The story:

Summit ’04, we get very curious about what mysterious things happen to our audio signal once it hit a fiber modem.  We send something that looks and sounds great.  But by the time we got it back on a downlink, it was very different.  Learning about all the processing and patching in the path, we drove downtown for a technical engineering tour of the uplink facility.  Upon a tour of the signal path, we asked how our signal was looking and where we could monitor it.  They showed us our feed on a scope, and on the next scope over, the Oprah show was broadcasting.  The chief engineer said “There’s you, and there’s Oprah.  Signals look great.  Don’t change a thing!”  The best thing we could have heard after a year’s worth of experimenting and tweaking.  So, from that moment on, in all our systems, patchbays, routers, and conversation, our broadcast audio path processing has been named “Oprah”.

The gear:

Oprah (the original)

1. • Aphex 2020 MKIII
   

2. • TC Electronics Finalyzer Express
   

3. • DBX 266XL
   

4. • BSS Prosys PS-8810
   

5. • Symetrix 322
   

6. • RDL mic pre for 2) SM-57 mics
   

Oprah (codenamed “Oprahausen” - portable version used in Germany)

1. • Symetrix 422
   

2. • Symetrix 322
   

3. • BSS Soundweb
   

4. • DBX 266XL
   

5. • TC Electronics Finalyzer Express
   

Oprah (Lite)

I am almost finished replacing everything above (except the Aphex 2020) with a single Symetrix SymNet Express 8x8 Cobra DSP processor.  In this particular DSP, the stereo leveler modules respond smooth, the stereo compressor modules have responsive side chain, and the stereo ducker is transparent.