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processing on mix 92.3

S

sawtooth_mcmull

with the talk about 106.1 and their horrid processing, i thought i would bring up another station..................
has anyone noticed the processing on 92.3??
its not just me who notices and it does get quite bothersome...............
to me they obviously have the 'gate' on the main processor set way too high. when a low volume part of a song passes through, it literally disappears from a normal audible level. :p i almost blew speakers this afternoon in my car when i stopped at 92.3 to hear a song i liked. it went off, followed by a jingle, then what i thought was dead air, was not dead air............. but was actually the beginning of tal bachmans' ''shes so high''. so to compensate for the volume loss, i cranked up my radio to hear it, amplifying the static more than anything......... next thing i knew a few seconds later the song suddenly comes on blasting like i was deaf!

whats the purpose of having a high gate setting on a station with signal problems in the major metros????? 92.3 and 104.1 need all the audio modulation they can put out to compensate for the static and noise.
thoughts? similar experiences?
sawtooth
 
Normally with today's agressive processing you would set the gate as low as it would go to keep the processor working during lower level passages. One thought to having the gate set higher is to allow for greater dynamic range, if you're going for higher quality audio. That might be a good technique for a Classical format, but not such a good idea for just about anything else.
 
I've noticed myself. It probably is the gate on the processor turned up high. I have to agree with RadeoEngineer and say it should only be used in classical music. Or maybe soft AC or smooth jazz music, but not CHR or Hot AC.

And Sawtooth, you seemed to have hit the nail on the head. I just gave up turning the radio up and down. ;D
 
Another format that sounds good with a wide dynamic range is Classic Rock, KZEP in San Antonio had some of the best dynamics Ive heard on any station along with some sort of stereo seperation enhancement. I heard Metallica's Where Ever I May Roam on this station and was floored by how awesome it sounded for an analog FM station.
 
Fieldtech1 said:
Another format that sounds good with a wide dynamic range is Classic Rock, KZEP in San Antonio had some of the best dynamics Ive heard on any station along with some sort of stereo seperation enhancement. I heard Metallica's Where Ever I May Roam on this station and was floored by how awesome it sounded for an analog FM station.
Click to expand...

Which goes to my phylosophy in processing. I hate to use the term, but have used it long before the CC debacle, "less is more." Less processing with more dynamic range sounds so much better, and can be competetive on the dial if set up properly. You don't have to have maximum mash and clipping distortion. You can have good audio that keeps the listener instead of fatigueing them.
 
You know, its kind of funny you all bring this up. That station comes in so terribly in the B.R. and N.O. metros. So badly that if they came up on the high end, it would be an improvement in the sound quality level. At least 104.1 and WABB Mobile have their high end turned up to combat the sound quality loss in the distant metros. Poor 92.3 sounds so muffled and muddy even here in the river parishes.

But a few months back I called Citadel New Orleans several times and asked someone (supposedly an engineer) if they could come up on the high end on 92.3. I made 3 attempts at my call over a few weeks --only to hear no difference except for the extreme gating going on now. In fact one call I made the guy said "what do you mean come up on the high end"? When he said that I swore he meant it! You mean to tell me this guy had no idea what I was asking? Man o man! What a disaster.


Sam T.
 
At one time this station was running a stereo ISDN feed to Metarie, where it went into a two hop analog composite STL out to Vacherie. This many paths in an analog signal can create all kinds of problems, including the multiple compression algorythms of the automation into the ISDN causing audio degradation. I don't know if that system was ever improved or modified. The antenna was also somewhat suspect as it runs a combiner for 92.3 and 104.1. That's quite a spread on a 20 plus year old system. Again, this may have been recently addressed, but I only know what was a while ago.
 
We had absolutely no problems with the hopscotch when the Levet's had it...I wish I could remember what box we used out there in the boxcar for processing, but it was wonderful back in the Rock day. It's prime time for another Rock 92.3 (hint hint)...

Ol' man Sid had two 100,000-watters side by side, would run one for 3 months, switch to the other for 3 months while he babied the down one, switch back to it after 3 months...was awesome having a former FCC engineer as an owner.

I'll never forget the rigging we did, too, when lightning fried 400 feet of the transmission line back in '94...
 
Yep, couldn't hear it on the bayou unless you listened to AM... radio stayed on 1010 Am more than a few times after that one.

Also didn't they do a late 1960s Psychedelic Rock playlist on 1010 WCKW for a time before switching to the simucast of 92.3?

Never knew Sid, But have talked to a few who knew him... and from what I've heard, he loved radio till he died. I remember the house section of the Picayune doing a article in the Rock days about his home in the River parishes and they featured the fact that he had a big tower in his yard for his ham radio hobby...

Remembered that one as it was the only time I've ever seen radio mentioned in that section.
 
They made changes, yay! No more extreme gating!
In my opinion, I like it.
The Plus --They made the adjustments with a lil more highs and no horrible gating.
The Minus --It has a weird "pumping" effect now after the adjustments, BUT its ok cause it works for them!

And Wayne, I still remember Rock 92.3 WCKW. Bill St. James was the station voice and the processing was "Rockin The River & Shakin' The Lake!!" ;) Some good stuff man! U guys made that station a winner! I miss it.

Sam T/
 
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