[BC] Balancing the processing from analog to digital

[Rich Wood]

------ At 07:16 PM 12/21/2006, Robert Orban wrote: -------

>Meanwhile, there is not a shred of evidence that tasteful processing 
>causes loss of audience share. In my experience, insufficient 
>processing usually causes more problems than too much processing. 
>(It has been said that the BBC started gently processing their 
>classical music service when one of the BBC directors complained 
>that he couldn't hear the quiet passages in his Rolls :-)

The operative word here is "tasteful." You're treading on sacred 
ground here. David Ogilvy's copy (before the Ogilvy PR firm spread 
the IBUZ crud) claimed "The loudest noise comes from the clock." The 
BBC Director must have gotten a defective Rolls.

I agree completely that processing on the road is absolutely 
necessary. Most Classical stations process more aggressively during 
drive time than the rest of the day. The only station I remember 
that, allegedly, had no processing - not even limiting - was WNCN, 
New York, when Dick Sequerra was the CE. I remember listening when 
there was a cymbal crash that took the station either off frequency 
or, momentarily, off the air.

>Minimally. But even hypercompressed CDs can benefit from low-density 
>multiband processing whose main purpose is to automatically 
>re-equalize their frequency balance to ensure a smooth, consistent 
>flow between program elements in a broadcast.

We're in complete agreement about minimal processing. All my FM 
stations used multiband processing as dynamic equalizers. 
Unfortunately many affiliates went much further and smashed and 
mashed the final product. At TM Programming all cuts on every master 
I was responsible for were manually equalized to keep a consistent 
sound. As I recall, we used your parametric equalizer.

Unfortunately, we seem to be in the minority

Rich

Rich Wood
Rich Wood Multimedia
Phone: 413-454-3258