The Five-Band Structure; Putting The Five-Band Structure On The Air - Orban OPTIMOD 8400 Operating Manual

OPTIMOD-FM
"0" so that it matches the threshold of the final clipper. Setting it higher than "0" allows
more punch (due to clipping) at the expense of higher clipping distortion, which may be
particularly annoying on voice.
2B HF Limiting sets the threshold of the high frequency limiter in the Two-Band struc-
ture. When this control is set lower, gain reduction does more high frequency limiting.
When this control is set higher, distortion-cancelled clipping does more high frequency
limiting. It controls the tradeoff between loss of high frequencies (due to high frequency
limiting) and excessive distortion (due to clipping).
HF Clip Threshold sets the threshold of the multiband, distortion-cancelled clipper in
the Two-Band structure's high frequency limiter. Higher numbers yield more brightness,
but also cause more high frequency distortion.

The Five-Band Structure

The Five-Band structure consists of a stereo enhancer, a slow gain-riding two-band AGC,
an equalization section, a five-band compressor, a dynamic single-ended noise reduction
system, an output mixer (for the five bands), and a complex peak limiting system.
Unlike the Two-Band structure, whose two-band compressor has a continuously variable
release time, the release time of the Five-Band compressor is switchable to seven incre-
ments between slow and fast. Each setting makes a significant difference in the overall
flavor and quality of the sound.
When the input is noisy, you can sometimes reduce the noise by activating the single-
ended noise reduction system. Functionally, the single-ended noise reduction system
combines a broadband downward expander with a program-dependent low-pass filter.
This noise reduction can be valuable in reducing audible hiss, rumble, or ambient studio
noise on-air.

Putting the Five-Band Structure on the Air

The Five-Band structure is very flexible, enabling you to fine-tune your on-air sound to
complement your programming. There are numerous Factory Programming Presets
whose names are the same as common programming formats. They offer considerable
variety, with various combinations of release time, equalization, low frequency coupling,
and high frequency coupling.
Start with one of these presets. Spend some time listening critically to your on-air sound.
Listen to a wide range of program material typical of your format, and listen on several
types of radios (not just on your studio monitors). Then, if you wish, customize your
sound using the information in "Customizing the Settings," which follows.
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OPERATION