Broadcast and Post applications have their own set of requirements, which differ to those needed by the professional audio community. These range from dealing with reduced bandwidth for FM transmission, to the future of digital broadcast. The DBMax has been developed for that purpose, featuring a five-band compressor/limiter, with additional insert capability.
The heart of the DBMax is the five-band compressor with adjustable slopes and crossover frequencies. The user can easily change the multi-band structure from one to five bands. An advanced look-ahead delay can be used to reduce dynamic distortion and transient overshoots. Insert blocks provide the ability to use plug-in types of processing tools before the compressor/limiter/expander.
Three simultaneous pre-dynamics inserts and one post dynamic insert are available on the DBMax and can be used in any order. Insert examples include parametric EQ, normalizer, dynamic EQ/de-esser, automatic gain control, MS encode/decode and stereo enhance. Both the five-band and wide-band limiters can be used simultaneously. A brickwalll limiter at insert four is a sample accurate system including distortion canceling look-ahead delay, with added soft clipping if desired. 50 microS, 75 microS or J17 emphasis can be used as a reference for final limiting. Afterwards the emphasis may be removed individually on the analog and/or digital outputs. By removing emphasis after the limiting process, transmission lines using data compression perform better.
The Wizard is a tool that helps the user find the right preset for particular program material, by selecting from three sets of criteria within the Wizard display. The unit then provides a number of presets that meet those criteria. For alignment and signal check, a range of precision tools are included in the DBMax. Peak hold meter with 0.1dB resolution, surround meter showing L, C, R, S levels, phase correlation meter with time-base, and internal headroom metering. An oscillator for calibration 30Hz to 15kHz at levels from -30dBfs to 0dBfs and a digital status tool lets the user monitor input status and decide how status bits are handled through the machine.
