Optimod FAQs ~ 8400
How do I get the sound I want from the 8400?
8400 audio processing adjustments
We get frequent requests for help with tuning presets, which is very subjective by nature. Everyone's tastes are different, and all are valid. Our suggestions are offered as the factory presets. Each factory presets has
19 "sub-presets" through the LESS-MORE control.
It is because audio processor tuning is so subjective, that we usually do not offer suggestions for specific parameters, because we can only guess at what the customer wants.
We believe that it is much better to provide you with an approach so that you can find a sound that suits your tastes, instead of suggesting a preset which suits our tastes.
Follow these three general steps to getting the sound that you want:
1. Choose the best preset suited to your program material. Listen to many un-modified factory presets; give each one a full day, taking notes about which ones you think might be candidates. Find 4 or 5 un-modified
"factory" presets that you like. Of these 4 or 5, compare them, and then choose the two that you like best. Of these two, listen very critically over several days, to discover which one will come the closest to your
"ideal" preset. Take your time, compare, and listen carefully.
While it's theoretically possible to adjust an arbitrary factory preset to get the sound you're after, this approach takes far too much time, and usually ends in frustration.
2. Use Basic Modify's LESS-MORE, EQ, and Stereo Enhancer parameters to customize that preset. Once you have decided on the "best" preset from step #1, do you want to modify this preset to bring it closer to your "ideal?" If so, use LESS-MORE control to make the initial adjustments. Adjust only one or two steps at a time, followed by a full day (at least) of careful listening to many different program sources, and on different radios. The "ideal" setting for LESS-MORE, is where one step higher sounds slightly over-processed, and one step lower sounds slightly under-processed. It may take a week or more of careful listening and adjustment to find that "best" place, but it's very important to choose carefully! LESS-MORE is set
correctly when one "click" higher is too much, and one "click" lower isn't enough.
3. Use Intermediate Modify ONLY after optimizing in steps 1 and 2 above. Use Intermediate Modify only if necessary to make small adjustments that cannot be obtained from LESS-MORE. Make sure that you understand the purpose for each control. Use Intermediate Modify to fine-tune your previous adjustments, instead of trying to create your own preset "from scratch".
In almost all cases, Advanced Modify need not be used. These controls are intended to be used by veterans with many years of experience in audio processing adjustments, and willing to spend the time and attention
required. It is much easier to make the processing do bad things at this level than it is to make the processing do good things!
What should I know about the delay for the 8400?
8400 delay v3.0.2.03
The delay can make off-air headphone monitoring uncomfortable for some talent, so the live off-air headphone feed should be taken from a source with low delay. This can be a second processor (possibly the standby
airchain), or the 8400 itself can provide a low-delay monitor output, where the output of the 8400's multiband compressor is directly connected to its analog outputs. You can drive talent headphones with this signal, which has approximately 6.6 milliseconds (ms) input/output delay, and you can program one of the 8400's optically-isolated GPI inputs to mute this output, simulating an "off the air" situation when the GPI input is connect to a loss-of-carrier alarm.
Low-Latency (LL) and Minimum-Delay Processing: With these presets you can minimize the delay to about 16ms delay. This is ordinarily usable for off-air cueing of helicopter traffic reporters and other such talent outside the studio. However, because minimum-delay processing bypasses some of the sophisticated "safety-valve" circuitry, it cannot get as loud as full-blown 8400 processing for a given amount of distortion.
With more broadcast equipment utilizing DSP, more latency (delay) is being introduced into the program chain. For the 8400, the delay is a function of the look-ahead limiting used in the 8400, and it is because of this look-ahead limiting that allows the 8400 to sound loud while avoiding the usual clipping distortion. The important question is whether to present the best-sounding audio to please THOUSANDS of listeners, with an adjustment of a few staff members, or whether to please a few staff to the detriment of THOUSANDS of listeners (and possibly market ratings)?
There are solutions available: many engineers provide a relay that switches the studio monitors to the mixing console's Program Output Bus when the microphone is switched on. Otherwise, the studio monitors take an off-air feed.
I hope these suggestions are of help.