ABA Toolbox
The ABA Toolbox — the measurement tools of ABA Media Platform, listed in the order a recording session uses them. The tools run in your browser and change nothing in your files.
A problem caught at tracking costs a nudge of a few samples. The same problem found in the finished mix costs a remix, and found by the client it costs the client's trust.
Each tool below checks one stage of a production, so a fault is found at the stage that made it.
1 · Tracking · beta, in calibration
Two mics on one source, or a DI and an amp mic, can each sound right on their own and go thin when blended. Phaze Check measures how every pickup of one source lines up in time and polarity, and gives the move in samples, before anything is mixed.
2 · Mix revisions · prototype
A new mix that plays a little louder sounds better whether it is or not. ABA Compare matches every version of a mix to the same loudness and lines them up, then lets you switch between them, or pick blind, so the choice is made on the mix and not on the level.
3 · The finished mix and master
Measures the finished mix or master against the published delivery standards (ITU-R BS.1770-4 and EBU R128) and names the difference, with every finding traceable to the measurement behind it.
4 · The fix
For each problem AudioVibes and Phaze Check report, the most likely cause and the fix to try first. A tool that names a fault and stops there has done half the job.
Why they come in this order
In an ABA production each stage closes on a measurement before the next one opens. Alignment is checked after the last performance and before anything is blended; mix versions are compared at the same loudness before one is chosen; the finished mix is checked last.