Orban OPTIMOD 6200, Operating Manual

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OPTIMOD OPERATION
3-31
The MB DRIVE interacts with the MB REL (Multi-Band Release) setting With slower
release time settings, increasing the
MB DRIVE
control scarcely affects density. Instead,
the primary danger is that the excessive drive will cause noise to be excessively in-
creased when the program material becomes quiet.
You can minimize this effect by carefully setting the GATE THR (Gate
Threshold) control to “freeze” the gain when the input gets quiet and/or by
activating the single-ended noise reduction.
When the release time of the multi-band compressor is set to fast , or mfast , the setting of
the
MB DRIVE
control becomes much more critical to sound quality because density in-
creases as the control is turned up. Listen carefully as you adjust it. With these fast re-
lease times, there is a point beyond which increasing multi-band compressor drive will
no longer yield more loudness, and will simply degrade the punch and definition of the
sound.
We recommend no more than 10dB gain reduction as shown on the meters for band 3.
More than 10dB, particularly with the
fast release time, will often create a “wall of
sound” effect that many find fatiguing.
To avoid excessive density with the fast multi-band release time, we recom-
mend using no more than 5dB gain reduction in band 3, and compensating
for any lost loudness by speeding up the AGC
MB REL instead. This is what
we did in the factory LESS-MORE presets for the fast multi-band release
time.
MB REL (Multi-Band Release) control can be switched to fast , mfast (medium-fast),
mslow
(medium-slow), and
slow
.
Slow produces a very punchy, clean, open sound that is ideal for Adult Con-
temporary, Soft Rock, Soft Urban, New Age, and other adult-oriented formats
whose success depends on attracting and holding audiences for very long pe-
riods of time. The
slow setting produces an unprocessed sound with a nice
sense of dynamic range. With these settings, the Multi-Band structure pro-
vides gentle automatic equalization to keep the frequency balance consistent
from record to record (especially those recorded in different eras). And for
background music formats, these settings ensure that your sound doesn’t lose
its highs and lows. Because it creates a more consistent frequency balance be-
tween different pieces of source material than does the Two-Band structure,
slow is almost always preferable to the Two-Band structure for any popular
music format.
Medium Slow is appropriate for more adult-oriented formats that need a
glossy show-business sound, yet whose ratings depend on maintaining a
longer time spent listening than do conventional Contemporary Hit Radio
(CHR) formats. With the single-ended noise reduction activated, it is also ap-
propriate for Talk and News formats. This is the sound texture for the station
that values a clean, easy-to-listen-to sound with a tasteful amount of punch,
presence, and brightness added when appropriate. This is an unprocessed
sound that sounds just right on music and voice when listened to on small ta-
ble radios, car radios, portables, or home hi-fi systems.