[BC] Balancing the processing from analog to digital

[Steve Newman]

Bob, Rich et al...

You wouldn't believe what we went through with Al Levitt at KSFR. He went 
through a period were he went wild about the soft passages. The only 
processing he had was a Fairchild Conax. Well, one day I walked into the 
station and found the FM Mod meter covered or maybe it was the Left and 
Right meters on the custom console. Must have been that. We were to make 
sure the Mod Meter (a remote meter between the Left and Right channel 
meters) was swinging between 80 and 100%. As you've heard Al Levitt was a 
madman. (brilliant madman but a madman just the same). He got over this kick 
and all went back to normal. I believe I told this group before we had 
incredible audio. You couldn't tell the difference between the output of the 
turntable and on-air. I remember that as if it were yesterday. Gabbert and 
Levitt were 2 of 7 stations that won best audio award that year (1962 or 
1963). WGBH was another...I believe you worked there Rich, right?) Does WGBH 
still take pride in their audio?

Steve


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Rich Wood" <richwood at pobox.com>
To: "Broadcasters' Mailing List" <broadcast at radiolists.net>
Sent: Thursday, December 21, 2006 9:08 PM
Subject: Re: [BC] Balancing the processing from analog to digital


> ------ 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
>
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