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FM Bitrate?

J

jras20

Does FM have a bitrate? or BPS? I always wondered about this, if so what is the bitrate? I know that the highs sound much better than XM does. Even AM talk stations sound better than XM talk stations.
 
Well I was asking this because some stations sound better than others. 102.3 The beat seams to have more bass, more distortion sound then the rest. Do they do this because hip hop has more bass? I know HotZ95 does this also has more bass then a normal station would. OR they use to.
 
jras20 said:
Well I was asking this because some stations sound better than others. 102.3 The beat seams to have more bass, more distortion sound then the rest. Do they do this because hip hop has more bass? I know HotZ95 does this also has more bass then a normal station would. OR they use to.
Click to expand...

Good question and San Antonio's Jack FM sounds way distorted!!! It is in the sound board. I am sure they are taking advantage of a graphic equalizer. Magic 105.3 used to have a mono like sound to it in Stereo a couple of years back.

Does anyone remember Stereo Multiplex stations like KITY 92.9 Stereo Multiplex?
 
jras20 said:
Well I was asking this because some stations sound better than others. 102.3 The beat seams to have more bass, more distortion sound then the rest. Do they do this because hip hop has more bass? I know HotZ95 does this also has more bass then a normal station would. OR they use to.
Click to expand...

While hip hop records are mixed with the bass higher, so much of it has to do with the audio processing chain the station has. Whenever I set up the processing chain at a station, I would tell the PD that there are three aspects to the on-air audio quaility:
- Loudness
- Frequency Response
- Low Distortion

I told him to pick 2, because you can't have all 3.

Increasing the compression and limiting will increase the apparently loudness, but you reach a point where you start clipping the signal, and that's where the distortion comes from.
 
willdav713 said:
jras20 said:
Well I was asking this because some stations sound better than others. 102.3 The beat seams to have more bass, more distortion sound then the rest. Do they do this because hip hop has more bass? I know HotZ95 does this also has more bass then a normal station would. OR they use to.
Click to expand...

Good question and San Antonio's Jack FM sounds way distorted!!! It is in the sound board. I am sure they are taking advantage of a graphic equalizer. Magic 105.3 used to have a mono like sound to it in Stereo a couple of years back.

Does anyone remember Stereo Multiplex stations like KITY 92.9 Stereo Multiplex?
Click to expand...

BMP must not care about their stations any more. I notice that also. On Jack FM 98.7 in Victoria has a flat sound to it. They never have fixed that. I think BobFM 103.5 is one of the best sounding stations in Austin.
 
Good point about BobFM. Speaking of coverage, why does 103.5 work really well north of the transmitter all the way to the northern end of it's 60dbu line, but the stations signal just plain sucks south of the transmitter?
 
jras20 said:
Does FM have a bitrate? or BPS? I always wondered about this, if so what is the bitrate? I know that the highs sound much better than XM does. Even AM talk stations sound better than XM talk stations.
Click to expand...

They would have a bitrate only if broadcasting digital signal as in iBiquity.

But even an ANALOG FM transmitter becomes the victim of bit-rate... possible a bit-rate too low, in the recordings on their automation machine, any audio processors that convert to digital in order to process and then back to analog for output to the transmitter, and then maybe on their link from studio site to transmitter site via some kind of connection system.

In following the conversations of the "big boys" over in the technical discussions, one of the problems can come when each audio processor or transport mechanism uses a different bit-rate while in the digital realm. Then a station can end up with some kind of swamp-stew with all the bad characteristics of every bit-rate known to mankind. :mad:

If a station has a set up where the audio is converted from analog to digital and back to analog maybe five or six times, life gets dicey.
 
Not sure about the other stations, but I can speak for BOB FM. We have an outstanding Chief Engineer who takes pride in keeping the sound clean and not over compressed. Plus, almost all of our library is uncompressed wav files, not mp3's.
 
Krash Kelly said:
Not sure about the other stations, but I can speak for BOB FM. We have an outstanding Chief Engineer who takes pride in keeping the sound clean and not over compressed. Plus, almost all of our library is uncompressed wav files, not mp3's.
Click to expand...

Must have a lot of TB drives for wav files!
 
Krash Kelly said:
Not sure about the other stations, but I can speak for BOB FM. We have an outstanding Chief Engineer who takes pride in keeping the sound clean and not over compressed. Plus, almost all of our library is uncompressed wav files, not mp3's.
Click to expand...

And with my Quadraphonic Setup, I do notice a difference in the rear channels. KKMJ also takes good pride in their music.

I would take WAV over Mp3 ANYDAY, even Mp3's at 320kps!!!

I still prefer analog mediums Vinyl, and Cassette but mainly Vinyl.

But with a good soundcard WAV sounds better than CD.

Well I will be listening to your 9 @ 9 tonight got another one of my favorite radio years 1992

I wish BOB-FM would do a all 70s weekend, though.
 
You are spot-on about the sound cards making all the difference. And Jras - you are correct. I believe we have an 11TB audio folder.
 
The Clear Channel stations in Austin also store their music as WAV files which does sound better, but the truth is that most of the radios out there are not quality enough to really show the difference. I find a lot of the differences in the way stations sound has to do with the settings of the processor which is quite often a function of what the PD thinks sounds good or has "always done". There are stations in this market that I know the PD has tweaked to the point they think sounds great that I think sound much less than great.
 
MisterRadio said:
The Clear Channel stations in Austin also store their music as WAV files which does sound better, but the truth is that most of the radios out there are not quality enough to really show the difference. I find a lot of the differences in the way stations sound has to do with the settings of the processor which is quite often a function of what the PD thinks sounds good or has "always done". There are stations in this market that I know the PD has tweaked to the point they think sounds great that I think sound much less than great.
Click to expand...

96.7 in Austin sounds way overcompressed. That one's probably a good example of what you mentioned.
 
Same with 102.3 The Beat.
 
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