BCA Show Preview - 47
SHOW PREVIEW | 26-28 June 2018 A part of MARINA BAY SANDS * SUNTEC SINGAPORE Broadcast Audio Processing Strategies to correct a clipping or distortion problem. Furthermore, manufacturers implement traditional controls in different ways - AGC drive may not perform the same on different products. If you are uncertain about a control, you may wish to carefully sweep that control through its range while monitoring its effect. Be careful if you do so, as some controls can yield significant changes, and make sure to return it to its original position. If you're still uncertain, call the manufacturer's technical support. Document everything before you change anything, and document each change along the way. At some point, you'll need to back up to a previous setting as in "I like the way it sounded last Thursday." For analogue processors, create a chart tabulating the control parameters, and the date of each change. If you have a digital audio processor, save each change to a preset. That way you can revert to precisely the way it sounded last Thursday. Use an incremental approach to adjusting the audio processing. Making large changes to many parameters in one session is difficult to manage: if the results aren't satisfactory, which parameter should be modified? What went wrong? The downside to making small adjustments is that differences can be too subtle to notice. Considering your on-air presentation, this approach is less precarious. Listen. Allow plenty of time to judge the effects of your changes. Sometimes the consequences will not be immediately evident. What sounds fine on a few songs may sound wretched on another. What sounds great on your US$10,000 monitoring system may sound wimpy on a car radio. So, listen to many selections, from many sources and programme types. Listening over time will also give your ears an opportunity to rest, and time for you to formulate an opinion. Where and when to stop. Ask yourself "how will I know when I'm done?" If the present on-air sound is far from your goal, it's relatively easy to judge changes to the audio processing. However, as the processed sound approaches the goal, subjective differences from the ideal become smaller, and increasingly subtle. Troubleshooting What to do if your station's sound is unsatisfactory. First, determine where the problem begins. If the programme output of the audio console SUNTEC SINGAPORE 47 Cont'd... sounds fine, does it sound okay at the output of the processor? At the output of the STL? If the audio sounds bad at the STL output feeding your final audio processor, it's unlikely that any amount of knob twisting of the latter will compensate for the former. Next, determine if the problem is due to a component failure, or due to maladjustment. That same STL problem may be the result of simply being overdriven. If the problem seems to originate from the processor, the best way to determine if it's functioning properly is to restore all settings to the manufacturer's recommended positions (or recall a factory preset). You'll have a good idea of the nature of the problem at this point. If the on-air sound is unsatisfactory, but it doesn't sound broken, what then? It will depend upon your specific system. If the system has numerous processors, bypass them one by one and compare the overall sound both ways. Orban OPTIMOD 8700i Define your on-air audio goal as much as possible. Break the adjustment process down to manageable steps, both in the number of system components, and in the parameters changed in an adjustment session. Expect to over-adjust and be prepared to revert to some previously documented setting. Audience First Finally, don't get caught in a processing war that turns into an ego war between two engineers or programmers. The worst thing you can do is to forget the interests of your audience in the heat of the battle. Processing wars can be fun for aggressive personalities, but the audience is the loser. Never forget that they have other entertainment options including CDs, and if you deliver obviously distorted, squashed, and pumped audio, they may respond by tuning out. www.orban.com