SSB transmit audio - Where's the punch?

[Joe Subich, W4TV-4]

 > Except for the lady folks who seem to START in that range.  What
 > happens in so many female voices I hear (including broadcast stations)
 > is that high central tonality dominates to the point of overwhelming
 > the silibant range and 600-1200 NEEDS to be seriously suppressed to
 > let the silibants emerge.  I'm not sure 6 dB is enough for them.

I've found that my general EQ practice of cutting the 800 Hz band
(1000 Hz and one to two bands either side in a professional 1/3
octave EQ) also helps the "thin voiced" females by relatively
enhancing the sibilant range.

Note that the fundamental of most male voices is between 100-200 Hz
(it is rare to find a voice below 90 Hz with the lowest recorded
measurement around 80Hz) with most female voice in the 150-300 Hz
range.  What most lay persons consider the "fundamental" of a voice
is really the dominant overtones (harmonics) ... specifically those
harmonics that are most pronounced due to the physical structure of
the throat, mouth and nasal passages as well as the specific way in
which a given language is produced (voiced).

73,

    ... Joe, W4TV

On 10/6/2010 11:31 AM, Guy Olinger K2AV wrote:

> On Tue, Oct 5, 2010 at 3:43 PM, Joe Subich, W4TV<[hidden email]>  wrote:
>>
> ....snip... For flatter mics (like the new HC-6
>> or a CM-500) use more high frequency boost (between +6. +10, +12 dB
>> and  +9, +16, +16 dB) to provide clarity.  Since the human voice has
>> little energy in the 600 - 1200 Hz band,
>
> Except for the lady folks who seem to START in that range.  What
> happens in so many female voices I hear (including broadcast stations)
> is that high central tonality dominates to the point of overwhelming
> the silibant range and 600-1200 NEEDS to be seriously suppressed to
> let the silibants emerge.  I'm not sure 6 dB is enough for them.
>
> 73, Guy.
>
>> I like to add a bit of a
>> "notch" in the middle (-6dB at 800 Hz) ... cutting that band helps
>> to reduce background noise without impacting voice quality.
>>
>> With reasonable adjustments to enhance the frequencies important for
>> communications (vs. some "golden ear" belief in a bandwidth more
>> appropriate to classical music), reducing the power wasted in the
>> lower octaves that do not contribute to enunciation, and 10 to 15 dB
>> of clipping, the K3 can more than hold it own while remaining very
>> clean compared to the Yaecomwood rigs that drive the PA into clipping
>> in order to generate ALC!
>>
>> 73,
>>
>>     ... Joe, W4TV7
>

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