I some how had a 3000W FM Radio station handed to me, and i have a few
quick questions.

The station currently has an ORBAN Model 8100A OPTIMOD-FM. I noticed
that my station sounds 'very flat' compaired to other stations playing
the same music. My question is this:

I would like to make the music 'thump'. Can i do some audio processing
before the optimod? (ie add a bit more .. *unf*), or would the optimod
just strip that anyways? All i would like is for the drums and bass to
hit just a little harder, i've dorked with the optimod and had the
engineer in there, and i think we have it sounding as good as its
going to get by itself, but want more, but to poor to buy even a newer
one for now.

Sorry if this question seems silly, or retarded, i know nothing about
any of this, like i said i fell backwords onto the station and i'm
just trying my best to keep it operational.

I appreicate your time!


Keith Anderson
WEXC FM 107.1
Greenville, PA
724-962-6950

"Keith Anderson" wrote in message
...
I some how had a 3000W FM Radio station handed to me, and i have a few
quick questions.

The station currently has an ORBAN Model 8100A OPTIMOD-FM. I noticed
that my station sounds 'very flat' compaired to other stations playing
the same music. My question is this:

I would like to make the music 'thump'. Can i do some audio processing
before the optimod? (ie add a bit more .. *unf*), or would the optimod
just strip that anyways? All i would like is for the drums and bass to
hit just a little harder, i've dorked with the optimod and had the
engineer in there, and i think we have it sounding as good as its
going to get by itself, but want more, but to poor to buy even a newer
one for now.

Sorry if this question seems silly, or retarded, i know nothing about
any of this, like i said i fell backwords onto the station and i'm
just trying my best to keep it operational.

I appreicate your time!

Best of luck with the station! Where is the transmitter located in relation
to the studios? How are they connected? Where in this chain is the Optimod
located? The Optimod is capable of limiting and maybe some compression,
but it will not compare to processors that have come along since the 8100
rolled out of the factory.

Paul Jensen
Florida's Emerald Coast

(Keith Anderson) writes:

The station currently has an ORBAN Model 8100A OPTIMOD-FM. I noticed
that my station sounds 'very flat' compaired to other stations playing
the same music. My question is this:

I would like to make the music 'thump'. Can i do some audio processing
before the optimod? (ie add a bit more .. *unf*), or would the optimod
just strip that anyways? All i would like is for the drums and bass to
hit just a little harder, i've dorked with the optimod and had the
engineer in there, and i think we have it sounding as good as its
going to get by itself, but want more, but to poor to buy even a newer
one for now.

There are a lot of things that have been done with Optimod 8100's;
the best I've heard involved changing some of the chips in the
Optimod and installing an Aphex Complellor and a set of Gentner
Audio Prisms in front of it. Some folks have used replacement cards
like Glen Clark's Cobalt Blue card in the Optimod.

However, today it's much easier just to replace the 8100 with one of
the latest digital boxes such as the Optimod 8400 or Omnia 6.

We just replaced an Optimod at one of our stations with an Inovonics
Omega FM processor; it's an excellent box that's almost infinitely
configurable. And it's only $4500.


umar
--
URL:http://hippogryph.com/green
Time to D-Day, H-Hour: 348 days, 12 hours, 6 minutes.

The optimod is in the chain as follows:

!MUSIC! -- BOARD -- OPTIMOD -- STL Beamed to the transmitter.
Where the other STL is located.

I was advised perhaps I could do some audio processing on the
otherside of the optimod so it would go MUSIC - BOARD -OPTIMOD -
PROCESSING - STL. But to me, this sounds like trouble. And i think I
would have to convert composite audio into analog audio, and then back
again -- pain in ass, I'm looking for some good deals now on an aphex
compellor, donations always are welcome! HAH!

Thanks alot,

Keith

You've all been very helpful!

umarc wrote in message ...
(Keith Anderson) writes:

The station currently has an ORBAN Model 8100A OPTIMOD-FM. I noticed
that my station sounds 'very flat' compaired to other stations playing
the same music. My question is this:

I would like to make the music 'thump'. Can i do some audio processing
before the optimod? (ie add a bit more .. *unf*), or would the optimod
just strip that anyways? All i would like is for the drums and bass to
hit just a little harder, i've dorked with the optimod and had the
engineer in there, and i think we have it sounding as good as its
going to get by itself, but want more, but to poor to buy even a newer
one for now.

There are a lot of things that have been done with Optimod 8100's;
the best I've heard involved changing some of the chips in the
Optimod and installing an Aphex Complellor and a set of Gentner
Audio Prisms in front of it. Some folks have used replacement cards
like Glen Clark's Cobalt Blue card in the Optimod.

However, today it's much easier just to replace the 8100 with one of
the latest digital boxes such as the Optimod 8400 or Omnia 6.

We just replaced an Optimod at one of our stations with an Inovonics
Omega FM processor; it's an excellent box that's almost infinitely
configurable. And it's only $4500.


umar

Want it to crank? Put two Texar Audio Prisms and a Stereo Max in front of
the 8100. Set them properly, and it will crank!



"Keith Anderson" wrote in message
...
I some how had a 3000W FM Radio station handed to me, and i have a few
quick questions.

The station currently has an ORBAN Model 8100A OPTIMOD-FM. I noticed
that my station sounds 'very flat' compaired to other stations playing
the same music. My question is this:

I would like to make the music 'thump'. Can i do some audio processing
before the optimod? (ie add a bit more .. *unf*), or would the optimod
just strip that anyways? All i would like is for the drums and bass to
hit just a little harder, i've dorked with the optimod and had the
engineer in there, and i think we have it sounding as good as its
going to get by itself, but want more, but to poor to buy even a newer
one for now.

Sorry if this question seems silly, or retarded, i know nothing about
any of this, like i said i fell backwords onto the station and i'm
just trying my best to keep it operational.

I appreicate your time!


Keith Anderson
WEXC FM 107.1
Greenville, PA
724-962-6950

Isn't a Compellor just a limiter? I have not problem adding yet another
compression stage as that's the sound of radio these days, but if you want
o process your sound, shouldn't you add an EQ in there too? The newer
Optimods have Eq stages in them.

I would put any processors you add before the Optimod.


Keith Anderson ) writes:
The optimod is in the chain as follows:

!MUSIC! -- BOARD -- OPTIMOD -- STL Beamed to the transmitter.
Where the other STL is located.

I was advised perhaps I could do some audio processing on the
otherside of the optimod so it would go MUSIC - BOARD -OPTIMOD -
PROCESSING - STL. But to me, this sounds like trouble. And i think I
would have to convert composite audio into analog audio, and then back
again -- pain in ass, I'm looking for some good deals now on an aphex
compellor, donations always are welcome! HAH!

Thanks alot,

Keith

You've all been very helpful!

umarc wrote in message ...
(Keith Anderson) writes:

The station currently has an ORBAN Model 8100A OPTIMOD-FM. I noticed
that my station sounds 'very flat' compaired to other stations playing
the same music. My question is this:

I would like to make the music 'thump'. Can i do some audio processing
before the optimod? (ie add a bit more .. *unf*), or would the optimod
just strip that anyways? All i would like is for the drums and bass to
hit just a little harder, i've dorked with the optimod and had the
engineer in there, and i think we have it sounding as good as its
going to get by itself, but want more, but to poor to buy even a newer
one for now.

There are a lot of things that have been done with Optimod 8100's;
the best I've heard involved changing some of the chips in the
Optimod and installing an Aphex Complellor and a set of Gentner
Audio Prisms in front of it. Some folks have used replacement cards
like Glen Clark's Cobalt Blue card in the Optimod.

However, today it's much easier just to replace the 8100 with one of
the latest digital boxes such as the Optimod 8400 or Omnia 6.

We just replaced an Optimod at one of our stations with an Inovonics
Omega FM processor; it's an excellent box that's almost infinitely
configurable. And it's only $4500.


umar



--
Craig Jackman - Audio Production and Sound Design
Multi-award winning Creative Production, Station Imaging, Comedy, Voices
"Pride is the attitude that separates excellence from mediocrity!"
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

"Keith Anderson" wrote in message
...
The optimod is in the chain as follows:

!MUSIC! -- BOARD -- OPTIMOD -- STL Beamed to the transmitter.
Where the other STL is located.

I was advised perhaps I could do some audio processing on the
otherside of the optimod so it would go MUSIC - BOARD -OPTIMOD -
PROCESSING - STL. But to me, this sounds like trouble. And i think I
would have to convert composite audio into analog audio, and then back
again -- pain in ass, I'm looking for some good deals now on an aphex
compellor, donations always are welcome! HAH!

Yeah - don't put any processing between the Optimod and the STL. The
Optimod does a nice job of keeping the STL from becoming overloaded. umarc
mentioned a pair of Audio Prisms - those sound very nice and you could put
those in front of the 8100. I had that setup about 12 years ago and it
worked well. Since the Prisms are pretty old technology, you could probably
find those somewhere for a good price.

Paul Jensen
Florida's Emerald Coast

(Craig Jackman) writes:

Isn't a Compellor just a limiter?

It can be, but it can also be a broadband AGC useful for keeping Texars
(Gentner Audio Prisms) or the Optimod itself in their (its) "sweet
spot".


umar
--
URL:http://hippogryph.com/green
Time to D-Day, H-Hour: 346 days, 11 hours, 2 minutes.

we run small fm radio station in croatia with some Behringer chain before
stereo coder but news will be
PC with MBL4 (latency maybe issue depends on program - music . talk , telco
hybrid ... ) but
for station on budget MBL4 now Sonos driven with decent soundcard will be
good choice
and since here in Croatia is hard to find second hand decent equipment like
compellor or prisms...

www.burnill.co.uk

"Keith Anderson" wrote in message
...
I some how had a 3000W FM Radio station handed to me, and i have a few
quick questions.

The station currently has an ORBAN Model 8100A OPTIMOD-FM. I noticed
that my station sounds 'very flat' compaired to other stations playing
the same music. My question is this:

I would like to make the music 'thump'. Can i do some audio processing
before the optimod? (ie add a bit more .. *unf*), or would the optimod
just strip that anyways? All i would like is for the drums and bass to
hit just a little harder, i've dorked with the optimod and had the
engineer in there, and i think we have it sounding as good as its
going to get by itself, but want more, but to poor to buy even a newer
one for now.

Sorry if this question seems silly, or retarded, i know nothing about
any of this, like i said i fell backwords onto the station and i'm
just trying my best to keep it operational.

I appreicate your time!


Keith Anderson
WEXC FM 107.1
Greenville, PA
724-962-6950

Hi Keith,

You're right, it _is_ trouble. You never want to cascade processors like
that - the different processing algorithms in the separate boxes will end up
"fighting" each other and your station will pump nonstop or flatten out or
produce some other undesirable result.

Furthermore, even if you put a Compellor or a Dominator in your audio chain,
you're still dealing with an 8100 that's at best 20 years old. Even
disregarding the fact that there's now much newer tech out there, your unit
has electronics that have been worn and softened by time.

My suggestion: for under $4,000 you can get an Omnia-3 that's all digital
and will punch up your station very nicely. Check out www.omniaaudio.com.

Showbizkid
Somewhere in SoCal

"Keith Anderson" wrote in message
...
The optimod is in the chain as follows:

!MUSIC! -- BOARD -- OPTIMOD -- STL Beamed to the transmitter.
Where the other STL is located.

I was advised perhaps I could do some audio processing on the
otherside of the optimod so it would go MUSIC - BOARD -OPTIMOD -
PROCESSING - STL. But to me, this sounds like trouble. And i think I
would have to convert composite audio into analog audio, and then back
again -- pain in ass, I'm looking for some good deals now on an aphex
compellor, donations always are welcome! HAH!

Thanks alot,

Keith

You've all been very helpful!