HAR-BAL harmonic balancer eq

Posted: Sat Jan 27, 2007 11:33 pm

I seems that their main selling point is that it can be used to tame peaks and allows you to view RMS and Peak Averages at the same time, which is displayed in a graph window.

Posted: Sun Jan 28, 2007 1:36 am

I actually think they have a good point with this feature (quoted below). It seems that "by the book" this is a feature which should be available on more products of a similar nature, if its not already.

Everyone knows that people have a bias in A/B comparison type scenarious that the program with the louder content may be picked out as being the 'better' one.

So I would think that wouldbe a useful tool, to have something which keeps the volume level fairly constant so you dont get fooled by the ol' louder sounds better paradigm which the human brain seems to be stuck in, and which is a reality regardless of how experienced a person is in audio.

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What is Loudness Compensation Technology?

When you perform EQ on a typical equalizer or mixing desk you cannot make an impartial judgment about whether a particular EQ setting is good or not because it is generally not loudness compensated. By that we mean for an A/B test of with and without EQ to be unbiased, the perceived loudness of each case must be the same! If you boost the midrange on your EQ you will have boosted the overall loudness so any in/out test will be biased toward your boosted case simply because it is louder. The only way you can do this on a mixing desk is to cut the output level on the EQ'd case but by how much will you cut it?

Unlike mixing and EQ'ing on a console, Har-Bal is loudness compensated to maintain the same perceived loudness between filter in and filter out. What you hear in an A/B comparison with Har-Bal is truly due to EQ alone and not a bias introduced by the fact that the perceived loudness is higher in one.

Without compensating for loudness it is very easy to make EQ mistakes. With the approach Har-Bal takes it is much less likely.

Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 12:18 pm

I believe Voxengo's CurveEq has the loudness compensation technology you are talking about also.

Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 2:58 pm

har-bal 2.3 yes. an love it.

Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 3:02 pm

An ya what mranolog says.im with ya...............

Moderator Joined: Sep 12, 2002 Posts: 1857 Location: NYC

uuuhhggg.

Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2007 2:54 am

HAR-BAL................LOVE IT.............

Moderator Joined: Sep 12, 2002 Posts: 1857 Location: NYC

Yes we know. thanks for contributing.

Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2007 10:00 am

That's pretty much all that guy has to say everywhere I've seen him post.

I'm assuming he works for Hairball.

Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2007 5:01 pm

yes, he also posted at the Digital Audio room and is just words.

hummmmmmm...60hz.......... Laughing

Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 12:20 pm

So - does Har Bal have the whole EQ matching feature that Ozone does? I've never played with that before, but it seems as though that might be a useful thing for a starting point. Oh yeah, and I read this thread giggling, waiting for Remy to let it rip and feeling good that everyone jumped in on whoever the hell the other guy was.

Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 11:35 pm

It's worthless as a "matching" EQ... So are all the other "matching" (notice the sarcasm) EQ's I've ever tried.

Use your ears. Setting an EQ should be a "second-nature" thing.

Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 4:27 pm

I have Harbal in my mastering collection. I must admit though that what it suggests on doing with your final mix isn't what I ended up liking. A friend of mine also used it to do some mastering my mixes but I was very dissapointed with his results and ended up remastering the mixes myself. I will be finishing another cd project soon and will probably attempt the mastering myself again using Harbal as part of my analysis. I will gladly contribute to this thread if I narrow a magic approach with my Harbal (hairball as remy puts it).
I agree with the last post with the matching EQ thing. Ears are still best. I think there way of removing peaks though has helped me recognize problems when l listen to mixes on my other set of monitors. I think having a good set of speakers for mastering as well as headphones is very much key and a big part of this thread discussion.

Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 4:32 pm

Someone mentioned Voxengo Curve EQ. I must admit, I thoroughly enjoy there plugins they come out with. The price is right and easy to use.
Those who love Harbal, I would love to hear your approach to using it. I guess I still need convincing on Harbal.

Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 8:57 am

Kids, please dont fight Smile

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