Orban OPTIMOD-FM 5500 Operation Manual page 171

3-47
OPTIMOD-FM DIGITAL OPERATION
different pieces of source material than does the Two-Band structure,
SLOW is almost always preferable to the Two-Band structure for any
popular music format.
The Medium Slow settings (MED and MED2) are appropriate for more
adult-oriented formats that need a glossy show-business sound, yet
whose ratings depend on maintaining a longer time spent listening than
do conventional Contemporary Hit Radio (CHR) formats. With the single-
ended noise reduction activated, it is also appropriate for Talk and News
formats. This is the sound texture for the station that values a clean, easy-
to-listen-to sound with a tasteful amount of punch, presence, and
brightness added when appropriate. This is an unprocessed sound that
sounds just right on music and voice when listened to on small table ra-
dios, car radios, portables, or home hi-fi systems.
The Medium Fast settings (MFAST and MFAST2) are ideal for a highly
competitive Contemporary Hit Radio (CHR) format whose ratings depend
on attracting a large number of listeners (high "cume") but which does
not assume that a listener will listen to the station for hours at a time.
This is the major market competitive sound, emphasizing loudness as well
as clean audio. The sound from cut to cut and announcer to announcer is
remarkably consistent as the texture of music is noticeably altered to a
standard. Bass has an ever-present punch, there is always a sense of pres-
ence, and highs are in perfect balance to the mids, no matter what was
on the original recording.
The Fast setting is used only for the TALK and SPORTS factory pro-
gramming formats. Processing for this sound keeps the levels of an-
nouncers and guests consistent, pulls low-grade telephone calls out of
the mud, and keeps a proper balance between voice and commercials.
Voice is the most difficult audio to process, but these settings result in a
favorable trade-off between consistency, presence, and distortion.
The Factory Presets for this sound are quite different from the other
three release time settings. The amount of gain reduction in the multi-
band compressor is substantially lower (so that it operates more like a
limiter than like a compressor), and the release time of the gain-riding
AGC is speeded up (so that it provides compression and some increase of
density). We made these trade-offs to prevent excessive build-up of den-
sity.
It is possible to experiment with this sound for music-oriented program-
ming as well. However, even with these settings, your sound is getting
farther away from the balance and texture of the input. We think that
this is as far as processing can go without causing unacceptable listener
fatigue. However, this sound may be quite useful for stations that are or-
dinarily heard very softly in the background because it improves intelligi-
bility under these quiet listening conditions. Stations that are ordinarily
played louder will probably prefer one of the slower release times, where
the multiband compressor takes more gain reduction and where the AGC
is operated slowly for gentle gain riding only. These slower sounds are
less consistent than those produced by the FAST setting. Using SLOW
preserves more of the source's frequency balance, making the sound less