CHAPTER 24
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GETTING THE SOUND YOU WANT
24 Getting the Sound You Want
Quality v. Loudness
Omnia.9 is capable of providing sound quality superior to any other processor available today, and is equally capable of being
louder than the competition, too.
If loudness is your primary goal, you will find that you can match the level of your current processor while getting a much
cleaner on-air sound. If high-quality audio is your goal, you will be able easily achieve that goal and get the extra benefit of
increased dial presence.
Omnia.9, more than any other processor, minimizes the impact of the classic “quality v. loudness” trade-off by employing
processes like “Undo” and an advanced psycho-acoustic distortion-masking clipper, but bear in mind that NO processor can
eliminate that compromise completely.
The trade-off between quality and loudness is still determined primarily by the settings of the Limiters and Clippers. Both
processes can add to dial loudness, but each does so in a different way, with different-sounding results (and, if used to excess,
different sounding artifacts).
The added short-term density provided by peak limiting can still make audio sound dull or overly-dense and create
intermodulation distortion, and a little still goes a long way. The amount of limiting action is somewhat dictated by the
program material itself. Audio that is already dense and has a high average level – even after being processed by Undo – will
still cause less peak limiting than material that is more open with lower average levels and higher peak levels.
For example, almost any poorly mastered current CD that’s already been squashed down and has only a few dB’s of dynamic
range already is not going to get the limiters moving – but a well-mastered Steely Dan song will!
Excessive clipping, on the other hand, creates harmonic distortion and can make things sound “edgy” or “torn.” It is imperative
to remember that even when all-out loudness is your goal, there will come a point when driving the clippers harder will not create
additional loudness but will create more distortion, and there is no benefit to going beyond that point.
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