Telephone calls that clip audio levels constantly

[-TJ-]

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Ever notice when a listener calls in and due to the compression and sensitivity settings on the studio's audio quality, during a phone call going back n forth from the talent to the caller, there are pauses in the audio when they talk(unless there is a music bed under the call.)

During the pauses in audio, the settings amplify the dead air therefore when the caller speaks again, their audio for a slpit second is distorted aka "clipped" until the settings balance out the audio quality again.

I've noticed it on WGCi and V103.... I'm not so sure about Power, B96 or Kiss.

Has anyone else noticed this? It's been going on for a few years at least to what I can remember, and I think it's a newer problem. And recently, it's just been annoying to me.

Can it be fixed? I think it can.

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[magicmk]

> Ever notice when a listener calls in and due to the
> compression and sensitivity settings on the studio's audio
> quality, during a phone call going back n forth from the
> talent to the caller, there are pauses in the audio when
> they talk(unless there is a music bed under the call.)
>
> During the pauses in audio, the settings amplify the dead
> air therefore when the caller speaks again, their audio for
> a slpit second is distorted aka "clipped" until the settings
> balance out the audio quality again.
>
> I've noticed it on WGCi and V103.... I'm not so sure about
> Power, B96 or Kiss.
>
> Has anyone else noticed this? It's been going on for a few
> years at least to what I can remember, and I think it's a
> newer problem. And recently, it's just been annoying to me.
>
>
> Can it be fixed? I think it can.
>

Well I'm not an engineering expert, but depending on what's being used for modulation and if there's a "noise gate" present on the phone line or the board for that matter, I'd guess there's certainly a way to tune that so as not to wildly "overcorrect" the audio. I never messed with settings too much when I was on the air, but I distinctly remember the IBE control board at one of the stations I worked at had a "noise gate" button that would have the same effect you're referring to... if the background noise wasn't too bad, I'd often just manually click it off and then it wasn't so annoying.

 

[dybas]

> > Ever notice when a listener calls in and due to the
> > compression and sensitivity settings on the studio's audio
>
> > quality, during a phone call going back n forth from the
> > talent to the caller, there are pauses in the audio when
> > they talk(unless there is a music bed under the call.)
> >
> > During the pauses in audio, the settings amplify the dead
> > air therefore when the caller speaks again, their audio
> for
> > a slpit second is distorted aka "clipped" until the
> settings
> > balance out the audio quality again.
> >
> > I've noticed it on WGCi and V103.... I'm not so sure about
>
> > Power, B96 or Kiss.
> >
> > Has anyone else noticed this? It's been going on for a
> few
> > years at least to what I can remember, and I think it's a
> > newer problem. And recently, it's just been annoying to
> me.
> >
> >
> > Can it be fixed? I think it can.
> >
The phone interface gear usually has circuitry that bring up low level calls as well as compress the real hot level calls. Then the whole station audio is processed in a manner that "sucks up" the quiet passages to make the station loud. When the controls for the telephone interface are set so it's compression/expansion works too quickly you end up with the clipping that you mentioned. Evidently the station Program Director(s) doesn't mind the clipping on those stations. Oh yeah, the problem can be easily corrected...

Dr. Dave


>

 

[ChiRadio]

Since most phoners are recorded, there shouldn't be any dead air if the jocks record and edit the calls well.

This sounds like lazy editing by the jocks to allow dead air.

> Ever notice when a listener calls in and due to the
> compression and sensitivity settings on the studio's audio
> quality, during a phone call going back n forth from the
> talent to the caller, there are pauses in the audio when
> they talk(unless there is a music bed under the call.)
>
> During the pauses in audio, the settings amplify the dead
> air therefore when the caller speaks again, their audio for
> a slpit second is distorted aka "clipped" until the settings
> balance out the audio quality again.
>
> I've noticed it on WGCi and V103.... I'm not so sure about
> Power, B96 or Kiss.
>
> Has anyone else noticed this? It's been going on for a few
> years at least to what I can remember, and I think it's a
> newer problem. And recently, it's just been annoying to me.
>
>
> Can it be fixed? I think it can.
>