Adobe Audition help

by MRAM 1500 kHz

You might try hard limiting instead of just normalizing. Normalizing looks at the overall audio file and amplifies it to the highest level without clipping. But, if there is just one little spot that was quite louder than the rest, your average level will still be low.

Hard limiting does a great job of bringing up the overall average by amplifying the entire audio file while keeping those loud peaks from exceeding zero db which would sound terrible. You can over do it though which leaves the audio sounding thin even though it's all loud. It can squash the life out of the music.

One effect that seems to work well is the compander found in the amplitude effects. It compresses the loud parts and amplifies the soft parts. You can also control which frequencies it affects.

Of course, depending on the type of music, what sounds good for one doesn't necessarily work for another so it just takes becoming familiar with the effects and how they work.

If you are using an audio player that works with DSP plugins, try using SoundSolution. I use it with WinAmp and ZaraRadio. With the appropriate settings, it can emulate OptiMod processing and others. It seems to do a pretty good job of adding punch and clarity to your broadcast audio.

I also have an outboard audio processor called Sta-Max AM Modulation Controller. It was in a pile of junk tossed by a local radio station. It was a prototype made by Chris Hood Electronics in 1979. There were no instructions found with it but I've managed to figure out how to use it.

What it does is called asymetrical waveform control. It can amplify the positive peaks while limiting the negative peaks of the audio. This allows the transmitter to exceed 100% on positive peaks while not exceeding 100% on negative peaks. Yes, that would be considered distortion but so is any other type of effect. The end result is the broadcast audio is louder, clearer and sounds acceptable.

Now, if I could find that effect as a plugin, that would be great!

Broadcast audio has never been about the audiophile or audio purist. First of all "signal to noise" ratios are the most important factors as to the listenability of a broadcast signal. Simply, if they can't hear it and understand it, it doesn't exist.

When building imaging and commericials with Audition, I try to keep signal to noise at the top of the mind. Does the audio effect or filter make the message more understandable. Does the audio grab the listeners attention and cause them to remember it? If not, do something different.

I found the best function of Audition is the "undo" function under the "edit" drop down menu. If I don't like it, I do it over until its right.
I can experiment with all kinds of effects and sounds.

The absolute best way to control over-the-air transmitter audio is with an external audio processor. Whether for AM or FM, the last piece of equipment before the transmitter in the air chain is the audio processor. All processing adds distortion to the audio product. But the aim is to maximize the signal/audio-to- noise ratio. And you must consider the environment the receiver loudspeaker is operating in. The ambient noise of a room or car interior colors, to a greater degree, everything sent over the air by your radio station.

There are lots of AM/FM and virtual audio processors available. I use both. I use software plugin processing for the FM and an external Innovonics 222 for the AM. And everything (audio) that feeds the audio chain maximizes the signal to noise ratio, hopefully without changing the character or dynamics of the original audio. In my view, that's the best way to use Adobe Audition or Cool Edit Pro.

Marshall Johnson, Sr.
Rhema Radio - The Word In Worship
http://www.rhemaradio.org