[j-curve]

Right now I'm listening to the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra playing Tchaikovsky 6 under the direction of Mariss Janssons. This is a live FM radio broadcast thanks to NHK, from their hall in Tokyo. Great sound, although I could do some more work on the reception. Is this really analogue? Perhaps not, in this day and age. It sounds pretty good...

Before I switch this noisy computer off, do others here have the luxury of live broadcasts? Any raving tuner freaks lurking?


Some pictures of the NHK Hall for those who may be interested. Note the unusual position of the organ (sitting silent at this instant!).

And a large scan from the stage. (Click.)

 

[amadeuswus]

Thanks for the pictures of NHK's hall. WGBH in Boston broadcasts Boston Symphony concerts. I caught Mahler Eighth recently. The live broadcast lends a sense of occasion, and the sound is often more natural than commercial releases because of the minimalist miking. If only there weren't so much compression!

 

[daycart1]

Yes, AM and FM are inherently analogue. At some point they get converted for cable transmission too. The analogue euphony is rather tubelike!

(ok, I love tubes, too

)

 

[Yukster]

I was never able to figure out Japan's radio broadcast system. Because Japan is pretty small comparied to the US, their coverage is pretty good I think especially in a metropolitan area like Tokyo, unless you are in one of those concret buildings.

I was never able to find a radio station that just played music, like in the US. Most of the radio stations seemed to focus more on talk than on music, and they were not genre specific (except for Armed Forces Radio). There goes my dream of finding a radio station that just played JPOP...

 

[pcolbeck]

Quote:

Originally Posted by amadeuswus If only there weren't so much compression!

We are pretty lucky in the UK in that there is very little compression on BBC Radio 3 (classical mainly + some jazz) and Radio 4 (mainly news, documentary and drama). In fact last Christmas there was a really big stink due to compression....

Every year the BBC do a live broadcast on Christmas eve of a carol sevice from Kings College Cambridge and this is something of a tradition in the UK. Since its Christmas eve they are running on a skeleton staff back at the office. Last year the guys in the outside broadcast unit were monitoring what they heard from the mics and it sounded fine and the were rellaying it to the main BBC network for rebroadcast to the nation.
Unfortunately about 10 minutes into the concert some vital bit of kit at BBC headquarters went "poooof" and a backup unit kicked in. Unfortunately the backup unit was shared with Radio 1 and 2 (rock/pop etc) and was set to use heavy compression as is normal for these stations. As there was no one in to fix it that was the way it was broadcast for the rest of the programme (an hour or so).

The BBC was inundated with complaints re the sound quality and in fact had to broadcast an explanation of what had gone wrong ! Luckily they had taped the concert from the mixing desk in the outside broadcast van and so when they repeated it between Christmas and new year they could do so in all its uncompressed glory.

Just goes to show that the general public can tell good sound quality.

Pat