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Aphexauralexciter Type C Manual

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873 views8 pages

Aphexauralexciter Type C Manual

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Uploaded by

Neerg Nannerb
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© © All Rights Reserved
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UN Nee Ca do OPERATING GUIDE 1- Introduction - What it does, features l= Brief Psychoacoustics Ill- How it works - Block Diagram IV - Basic Operations V- Recording Studio Applications VI- Sound Reinforcement & Sound Contractor Use VIl- In Case of Difficulty VII - Service IX- Specifications me ra Prec systems UD. 13340 Saticoy Street_ * North Hollywood, California 91605 * (818) 765-2212 * TWX: 910-321-5762 |. INTRODUCTION ‘Since its introduction in 1975, the Aphex Aural Exciter® has rapidly become a standard in the recording and broadcast Industries. It has been used on thousands of albums, mo- vies, broadcast productions, commercials and concerts. ‘Aphex Aural Exciters are also on the ar on the top AM & FM. stations throughout the US.A. and the rest of the worl. Whatever the application, you wilfind the following results from your Aphex Type C Aural Exciter. * Increased presence and clarity — Program material sounds bright and real agai Increased intelligibility — Vocal articulation is much clean- r easier to hear and understand. + Enhanced stereo imaging — The sound seems to “open, up” giving greater separation and detail making speaker placement less critical, while sill being totally mono com- patible. * Greater perceived loudness — without adding any extra ower. Does nat trigger limiters or compressors. + Reduced listener fatigue — Increased penetration at ower ‘SPL and distortion levels. + No decoding needed — Aural Excitementisa single end- ‘2d process. Once itis encoded into the materialit stays, even through succeeding processes and generations of tape copies. ‘By now youre probably wondering how the Aural Ex can do all these things and why it has become necessary in the first place. The answer is that the audio recording and reproduction process is far from perfect. Every step of the \way, from the original microphone, through countless mix: es, amplifies, processors, tape machines and the final loud- ‘speaker, something gets lost. What gets lost each time is realism. And you know it's happening because things just don't sound ive anymore, What's missing are thetiny, ragile parts of any sound which give itits character and allow ito be differentiated from other sounds. Other conventional types ‘of processors, such as equalizers, expanders and reverb or ‘2cho fal to restore this realism because they only work on ‘what's left ofthe origina signal, often increasing noise and distortion in the process. The patented method used in the ion and signal that i perceived in the subconscious part ofthe brain. Because ‘ofthis, the added signal can be so small that it adds virtually ‘Ropower tothe signal, is easly reproduced, even by ow qual- ity systems, andis not affected by normal acoustic problems. “These factors make the Aphex Aural Exciter a powerful ool In any studio application, ll, BRIEF PSYCHOACOUSTICS, The term “psychoacoustics” is the latest buzzword in the ‘audio fied. It refer to our psychological interpretation of what we hear, as opposed tothe mechanics of hearing, Itisafairly ‘new field with much yet to be discovered, but we do know that most ofthe factors that affect our interpretation of what Wwe hear are incredibly small, such as the minute cues that letustalleft trom rightina stereo image. There are also minute ‘cues which our subconscious mind interprets as “presence” or “realness.” Its these missing cues that the Aural Exciter re-creates and adds back to the main signal to change the way you perceive what you hear. “The Aphex enhancement signal involves frequency depen- dent phase shift and amplitude dependent harmonic ‘generation ‘The phase shift, or delay whichis too short tobe perceived ‘asa echo or reverb, is perceived as increase in impulse or transient duration, which makes the signal seem louder. The phase shifted signal also “beats” slightly against the main ‘signal, simulating what happens to sound in a normal am- bent situation, but without causing phase cancellation or ‘phasing ‘The harmonics generated are derived trom the main sig- ‘nal and are, therefore, musically related. The natural harmon. ‘sor overtones are the most fragile, yet integral paris of sound {and are the most likely 0 be lost. The louder the fundamen- talproduced by an instrument or voice, the greater the over- tones. The Aural Exciter generates harmonics in the same ‘manner. The harmonic structure of each sound or instrument is thus strengthened, allowingitto stand out rom others. The increased harmonic structure also creates the illusion of a ‘much fuller, brighter top end to your sound. You will swea there sat least 1048 of treble boost, but a spectrum analyz- fer would show less than 1/208! ll, HOW IT WORKS ‘As can be seen in the block diagram (figure 1) the main signal goes through the Aural Exciter unchanged. All the processing is done in an outside loop (called a sidechain) {and then added in a very small amount to the main signal ‘The sidechain isa tap off he main signal which goes through the DRIVE pot for setting the level. Itthen goes through the tunable high pass filter which removes unneeded low end ‘material and creates the necessary frequency dependent ‘phase shift. This material is next metered for correct input levelto the next stage, the harmonics generator This is where the musically related harmonics are generated and mixed with the high-passed information. The complex signal then {goes to the MIX pot where it's added (typically 20d down) {othe main signal. Although this amount of added informa- tion is so small it shouldn't even be heard, the listener per- Coives a large increase in mid and high frequency energy. 90° Od| S.c" 2d FIGURE 2 REAR PANEL INPUT AND OUTPUT JAS FRGURE 1 APHEX TYPE C BLOCK DAGRAM IV. BASIC OPERATION ‘A. The ins and outs of the Aphex Type C Aural Exciter “The Aphex Type C Aural Exciter has ahigh inputimpedance (47k Ohms, unbalanced) and low output impedance (150 (Ohms). The high input impedance means that will work well \when fed from equipment with an output impedance of 4.7k ‘ohms or lower. It means that you can “mult” (parallel the input of your Exciter withthe inputs of other similar equip- ‘ment if you need to “split” the signal. ‘The low output impedance means two things: 1. You can feed the signal from the excitr into an input load ‘of 2k Ohms or greater. Most ofthe equipment you encounter will also have a high input impedance, but remem paralleling inputs lowers the combined impedance by the Exciter. 2. The low output impedance ofthe Exciter also means that the signal will not be degraded by moderate cable lengths (20-30 feet of typical “guitar cord” shielded wire). Connections are made via standard RCA jacks and 1/4 inch Phone jacks on the rear of the chassis figure 2). To prevent problems, the RCA jacks have “privity” and automaticaly ‘disconnect the 1/4 inch phone jacks when used, B. Nominal Operating Levels — What is “o VU?"" ‘The Type C Aural Exciter is designed to work at line levels ‘such as an output from a tape machine or pre-ampitir Generally n cassette recorders, hi-fi equipment, consumer tape machines, and some PA. equipment, 0 VU = -10dBv (250 mv peak). in other PA. equipment and tape machines OVU = OB (1.1 volts peak). Studio grade equipment usually operates at 0 VU = +4dBv (1.74 volts peak). Finally some broadcast operations operate at 0 VU = +8dBv (2.76 vols, peak) ‘The Type C Aural Exciter is designed to work at anominal level of 10d, This wil interface with most consumer audio ‘equipment with RCA jacks, and musicalinstrument gear with ‘4 inch connections. ‘Your Aural Exciter uses the latest Aphex technology to cre- ate this enhancement. tis called mAx, for monolithic Aural Exciter. Aphex engineers have reduced the patented Aural Exciter circuit toa single integrated circuit, resulting in highest Performance at the lowest cost. ‘The Type Cis not recommended for use with professional ‘audio systems operating at OdBv and above. The reduced headroom will make input and drive overloading likely, caus- ing audible distortion, ©. The Controls ‘The DRIVE control sets the proper input level to the en- hancement generating circuitry Its tr-color LED should show ‘most greeniyellow with program, occasionally flashing red ‘on peaks. Too much green (or no color) will underdrive the Circuit, causing minimal effect generation, Too much red wil ‘overdrive it, perhaps causing distortion, ‘The MIX control varies the amount of enhancement mixed ‘back with your program, fromnone to maximum. Your set ting will depend on the effect you wish, trom just a touch of naturalness fora fine sound system to grinding out maximum ineligibility ina terrible paging/PA system. Is very common fooveruse tis control at first, Remember, the goals to sound ‘lean and natura, not bistering! ‘The TUNE contro allows you to adjust the range of the ‘hancement from the tops of cymbals down into the voice and lower instrument range. Experimentation with your program will show you what setting is right for you. This control inter. acts ith the DRIVE level, sobe sure you verity correct DRIVE. after setting the TUNE control (try starting inthe 12 o'clock position), ‘The IN/OUT switch switches the effect instantly in and out ‘of your system for A/B comparison of your settings tothe dry program material. The adjacent LED indicates AC power ON as well as effect OUT (green), and effect IN (red). ‘An Aural Exciter is usually hooked up as the last item in the sound chain before the power amp or recording deck and after any other processing that may be done. Atypical setup procedure is as follows: 1. With the IN/OUT button in the IN positon, set the TUNE ‘control at about 12 o'clock, and adjust the DRIVE control so thatthe tr-color LED flashes green to mostly yellow. Oca sional flashes of red on peaks are acceptable. 2. Set the MIX control at minimum and switch the Aural Ex: citer in. Slowly bring up the enhancement signal until you begin to hear those extra edges and cues we talked about 3. You can control the nature ofthe enhancement signal by adjusting the TUNE control to include more orless of the au- dio spectrum. OF course, since this varies the amount of the signal being processed, you may have to adjust the DRIVE. level accordingly. Until you get used tothe Aural Exciter, good way tohear the effects ofthe controls is to set MIX'to the maximum, The c’tfects of the other controls will now be clearly audible. ter determining proper settings, reduce the MIX back to a sub- tie evel baie TUNE MIX °@ x) 8 @ @ uma oxcrTen™ TYPE C V. RECORDING APPLICATIONS, In this section we will cover some specific applications of your Type C Aural Exciter. ‘A. One ofthe easiest ways to add Aural Excitement to your recordings is to insert the unit between the stereo outputs_| ‘ofthemixing console and the inputs othe mastering record. {ec The Aural Exciter shouldbe placed ahead of anoise reduc- tion system, if you use one (figure 4) +) With the unit OUT, get a good basic mix and adjust the ‘master gain so thatthe stereo output centers around 0 VU. ‘Allow enough headroom as the material and your experience dictate 2) Switch tN and set the controls as discussed.in the CON- TROLS section and adjust to taste. 3) Remember those IN/OUT checks. IMPORTANT — When you're just getting started with the Aural Exciter, itis easy to use too much. In setting up your processing mix we recommend that you make frequent IN/OUT comparisons, and, when recording, confirm the ac- tual sound you ar getting by monitoring the playback head ‘ofthe recorder. A good rule of thumb isthat Aural Excitement shouldbe missedinits absence, not noticed is presence. ‘The object should be a clean, bright, natural sound. \VERY IMPORTANT — Prolonged exposure to high level ‘sound fields (a common studio condition) causes ear fatigue ‘and a resulting loss of high frequency sensitivity. Tokeep an ‘Objective ear and to avoid over-processing your sound, take periodic breaks. FIQURE 4 TYPICAL RECOROING CHAN WITH NOISE REDUCTION B. Process Grouping You can create a processed sub-group in several ways: 1) It your console has sub-groups with a patch point at the {OUP output you can process only those tracks in the sub- 9r0Ups, leaving the others alone. 2) You can use your monitoreffects sends to create a group 3nd mix the Exciter outputback through a spare module. Send these channels “pre” fader and mute the main channel out ‘Your monitoreects sends control the mix nthe group which returns to the main mix through the Aural Exciter ©. Enhancing Tape Copies Even under the best of conditions, tape copies inevitably lose some presence, brightness and clarity, especialy go- ingto cassette and especially i they are noise reduced. And EQ doesn't seem to exacily correct the losses. ‘Aural Excitement can reduce or eliminate generation loss, and in some cases, actually make copies that sound better than the original. your original tape is reasonably quiet, Hite Aural Excitement can be just the ticket to “hot” copies.

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