Any Har Bal users out there ?

[jamief]

http://www.har-bal.com/

looks very interesting

Har-Bal: Worlds first visual mastering equalizer
How does your music sound compared to your favorite commercial recordings?
Don't let your music leave your studio without correcting the spectral balance through Har-Bal, the world's first visual mastering equalizer.
Har-Bal has caused a paradigm shift in the recording industry and is an award winning outstanding technical achievement.

This superior method of EQ'ing and harmonic balancing gives Har-Bal it's distinction as the premiere spectrum analyzer for the most important step in the CD mastering process. It truly separates an amateur recording from a professional recording and removes the need to test your CD's on different systems and environments.

[tromo]

looks just like the logic plugin... matchEQ i think... i dont remember the name because i don't use it... its pretty crappy.

a wonderful and intuitive way to screw up how your mixes sound.

here's your tip of the day: get better at making balanced mixes and dont worry about this crap.

[Superchibisan]

contrary to this last post, har bal is a very wonderful piece.

i use it on all my tracks before they go into mastering to help with playback issues on other systems.

yes a proper mix will do this for you, but sometimes you don't have that option due to room acoustics and monitoring inefficiencies. also, just not knowing exaclty what you are doing will cause this problem.

also, har bal has taught me what proper sounding material should be like and therefor makes it so i know how to balance my tracks in the mixing phase.

[djanthonyw]

Har-Bal isn't like any other EQ. It shows where the weaknesses are in your overall mix. It's high quality and I highly recommend it. Actually It's the only reason why I still use Windows through VMware.

[leedsquietman]

I use it as a reference because it analyses the frequency response across a whole file.

It certainly does not sound like crap if used appropriately. It has a very tight linear phase mode as well as minimal phase mode and excellent lo and hi cut shelving.

Don't fall into the trap of using it totally automated though, except for fun/recreational purposes. It's fun to line up the Pink FLoyd's ' Dark Side Of The Moon' curve and see how your mix sounds in comparison etc for giggles but this is not going to make it sound like you recorded at Abbey Road with Alan Parsons etc. I always make my adjustments manually. The auto adjust can help a little but cannot be as detailed as manually tuning it.

Super Chisibian is correct in his analysis. I don't even always use it for EQIng, sometimes I just see where there are obvious frequency holes and peaks and use an EQ like the sonalksis SV517mkII to repair it but it is a good reference tool. Like anything, just don't let it rule you and use it as a SUPPLEMENT to what you hear, don't overrule your ears and mind.

Of course, making a balanced mix and acquiring skills is a priority. Harbal can be used complimentary to this though.

Logic's Match/ Voxengo Curve EQ represents about 10-15% of Harbal's total functionality. Harbal is a dedicated analysis tool and is stand alone only.

[jamief]

I use it as a reference because it analyses the frequency response across a whole file.

It certainly does not sound like crap if used appropriately. It has a very tight linear phase mode as well as minimal phase mode and excellent lo and hi cut shelving.

Don't fall into the trap of using it totally automated though, except for fun/recreational purposes. It's fun to line up the Pink FLoyd's ' Dark Side Of The Moon' curve and see how your mix sounds in comparison etc for giggles but this is not going to make it sound like you recorded at Abbey Road with Alan Parsons etc. I always make my adjustments manually. The auto adjust can help a little but cannot be as detailed as manually tuning it.

Super Chisibian is correct in his analysis. I don't even always use it for EQIng, sometimes I just see where there are obvious frequency holes and peaks and use an EQ like the sonalksis SV517mkII to repair it but it is a good reference tool. Like anything, just don't let it rule you and use it as a SUPPLEMENT to what you hear, don't overrule your ears and mind.

Of course, making a balanced mix and acquiring skills is a priority. Harbal can be used complimentary to this though.

Logic's Match/ Voxengo Curve EQ represents about 10-15% of Harbal's total functionality. Harbal is a dedicated analysis tool and is stand alone only.

Great many thanks everyone. Looks like its something we need to use hear.
best