"equalizing songz," wrote in message
oups.com...
Hey all,


I have hooked up my boom box to my "line in" in my computer, and then
use a song file recorder/editor to record the music as wav directly to
the hard disc.

The songs sound very close to the way they do when played from a cd,
and I don't have the heart yet to tell a couple friends that the cds I
made for them were burnt with songs recorded this way from the radio,
not downloaded or ripped from cd.

However, I would like to know if radio-source songs can be re-processed
with equalizers, to remove or hide that slightly "distant" sound that
radio-recorded songs have, and maybe make it sound more like it came
directly from a cd...?

So far, after a long night of loudness, and playing with midranges, the
best sound yet seems to be merely increasing the gain to just below the
level of buzzing. But that slightly "distant" sound is still there.

I was thinking maybe the distance effect is just the stereo signal the
song came through, and perhaps mixing the radio wav file down to mono
(with a few other boosts) will make the song sound more like it came
straight off a cd?

thanks in advance for your answer and any other options you may know
of.

I'm not sure what the "distant" sound is that you're referring to. But as a
former commercial radio engineer, I can tell you that radio stations do
horrible things to the audio, most of them quite irreversible.

Station managers and program directors strive to create a "sound" for their
station, and many of those people have no clue about audio, so you end up
with some really bizarre effects. Most of them want it "louder" than the
other stations on the dial. They accomplish this primarily by removing as
much dynamic range as possible from the original recordings. They start with
some kind of automatic level control, usually followed by a three or
four-band compressor, followed by a one or two band limiter, usually
followed by a clipper. In addition to that, they sometimes add reverb and
"stereo enhancers" (either of which might be responsible for the "distant"
sound you describe). They often fiddle with equalization as well, usually
attempting to add more bass -- a futile exercise if they're driving the
compressor and limiter very hard. The typical result is muddy sludge.

The sad part is, if they would turn off everything but the ALC and use the
limiter sparingly, if anyone could find them among all the other noise, they
could have the cleanest, punchiest sound on the dial. It would be nearly
indistinguishable from the source material in most cases.