Orban 8300J Operating Manual Download

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OPTIMOD-FM DIGITAL

OPERATION

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pression sounds very natural, even on classical music.

2B REL

(“2B Release”) control determines how fast the two-band compressor re-

leases (and therefore how quickly loudness increases) when the level of the program
material decreases. This release time only applies when the silence gate does not
gate the Two-Band Compressor.

The control can be adjusted from 0.5 dB/second (slow) to 20 dB/second (fast). Set-
tings toward 20 dB/second result in a more consistently loud output, while settings
toward 0.5 dB/second allow a wider variation of dynamic range. Both the setting of
the

control and the dynamics and level of the program material determine

the actual release time of the compressor. In general, you should use faster release
times for mass-appeal pop or rock formats oriented toward younger audiences, and
slower release times for more conservative, adult-oriented formats (particularly if
women are an important part of your target audience).

We expect that the Two-Band structure will be rarely used for pop music
formats because the Five-Band structure gives better results in almost all
cases.

The action of the

control has been optimized for resolution and adjustability.

But its setting is critical to sound quality — listen carefully as you adjust it. There is a
point beyond which increasing density (with faster settings of the

control)

will no longer yield more loudness, and will simply degrade the punch and defini-
tion of the sound.

When the

control is set between 8 and 1 dB/second (the slowest settings), the

amount of gain reduction is surprisingly non-critical. Gating prevents noise from be-
ing brought up during short pauses and pumping does not occur at high levels of
gain reduction. Therefore, the primary danger of using large amounts of gain reduc-
tion is that the level of quiet passages in input material with wide dynamic range
may eventually be increased unnaturally. Accordingly, when you operate the

control between 8 and 2 dB/second, it may be wise to defeat the gain-riding AGC
and to permit the two-band compressor to perform all of the gain riding. This will
prevent excessive reduction of dynamic range, and will produce the most natural
sound achievable from the Two-Band structures.

With faster

control settings (above 8 dB/second), the sound will change sub-

stantially with the amount of gain reduction in the two-band compressor. This
means that you should activate the gain-riding AGC to ensure that the two-band
compressor is always being driven at the level that produces the amount of gain re-
duction desired. Decide based on listening tests how much gain reduction gives you
the density that you want without creating a feeling of over-compression and fa-
tigue.

Release in the two-band compressor automatically becomes faster as more gain re-
duction is applied (up to about 10 dB). This makes the program progressively denser,
creating a sense of increasing loudness although peaks are not actually increasing. If
the gain-riding AGC is defeated (with the

AGC

on / off control), you can use this

characteristic to preserve some feeling of dynamic range. Once 10 dB of gain reduc-
tion is exceeded, full loudness is achieved — no further increase in short-term den-
sity occurs as more gain reduction is applied. This avoids the unnatural, fatiguing