Rant... Bad sounding songs with AGC pumping!

[rrsounds]

What good is a new 8600 or O-11 if all the music keeps getting crappier? (other than to not destroy some more for broadcast purposes?)

Exactly what you just said. The songs that sound great will still sound great, and the people that are putting out abusive audio will stick out like sore thumbs.

Maybe broadcasters should start reducing the level of songs that sound like crap to lower loudness than the decent-sounding ones.

In other words, don't set the process to equalize sound levels, but rather to equalize pain levels.
Would be pretty simple to implement such an algorithm in the processor, and if the idea caught on, maybe record makers would get the message .

I can just see every processor maker competing to make the version that does it the most. LOL!

Just a thought. Remember where you heard it first. ;-)

Kind Regards,
David

 

[boiseengineer]

Turn the ITU "Power Limiter" on. That'll quiet things down! ;D

 

[rrsounds]

Turn the ITU "Power Limiter" on. That'll quiet things down! ;D

If you ask anyone in Europe whether they are happy with the way processors deal with the Multiplex Power issue, most will tell you the 'solutions' are obvious and obnoxious.

Quieter, yes, but a sonic roller-coaster effect. Yuck!

Kind Regards,
David

 

[gtomas]

If you ask anyone in Europe whether they are happy with the way processors deal with the Multiplex Power issue, most will tell you the 'solutions' are obvious and obnoxious.

Quieter, yes, but a sonic roller-coaster effect. Yuck!

Yes. The goal is notable (though disguised as the need to reduce interference) but a very poorly conceived standard indeed...

When designing the ITU limiter for BW Broadcast processors, I realized there's a compromise to be made between how well the processor maintains the ITU power level and the natural sound that won't exhibit unnatural breathing and level changes (at the expense of being less "sticky" to the ITU reference level). In the end I think we made a good compromise that leans slightly on the natural sound side.


Regards,
Goran Tomas

 

[rorban]

Yes. The goal is notable (though disguised as the need to reduce interference) but a very poorly conceived standard indeed...

When designing the ITU limiter for BW Broadcast processors, I realized there's a compromise to be made between how well the processor maintains the ITU power level and the natural sound that won't exhibit unnatural breathing and level changes (at the expense of being less "sticky" to the ITU reference level). In the end I think we made a good compromise that leans slightly on the natural sound side.

One can accomplish the same kinds of tradeoffs in Orban processors by setting the MPX OFFSET control appropriately for the preset. The inserts a fixed loss before the clippers and allows you to adjust the amount of dynamic MPX power gain reduction produced on typical program material. If you set up the preset well, you will only needs 1-2 dB of gain reduction on typical program material.

The fundamental problem with ITU412 is that there is no psychoacoustic weighting at all, so holding the MPX power to a constant threshold causes odd-sounding loudness variations.

Bob Orban

 

[satech]

The song "One More Time" by Daft Punk in late 2000 / early 2001 was the first time I heard this intentional pumping effect, at least in a radio hit. This was a unique and unusual effect at the time, and was ripe for others to start copying it, but of course as with any kind of fad, people will take it too far and then it will (hopefully) burn itself out. That song is also notable for its use of AutoTune (or at least "AutoTune-like") vocal pitch effects, which of course are now all the rage as well -- although overuse of AutoTune is now facing a good amount of backlash in the music industry.

 

[ScottJ]

Maybe broadcasters should start reducing the level of songs that sound like crap to lower loudness than the decent-sounding ones.

Now THERE's an idea. Some songs sound like crap at any level, though. "You Light Up My Life" by Debby Boone should activate an automatic mute.

 

[Tom Wells]

Maybe broadcasters should start reducing the level of songs that sound like crap to lower loudness than the decent-sounding ones.

Now THERE's an idea. Some songs sound like crap at any level, though. "You Light Up My Life" by Debby Boone should activate an automatic mute.

A very powerful song.
When I hear that song, I make the same face as Bluto in "Animal House", where he's coming down the stairs and hears the guy singing
"I gave my Love a Cherry", and he gets this dazed yet troubled look, like he's trying to hear weak dx under some interference, just before he
smashes the guitar to smithereens. I just make it stop as soon as possible without destruction.