Achieving this sound with an 8400

[realDtrump]

Hi all,

I'm trying to get a sound similar to this (http://vimeo.com/114215861) with our 8400. I've tried almost every factory preset, but none of them come close to this.

It's loud, fast and consistent, but not over the top.

Can anybody point me in the right direction to get this type of sound? AGC / Multiband drive, Release time etc...

I'd also love to try any presets you may be willing to share? No matter what the sound, I'm open for trying anything at this point.

Thanks in advance

 

[zachmorton]

One thing to remember about any processor...regardless of the type, no two stations will sound alike. It all depends on the audio being fed (wav, mp3, etc), how clean the audio chain is, even the exciter or the way the transmitter is tuned will affect the way it sounds. I run mine rather open, with a smooth agc and very little multiband, and the result is an open, clean, pure sound. This is for hot ac, and the station has been #1 in the market for many many years. That's not to say the same settings would work for an identical format on another station...but it works on mine.

 

[Kelly A]

One thing to remember about any processor...regardless of the type, no two stations will sound alike. It all depends on the audio being fed (wav, mp3, etc), how clean the audio chain is, even the exciter or the way the transmitter is tuned will affect the way it sounds. I run mine rather open, with a smooth agc and very little multiband, and the result is an open, clean, pure sound. This is for hot ac, and the station has been #1 in the market for many many years. That's not to say the same settings would work for an identical format on another station...but it works on mine.

Zach makes an excellent point. Being loud with too much limiting and fast release times are actually detrimental to audience TSL. Remember that radio no longer competes with just other radio stations. When a listener hears one of their favorite songs overly-processed after hearing it via their IPod or even MP3 player, the difference will drive them to listening to music more on their personal device. Don't drive your listeners away by sounding like a station from the 70's. That, and with modern processor-controlled radios that have AGC's, the loudness wars are over.

 

[mp3RadioGuy]

You might try downloading from Orban some of the newer presets for the 8500. There are some newer presets that are not available to the 8400. The 8600MX presets can also be used with some text editing.

 

[Grounded Grid]

Personally, I wouldn't put that sound in any competitive market now. It's far too homogenized and squished for me. 5 minutes of that and I'd be looking for another station. I hear the wall of sound is still popular in New York though.

But you did ask, so...

Trying to duplicate one processor's sound with another will be very difficult. You probably won't get there... maybe not even close. That said, if you have the time to play with the 8400, you might find a combination that you like better.

Unless you're really lucky, getting the sound you want probably won't happen overnight. The technical side of modulation control (read "FCC compliance) is the easy part. Getting your station to sound "right", in comparison with other stations on the dial might take you a long time.

Two obvious things come to mind. First off... most people suffer from lack-of-patience. If you're going to build your own preset, make small adjustments, then give them a couple of days or so to settle in. How you hear things changes from day to day, so you really need to average this stuff out over time. Over the years, I've watched some programmers head for the processor nearly every day. Their stations never sounded right to them... or anyone else.

Second... as said before, don't expect to get the sound of a CRL chain... unless you have a CRL chain. It was literally built to sound just like it does. Right, wrong or otherwise, there's a lot going on in those boxes. If I recall... two gain stages (per channel) in the APP, 5 in the SEP and 2 or 3 gain or clipping sections in the limiter. It all works together, and that's a lot of interactive squashing that ends in the recording you posted. Those stages have hard-wired crossover curves and potted-in ratio, attack and release times, which means you need to have a set on the bench to even come close to working out how it ticks. Then there's the matter of whether you can duplicate the results with your Optimod.

Maybe an interesting enough challenge though, if that's what you really want to do.

 

[Poppychapman]

the loudness wars are over? Try telling that to the idiots at recording studios that have been over processing songs since 2005. Heavy clipping, hyper compressed. Brittle.

 

[Kelly A]

the loudness wars are over? Try telling that to the idiots at recording studios that have been over processing songs since 2005. Heavy clipping, hyper compressed. Brittle.

Phil Spector's "Wall of Sound"-sound incorporated lot's of hard limiting and compression. Music was recorded and mixed for AM stations. Now Producers and recording engineers mix for personal music players. The concept isn't new. The problem is when radio station programmers or engineers think that aggressive audio processing somehow gives them a competitive advantage. Distortion is cumulative and has detrimental affects to TSL. That and modern radio AGC's only make the heavily processed stations sound even worse, not allowing any station to sound louder than the average.