Distorted FM on Friday afternoon

[Dave2002]

I was listening to Afternoon on 3 - Baroque Spring - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01r0zfs on Friday afternoon in my car on the FM radio. The quality seemed much worse than usual, even when I retuned to pick up a different signal. The music included Telemann's Ouverture in G minor (La Changeante) performed by the Lund Ensemble. Sometimes this kind of ensemble does sound rougher - I have noticed this particularly with so-called authentic orchestras - but this sounded quite a lot worse than that. Sometimes the roughness particularly affects string instruments, whereas wind instruments are often much clearer. It sounded as though there was some distortion - such as input overload distortion - introduced somewhere in the recording chain.

I have revisited this via the iPlayer (HD?), where the quality is mostly fine - though with perhaps just a touch of some form of digital distortion. What I heard on FM was really rather unpleasant, and I suspect it wasn't all due to the FM transmission itself, but something further back in the production chain. Am I alone in noticing that at times the sound quality on BBC FM sometimes plummets badly?

[Ferretfancy]

I was listening to Afternoon on 3 - Baroque Spring - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01r0zfs on Friday afternoon in my car on the FM radio. The quality seemed much worse than usual, even when I retuned to pick up a different signal. The music included Telemann's Ouverture in G minor (La Changeante) performed by the Lund Ensemble. Sometimes this kind of ensemble does sound rougher - I have noticed this particularly with so-called authentic orchestras - but this sounded quite a lot worse than that. Sometimes the roughness particularly affects string instruments, whereas wind instruments are often much clearer. It sounded as though there was some distortion - such as input overload distortion - introduced somewhere in the recording chain.

I have revisited this via the iPlayer (HD?), where the quality is mostly fine - though with perhaps just a touch of some form of digital distortion. What I heard on FM was really rather unpleasant, and I suspect it wasn't all due to the FM transmission itself, but something further back in the production chain. Am I alone in noticing that at times the sound quality on BBC FM sometimes plummets badly?

Listening to FM on a car radio is hardly likely to reveal the best quality is it? As the vehicle moves, so does the relative position of the aerial, and all sorts of reflections can appear,altering the signal path. I also think that when we listen on relatively modest systems, our ears adjust to the fairly low norm, and once used to it any small changes disturb us.
Until recently I have been using a Pure Evoke radio in my kitchen, which delivers awful DAB and OK FM, with occasional interference from some nearby power source. I decided to replace it with a much better Roberts, a so called table top, and I sited in a different part of the room. The result is a great improvement on FM, with the tizziness gone.

Some hipp recordings on air, listening on a wide range system, have that wiry top that seems to be part and parcel of the style, at least on earlier recordings. I've noticed that when heard live it is rarely noticeable in the playing. Any distortion inherent in your car radio would certainly exaggerate this.

I'm not really aware of any falling off in sound quality in general on BBC FM, apart from the ubiquitous use of Optimod. I do have a bit of a gripe with the way in which related examples are balanced on BAL, but that's another story.

[Gordon]

I tend to agree with ferret here. By chance I happened to be listening in the car last Friday PM on the A303 in Wilts/Somerset where FM coverage is variable. I did get a few plops and splats whilst moving which is par for the course. As usual on that route at that time I was stationary on a couple of occasions [Stonehenge eg] when the Telemann was playing and I did not hear anything unusual. I've also listened again, on headphones too, and I can't say I can hear anything wrong with the source audio [assuming it's the same file as was broadcast]. The car is quiet on the whole, road surface willing, and listening is not too bad an experience though normally I don't like it!!

[Dave2002]

Some hipp recordings on air, listening on a wide range system, have that wiry top that seems to be part and parcel of the style, at least on earlier recordings. I've noticed that when heard live it is rarely noticeable in the playing. Any distortion inherent in your car radio would certainly exaggerate this.

ferret

I'm fairly sure of what I heard, driving out of London on the A3, but I can accept that the problem might not have been so noticeable in other parts. It is interesting though that you have also noticed the problem with hipp recordings. As you say, there are hardly ever any serious problems in live venues, so what is it about recording and broadcasting which makes some music sound much rougher?

I also agree that listening in cars is not ideal, but I'm sure that many of us do it for various reasons. My car radio is not terrible, so if there's a significant quality change in the broadcast I should be able to spot it.

[Ferretfancy]

Dave 2002

Just to clarify, I didn't mean to suggest that hipp recordings suffer at the hands of the BBC when broadcast, but rather that the recordings themselves often have very bright and wiry string sound. This rather seedy quality doesn't seem to be there when the same musicians are heard in the concert hall. This problem seems less acute on more recent recordings, presumably because the engineers have largely overcome the difficulties of capturing the abrasive sound of early instruments, particularly the strings. I'm not using the term in a derogatory sense, but hipp sound is different.

[alycidon]

I have certainly noticed distortion and white noise at times, particularly on Sunday mornings and I have just thought that they have been maintaining the transmitter, or whatever. It is not unusual to have bad reception in the Loch Ness area - too many mountains, probably - so we just accept that as being a disadvantage of living in such a beautiful place.