har-bal / waves mastering guide

[renegadegenius]

Just found this on the har-bal site - looks quite involved, but will give it a go when I've got a chance - I'm guessing it's used on mixdowns :

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

Obviously you'll need the programs they're talking about.

[Damage Inc.]

hmm,i wanna get me hands on this lil beaut,heard a few peeps talk about it

[renegadegenius]

Originally Posted by Damage Inc.

hmm,i wanna get me hands on this lil beaut,heard a few peeps talk about it

pm sent

[Damage Inc.]

on me way to pm now

[DJDeluxe]

I just tried this, and as with anything, it's something to get used to. It's actually pretty easy to follow, as long as you do all the main instructions whilst the track is playing.

My first attempt seems a little 'glarey' to me, but thats easily solved by turning it down on the final stage.

I mastered my 'War On God' tune with this, as it has heavy bass, filth, vocals, and trancey synths, (ie a whole range of sounds). It made the high end stuff really cut through, and the bass proper tuff. In fact, too tuff, cos the beats are strating to get lost in it, but thats probably my EQ initially. But overall, I'm really pleased with the results. The more I do this, the more the Mastering will get better.

I'm also under the impression that mastering actually balances the frequencies in the tunes, instead of boosting any. So to get it to sound crisp is in the EQ before the Mastering. Hence why my beats get lost. I'm always scared of putting the beats too loud though.

But yeah, 10/10 RG for this find, it's actually really good, and as we get better at the mastering process, it could save us a bit of money in the long run. Top Marks Fella.

[renegadegenius]

Glad u found it of use
And yep, I've found u have to actually have the tune playing while using the mastering bit of it so u can hear whats going on.
The har-bal bit though is great - Certainly makes stuff sound better after you've sorted any spikes in the sound out and brought up any bits that were a bit lacking.
I've mainly been using it on old cd rips of old skool stuff to beef them up to the same sort of loudness levels of modern tunes - most so far (except 1 or 2) sound a lot better.

[DJDeluxe]

I've had the waves package for a while, and actually think it's an 'Unsung hero' in EQ, Delay, reverb and any other 'finishing' techniques. Props to mr D-Con for allowing me to play with his copy