— 17 —
Name Your Preset
. Finish with a
Save
. You’ll find your new
preset at the bottom of the list.
To delete a custom preset, scroll to the bottom of the list
and select
Delete
. Navigate the flashing
X
to the preset to
delete and push the knob. Factory presets cannot be delet-
ed.
Setting Input Levels
Adjust the appropriate
Input Level
under
Setup/Inputs
/
…
(whichever input:
Analog
,
Digital
or
Stream
applies).
Setting the level of the program source involves matching
the dynamics of the incoming program audio to those of the
‘gain-riding,’ slow-AGC function. It’s best to use program
audio for this, rather than tones. With moderately pro-
cessed off-air feeds and contemporary music releases, pro-
gram peaks should consistently reach
–3dB
on the front-
panel LED meters. Heavily processed music may need to be
backed-down so peaks don’t go above
–6dB
. Material with a
wide dynamic range may occasionally reach
0dB
. For a de-
finitive measurement, go to
Setup/Processor/Meters
and check
AGC
meter action. The aim is to keep this meter hovering
right around
0dB
(center-scale) most of the time.
AGC
AGC is a slow, wideband ‘gain-riding’ function that presents
subsequent processing stages with a uniform level based on
both the peak and the average content of the audio pro-
gram. AGC is ‘gated’ to prevent ‘gain runaway’ during silent
periods.
The front-panel
AGC
indicator lights when the gate is open.
The
AGC
designation below the OLED and Web interface
meters is at normal brightness under this condition. The
LED goes off and
AGC
grays-out during pauses in the
program.
AGC is ‘windowed’ as well. This means that when AGC gain
drifts outside its ±5dB ‘sweet spot,’ accelerated ‘makeup
gain’ brings it back inside more quickly.
AGC is enabled
AGC
by default, but may be turned off for
classical or jazz music to preserve
pianissimo
passages.
— 18 —
Leveling
The AGC feeds a 2:1 compressor that has ‘syllabic’ response
(like a ‘VU’ meter) to program dynamics. It gives gentle,
unobtrusive dynamic range compression that actually
makes very little difference in program loudness. Leveling
decreases the overall long-term dynamic range of music
programming without ‘pumping,’ and can normalize dialog
among several speakers in a roundtable discussion. Think
of leveling as a fast, ungated AGC.
With
Leveling Drive
turned all the way down to
0dB
, this stage
is essentially out of the circuit and seldom gives any meter
action. Increased Leveling will ‘collapse’ fades at the end of
songs, and extraneous noise in the studio may be more no-
ticeable in the background during pauses in speech.
Equalization
The NOVIA 236 has a four-section parametric equalizer that
can offer quite a lot of control over ‘sonic signature.’
Parametric EQ is not as well-known in the broadcast
environment as it is in the recording studio. This type of
EQ affords variable gain or loss at a selected frequency, not
unlike a single section of the more common graphic equal-
izer. Not only are frequency and gain adjustable here, but
the ‘Q’ (bandwidth) at the selected frequency may also be
varied. Lower ‘Q’ (wider bandwidth) values are most useful
for program equalization. Sharp peaks or nulls are usually
reserved for fixing dedicated-channel problems, ahead of
the final mix, with specific instruments, voices or room res-
onances.
To illustrate the overall effect of the 4-section equalizer
‘bank,’ the frequency and gain of each section are graphical-
ly presented on the front-panel and Web interface menu
screens, and the overall, combined effect of the four sec-
tions is plotted as a graph.
Each section is programmed independently for frequency,
‘Q’ and gain. The screen shots at the top of the next page
show this from front-panel and Web interface perspectives.
The ubiquitous bass boost is centered at 30Hz with a low
‘Q’ of 0.4. The next EQ point reduces ‘tubbiness’ at 300Hz
by 3dB. A hint of a ‘presence lift’ at 1.5kHz aids speech ar-
ticulation without sounding ‘screechy,’ and a few dB of
‘sparkle’ at 8kHz rounds out this profile.
