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Can "processing" bring AM radio back from the dead?

boombox4 said:
My guess is the costs involved with having an employee convert a station's entire MP2 or MP3 library to WAVs. They would need to pay someone to convert their library, and then hope the result (sometimes from 4:1 compressed MP2 or MP3 to WAV) would sound good. If they bought new files, they would probably have to do the same thing, as I think most online services sell some form of MP3, not WAVs (I could be wrong here). The costs would be similar if they transferred songs from CD to WAV (if stations still have CDs anymore).
Click to expand...

There is no point in converting MP3 to WAV. The fidelity already lost in an mp3 recording is lost forever and is not reclaimed as a wav file.
 
landtuna said:
There is no point in converting MP3 to WAV. The fidelity already lost in an mp3 recording is lost forever and is not reclaimed as a wav file.
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The problem is that many record companies still distribute promo copies in MP3 format, so stations may simply convert the MP3 to WAV. Even when a WAV is available, someone often neglects to replace the converted MP3. And in smaller markets where programming is still local, the music source may be Amazon or iTunes.
 
I will admit my hearing isn't as good today as it was years ago but even with the closest comparison between a "good" mp3 and a flac or wav file I cannot discern a noticeable difference - and much less so if listening to something on the radio, even FM.

I think the only people who might be able to tell a significant difference are those with perfect hearing listening in a quiet room to a perfectly recorded classical music recording. Listening to popular music in an everyday environment is simply not the same and the difference doesn't matter.
 
landtuna said:
I will admit my hearing isn't as good today as it was years ago but even with the closest comparison between a "good" mp3 and a flac or wav file I cannot discern a noticeable difference - and much less so if listening to something on the radio, even FM.

I think the only people who might be able to tell a significant difference are those with perfect hearing listening in a quiet room to a perfectly recorded classical music recording. Listening to popular music in an everyday environment is simply not the same and the difference doesn't matter.
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All good points. In addition, the audio processing on most FM stations is so over compressed and clipped, what does it matter anyways?

Now, back on topic. As for AM... :)
 
stewie said:
All good points. In addition, the audio processing on most FM stations is so over compressed and clipped, what does it matter anyways?

Now, back on topic. As for AM... :)
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When I was loading and editing 4:1 compressed MP2's on hard drives (the apparent 'standard' at that time) for many radio stations in the 2000's, you could hear the compression if you listened for it. But a lot of people in the same building didn't notice it. Sometimes you just have to know what to listen for.

By the time the stations were done processing it, it was apparently a lot more difficult to hear.

I probably have heard compressed files played on FM and didn't notice the compression. In fact, any time I've listened to FM, I've only heard compression on music maybe once, so perhaps the weaknesses of MP3's on the air aren't that audible. You hear it more on some commercials.

Hopefully it's indeed changing to WAVs and similar better sounding sources now, well, just because....
 
boombox4 said:
When I was loading and editing 4:1 compressed MP2's on hard drives (the apparent 'standard' at that time) for many radio stations in the 2000's, you could hear the compression if you listened for it. But a lot of people in the same building didn't notice it. Sometimes you just have to know what to listen for.

By the time the stations were done processing it, it was apparently a lot more difficult to hear.

I probably have heard compressed files played on FM and didn't notice the compression. In fact, any time I've listened to FM, I've only heard compression on music maybe once, so perhaps the weaknesses of MP3's on the air aren't that audible. You hear it more on some commercials.

Hopefully it's indeed changing to WAVs and similar better sounding sources now, well, just because....
Click to expand...

A station I engineer still has MP2 4/1s in the inventory from back when large hard drives were expensive. I cringe every time one of these songs comes up as the Omni 9 can't make it sound good. Garbage in...garbage out. THe 9 helps
clean up some of the super clipped files however the old songs have a harsh sound that I find really annoying. It costs time (money) to reload new wav versions of the songs so they will likely remain.

I don't like the sound of the bit stream compressed web stream either but have learned to accept that much of the population are not bothered at all. Not a perfect world.
 
speakerman said:
A station I engineer still has MP2 4/1s in the inventory from back when large hard drives were expensive. I cringe every time one of these songs comes up as the Omni 9 can't make it sound good. Garbage in...garbage out. THe 9 helps
clean up some of the super clipped files however the old songs have a harsh sound that I find really annoying. It costs time (money) to reload new wav versions of the songs so they will likely remain.

I don't like the sound of the bit stream compressed web stream either but have learned to accept that much of the population are not bothered at all. Not a perfect world.
Click to expand...

Wow, perhaps some of my 'handiwork' still exists and gets played out there in the radio world. :cool:
 
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