Does anyone else have a problem with certain material that may have been recorded at higher ranges having the “S” sibilances sounding distorted? I’ve noticed that the problem occurs more with material on cd and some high quality vinyl recordings.
Does anyone else have a problem with certain material that may have been recorded at higher ranges having the “S” sibilances sounding distorted? I’ve noticed that the problem occurs more with material on cd and some high quality vinyl recordings. I’ve tried everything from comletely limiting the compressor to adding a graphic equalizer and lowering the high frequencies.
de-essing
Upon further investigation of this somewhat tricky audio predicament, I’ve realised that my compressor has a sidechain function. I’m gonna try running the equalizer through the sidechain as opposed to having it inline in the audio chain. Apparently, if the equalizer’s higher frequencies are set higher, the compressor’s limiter will work harder when those frequencies are reached, hopefully suppressing any high end sibilance. I’ll give an update on this.
O.k., I’m still learning.
Last night, while reading the manual for the Alto CLE 2.0 compressor/limiter, I discovered that I had the settings for the gate/expander and the ratio for the compressor/limiter contradicting one another. They simply were not balanced. With a ratio setting of 4:1 and an expander setting of 6:1, the audio is awesome! Sounds like a commercial station, but less muddy.
That’s a really high level
That’s a really high level of compression. We’re running 2:1 on our Behringer Composer (model number escapes me at the moment).
The only sibilance we had was knocked down by the deesser built in to the compressor.
Thanks for
letting me know. I’m still new to this compression ratio stuff. All I know, is what I’ve read. I’m gonna try lowering it. If I lower the compression ratio to 2:1, should I raise the expander ratio to 8:1?
That’s personal taste
That’s personal taste really. I don’t do a lot of expansion.
A good way is to place your headphones on the far side of your audio chain prior to the transmitter and adjust the sound that way. Then if your transmitter has any compression/modulation adjustments you can listen to the transmitter and make any downward adjustments there.
SaGR,
I lowered the compression to 2:1. It sounded much more natural. I’m still getting a little bit sibilance. Unbalanced audio cables?
Looking back,
(hindsight is 20/20) I kinda wish I had purchased a transmitter with RCA type plug-ins. The balance could be off a bit going from RCA to the 1/4 jack. It’s a good thing I’m not a perfectionist. (That was a joke.)
What transmitter do you
What transmitter do you have?
Try cutting the treble back and see what happens. We cut everything above 1 KHz.
UX100
by CanaKit or UniKit. It has the small phone jack. I had to get adapters to convert from RCA to this type jack. I’m wondering if that’s some of the cause. I’ve tried lowering the audio input into the transmitter. Even at lower volumes, the problem persisted. It doesn’t happen on all material. That’s what’s so baffling. I’m waiting on some phone plug connectors to arrive, so I can run my equalizer through the side chain channels on the compressor to see what happens.
Well,
since my last posting, my “on air” moniter (a vintage pioneer SX525 receiver) has fallen ill. The right channel is gone. It’s been a good friend. Soon to be replaced by another vintage Pioneer receiver. An SX650 which I just purchased on E-Bay for a very fair price. I can’t stand to listen to modulated FM on a boombox. I must have vintage quality!
SSssssssssss
Do you have pre-emphasis in your transmitter? Is it set to 50 or 75us? Does your audio chain also have emphasis? Double emphasis will cause extreme sibilance and generally bad sound. Impedence mismatch can also skew the audio. I scoped and plotted the response thru my system(similar to the old FCC plots)and found and fixed the response. Also watch out for receiver overload being so close to the transmitter,I always run out to the car to double check my sound checks. My old BA1404 trashmitter was famous for sibilance problems as the highs would beat up against the pilot and cause all kinds of unwanted products in the audio.Poor,or no filtering caused that junky sound. It would also drift off-channel making it sound even worse.No problems with my new pll unit,love it!
Also make sure you are not overdriving the transmitter with too much audio,listen to other local stations and make it the same loudness.Let us know what you find…Seasons Greetings,Lee
Disappointment.
Well, I received the receiver via U.S. mail. It was smashed beyond use. It looks as if someone threw it to the ground. Too bad. It looked like a really good receiver. Luckily, that’s what insurance is for. I’m now having the old Pioneer sx525 rebuilt locally. At least I know what I’ve got. I just hate to see such good merchandise destroyed by folks who just don’t care.
Moron…
[quote=freestyle899]Well, I received the receiver via U.S. mail. It was smashed beyond use. It looks as if someone threw it to the ground. Too bad. It looked like a really good receiver. Luckily, that’s what insurance is for. I’m now having the old Pioneer sx525 rebuilt locally. At least I know what I’ve got. I just hate to see such good merchandise destroyed by folks who just don’t care.[/quote]
Sounds like the moron that packed it was at fault! I have shipped electronics all over the globe and only had one minor damage complaint. I hope they honor the claim,if it wasnt packed correctly,they dont have to pay! You should alert them if this moron was at fault so others dont get taken! And BTW,how did you make out with the sibilance problem? You never replied to my post….Regards,Lee
I’m sorry for not posting
earlier. I’ve been really busy with the day job and holidays.
BTW, I hope everyone had a great Christmas holiday.
The Sibilance problem was really muted by adjusting the compressor to the suggested settings for FM broadcast. And, I heard (have not tried it yet) that if you run a compressor through the sidechain channels, the compressor no longer works as a compressor. Is this true? Like I said, I haven’t tried it yet. Right now, I have nothing to run audio through without “being on the air.” I like to hear audio on air while I’m broadcasting.
I had a few hours
to play last night. I tried running the equalizer through the sidechain on the compressor. It worked for the purpose it should serve, but not my purpose. The compressor then fails to work as a compressor when the sidechains are employed. So, I started changing out the connectors. They are all the large phone jacks, converted to RCA, then finally converted to 1/16’s going into the transmitter. I used the large phone jacks that were gold in color and looked a little more expensive. (sorry for the laymen’s terminology) This seemed to help out quite a bit. I then lowered the threshold, raised the output level and set the compressor to full limit. This also seemed to help smooth the audio out a bit. Still playing around, and I suppose I will continue to make little adjustments while having fun and learning.
Thats the name of da game!
You have to keep working on it until you get it to sound right! Approach it logically-start with a file that plays a lot of sybillance,run your source directly into a good amp and speakers and see what it sounds like. If its bad,then the recording or source is at fault. Now add the chain,one piece at a time and see what it sounds like until you isolate the problem. You didnt answer my questions about pre-emphasis so be sure to check that out too. Watch the impedance mismatches and levels and you will get it sorted out. I used an audio signal generator and a oscilloscope to “sweep” the entire system and plotted its response,made some changes,re-plot,ect… It sounds better than any of our local commercial stations,IMHO…….Regards,Lee
Sounding Better!
I’m running the EQ inline BEFORE the compressor/limiter. I’ve raised the frequencies all the way across one notch. This makes the compressor work harder. But, MOST of the sibilince is gone! It also gives the overall sound a richer presence. Only problem now, when microphone is up, the compression sucks external noise up like a vacuum. I have to watch the mic levels.
Mic
You may want the mic to bypass the compression or reduce the compression level. Ideally,the mic’s will all have their own comp/limiter in a perfect world… keep playing and learning! Regards,Lee