• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

The ABC EQ curve

J

jefflaurence

As seen on TV

Mixed audio uses 6:1 compression ratio with medium attack, fast recovery.
I dunno..sounds kinda boxy to me..but this was brought into a class I was speaking at, and it was on NBC memo paper...

FLAT accross the bandwidth with the following tweaks:

Roll off anything before 90hz
+2db at 200hz
+0.5 at 700 hz
+1 at 900 hz

+2 at 2.5k
+1 at 5k
+2 at 8k
Roll off anything after 12k
 
Although 6:1 compression seems a bit much to me..(isn't TV audio processed enough?) I tried the settings, and it sounds pretty decent..is it the ABC or NBC curve?
 
Re: The NBC EQ curve

Bob..sorry that is supposed to read the "NBC" processing curve. This is supposed to be used as processing to enhance the network audio for promos, and spots to increase apparent loudness and be used for new digital OTA transmission that is said to include less local processing of audio. I hope this is not supposed to be a well guarded ssecret but if it is, I will need to ask the moderator to ****** this thread.
 
Jeff, when was this memo suppose to have been issued? The reason for asking is that I've been "concerned" about our audio on our station for quite a while.

Years back, (late 80s and early 90s, when Randy Hoffner was at NBC), the audio from net was fairly decent. In recent months, I'm sorry to say I'm an affiliate.
 
VODood said:
JeffJasper said:
So THAT'S why ABC always sounded overcompressed and plastic, with no bass. :)

JJ
Click to expand...

I like ABC TV's processing, and FOX's. NBC is terrible.
Click to expand...

Sorry, that really was meant to be a joke, but came out more like a snide remark. Actually, I was thinking of ABC in the '70s and '80s. Check out the "ABC Sunday Movie" intros on YouTube sometime. The VU meter just stands there like AM. Another telling piece is the Mary Tyler Moore open. It's a different world sonically now.

I will say generally, however, that "magic EQ curves" come and go, and what's really needed in television sound is not more processing, but competent human intervention from start to finish. Good ears plus a hand on the fader. Oops, there I go dreaming again.... :)

Seriously, TV will never have truly consistent sound as long as there's more than one production facility on the planet. Every audio engineer has their own philosophy. Some want everything totally flat, starting at the mic, such as Roy Rising. Others think there should be no limits to EQ extremes and multiband compression. If anyone's come up with an AGC that's better than a human hand, I'm unaware of it. Some work well in grabbing hot audio and pulling it down, but no human takes 5 seconds to push the gain back up for the program unless they're stoned or lazy. And a really good human would have had the levels matched in the first place. Let's see if THAT happens. I do hope it does, 'cuz I've got a 60-inch on the way!

JJ
 
Listening to NBC's Thursday or Sunday Night football... the audio levels are all over, from pre-game to in-game. Costas, everyone.. audio spikes and drops. It's horrible.
 
VODood said:
Listening to NBC's Thursday or Sunday Night football... the audio levels are all over, from pre-game to in-game. Costas, everyone.. audio spikes and drops. It's horrible.
Click to expand...

I hate to admit it, but you're right. I work for an affiliate, and there is little attention paid to what comes down to the station.

And if you dare complain, you're vilified as being some kind of crank.

It wasn't always that way, so I have to think that it's just the mindset of the new people, as well as everyone there is doing their job and two others due to the GE management style.

Oh well. June 20th 2012. Retirement.
 
VODood said:
Listening to NBC's Thursday or Sunday Night football... the audio levels are all over, from pre-game to in-game. Costas, everyone.. audio spikes and drops. It's horrible.
Click to expand...

I think part of the problem is the HDTV audio encoding. I was watching 60 Minutes the other night and the levels seemed to vary from nearly inaudible to “way too loud.” Weirder yet, it seems to happen with just a talking head sitting at a desk. In mid-sentence, the level would ramp up and down. The sound engineers at CBS can't be that lame. I suspect there is something else going on here. Perhaps it is some weird effect from encoding, decoding and re-encoding the audio along the broadcast chain.

Lest anyone think I'm singling out CBS, I notice this on all the over the air broadcast networks. Perhaps nobody is "minding the shop" in Master Control at TV stations that are running both analog and digital signals? Admittedly, it would be hard to monitor both in the control room. Maybe it will get better after the analog shut down date in February, where the operator only has to deal with one set of signals.

I guess we'll see. In the mean time, I'm contemplating installing a compressor /limiter in my TV's audio chain.
 
Jeff Laurence said:
As seen on TV

Mixed audio uses 6:1 compression ratio with medium attack, fast recovery.
I dunno..sounds kinda boxy to me..but this was brought into a class I was speaking at, and it was on NBC memo paper...

FLAT accross the bandwidth with the following tweaks:

Roll off anything before 90hz
+2db at 200hz
+0.5 at 700 hz
+1 at 900 hz

+2 at 2.5k
+1 at 5k
+2 at 8k
Roll off anything after 12k
Click to expand...


Any got a screen shot of the above EQ that they care to share? I use WAVES...
 
Chuck said:
I think part of the problem is the HDTV audio encoding. I was watching 60 Minutes the other night and the levels seemed to vary from nearly inaudible to “way too loud.” Weirder yet, it seems to happen with just a talking head sitting at a desk. In mid-sentence, the level would ramp up and down.
Click to expand...

Part of the problem is that many in the network management think that no processing is better than changing the sound with reasonable AGC.

The station I work at finally added an Inovonics 255 set up very lightly just to take care of the loud changes in the audio. This especially applied to program to spot transitions.
 
The person that brought that in is still out for the holidays..however I have to beleive that it is a reasonably new memo becasue it said that it was applicable to the new digital delivery of NETWORK audio..does that mean they are encouraging the local stations to not use any processing at all? OR is this curve intended to be used to duplicate the network's processing efforts? I am sorry I just don't know. Most likely it is something that someone came up with that either never got used, or otherwise was tossed out. And to be clear it WAS the NBC curve..I had never heard of such a thing, perhaps "Cip" can shed some light on it..but I tried it as best as I could duplicate, and it really doesn;t sound too shabby..just a little more than I would do for anything I produce and send out..
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom