Setting the
H-F
limiting control toward soft
could improve the sound of
marginally
distorted program material
by
softening
the highs (including the harmonic
distortion
present in the source material).
Because
the
OPTIMOD-TV
clipper cancels distortion
at
low
frequencies,
the H-F
LIMITING
control will have
a
different effect on clipping
distortion than
you might
expect. Gross break-up (principally sibilance splatter) will
not occur, and
you must
listen
to
the upper midrange and the
highs to hear the effect
of the clipper. Program
material containing highly equalized hi-hat
cymbals or highly
sibilant voice will
clearly demonstrate the effect
of adjusting the control.
With the recommended settings and
clean program material, the
control can
be set
very near hard without producing
audible high-frequency
distortion. However,
with
marginally distorted program
material or with clipping
control set nearer
+2
than
recommended or with the
release
time
control
set
nearer fast than
recommended,
the H-F limiting control may need
to be set nearer
to
soft
to
avoid
objectionable
distortion. Fortunately, the high-frequency limiter
“knows” that greater density and
level have been produced when these other
controls are
set
this way, and
most of
the necessary increases in high-frequency
limiting will
occur automatically. In fact,
you
will
clearly hear a loss of highs when
you adjust any control
to produce more
consistent
loudness and greater density
—
this is a result of the basic
processing
trade-offs discussed above.
Spectral balance.
The compressor processes audio
in two bands:
a
"master” band
for
all audio above
200Hz, and a bass band
for
audio below
200Hz.
The
BASS COUPLING
control
deter-
mines
how closely the on-air
balance between
bass
and
midrange matches
that of
the program
material.
Settings toward wideband
produce an
air sound that is
more
faithful to
the spectral balance
of the source material. Settings
toward
INDEPENDENT
produce
bass
balances that are
more uniform between program segments
(often with
increased bass).
Because
setting
the
bass
coupling
control at
wideband will
sometimes cause
bass
loss,
the most accurate frequency balance will often
be
obtained with this control
between 7 and 10.
The
exact
setting
depends on release
time
and the amount of gain
reduction. Adjust the BASS
coupling
control until the
total bass G/R
and
compres-
sion master G/R
meters
track
as closely as possible.
Settings toward
independent are only appropriate for music video programming.
With slower release
times and the
RELEASE shape
switch set to
LIN,
a very open,
natural, and
non-fatiguing sound is produced. However, these
settings will
also
boost bass
on some bass-shy
program material, and may pull up stage rumble and
other
low-frequency noise.
5-n
To Next Page
Loading...
