Orban Optimod-PC 1101, Operating Manual

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OPTIMOD-PC OPERATION
3-39
High Width determines the bandwidth of the equalization, in octaves.
The range is 0.8-4.0 octaves. If you are unfamiliar with using a parametric
equalizer, one octave is a good starting point.
Excessive high frequency boost can exaggerate hiss and distortion in pro-
gram material that is less than perfectly clean. We suggest no more than
4 dB boost as a practical maximum, unless source material is primarily
from high-quality digital sources. In several of our presets, we use this
equalizer to boost the upper presence band (4.4 kHz) slightly, leaving
broadband HF boost to the
B
RILLIANCE
and/or HF E
NHANCE
controls.
Brilliance controls the drive to Band 5 in the 5-Band structure only. (This control is
nonfunctional in the 2-Band structure.) The Band 5 compressor/limiter dynamically
controls this boost, protecting the final limiter from excessive HF drive. We recom-
mend a maximum of 4 dB of Brilliance boost and most people will prefer substan-
tially less.
DJ Bass (“DJ Bass Boost“) control determines the amount of bass boost produced on
some male voices. In its default
O
FF
position, it causes the gain reduction of the
lowest frequency band to move quickly to the same gain reduction as its nearest
neighbor when gated. This fights any tendency of the lowest frequency band to de-
velop significantly more gain than its neighbor when processing voice because voice
will activate the gate frequently. Each time it does so, it will reset the gain of the
lowest frequency band so that the gains of the two bottom bands are equal and the
response in this frequency range is flat. The result is natural-sounding bass on male
voice. This is particularly desirable for most video programming.
If you like a larger-than-life, “chesty” sound on male voice, set this control away
from
O
FF
. When so set, gating causes the gain reduction of the lowest frequency
band to move to the same gain reduction (minus a gain offset equal to the numeri-
cal setting of the control) as its nearest neighbor when gated. You can therefore set
the maximum gain difference between the two low frequency bands, producing
considerable dynamic bass boost on voice. This setting might be appropriate for
news and sports.
The difference will never exceed the difference that would have other-
wise occurred if the lowest frequency band were gated independently. If
you are familiar with older Orban processors like OPTIMOD-FM 8200, this
is the maximum amount of boost that would have occurred if you had set
their DJ
B
ASS
B
OOST
controls to O
N
.
The amount of bass boost will be highly dependent on the fundamental
frequency of a given voice. If the fundamental frequency is far above
100Hz, there will be little voice energy in the bottom band and little or
no audio bass boost can occur even if the gain of the bottom band is
higher than the gain of its neighbor. As the fundamental frequency
moves lower, more of this energy leaks into the bottom band, and you
hear more bass boost. If the fundamental frequency is very low (a rarity),
there will be enough energy in the bottom band to force significant gain
reduction, and you will hear less bass boost than if the fundamental fre-
quency were a bit higher.
This control is only available in the Five-Band structure.