About The 8300'S Signal Processing Features; Signal Flow - Orban Optimod-FM 8300 Operating Manual

Digital audio processor

Table of Contents

OPTIMOD-FM DIGITAL

tial. To modify your air sound effectively, you must be able to hear the results of

your adjustments. In too many stations, the best monitor is significantly inferior to

the receivers found in many listeners' homes!

At this writing, there has been a very disturbing trend in CD mastering to apply lev-

els of audio processing to CDs formerly only used by "aggressively-processed" radio

stations. These CDs are audibly distorted (sometimes blatantly so) before any further

OPTIMOD processing. The result of 8300 processing can be to exaggerate this distor-

tion and make these recordings noticeably unpleasant to listen to over the air.

There is very little that a radio station can do with these CDs other than to use con-

servative 8300 presets, which will cause loudness loss that may be undesired in com-

petitive markets. There is a myth in the record industry that applying "radio-style"

processing to CDs in mastering will cause them to be louder or will reduce the audi-

ble effects of on-air processing. In fact, the opposite is true: these CDs will not be

louder on air, but they will be audibly distorted and unpleasant to listen to, lacking

punch and clarity.

Another unfortunate trend is the tendency to put so much high frequency energy

on the CDs that this energy cannot possibly survive the FM pre-emphasis / de-

emphasis process. Although the 8300 loses less high frequency energy than any pre-

vious Orban processor (due to improvements in high frequency limiting and clipping

technology), it is nevertheless no match for CDs that are mastered so bright that

they will curl the vinyl off car dashboards.

We hope that the record industry will come to its senses when it hears the conse-

quences of these practices on the air.