Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!cca!ima!inmet!stern From: stern@inmet.UUCP Newsgroups: net.audio Subject: Re: FM Compression - (nf) Message-ID: <1711@inmet.UUCP> Date: Sun, 7-Oct-84 00:55:50 EDT Article-I.D.: inmet.1711 Posted: Sun Oct 7 00:55:50 1984 Date-Received: Mon, 8-Oct-84 04:50:38 EDT Lines: 31 #R:brl-tgr:-505400:inmet:2600107:000:1578 inmet!stern Oct 5 09:40:00 1984 Putting a compressor/limiter in your personal stereo unit is a good idea, unfortunately, I don't think many FM radio stations -- especially your HOT ROCKERS, are going to go along with it. Most radio stations that turn their compressors up to the 75-80% marks do so because they want to sound "loud". This helps when the station is on an adjacent frequency to a competitive station: a top 40 station at 103.5 FM, and an album station at 103.3 FM, for example. The top 40 station most likely will crank up its compressor to make "dial-spinners" stop when they hear the compressed Def Leppard screaming out at them. Classical music is another story, as is jazz: A little compression is necessary to keep the DJ voices from sounding like they are emanating from a tin can, too much compression ruins the dynamics of the music. I worked at my college radio station, WPRB-FM in Princeton, NJ, for several years -- our format was classical in the early morning, jazz until lunchtime, and progressive rock until the wee hours. For everyone's benefit, we kept the compressor turned to 20% or so. The problem with this is that we were adjacent to a *big* top 40 station, and when turning the dial down through the 103's, you could skip right over us because the top 40 station sounded so "loud." This shouldn't be taken as a blast against top 40 stations -- some of them are pretty good, and have a reasonablly clean sound. Some others sound so much like AM radio that I have to laugh. Oh well. --Hal Stern Intermetrics, Inc. uucp: {esquire, harpo, ihnp4}!inmet!stern