| <<< ATSE::DOCDISK:[NOTES$LIBRARY]GRATEFUL.NOTE;1 >>>
-< Take my advice, you'd be better off Dead >-
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Note 264.0 DNR from dbx - In time for Christmas ;-) 26 replies
EUCLID::WHITE "It ain't no luck, I learned to duck." 96 lines 4-DEC-1988 21:12
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Hey Now!
I came across this on the USENET and am suprised that no other
techno-freaks have posted it yet.
This leaves quite the dilemna...do I finally put together my DNR kit or
sell it and go buy the dbx unit...tough decision...I'm a big fan of dbx.
So, Josh are you listening? Dave Levy...it was you who expressed a
severe need for a DNR at the tape grading seminar...do you think Roz
would be willing to get you one for Christmas?
Yours in low tape hiss,
Bob
Newsgroups: rec.music.gdead
Path: decwrl!labrea!rutgers!mit-eddie!sc.intel.COM!ERIC%FM1
Subject: Oh no, a Product Review!
Posted: 30 Nov 88 23:35:00 GMT
Organization:
Hi folks. Well, that John Wood guy is doing alot of cd reviews
and seems to be getting away with it so I thought I'd do a product
review relevant to deadheads. I've got a recording studio in
my house and recently bought a piece of equipment for it that
turns out to be a minor miracle for old dead tapes, so I thought
I'd mention it.
If you got bucks, read on, if you dont, dont get caught stealling!
(actually I dont got bucks, but I do have a studio which just gotta
be fed and I got a Mastercard, ha!)
The DBX 563X silencer is a single ended noise reduction unit.
Single ended means that unlike your typical on board Dolby noise
reduction there is no encoding required, so it works on any recorded
material (or live material). You put the 563 in line between your
master deck and dubbing deck or amplifier. What it does is
dynamically filter out what it considers to be noise with a
second order variable bandpass filter driven by a detector circuit.
That means when it "hears" tape hiss that is not being masked by
program material (music), it filters it out. When there is enough
music present in the higher frequencies it backs off and lets it
all come through. This detection and filtering happens very fast,
like even between notes. There is a single slider on the front
panel to control how much filtering you want to happen, which will
depend on the severity of the noise present on the tape. The noise
reduction is confined to higher frequency stuff like tape hiss;
it will not filter lower frequency noise but tape hiss is by
far the biggest noise problem usually encountered.
Ok, so how does it work? I was really skeptical that it could
get rid of tape hiss and NOT get rid of some of the higher freq
stuff in the music itself. Or I thought I would hear an unnatural
"pumping" or "breathing" sound typical of this kind of processing.
Well, I am impressed. I have some pretty hissy old dead tapes and
this unit really works wonders. Tape hiss is substantially reduced
and the music itself is not adversly affected. Honestly I dont
know how they managed it, you'd figure the music would be muddied
by the process, but it isnt. There is a bypass switch on the front
panel so you can do quick A/B comparison between processed and
unprocessed signal, to see if musical material is being lost along
with noise. Now, with an extremely hissy tape during the quite part
of Stella Blue you may have to sacrifice some higher frequency
program material to get rid of most of the hiss and you may encounter
some "pumping". This is in extreme cases where your dealing with a
pretty bad off tape. For most cases the processing is clean
and yeilds quite a dramatic improvement. Actually even a good quality
dead tape will sound better. It can help get rid of that small amount of
hiss on a good tape as well as the more extreme cases. It should be
said this unit is not a noise *eliminater*, but a noise reducer.
There are no noise eliminaters.
Each unit is mono only so two must be used for stereo taping.
There is a strapping feature for proper stereo use with two units.
The units each use one half of one standard rack mount space and
come equiped to be mounted together in one full rack space.
The bad news: They retail for $220 each. I bought two, for
stereo use, and payed $350 + tax for the both of them. Like I
said, you gotta have some bucks. I have seen another similar
processor that cost nearly twice as much so it aint too bad.
I should say I have no vested interest in the sale of these
units. I am just a musician and Dead-taper and was really pscyched
when I ran some old tapes through these suckers and thought
other tapers might be interested in this product. For musicians
I'll also mention that all the above applies for cleaning up
noisy instrument or submixer outputs or what have you. In general,
if it hisses, this thing helps.
-- Eric (wow, my first product review!) Fischer
P.S. I'm looking to do some trading. Fancy noise reduction units
notwithstanding, I'm looking for those special high qual tapes that
sound like album quality. I got a few of those, do you? Send yer list!
<<< ATSE::DOCDISK:[NOTES$LIBRARY]GRATEFUL.NOTE;1 >>>
-< Take my advice, you'd be better off Dead >-
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Note 264.15 DNR from dbx - In time for Christmas ;-) 15 of 26
ANT::JACQUES 56 lines 9-DEC-1988 00:47
-< Back to the future !! >-
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Being a musician, as well as a small-time soundman/recording
hack, I have checked out the entire DBX performer series of
signal processing gear. The performer series is made up of
five offerings, four of which are 1/2 rack units, that can be
paired up and racked together. The series includes the 163X
compressor, the 263X de-esser (for removing voice sibilance
noise), the 463X noise gate, and the afore-mentioned 563X
noise suppressor. All of these units are mono, but can be
strapped together for stereo processing, assuming you have
2 units. When strapping, one unit is designated the master
while the other is designated slave. The slider on the master
controls both units in this mode. The performer series also
includes a graphic equalizer (the 1531P) which is a full
rack space eq, that can be used as a stereo 15 band eq, or
a 31 band mono eq.
Back to the 563X. This unit provides "Hiss reduction greater
than 30db using a 2nd order minimum phase filter. It operates
from 1.3Khz to 38Khz depending on setting", according to the
DBX marketing sheet. Like all performer series products, these
units are designed with pro musicians/sound reinforcement/recording
applications in mind, and include 1/4" phone jack i/o, as well
as XLR balanced i/o. I recently read a review in Home & Studio
Recording magazine that praised the units performance but gave
a fair disclaimer about the units limitations. No noise reduction
unit can work miricles, but this unit does a very respectable
job of removing annoying tape hiss, ground loop noise, etc
without effecting dynamic range drastically. Being a single-ended
noise suppressor, as appossed to an encode-decode system, it
can be placed anywhere in a signal path where noise needs to be
suppressed, and does not require decoding during playback.
One more big selling point for the pro applications is that a
563X may be linked to any of the other 3 1/2 rack performers
to make up a pair of 563X's, 163X's, 263X's, or 463X's. In
my case, I am considering getting a 163X and 563X, as I can
use the 2 compressors for live sound reinforcement and laying
down tracks on a multitracker, and can also use the hiss reduction
for mixdown and have a final product that can be played on any
dec with noise reduction defeated. The 563X is a little more expensive
than it's siblings (the 163X, 263X, and 463X units may be purchased
for around $119, compared with the 563X @ about $175).
Conclusion: This unit is a good simple way of removing annoying
tape hiss, ground loop noise, etc. without hassling with DBX vs
Dolby incompatability. Bear in mind the market it is aimed at. It
may be used with a home stereo setup, however your gonna need 2
for stereo processing (at about $175 each) and will also need to
get cables with rca's on one end, and 1/4" phones on the other.
Hope this info is useful and/or interesting to y'all.
Buy now,
Mark Jacques
<<< ATSE::DOCDISK:[NOTES$LIBRARY]GRATEFUL.NOTE;1 >>>
-< Take my advice, you'd be better off Dead >-
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Note 264.23 DNR from dbx - In time for Christmas ;-) 23 of 26
ANT::JACQUES 13 lines 15-DEC-1988 11:10
-< digital gear is a no-no at shows >-
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A portable DAT machine would be a great way to record shows, however
I have read that they don't let anyone with any type of digital
recording gear into shows any more. I used to know people that were
using portable VCR/pcm processors, but I would imagine they are no
longer getting into show with that gear.
Correction to my original reply. The DBX performer series 1/2 rack
units do not have xlr jacks, only 1/4" phone jacks. The jack on
the front is an instrument level input, and the one on the back is
a line level input. Considering where compressors, etc are usually
placed in recording/pa systems this is really not an issue.
Mark
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