Omnia 5EX distorted voices

[deejens]

This is my first post on this board, so I'm saying HELLO to everyone.

I am running an Omnia 5EX on our HipHop/R&B station in Europe. Started with checking all the presets, ended with the CHR Dense. This was for me the most consistent preset, tweaked it a little to get rid off the massive Omnia Bass. I'm sorry, but compared to the other stations this amount of bass is a little strange.

From that point, I am now firing up the unit, getting the most loudness without the disadvantage of highly distorted sound. The problem I have is that talent voices are distorted, especially the first word of a sentence. The attack seems to be not fast enough. Tried to increase the Gate Threshold to keep the processing window at this level. Also increasing the attack-speed etc. etc. But without any luck. The only thing which works in decreasing the Clipper drive, but you know what happens then, decreasing of loudness.

Hopefully there's anyone who can help me with this unit? Placing something in front of it, tweak my settings?

Regards,

Deej

[cranium]

Call Mark Manolio at Telos-Omnia. They are and he is end user friendly.

[tpt]

I've noticed with my Omnia 3 that voices sound just a little "clipped" if you use the recommended settings on input levels.  I backed the inputs way down, and made up the difference inside the digital part of the processing.

Remember voice peaks can be 10~15 db higher than music, so you have to be careful going into the A/D converter.  Any A/D converter has an absoulute level that just flat-tops the signal.  Unlike the input stages of older analog processors.

[DudeFan]

> I've noticed with my Omnia 3 that voices sound just a little
> "clipped" if you use the recommended settings on input
> levels.  I backed the inputs way down, and made up the
> difference inside the digital part of the processing.
>
> Remember voice peaks can be 10~15 db higher than music, so
> you have to be careful going into the A/D converter.  Any
> A/D converter has an absoulute level that just flat-tops the
> signal.  Unlike the input stages of older analog processors.
>

On our 3Turbo, we also had to lower the input levels to keep the clippers from being hit way too hard. However, the box is so good, as stated above, you can compensate for the lower input levels by adjustments in the box. In fact, lowering the input levels made a world of difference in the overall balance and quality of all the presets. We're running a heavily tweaked CHR/PHAT setting -- with the bass backed way down and the highs cranked a bit. Your mileage may vary, we think these last tweaks were necessary because of our particular exciter.

[tpt]

Actually, I don't think it's any kind of deliberate clipping circuit, it's simply runing into the absolute limit on the A/D converter.

[DudeFan]

> Actually, I don't think it's any kind of deliberate clipping
> circuit, it's simply runing into the absolute limit on the
> A/D converter.
>

I guess the question would be whether the input scale should be recalibrated to more realistically reflect the "real world" input levels?

[oldiesstation]

> > Actually, I don't think it's any kind of deliberate
> clipping
> > circuit, it's simply runing into the absolute limit on the
>
> > A/D converter.
> >
>
> I guess the question would be whether the input scale should
> be recalibrated to more realistically reflect the "real
> world" input levels?
> what inputs are you using on the Omnia, the analog or the AES??i am using the AES and never had the problem of distorted voices.and i run the input where Omnia suggests.how low of a input are some of you other Omnia users running and what inputs are you using.

[Zach Morton]

> > > Actually, I don't think it's any kind of deliberate
> > clipping
> > > circuit, it's simply runing into the absolute limit on
> the
> >
> > > A/D converter.
> > >
> >
> > I guess the question would be whether the input scale
> should
> > be recalibrated to more realistically reflect the "real
> > world" input levels?
> > what inputs are you using on the Omnia, the analog or the
> AES??i am using the AES and never had the problem of
> distorted voices.and i run the input where Omnia
> suggests.how low of a input are some of you other Omnia
> users running and what inputs are you using.
>

I run my turbo 3 at anywhere between -10 and -15 db gain reduction, to keep levels consistent.  I am using a modified "Dense" setting, with a little more high end being sent to the limiters, with quite a bit of compression through the agc sections.  I'm getting a really loud, dense sound that isn't too much for the listeners.  We still sound open, and don't really have the artifact of clipping.  Every now and then, but not all that often.  

I agree...back down your input until the clipping goes away.  You are banging the absolute top of the a/d converter.  Be careful...you won't notice it immediately as you are turning the knob.

______________
Zach Morton
Chief Engineer
Basin Radio Network
Gillette, Wyoming

Edited by Zach Morton on 07/06/05 02:23 AM.

[DudeFan]

> > > Actually, I don't think it's any kind of deliberate
> > clipping
> > > circuit, it's simply runing into the absolute limit on
> the
> >
> > > A/D converter.
> > >
> >
> > I guess the question would be whether the input scale
> should
> > be recalibrated to more realistically reflect the "real
> > world" input levels?
> > what inputs are you using on the Omnia, the analog or the
> AES??i am using the AES and never had the problem of
> distorted voices.and i run the input where Omnia
> suggests.how low of a input are some of you other Omnia
> users running and what inputs are you using.
>

I'm running the analog inputs. We're all analog with the exception of our fiber-optic link to transmitter room 12 stories up.

[deejens]

I am using the AES input, we have a complete digital studio platform with enough headroom to avoid clipping.