KVR Audio

GRUMP · Post by **GRUMP** » Mon Mar 15, 2021 10:20 am

Every company has its own approach to this complex topic, so you won´t easily find a tool that really compares to TB.

A lot of interesting approaches have been mentioned already. TEOTE is one of them. Gulfoss seems more suitable for me when it´s about balancing whole tracks and Zynaptic Intensity would be an other one of a growing population of simplifying mastering/balancing tools like also PA DSM V3 for example.

Imho Gulfoss has a great and really simple approach to balance mixes, but I´d better dive into the complexity and learn from the insights myself. That is a very interesting topic, especially if you take the time to compare the results and approach it open minded enough to also try DIY.

Btw I´d guess that you´ll end up with a more or less comprehensive toolbox when you have learned about the pros and cons of the usual suspects.

noiseboyuk · Post by **noiseboyuk** » Mon Mar 15, 2021 11:08 am

I've learned to love Tonal Balance, even though I was grumpy at first. A great way of gaining perspective - my ears get used to things too readily.

Jet Set · Post by **Jet Set** » Mon Mar 15, 2021 1:58 pm

Absolutely love Tonal Balance.

Example - this weekend a friend asked me to master a classic house style track for him.

I simply pulled up ten classic house tracks from my music collection - put their files into one folder - set Tonal Balance to 'create curve from folder' - bang, instant eq curve for classic house.

And, interestingly, the curve was quite substantially different from the 'Bass Heavy' and 'EDM' presets - a quite pronounced low-mid scoop, and some 6-10kkhz emphasis appears to be broadly common through this genre...

I mastered as normal - but kept an eye on the curve occasionally - definitely scooped a little more low mids than i would normally and got that high mids energy multi-band expanded.

The track turned out great - friend very happy.

Tonal Balance helped me again...love it!

(and yes, those with 'golden ears' I am sure will advise against 'mixing with your eyes'...and they usually come along to make sure everyone knows this whenever these type of tools are brought up - good for them...)

jochicago · Post by **jochicago** » Mon Mar 15, 2021 11:39 pm

Jet Set wrote: Mon Mar 15, 2021 1:58 pm those with 'golden ears' I am sure will advise against 'mixing with your eyes'

Why not mix with as many senses as you can get involved? Pairing up what you hear with what you see can be a great way to spot issues and get to solutions faster.

Yesterday I was trying out some new plugins so I was spending longer than normal watching meters. The graph showed there was a weir energy in a vocal track around 50hz, but I couldn't hear anything. I disabled my normal treatment of the track to inspect closer, and it was a weird plosive that was being caught by a cleanup shelf I normally do by default on live recordings. Couldn't hear it because I had applied the filter as session setup before even getting started, so the only way to notice that was there was to see it in the graphs. Becoming aware of the thing gave me the opportunity to zero in and make sure my filters were set right for that situation, allowed me to customize it a bit.

So there you have it: mixing by rote, then by eyes, then by ears.

If I could taste the tracks I would be happy to include that in the rotation. "There's something wrong with this guitar track, I'm getting lemony when I'm clearing going for that thyme feel".

MogwaiBoy · Post by **MogwaiBoy** » Tue Mar 16, 2021 12:18 am

I find Tonal Balance to be most awesome if you use custom curves. Otherwise it just says I have too much bass every time because it's wanting to hear bass guitar, not a big ass SUB.

Also there's SpecTrend - not an 'alternative', rather a complementary tool, that I find very useful.

I use a combo of Tonal Balance, SpecTrend, ISOL8 and MtM Reference.

I made my own default preset for ISOL8 that gives me 80hz and under instantly so I can check the subs mono/stereo at any point.

hugovillanova · Post by **hugovillanova** » Tue Mar 16, 2021 2:51 am

coming soon....

AKJ · Post by **AKJ** » Tue Mar 16, 2021 4:59 pm

If it works for you, why do you ask for alternatives?

martinjuenke · Post by **martinjuenke** » Tue Mar 16, 2021 5:02 pm

AKJ wrote: Tue Mar 16, 2021 4:59 pm If it works for you, why do you ask for alternatives?

Because I want to be prepared if iZotope make BS with their subscription plans.

AKJ · Post by **AKJ** » Tue Mar 16, 2021 5:48 pm

Even if they go subscription only: it is working and it most probably will keep working - if you are not on a Mac, but then better look for an alternative OS

sguyader · Post by **sguyader** » Tue Mar 16, 2021 5:52 pm

I don't think it's been mentioned here, but TDR makes 2 plugins, VOS SlickEQ GE (30 euros) and SlickEQ M (50 euros), which both have the so-called "Smart Ops" to do spectral matching to either a reference audio track, or internally to pink noise. It gives you a correction EQ curve that you can of course adjust from there.
https://docs.tokyodawn.net/slickeq-m-manual/#Smart_Ops

martinjuenke · Post by **martinjuenke** » Tue Mar 16, 2021 6:48 pm

sguyader wrote: Tue Mar 16, 2021 5:52 pm I don't think it's been mentioned here, but TDR makes 2 plugins, VOS SlickEQ GE (30 euros) and SlickEQ M (50 euros), which both have the so-called "Smart Ops" to do spectral matching to either a reference audio track, or internally to pink noise. It gives you a correction EQ curve that you can of course adjust from there.
https://docs.tokyodawn.net/slickeq-m-manual/#Smart_Ops

Yes, thanks for the mention. There's additionally the Tokyo Dawn Nova dynamic EQ which is capable as well for matching pink noise or custom frequency profiles. I actually use the Nova for track balancing tasks. I really like the results. Can fullheartly recommend it.

sguyader · Post by **sguyader** » Tue Mar 16, 2021 11:28 pm

martinjuenke wrote: Tue Mar 16, 2021 6:48 pm Yes, thanks for the mention. There's additionally the Tokyo Dawn Nova dynamic EQ which is capable as well for matching pink noise or custom frequency profiles. I actually use the Nova for track balancing tasks. I really like the results. Can fullheartly recommend it.

Ah yes, I forgot about Nova GE. As a plus, it does dynamic matching. I will revisit it!

iZotope Tonal Balance : Alternatives?