How are people doing gain control, out of curiosity? I know boxes exist (anyone have names and mfrs?) that ride the gain for big radio stations, ensuring that there is no distortion and raising the volume of songs recorded at a lower volume. I'd probably buy one if I knew what to buy. ------ Dave Hayes - Consultant - Altadena CA, USA - dave@jetcafe.org Now Playing at: http://music.jetcafe.org:8000>>> The opinions expressed above are entirely my own <<<It will pass, whatever it is. --- >8 ---- List archives: http://www.xiph.org/archives/ icecast project homepage: http://www.icecast.org/ To unsubscribe from this list, send a message to 'icecast-request@xiph.org' containing only the word 'unsubscribe' in the body. No subject is needed. Unsubscribe messages sent to the list will be ignored/filtered.
Dave Hayes wrote:> > How are people doing gain control, out of curiosity? > > I know boxes exist (anyone have names and mfrs?) that ride the gain > for big radio stations, ensuring that there is no distortion and > raising the volume of songs recorded at a lower volume. I'd probably > buy one if I knew what to buy.That's called a compressor, I use a $150 Behringer compressor whenever I DJ, that then runs into my recording system/amp (it's good with an amp since it makes you louder than you would otherwise be). -- Scott Manley (AKA Szyzyg) Streaming Media Hacker www.myplay.com --- >8 ---- List archives: http://www.xiph.org/archives/ icecast project homepage: http://www.icecast.org/ To unsubscribe from this list, send a message to 'icecast-request@xiph.org' containing only the word 'unsubscribe' in the body. No subject is needed. Unsubscribe messages sent to the list will be ignored/filtered.
On Sun, Jun 24, 2001 at 01:51:05AM -0700, Dave Hayes wrote:> How are people doing gain control, out of curiosity? > > I know boxes exist (anyone have names and mfrs?) that ride the gain > for big radio stations, ensuring that there is no distortion and > raising the volume of songs recorded at a lower volume. I'd probably > buy one if I knew what to buy.This is a bit tricky and subjective. If you are doing streaming and broadcast, some considerations you will have are: * Brick wall filtering to prevent "all ones" distortion * Soft limiting and compression for increased loudness * AGC to reduce dynamic range to keep the music above ambient noise (ie. office and car locations.) If you are just doing streaming and don't care about loudness or limiting dynamic range, you just need a smart clipper/limiter of some sort. My favorite is the Aphex Dominator. I have been using them for a bit more than 10 years for processing before A/D converters like Sony F1s and later DAT machines. The Dominator does a great job of limiting those occasional nasty peaks (pops, clicks, feedback, etc.) without sounding like it is punching holes in the audio. The audio stays pretty "transparent" sounding. If you are in a loudness war (ie. broadcasting) and/or concerned about dynamic range you need some sort of AGC-compressor-soft limiter combination. Aphex happens to make another favorite unit for this called the "Compellor". It isn't as aggressive as other processors such as Bob Orban's, or Frank Foti's boxes but it is "transparent" with good AGC and some loudness. Both the Dominator and Compellor can be found popping up on Ebay at least once every couple of weeks. Try to get the "Mark 2" versions of each unit. The Compellor model 320 is their second generation unit. If you are doing FM broadcasting, you need to get the dominator that support "pre-emphasis" such as the "722". I have picked up 320s for about $400 and the Dominators go for about $600. Of course Aphex will sell you their "combo" unit the "2020" for about $5K retail. If you want something cheaper (and of course not as good sounding) there are a couple of companies that build "compressor/limiters" boxes that run in the $150 range. The Alesis "3630" or the Behringer "Composer Pro MDX2200" can do the job of hard/soft limiting and even some AGC/compression so long as you don't push them too much. If you are interested in a "how to" of setting up your new processing, drop me a line. Tim -- Snail: Tim Pozar / LNS / 1978 45th Ave / San Francisco CA 94116 / USA POTS: +1 415 665 3790 Radio: KC6GNJ / KAE6247 "It's a damn poor mind that can only think of one way to spell a word." - Andrew Jackson "What is wanted is not the will to believe, but the will to find out, which is the exact opposite." - Bertrand Russell, "Skeptical_Essays" --- >8 ---- List archives: http://www.xiph.org/archives/ icecast project homepage: http://www.icecast.org/ To unsubscribe from this list, send a message to 'icecast-request@xiph.org' containing only the word 'unsubscribe' in the body. No subject is needed. Unsubscribe messages sent to the list will be ignored/filtered.
Excellent overview, Tim (as I'd expect - you da man when it comes to broadcast processing :-). I'd 2nd your recommendation on the Behringer unit - for the price it just can't be beat & it sounds quite decent. I'm using them on Radio Paradise, KPIG, & SmoothJazz.com. I'd also recommend a *nix audio processing software app called ecasound. It has an awesome agc/limiter patch - easily piped into the chain on an encoder box. A bit CPU-intensive, but very smooth. I'm using it on Radio Paradise (www.radioparadise.com) ahead of the Behringer. -bg> On Sun, Jun 24, 2001 at 01:51:05AM -0700, Dave Hayes wrote: > > How are people doing gain control, out of curiosity? > > > > I know boxes exist (anyone have names and mfrs?) that ride the gain > > for big radio stations, ensuring that there is no distortion and > > raising the volume of songs recorded at a lower volume. I'd probably > > buy one if I knew what to buy. > > This is a bit tricky and subjective. > > If you are doing streaming and broadcast, some considerations you > will have are: > > * Brick wall filtering to prevent "all ones" distortion > > * Soft limiting and compression for increased loudness > > * AGC to reduce dynamic range to keep the music above > ambient noise (ie. office and car locations.) > > If you are just doing streaming and don't care about loudness or > limiting dynamic range, you just need a smart clipper/limiter of > some sort. My favorite is the Aphex Dominator. I have been using > them for a bit more than 10 years for processing before A/D converters > like Sony F1s and later DAT machines. The Dominator does a great > job of limiting those occasional nasty peaks (pops, clicks, feedback, > etc.) without sounding like it is punching holes in the audio. > The audio stays pretty "transparent" sounding. > > If you are in a loudness war (ie. broadcasting) and/or concerned > about dynamic range you need some sort of AGC-compressor-soft > limiter combination. Aphex happens to make another favorite unit > for this called the "Compellor". It isn't as aggressive as other > processors such as Bob Orban's, or Frank Foti's boxes but it is > "transparent" with good AGC and some loudness. > > Both the Dominator and Compellor can be found popping up on Ebay > at least once every couple of weeks. Try to get the "Mark 2" > versions of each unit. The Compellor model 320 is their second > generation unit. If you are doing FM broadcasting, you need to > get the dominator that support "pre-emphasis" such as the "722". > I have picked up 320s for about $400 and the Dominators go for > about $600. > > Of course Aphex will sell you their "combo" unit the "2020" for > about $5K retail. > > If you want something cheaper (and of course not as good sounding) > there are a couple of companies that build "compressor/limiters" > boxes that run in the $150 range. The Alesis "3630" or the Behringer > "Composer Pro MDX2200" can do the job of hard/soft limiting and > even some AGC/compression so long as you don't push them too much. > > If you are interested in a "how to" of setting up your new processing, > drop me a line. > > Tim > -- > Snail: Tim Pozar / LNS / 1978 45th Ave / San Francisco CA 94116 / USA > POTS: +1 415 665 3790 Radio: KC6GNJ / KAE6247 > "It's a damn poor mind that can only think of one way to spell a word." > - Andrew Jackson > "What is wanted is not the will to believe, but the will to find out, > which is the exact opposite." - Bertrand Russell, "Skeptical_Essays" > > --- >8 ---- > List archives: http://www.xiph.org/archives/ > icecast project homepage: http://www.icecast.org/ > To unsubscribe from this list, send a message to'icecast-request@xiph.org'> containing only the word 'unsubscribe' in the body. No subject is needed. > Unsubscribe messages sent to the list will be ignored/filtered. >--- >8 ---- List archives: http://www.xiph.org/archives/ icecast project homepage: http://www.icecast.org/ To unsubscribe from this list, send a message to 'icecast-request@xiph.org' containing only the word 'unsubscribe' in the body. No subject is needed. Unsubscribe messages sent to the list will be ignored/filtered.