harbal question

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www.dorian-music.co.uk
Member Since: Apr 04, 2008

when I put the finishing touches to a particular song in harbal, it sounds rather compressed and i dont really know why.

Heres my chain which I have used for loads of other songs without any bother at all:

Firstly, the song was recorded with Nuendo, mixed at the same volume as all my other tracks, same drum samples, vox settings, bass settings (only thing thats changed is guitar sound pretty much). Next, I use Ozone to boost the volume with its maximiser or whatever it is using the same settings as another similar sounding song - sounds fine, same as other tracks. Then I put it into harbal to tweak the eq (mostly topping and tailing, not much boosting), and i notice, the compression starts to kick in and I dont know why - Ive never had this problem before. The only time I get too much compression is at the ozone end, where I tone it down until it sounds right, then finish it off with harbal.

Any ideas? The song in question is in my profile - called decay, and another one where ive used exactly the same settings is also there called heads down thumbs up.. you can notice a difference between the 2

Could it be I am slightly boosting one particular freq which harbal is freaking out with!!?? im beginning to freak out myself!

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Administrator
Since: Apr 03, 2002


May 07, 2010 11:01 am

Harbal is an awesome tool...in moderation...much like Jagermeister.

If somebody levels out the frequency spectrum completely flat it'll sound compressed and lame...it need to be used to fix only the major peaks and valleys but not remove it all...otherwise it does get very compressed and stuffy.

MASSIVE Mastering, LLC
Member
Since: Aug 05, 2008


May 07, 2010 11:04 am

Trying to EQ something after it's been dynamically altered might be the problem...

http://www.unitedmusicians.info
Contributor
Since: Nov 11, 2007


May 07, 2010 01:29 pm

I hear what you're talking about, not experienced enough to have any suggestions but it's good to hear what you're working on. I've given both tracks a listen and really like the instrumentation you've got going on in the decay mix. Lots of interesting electronic elements. Maybe the difference between the two is that the beeps bops and boops in Decay are more sensitive to your Ozone compression settings. The electronic instruments are the only parts that sounds a little washed out to me in context with all the instruments from 1:45 all the way until the end. This band sounds like it would dominate a Warped Tour lineup here in the States.

Did you sequence the drums?

Typo Szar
Member
Since: Jul 04, 2002


May 07, 2010 04:02 pm

Im gonna +1 MM, for one, Ozones maximizer is pretty unforgiving to begin with, using it before HarBal might just be unmasking somethign that was quite squished in the process already, id say try to use HarBal before ur final limiting and compression.

Even though ur using all the same settings, obviously with different guitar tones and different vocals every song will not respond exactly the same to the process ur putting them through

www.dorian-music.co.uk
Member
Since: Apr 04, 2008


May 07, 2010 06:46 pm

Ok cool thanks a lot guys. At first when I started using harbal, I wasn't sure where to place it in my chain.. it ended up going at the end as it sounded alright... maybe I've just been lucky till now! Ill try using it after ozone. When it comes to harbal, I make a point of only using it to roll off the bass below 80hz and slightly boost the high end to add a little sparkle to cymbals as well as rolling off the really high end. Anything between 80 and 14k ish gets left alone as long as nothing jumps out at me. So I don't flatten it much at all.

As for ozone, I know it can be quite ruthless, but I like it as long as I push it as much as I can without noticing heavy compression. I've tried the waves maximizer which has been recommended on this forum but I didnt seem to get any better results with it.

I will play that track in my band some time in the future but wrote and recorded it myself. I am not much of a drummer however, so I recorded with an electronic kit into addictive drums and then quantized the hell out of them! Do you notice much that they aren't real?

Cheers again! Oh and what is a warped tour??

http://www.unitedmusicians.info
Contributor
Since: Nov 11, 2007


May 07, 2010 08:55 pm

I have a habit of focusing on the snare when I listen to drums and I noticed your snare sounded great, and then great again in a very similar way, and then great again in a very very similar way. I think they sound good though, I assumed you had at least replaced the drums but was curious if you had a real kit involved at all.

Regarding Warped Tour, I was wondering if you'd have any idea what it is, hah. It's a US tour sponsored by Van's apparel company. They seem to target a teen to young adult demographic. I think CptTripps played a show on the Warped Tour last year...

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