On Thursday 23 January 2014 07:36:55 am erm...@studioplume.com wrote: > > and I wanted to know if I'm going> to need post-Rivendell compression > > processing, either something> on the computer or an external processor.
There are two schools of thought on generating a "sound" for a station. One is "cheap" and easy. Buying an audio processor, such as an Optimod or an Omnia, ( about $10K or $15K ) plug it into the air chain, adjust it for a "sound" and let it do what it does so well. This is the approach taken by most commercial "professional" broadcast plants over most of the last 40 or 50 years or so. It's come to be taken as the "best" way to do things. It's not by a long shot. It's "a" way. Hardly "best" by most measures. The strength of this approach, is that it allows ( ney, encourages ) laziness, lack of creativity, lack of attention to detail, firing people to cut costs, and forcing a consistency of the station sound. It does these things very, very well. Set it and forget it. Fire the production people. There is nothing they can do, so why pay them ? Higher temporary profits to be turned into stock dividends. Wall Street, being a "this quarter" fickle owner loves it, today. Kill the goose, and get all the golden eggs today ! The weakness of this approach, is a very consistent, very bland sound. A total lack of dynamics, and creativity. Everything sounds the same. Everything is in absolute compliance with same-old same-old. In fact, creativity in station sound is really not possible. Any creativity produced will be removed by the processor. Therefore, production talent is wasted, so it's simply not done. As such, it becomes a lost and forgotten talent. ( one of the places where real talent could shine ) A job can be cut. It makes no difference. The audience takes a little while, but absolutely does respond to the boring sound in a very predictable manner. The other way, and the way I personally favor, is to put any "toys" in the production studio, and let the prod-rat do his job. Let him/her do what he or she does by orders of magnitude better than any machine ever could. Produce ! The strength of this approach is that the prod rat will achieve the optimum sound for each and every cut. Nothing is compromised, if the prod rat actually does his job. Each and every cut gets the attention to detail that *every* cut should have. The prod rat usually becomes very demanding as to the quality of the whole station, since it's his job to make it the very best that it can be at all times. Each and every cut will get the sound that best fits both that cut, and the whole unique "sound" of the station. The prod rat applies whatever creativity he must, to make that cut "sing." Things that should be consistent are, and things that should be unique, are. The air chain processor does nothing more than peak control. "Normalizing" if you prefer, but actually less than that. If the prod rat produced a quiet passage, it remains quiet. The air chain processor *could* be as little as a pair of 30 cent diodes. The audience enjoys the entertaining, dynamic experience that they have difficulty finding anywhere else, if it exists at all. The audience responds in a very predictable way. They are yours, unless you do something really stupid. The weakness of this approach, is that each and every cut *must* go through production. Levels must be set. Compression applied to the degree that *that* cut wants. If you have 6000 cuts in your library, this is a full time job that somebody must do, 6000 times, then keep doing for every cut, every spot that comes in the door, as well as anything generated locally. There is a job to do, and somebody actually must do that job. It's a paycheck. A real cost of doing business that can not be compromised without jeopardizing the entire operation. Wall Street hates it. Wall Street intends to dump the stock anyway, so caring about the sound is in direct opposition to highest profit today, and tomorrow be damned. You pays your money, and you takes your chances. -- Cowboy http://cowboy.cwf1.com Q: How many DEC repairmen does it take to fix a flat? A: Five; four to hold the car up and one to swap tires. Q: How long does it take? A: It's indeterminate. It will depend upon how many flats they've brought with them. Q: What happens if you've got TWO flats? A: They replace your generator. _______________________________________________ Rivendell-dev mailing list Rivendell-dev@lists.rivendellaudio.org http://caspian.paravelsystems.com/mailman/listinfo/rivendell-dev
