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I have just downloaded and am testing Breakaway – I am blown away by it!
You have done a brilliant job from every possible angle – firstly – it does what it says on the box – secondly – it looks amazing…
I am hugely impressed – and that comes from someone who has installed (and spent many many days adjusting) Texar Prisms, Optimod FMs and IDT processors – your new baby rocks – and it is easy peasy to use – which really cannot be said for the FAR more expension devices mentioned before.
If I still ran an FM station – I would use one PC dedicated to just your software for the feed to the line……
My search for sound "treatment" just ended.
😀
Mike
PS: There is always something else that could be added – how about a high and low shelving option?
Hi Knightrider!
Thank you very much! I figured someone like you would find it one day 😀.
Low shelving is actually there already, turning up Bass Level with Bass Shape set at 0 will basically give you a bass shelf. Setting Bass Shape lower will turn the bass boost into more of a peak, and change the corner frequency.
High shelving would be interesting – the only thing working against it keeping it easy to use and keeping the amount of sliders to a minimum (for normal users). I think someone like yourself might just need a version with much more controls 😉.
///Leif
Hi Leif,
Actually – it is the very simplicity of your software GUI that I love!
I was part owner and PD of a small low powered FM station here in Luxembourg – the feed to the STL was passed through a TC Electronics device just to shelve off everything below 30Hz and above 12KHz – thus giving the IDT device at the TXR less audio to have to "fix" – it worked very well on a mixed format station – shelving off some of the extreme lows on todays recordings gave us a more uniform "punch".
What I would actually like to see is not a slider adjustable shelf – but possibly 4 buttons with a pre-set shelf at say 25Hz 30Hz 12KHz and 15KHz – and for certain – the option to have no shelf for those who wish to run flat.
Having just read that back – I get the feeling I am suggesting something that will most certainly already be in your mind – my goodness – you have covered everything so well 🙂
I have just posted details of your site on a message board which many of todays radio people in the UK visit from time-to-time. It is a message board that was created by my friend Chris Cary, who sadly passed away earlier this year. Chris was one of the original "Pirate" DJs – and a technical wizard to boot – he would have just adored your software! Anyways – many of his friends still use his message board to exchange ideas…
Go see it: http://members3.boardhost.com/spangles/index.html
BTW – are you a facebook user? – if yes – I would like if you are willing, to be added as a friend – check me out here: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=700824764
Best wishes,
Mike
Hi Mike!
Now I get it. When you mentioned shelves, I thought you meant something like shelving bass and treble boost.
What you meant was low pass and high pass filtering 🙂.
I assume this would be for putting Breakaway on FM. However, take my word for it – it won’t be enough. Pre-emphasis causes huge spikes that must be controlled (through clipping), and low-pass filtering the clipped signal causes spikes to re-appear.
It’s a whole different project on its own, and one I have actually already done! It’s called Aeromax-HDFM, and will be released this year (not sure in what form – hardware or software, but it will be this year). It uses the Breakaway Core for dynamics processing, but a brand new state of the art psychoacoustically controlled pre-emphasis clipper, for darn near CD quality on plain old FM.
On the other hand. If I assumed wrong, and all you wanted was for it to SOUND like FM, then I’ve got good news:
The Radio Magic preset!
It’s not mentioned in any manual anywhere, but the Radio Magic preset actually DOES have a sharp low-pass at 15.5 KHz!
Admittedly, it’s an awful sounding preset with no semblance of dynamics (although I personally know people who just love it!), but it can be tamed substantially by reducing Speed. The 15.5 low-pass will remain no matter what setting you change, though.
///Leif
Not for FM at all Leif – but the idea comes from my experience with FM.
And – sorry – yes – I was using the wrong terminology – it was indeed Low and High pass filtering which I was suggesting – doh!
I plan two uses for your software – both would I think benefit from my proposal – possibly/maybe ❓
One of my uses is on my studio sound system – I use a fully active system with a pair of Mackie SRM450s for the top end – and a pair of quite sensitive active subs (self made) loaded with 12" german BMS drivers and powered with Spanish DAS 600w bass amp modules. So – if there is a lot of bass on a track – I hear it – often – my personal system would benefit from a low pass as I have suggested. So that request is really rather aimed at those who listen on high end systems where you would hear the difference (to be possibly more accurate – at the low end – it would be "feel" the difference)
My original reasoning is rather more aimed at people who will (like me) in the future use your software to stream to the net. Paring off sound that most users speakers will never ever reproduce prior to processing it in the chain – can result in less stress on the system. Even I guess using MP3 or whatever via the net…..
I tried the Radio Magic preset – mmmmm – a bit muddy and "boomy" through my system – not my preference.
Before I say which I prefer – I want to play around a bit 8)
But – I still love the software – we are talking about small but subtle changes here – as it is, it is truly awsome!
Now – when do you plan to create a playout/scheduling system to beat the bells out of RCS and the ilk – now that would be something I would look forward to 😈
Mike
Hi Mike!
I’ve found that the higher end a system is, the more important it is to *not* have any high or low pass filtering. A big subwoofer won’t do any good if the audio has already been high-passed at 50hz, and pristine tweeters won’t do any good if the audio is low-passed at 15! I agree that when a system is otherwise nicely calibrated, a track that has excessive bass can be really over the top. That’s where a multiband compressor like Breakaway comes in really handy, to keep the spectral balance consistent. High-passing wouldn’t really help, unless it’s cutting out all bass from all tracks, which wouldn’t sound very good.
For webcasting, no need to worry. Bass uses virtually no bandwidth (so no need to filter it out), and all encoders already have built in low-pass filters (to remove excessive high frequencies) optimized for the exact bitrate you’re using!
High-pass filters are essential on mic processors (to prevent plosives causing problems down the line) but that’s more in the realm of audio production, and it’s impossible to apply a filter like this to a finished master without sacrificing everything else in the bass region.
Radio Magic – muddy and boomy? Heck yes! Just like FM stations in competitive markets.. I guess I succeeded 😉.
///Leif
I bow to your knowledge and opinion 🙂
I look forward with a keen eye and ear to what the future holds for us users, as you bring new stuff to us.
😆
Mike
Another word on high-pass filtering in broadcasting, or any stage post-mastering in general… Today’s modern producing and mastering techniques can use technology that is capable of shifting the frequencies that bass sounds/notes take up, without changing the perceived sound of the bass/notes.
This is most commonly experienced through a phenomenon knows as Missing Fundamental Harmonics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missing_fundamentalWhen the bass is high-passed after that kind of processing, it can throw off the balance of the bass spectrum as designed by the producer(s) and/or mastering engineer(s), so that certain notes become much louder or softer sounding than they should have been, even after processing with something as advanced as Breakaway.
So yes generally, it’s best not to filter the audio for any specific system in mind. Actually, a lot more can be done in the way of getting better translation of your "signature sound" across the mass of playback systems, by pre-processing the bass in certain ways… much involving missing fundamental harmonics themselves. 😉
But it’s not really something a listener should be concerned with. It’s much better just to upgrade your system, if it doesn’t even have a right proper frequency response to begin with. (and there’s a LOT more factors than frequency response that make a speaker sound good). Don’t bother polishing the turds.
But for a broadcaster, you have to always be thinking of how to polish turds… turdly reproduction systems, and also a lot can be done to pre-polish for turdly hearing that some people have too. I’ve done a lot of research into that. 😉
Anyways, that goes way beond the scope of what I even intended to add to this thread. So, I’m done, for now. 😛
Hi JesseG…
😆 This forum is certainly a masterclass in sound treatment – I thank you for your instructive addition to the thread – I am now convinced (I think) that including the high-low pass filters would not really help in this instance…..
I enjoy the forum almost as much as the software!
Personally – I run every track I intend to use through Cool Edit and re-eq everything and re-set the levels – so that every track sounds just dandy on my system when it is run flat. The effect of Breakaway on some of the older recordings in my collection is dramatic – even after I thought I had done a damn fine job tweaking them – it is a great addition to my sound system….
Respect 😀
Mike
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