3) giving an overview of homomorphic deconvolution applied to the restoration of acoustic recordings. More specifically they were using the technique to remove the frequency response of the recording horn from recordings of Enrico Caruso. At the time I found the idea very impressive but saw no direct use for it and there it remained dormant in my mind.

Concurrently, I was also developing spectrum analysis software for the same research project that would, over a number of years and after my departure from that institution, evolve into what is now AtSpec, a PC based 2 channel FFT spectrum analysis software package.

I was simultaneously in the process of designing and developing what I was hoping to be my definitive pair of loudspeakers. Having invested a large amount of time and effort in both modelling and testing and trialing a number of different drivers I settled upon a design that I was satisfied with but only to a point. Coming from a purest standpoint I was somewhat naive to believe that if you had good speakers and good components then any recording you happen to listen to should sound good. By and large this held true for 70-80% of the recorded music I listened to but there was always those exceptional recordings that raised doubts in my mind as to the quality of the speakers that I had designed. So much so that I was in the habit of continually tweaking the crossover to get the right tonal balance. Then after considerable time I reverted back to the original design and resigned myself to the fact that my speakers weren't up to par (or so I thought at the time).

For a number of years this whole issue of how some recordings just sounded so distressing while others sounded beautifully serene continued to trouble me. It was then, quite by accident, while checking the speaker performance with AtSpec that I discovered, much to my surprise, that the recordings that I found difficult to listen to had distinctive spectral characteristics that tallied with my perception of how the recording sounded. It was a vindication for the speaker design and an indictment on the recording. In hindsight this seemed to make perfect sense and shouldn’t have come as a surprise but yet it did.

The concept of Harmonic Balancing had sprung to life : If we can measure the mean spectrum of a recording we can test the quality of the sound through its spectrum and our perception of the song, and if found to be lacking we can construct an equalization filter to correct for any deficiencies. Over the following five years Harmonic Balancing has been transformed from a concept into reality.
His home site is www.har-bal.com

The Classical music world starts to wake up to Har-Bal

For around a year now i've been using Har-Bal in a very unusual and pretty much classical music-specific way to fix the very wayward EQ usually heard on historic recordings fifty years old or greater, a technique marketed as using "Pristine Audio XR" remastering. I've been refining the techniques and come up with some pretty impressive recordings, which are now getting taken very seriously indeed, as well as passing on some of my ideas to other restoration engineers.


Thus in the new issue of US magazine 'Fanfare' you'll find the comments such as these from the hugely respected critic Henry Fogel:

"...This is the best of Furtwängler in this batch of releases, and given the quality of this restoration anyone who collects this conductor should obtain this. I have never encountered such rich orchestral timbre on a Furtwängler recording, and given the importance of color to his conducting this becomes a very significant release..."


and:


" If you want to go to Pristine’s Web site and learn about their process you may do so; they offer comparison listening, and they explain a great deal about their methods (carefully avoiding giving away trade secrets). It would seem that they have developed a method of extracting a wider frequency response from older material than has been possible before, and doing it without also bringing forth noise. The method is based on computer analysis of what might be called a harmonic fingerprint unique to every piece of music—no matter who the performers and where the recording was made. This is done using modern digital recordings of a specific piece of music, which apparently match each other very closely. Again, using computer technology, Pristine then equalizes old recordings to match, at a fine resolution, the harmonic profile of each piece. It is clear from the Web site and, more important, from listening to these discs that Pristine has managed a more evenly distributed and fuller range of frequency response than has been possible in prior restorations of historic material.

...In every single case here I found myself astonished at the naturalness and richness of the orchestral, instrumental, and vocal sound that came from these transfers. In some cases (Furtwängler’s Beethoven Fourth from 1953, for instance) the sound was a revelation."


...and from Marc Mandel's "Want List" in the same Nov/Dec 2007 issue of Fanfare:

"...a terrific new re-mastering on Music & Arts of the nine symphonies and selected overtures from Arturo Toscanini's famed 1939 Beethoven cycle with the NBC Symphony Orchestra, as restored by Aaron Z. Snyder using Andrew Rose's "harmonic balancing process." As I understand it, this process effectively enhances the limited sound of the original source materials by using a sort of audio fingerprint (let's call it a "sound-print") developed by averaging the characteristics of modern digital recordings of the specific musical work under consideration, and then applying that information to the recording being restored. I own three previous CD incarnations of this cycle, on Nueva Era, Relief, and Naxos, and this re-mastering surpasses them all...."


Meanwhile we've scooped Musicweb International's CD of the Month award (out of 210 discs reviewed):

"This Pristine Audio Bartók release was thrilling from the first hearing. Without reservation I recommend this issue. It’s the closest to analogue sound by a genius that you will hear. If you like Bartók’s music or are just getting to know it then you must have this CD. It’s the very reference model of the works in sound so close to real that it’s truly amazing. Simply essential."


...and for another CD from the same batch:

"The sound is excellent - full praise to Andrew Rose for his remastering. Having heard this performance I could not live without it."


Gramophone magazine in the UK has also been full of praise:

"I've been mightily taken by the XR treatment...hugely impressive"


So big, big thanks to Earle and Parvo for providing the key tool that makes this possible. It's revolutionised both the way I work and the results I'm able to get.
_________________
Andrew Rose
www.pristineaudio.com

Click here to read more

Top Mastering Engineer - Earle Holder

Earle Holder is well known to American music artists, and is one of the few top legendary award winning mastering engineers who have managed to gain worldwide recognition for his work and added to Who's Who in America. He has also been commissioned to Master the James Brown Tribute album.

Earle Holder is currently the mastering engineer for the world famous Public Enemy and Chuck D's new record label SlamJamz along with many other industry heavy hitters. He has a musical background that spans his entire life and is a high level computer engineer by trade. He studied music with the late Jimmy Cannady of Cannady Studios (former member of the Inkspots for those of you who remember). He has more than twenty-five years experience and is the recipient of several prestigious music awards, including the Atlanta Music Industry Award presented by the GA Music Center. He is a regular guest speaker at music studios throughout North America and is quoted in numerous industry magazines. You can also tune into LIB Radio and listen to a few of his tips.

Earle is also a motivational speaker and is available for large groups. His enthusiasm, passion and drive will surely help you embrace the real you and place you on the track for success in any field. His techniques are phenomenal.

He completed a two-year project with Paavo Jumppanen in 2003, an engineer located in Australia who is an expert in sound technology. They developed the perfect tool to assist musicians, producers and mastering engineers with their final mastering, named "Har-Bal". Har-Bal was awarded EQ's magazine (EQ Exceptional Quality Award) as a "must buy" and Keyboard Magazine's "Key-Buy" award, and is now considered a required tool in professional studios worldwide. You can read more about this amazing tool here.

An accomplished musician on keyboard, bass and lead guitar, born in England and raised between Jamaica, West Indies and Queens, New York, he has been referred to in the industry as "The Specialist" because he strives for and achieves perfection when mastering his client's music.

Earle Holder is also the creator of the new three- dimensional mixing technique that takes the art of mixing to an entirely new level.

He has recorded and produced for Atlanta Records and collaborated on numerous projects with Platinum artists such as Public Enemy and Tameko Starr (MCA Records Europe), One Million Strong, Vol. 2: Love, Peace and War, Kenny Banks, DeBarge, OCF Records, Tuere, Houseguest, Ayana, 4ize (Disturbing tha Peace, part of the Ludacris crew, JD Lawrence, Candice (Australia) etc. He is an international artist whose mastered cd's are frequently heard throughout the United States and Europe. Click here to read about Earle Holder on the web

For Earle, mastering and editing a recording project is analogous to assembling an art exhibit. This ability to add the missing ingredients into the music, and Earle's skillful production is what makes the whole artistic experience superb.
Home web site www.hdqtrz.com
Har-Bal home site www.har-bal.com

Official Har-Bal Audio Forum

Stay informed and re-visit this page often. There is a wealth of information located here

Forum address:
http://www.har-bal.com/ipw-web/bulletin/bb/index.php

Audio Mastering Tutorial

The following is a mastering tutorial explaining many tips, tricks and audio mastering secrets. There are a number of methods used to accomplish harmonic balancing or spectral correction. Your tracks will sound their best when they are first processed in Har-Bal before any digital eq or multiband compression/limiting is applied. A large number of audio mastering software packages presently available have real time spectrum analyzers included in their bundle. Har-Bal allows you to instantly identify rogue resonances and correct them on the spot. You can substitute the plugins after Har-Bal with any of your favorites. This instruction manual is designed to get you up and running and hopefully give you a superior understanding of the mastering process.

You may find it here:
http://www.har-bal.com/mastering_process.php

We hope you enjoy it,
Har-Bal International