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Troublesome songs for processors

F

Fieldtech1

I noticed on several stations that Rihanna's song "Hard" seems to play havok on broadcast audio processors. The best way i can describe it is that the heavy low bass is causing the high frequencies to break up like a speaker pushed beyond its limits. Ive heard this effect happen on several stations in a few different markets. It had me wondering are there other songs that seem to give processors notable trouble.
 
Believe it or not, about 16 years ago we had a major processing person come in to help us set up a particular box on our Hot AC and I was shocked when he said, "don't set processing with U2 songs".

Food for thought.
 
Then there is the legendary "Axel F Theme" that was notorious for dumping the AFC in some early model FM exciters.

As well as 25 hz tone detectors that were not set right or not designed right....
 
ceaudio.com actually has a processing torture test you may download and try yourself.

The version of Sweet Jane by the Cowboy Junkies wreaked havoc on poorly setup 8100's and Texars.

Depending on the U2 album, I would completely agree. Joshua Tree and Unforgettable Fire were very clean well produced albums, but they had a somewhat cloudy, cold sound.
 
Funny you should say U2 tracks,"With or without you" track being the prime example !
Makes you back off the clipper's drive.

I wonder if Rihanna's song is somewhat made worse by hypercompression ?
 
If I remember correctly at the time One by U2 was the song of the time and we would take a break from listening to the station when it came on.
 
'Islands in the Stream' Kenny and Dolly. Sounds easy but isn't. Get the output anything like the opriginal and keep from clipping them to death and you've got a good set.
 
Sgeirk said:
The version of Sweet Jane by the Cowboy Junkies wreaked havoc on poorly setup 8100's and Texars.
Click to expand...
That song either causes clipping galore or HF hole punching galore, depending on your preferred brand of audio processor. I've only ever heard some well-tuned analog processing setups handle that song without any major flaws.

Depending on the U2 album, I would completely agree. Joshua Tree and Unforgettable Fire were very clean well produced albums, but they had a somewhat cloudy, cold sound.
Click to expand...
The vocals on "With Or Without You" are already very sibilant and clipped sounding on the CD, so processing that sound needs very fastidious distortion control to avoid from turning "spitty" on the S's. Bass pullback on the intro is also a problem with wideband AGCs.
 
I never found a problem with the vocals on the original cd album,(yes the vocal is sibilant but not clipped),only the up front midrange breaking combined with the bass line.
This happens near the beginning and near the end,where the midrange note hangs there.
 
I Hear You Knocking by Dave Edmunds. The deep bass and guitar wind up fighting badly and a cheap processor pumps and sucks
all the way through the intro.
 
Because of You by Kelly Clarkson and Dance With My Father by Luther Vandross are also death to HF clippers, mostly because they are so poorly mastered to begin with.
 
Pull up a lot of the recent releases--even pop--on an audio editor, and you will see the source of many processing problems.

You'll swear that you are looking at the waveform of a badly over-modulated (to carrier pinch-off) AM transmitter.

Very generous of the recording and mastering companies to hire so many hearing impaired folks....as well as those with sight defects that prevent them from seeing peak meters.
 
Eurythmics - Here Comes The Rain Again - The beginning arpeggio gets slammed by the kick drum as the song progresses.

-M
 
mattthepm said:
Eurythmics - Here Comes The Rain Again - The beginning arpeggio gets slammed by the kick drum as the song progresses.
Click to expand...
Speaking of '80s pop, "Bette Davis Eyes" also often causes noticeable AGC flaws and bass pullback when the kick drum comes in after the intro.

And as for modern pop music CDs, when playing one you'll swear your peak level meter is monitoring line voltage... but it's been like that for well over a decade now. It was around the mid '90s when everything started getting *LOUD* and clipped. There were already some *LOUD* CDs before then, but it was mostly achieved through heavy analog processing back then, not through digital clipping of the master.
 
Then there is the well-documented "Crystal Gayle Syndrome" that would knock the Collins Power Rock transmitters off the air when "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue" was played.
 
That was courtesy of EIMAC though, not the record company. They changed the internals of the tube and didn't tell anyone. We found out, though. And my respect for The Wiz and Ken Branton went through the roof over the problem. I trhink they actually sawed a tube in half at one point to confirm why the problem occurred.
 
Jay Z ft. Rihanna - Run This Town

Pussycat Dolls - Jai Ho

boiseengineer said:
"Sexy Chick" David Guetta/Akon. The CD's processing is really bad.
Click to expand...

This one is tough, "Sexy Chick" is more compressed than the original "Sexy Bitch" (Played on AMP and a few other CHR's)
 
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