What tools to get that FM ultracompressed pre-broadcast radio sound ?

[DJMaytag]

I'm sure these are used in broadcast - Apex 320D COMPELLOR

Yep. I just brought in a large lot of DBX/Aphex gear from an old broadcast setup into my shop, and there were a bunch of 900 series Aphex Compellors in it. Keeping a pair for my setup and selling the rest. They’re really nice sounding.

https://reverb.com/item/51170778-aphex- ... ries-racks

[j wazza]

Just hit play on the link I provided.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/18OEMvw ... sp=sharing

have you got any other audio examples? ideally with a before and after on a vocal or acoustic sample
its hard to tell what theyve done as those old acid techno synths always had heavy distortion and synths often dont have dynamics in the first place, to me it sounds like any old acid techno song

the allpass filters (phasers with depth set to 0), by diffusing the sound over time, spread out the energy of the transients so reduces the peak level without actually sounding quieter or as squashed as a compressor. they also spread out the different harmonics over time so they dont reinforce each other as much
its similar to a multiband delay where the delay time is so short its hard to percieve any difference, but it reduces the peaks giving more headroom to crank it up.

[kevinsparks]

Hi,

I’ve tried everything I can to come as close as possible, but it’s never close enough. I’ve tried a lot of combinations, using custom multiband limiters, dynamic equalizers... it’s simply not THAT sound... Those maximised basses, those tamed high frequencies, this insane volume... (yes, this noise also...)

I’ve read theories, people who simply say "put a phase rotator, use a transient enhancer, a multiband compressor, a multiband limiter, a multiband sausage fattener with OTT to the max and then turn three times on yourself and you’re there"... OK, but the thing is that it’s simply not working. Theory is a thing, result is another. Some people think they know but have never tried anything close.

What plugins would you use to get a true FM sound ? Do anyone of you know what they’re using and what we have in this world that could replace it ? They do have stuff, hardware I suppose, we have plugins... OK, can we mimic the sound ?

Please ignore the FM natural noise and the bandlimit, they’re part of the FM sound but do not take any part in the ultra-maximized sound I’m after.

Thanks a lot !

If I'm hearing what you are, you could try Thrillseeker VBL, or Nomad Factory Magnetic II.

[kPere]

As a radio station sound engineer, all I can tell you is that its about the audio processor that comes last in the chain. Its packed with multiband compressors and limiters, auto gain controllers and all kinds of twisted volume control you can imagine. Last radio station I used to work at had one that was being continuously being corrected for 10 years to sound good. They have presets of course, but they doesnt sound that good in my opinion. It takes a lot of knowledge, experience and trying out - every amend you make there, needs to be check for a few days for various music to come through it to hear it, in various enviroments (cars, home radio, monitors etc.).
I'm not sure if there is a plugin that can imitate it, I once stumbled across something like this on the internet, it was some German software, but forgot its name. There were really loooooots of settings to be set. Maybe somebody knows what Im talking about and can share its name.

To answer shortly, its a combination of every volume control processor you can imagine - multiband levelers, compressors and limiters all over the place and comvbined with each other. Maybe read some ORBAN or OMNIA manual, they are the ones making great broadcast audio processors.

[Weasel-Boy]

https://fuseaudiolabs.com/#/pages/product?id=300860580

[nonstatic]

I'm not sure if there is a plugin that can imitate it, I once stumbled across something like this on the internet, it was some German software, but forgot its name. There were really loooooots of settings to be set. Maybe somebody knows what Im talking about and can share its name.

It could have been this: https://www.flux.audio/project/junger-a ... vel-magic/

[kPere]

I'm not sure if there is a plugin that can imitate it, I once stumbled across something like this on the internet, it was some German software, but forgot its name. There were really loooooots of settings to be set. Maybe somebody knows what Im talking about and can share its name.

It could have been this: https://www.flux.audio/project/junger-a ... vel-magic/

I think it was that one:
https://www.stereotool.com/

Dutch, not German - my mistake. Very sophisticated stuff though. You can get a good idea of what hardware FM audio processor does.

[btfnk]

Yah, came here to post Stereo Tool. It's what you're looking for.

Lots of settings, but it also has simple presets.

[DJErmac]

Thank you very much guys, I'm more than happily surprised by the answers here. I had already investigated on this something like ten years ago and found only people recommending WTF random processing.

I've tried to take lessons from this all and built a new chain (by stacking Melda MSpectralDynamics instances actually), I'm really satisfied with what I got. I'm going to work on this until I'm fully happy with it (or not).

Stereo Tool seems like the easiest solution so far if I want it right now.

[scalawag]

If it's this sound you are after, then it's Stereo Tool you need.

[DJErmac]

If it's this sound you are after, then it's Stereo Tool you need.

This video is blocked in my country, but I've just watched a couple of others : indeed, that's basically this. Thanks !

What I need to know now is if I could be able to recreate this sound using my plugins or if I need this software.

[MogwaiBoy]

Fabfilter Pro-MB (all you need)

Spectral squeeze:
ProAudioDSP DSM V3
Voxengo Soniformer

[DJErmac]

Fabfilter Pro-MB (all you need)

Spectral squeeze:
ProAudioDSP DSM V3
Voxengo Soniformer

Thanks.

Pro-MB is not my favourite actually, I use the DMG one, but it's quite nice indeed.

DSM has been on every master channel of every track I've published for years as a parallel pumper.

Soniformer is a plugin I love but never use.

Yes, I've been looking for this sound for ages.

I own them all anyway.

[dionenoid]

I've worked at a few radiostations here in Holland, and visited a lot radiostations all around the world.
The tools that would always be present at the big commercial stations in the 90's were Orban Optimod and also DBX Quantum. But always in a combination with many other tools ; i've seen lots of in-house developed crossover systems that used various compressors and other processors on each band, including hi-end gear like Avalon and GML.

Local radiostations often used a lot of Behringer, DBX and Aphex stuff. For example Behringer Ultradyne was a widely used digital processor, i even got one for my studio back then ( Funny enough it did something that we called "over the top compression" way before Ableton or Xfer even existed )

Anyway, it was always a combination of many tools. Amongst radiostations (even local ones) there was always competition about who sounded loudest and best. The radio engineers that i talked to through the years had one thing in common : they were very fanatic ppl who knew their technical stuff and loved to experiment with all kinds of tools. They're almost like us, they even have their own forums

I'm not too familiar anymore with what is hot nowadays. Every internet radiostation uses a different kind of broadcasting/dj software, there's lots on offer in that market, often with their own build-in processing. But the last time that i visited a big FM radiostation here in Holland they were still using Orban and Omnia hardware costing up to thousands of euros, in combination with various TC, DBX and Lexicon hardware.

Thimeo Stereotool, as others have mentioned, is the only native software solution that i can think of that is widely used nowadays, altho i don't know if it's that popular on FM radio, i think it's more considered a tool for digital/internet radio and streaming.

[DJErmac]

Thank you so much, so glad to meet people like you !