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MostofyouareextremelyfamiliarwiththefunctionsofHarBal Soletsgooverafewthingsaswellasexplainournewinventiveadditions.Mostofthetechnicaldata canbefoundinourforumatwww.harbal.comforHarBal3.0. Whenfirstrunmakesureyouselectanoutputdeviceandoutputchannelsfortheoutputdevice.You willbepromptedupontheinitialinstallation OpenatrackyouwishtoworkonFile/Open.HarBalwillthendoacomprehensiveanalysisofthetrack anddisplaythefulltrackspectrumandtimelineoncompletion. Playthetrackthroughwithrealtimetraceactiveandlistenforstrongresonances.Theyshouldbe obviousfromtherealtimetrace.Alsopayattentiontothestructureofthetrack.

WhenyouopenHarBalthefirsttimepleaserememberthatyouneedtorightclickonthegraphand chooseGain Youalsoneedtomakesureyouhavethefollowingthreebuttonstoggledontohearyourchanges. Air EQ Dynamics

Note:IfyouwanttotogglebetweentheplotsholddownyourleftmousebuttonandpresstheTABkey. Noticehowthecursorjumpsbetweentheplots.

Okay,sohowarewedoingsofar?

YoucanactuallyseeyourtrackplayingbymakingsuretheRealtimePowerPlotistoggledon.Thiswill allowyoutoimmediatelyviewtheareasthatneedtobeadjusted. YoucanalsotoggleontheOriginalPlotbuttontokeeptrackoftheoriginallocationofyourtracks spectralimage. Ifforanyreasontheimageonyourgraphappearstogooutsidethesizeofthescreen,justrightclick anywhereonthegraphandchooseZoomAll,orpressAltZ

DynamicsNodeTool(NewFeature) PresstheHistogramtabandnoticethenewscreen.Makesurethedynamicscursoristoggledon.

0dB HolddowntheleftmousecursoranddragitacrossthescreenandcreateaDynamicsNode.Canyou seethecrosshairs?Noticetheeffectithasontheshape.Placethecrosshairoverthesoliddotandhold downyourleftmousebuttonanddragitoffthescreentogetridofit. IFyouscrolltheLimiterfaderupanddownnoticehowthespectralimagemoveleftandright.Didyou noticehowwhenyouincreasethevolumeoftheLimitertheimagemovesclosertozero?Youcaneasily determinewhetherornotyouovercompressingyourtrack.

DynamicsNodeTool(continued) Compressionmeasuredhere

Experimentwiththistoolandlistentotheeffectithasonthetrack. Tip:TodeletetheNodesyoucreateyouonlyhavetoplacethecrosshaironthesolidcircleanditwill changetheshapetoanarrowpointingeastandwest.Atthispointjustdragitoffthescreenwhile holdingdownyourleftmousebutton. OnceyoulineupthecrosshairsyoucanmovetheDynamicNodetoolup,sidewaysanddown.

Okayletsgettechnical Compressionisobtainedbyusingthedynamicsnodetool.Clickonanypointonthehistogramandyou willcreateadynamicscontrolnode.Thepointatwhichyoufirstclickistheinputlevelandthepointat whereyoureleasethemousebuttonistheoutputlevel.Youdraginbetweenbuttondownandupto setthegainmapping. Youcanmodifyanynodebymouseoveranodepointandclickanddragtoanewlocation.Theeffectof thenodepointsaddedareimmediatelyillustratedinthehistogram,whichshowstheeffectofthe dynamicsprocessingonthetrackenvelope.

Thefigurebelowillustrateshowthenodepointsdefineatransfercharacteristic.Youstartwitha1:1 inputoutputmappingwhereIn=outwithtwodefaultnodesat(200dB,200dB)and(+100dB,+100dB) (i.e.astraightlinebetweenthosetwopoints).Thenifyoumousedownon0dBandmouseupand4dB youaresayingthatyouwishtomapaninputlevelof0dBto4dB.Thenifyoumousedownand60dB andmouseupat45dByouaresayingyouwanttomapaninputlevelof60dBto45dB.The combinedeffectofthesetwonodesisillustratedinthegraph. Whiledraggingthestatuslineshowsyouthemappingasinputleveltooutputlevelplusthelineslopes. Theinputadjustmentrangeisrestrictedbythepresenceofothernodes(ie.youcantdragpastan existingnode).Ifyouwanttodeleteanodejustdragitoffthescreenoroutofrange.Thatsaboutit.

Youcannoweditanyareaofatrack. MidSideLeftRight

LetsSplitUp Nowthatyouarearmedwithknowledgeabouttheareaswherethestrongresonancesarelocatedusing theRealTimeTraceyoucancreatesplitsforthetrackalongtrackstructurallines.Tocreateasplit clickanddragthetimelinecursortothepointyouwishtosplitatandthenpressCTRL+Swhilethe mousebuttonisstilldepressed.Doingsowillcreateasplitmarkerinthebottombarofthetimeline display.Don'tworryaboutbeingtooaccurateatthisstageasyoucanmovethesplitpointslater.

IfyouwantamoredetailedviewpressandholdtheSHIFTkeydownwhiledraggingaselectionboxon thetimeline(i.e.draggingthetimelinecursor)overtheregionofinterest.Whenyoureleasethemouse buttonthetimelinewillzoomintothatextent.Thetopbarschematicallyshowstheregionofthetrack inview.Youcandragthebluebarleftorrighttomovethetrackviewtoadifferentregionaccordingly (behaveslikeascrollbar).

Wefoundagoodwaytofindtherightsplitpointlocationistosetthetrackplayingandscrollthe timelinecursortothelocationyouthinkitshouldbeandthenreleaseit.Onreleasingitplaybackwill continuefromthatpoint.Byhearinghowtheplaybacksoundsyoucaneasilyfigureoutifyouhavethe rightlocation.Ifyoudo,justaddtheCTRL+Stoyourclicktocreatethesplitpoint. Ifyouneedtomovethesplitpointclickandholdtheleftmousebuttondownonthesplitmarker.The splitmarkerwillinitiallyshowasselectedandthenswitchto"move"modewherethetrackcursor synchronizeswiththesplitmarker.Nowmovethemarkerbydraggingthemouseleftorright.Whenyou releasethemousebuttonthesplitpointischangedtothenewlocation. Ifyouneedtodeleteasplitpointselectitandpressthedeletekey.Ifyouhaveselectedasplitpointand wanttodeselectitclickitagainorpresstheescapekey. Nowthatyouhavethesplitpointchosen,takealookattheaveragespectrumforeachsegmentinyour track.Youdosobysimplyclickingonthesegmentyouwishtoviewonthebottombarinthetimeline control.Whenyoudo,thetimelinewillzoomintotherangeofthatsegmentanddisplaythespectrum forthatsegment.Itwillalsodisplaytheselectedbarinbluetoindicateitisselected.Togobacktothe overallviewpressthe"doublearrow"zoomallbuttonontherighthandsideofthetimelineview. Designappropriatefilterresponsesfortheselectedsegmentstoobtainthedesiredsound.Dosointhe samemanneraswithHarBal2.3Aparticularlyusefultechniqueistoreuseresponses.Forexample,a trackmayhaveastructureverse,chorus,verse,chorus,bridge,verse.Itisadvantageoustoreusethe filterfortheversesectionsandchorussectionstogetaconsistentsound.Thiscanbeeasilydoneusing theNewFilterdialogbox. Firstdesignthefilterresponseforthefirstverse.Thenselectthefirstverseasareferencesegment.Do sobyclickinganddraggingthemousefromthe"R"buttonontherighthandsideofthetimelinetothe desiredsegment.Thenselectthenextversefilterforeditingandpressthe"newfilter"toolbarbutton andselectthe"createafilterfortheselectedsegmentbasedonareferencesegment"option. Whenyou'vecompletedfilterdesignsforallsegmentstryplayingitthrough.You'llprobablyfindyou needtofinetuneyourdesigntomaintainaconsistenttonalitytothetrack.Ifthereareinconsistencies theywillbeobviouslyaudiblewhentransitioningfromonefiltertoanother.Itisusefultousethe frequencyresponseviewandsegmentreferencingtodeterminewhytransitionsarepoorly implemented.Anotherusefulthingtoconsideriswherethesplitislocated.Movingasplitslightlyone wayoranothercanhelpmaskandobvioustransition.

Whentheindividualsplitssoundconsistentyoucanapplyoverallfinetuningtothetrackwiththe "outer"filter.DoingLFshelvingisoneobvioususefortheouterfilter.Theouterfilterisalsousefulfor addingsomeair.Tryaddingsomeandseewhateffectithas.TheeffectissubtlebutpleasingthoughI'd recommendnotgoingoverabout30%asitwillstarttodetractfromthesharpnessoftheimaginginthe recording.Theextracapacityinthefeatureistherefor"effects"usage. Otherthingtonoteisthateachsegmenthasfourfiltersleft,right,midandside,allofwhichcanbe adjustedindependently.Youselectwhichoneyouareadjustingbythedropdownlistboxjustbelowthe timedisplay.BeawarethatAirandGainsettingsarecommontoallfiltersinagivensegment.

Outofinterest,theAirfeatureisimplementedwithacrosscoupledfilterthatsynthesizesadiffuse diffusionresponseintheHaaszone(i.e.50msorlessimpulseresponseduration).

TheLimiterhasadefaultoutceilingof0.1dB

Thehistogramviewshowstheprobabilityofagivenlevelwithinatimeframeforthetrack.Timeframes arenominally50msduration.Thepeakhistogramappliestothepeaklevelsineachtimeandthe averageistheRMSlevelforthetimeframes.Thebinwidthis1dB.Thisviewisparticularlyusefulto figureouthowmuchgainyoucanapplytoatrackwithoutundulyclampingdownonthedynamics.You seethisinthespaceavailablebetweenthepeakinthepeaklevelhistogramandtherighthandsideof thegraph.

Finally,youshouldalsobeawarethatthecomplexityofthefilterdesignmakesrealisingthefilters computationallytaxing.Assuch,ittakesasignificantamountoftimetorealiseafilterchangebeforeit becomesaudible.Thestatusbarhasanindicatorthatindicateswhetherthefilterisuptodateornot.If youseearotatingiconitisbeingupdated,otherwiseitisuptodate.

Whatarethosefilesbeingcreatedinmysourcedirectory? HarBal3createsanumberofdifferentfilesforeachtrackthatisanalyzedinthesourcedirectory: .hbaanalysisfile .hbffilterfile .hbfbbasefilterfile(basicallyablankfilter) .hbfsfilterspectrumfile .hbfrfilterrealisationfile .hbirimpulseresponsefile Afilterdesignisencapsulatedinthe.hbffile.Allotherfilesmaybedeletedwithoutloosingthedesign andtheywillberecreatedwhenneeded. HarBalPlayerrequiresthe.hbfrfiletoplayatrack.Itisgenerallyaprettycompactfilesoisgoodfor "internettransfer". Havefunandcheers,andpleaseletusknowwhatyouthink.

Ifyouhavequestionsregardingfunctionalityordesiretogomoreindepth,pleasejoinusinourforum.

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