Eventide BD960 Users Manual

Part number: 141057 Manual Release 1.2 9 March 2007

Eventide is a registered trademark and AutoFill is a trademark of Eventide Inc.

Eventide® BD960

AutoFill™ Broadcast Delay

Operating

Manual

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS ....................................................................................................................................................3

OPERATION ....................................................................................................................................................................... 4

Warnings and Cautions ..................................................................................................................................................... 4

Introduction and Overview ...............................................................................................................................................4

Quickstart Tutorial ............................................................................................................................................................ 6

The Front Panel.................................................................................................................................................................8

The Back Panel ...............................................................................................................................................................10

Putting the BD960 in Your Facility ................................................................................................................................11

Initial Setup - Command Mode....................................................................................................................................... 11

Recording A Jingle/ Setting the Delay Time.............................................................................................................. 11

Adjusting Input Levels ............................................................................................................................................... 12

Everyday Use - Normal Mode ........................................................................................................................................13

Bypass ........................................................................................................................................................................ 13

Deleting Offensive Utterances ...................................................................................................................................13

Toggling Between Jingle Filler and Silent Filler........................................................................................................13

Remote Control Options ................................................................................................................................................. 13

ELECTRICAL SPECIFICATIONS ................................................................................................................................ 15

WARRANTY INFORMATION....................................................................................................................................... 16

INDEX ................................................................................................................................................................................18

OPERATION

The BD960 is quite easy to use...

Warnings and Cautions

Failure to heed these warnings could result in an electrical shock hazard!

• Always use a properly grounded, three-prong AC outlet.

• Always use a three-wire line cord like the one supplied with the BD960.

• Don't expose the BD960 to rain or moisture of any kind.

• There are no user-serviceable parts inside the unit. Refer all service work to a qualified technician.

• Dangerous voltages are present inside the unit. Use extreme caution when operating the unit with its

cover removed.

Heat is the enemy of reliability (among other things). Don't block the top or bottom ventilation slots. Leave some clearance above and below the BD960 in your rack. Failure to do so could result in reduced service life or damage to your equipment.

Introduction and Overview

There are many, many words you can say on the radio. For instance, you can say "crumpet." You can also say "underwit" and "boysenberry." Your license will not be revoked if a caller makes passing reference to "yarn." The list goes on.

Nevertheless, there are a few words you can't say on the radio. The Eventide BD960 exists to make sure any utterance of this small subset is checked - deleted as it were, never to reach the airwaves, never to get your station in trouble. The concept is simple. The BD960 delays the realtime audio so that the on-air signal lags several seconds behind. The signal "floats around" in the BD960 for several seconds before hitting the airwaves. If you hit the DELETE button, the BD960 replaces whatever is floating around inside it with silence or a prerecorded "jingle" of your choosing.

So, if someone yells "&!#%!" in realtime, that "&!#%!" floats around inside the BD960 for several seconds before hitting the airwaves. If an attendant technician or on-air host hits DELETE while "&!#%!" is still floating around inside the BD960, "&!#%!" is replaced with silence or your jingle. After the silence or jingle runs its course, the usual delayed studio output again hits the airwaves.

Bingo! License retained!

A helpful diagram follows on the next page ...

Here's a quick overview of some important terminology:

The BD960 runs in two "modes." Use

normal mode (GREEN BUTTON solidly lit) for day-to-day operation. Use

command mode (GREEN BUTTON blinking) to record your jingle, set the delay time, and adjust input levels. It's

also important to realize that when you hit DELETE, the BD960 can replace its buffer with silence (silent filler) or a prerecorded jingle (jingle filler). The command mode is deliberately made hard to discover so that it will not be used by unauthorized persons.

Normal Mode Command Mode

To toggle between

Hold GREEN BUTTON and press LEVELS+

Indicator GREEN BUTTON lit solidly GREEN BUTTON blinking Use Everyday operation and selecting filler mode Recording jingle, setting delay time and

adjusting input level

Jingle filler Silent filler

To toggle between

Hold GREEN BUTTON and press RECORD

Indicator RECORD LED lit RECORD LED dark Use Plays jingle during

DELETE operation

Plays silence during

DELETE operation

Quickstart Tutorial

What follows is a somewhat contrived story about Dan, the friendly station manager at WXYZ. Like you, Dan has just purchased an Eventide BD960. We're going to follow Dan through all the steps necessary to get it out of the box and up and running. Please join us.

In anticipation of their new BD960, WXYZ recorded a five-second jingle to replace offensive material: in true "radio station style," an a cappella group sings "Double-U ExWhyZee, we never swear at thee..." Dan connects a CD player to the BD960's XLR inputs, monitors the output, and cues the jingle CD. He puts the BD960 in command mode by holding down the GREEN BUTTON and pressing LEVELS+ (he knows he's in

command mode because the GREEN BUTTON blinks). He also makes sure the BYPASS LED is not illuminated. Then he

holds down RECORD and plays the CD. At the end of the jingle, he releases RECORD. He auditions the recording by pressing DELETE. Satisfied with the recording, Dan puts the BD960 back into normal mode by holding down the

GREEN BUTTON and pressing LEVELS+ (he knows he's in normal mode because the GREEN BUTTON

lights solidly)

. Returning to normal mode saves the recording in permanent memory.

After rackmounting his BD960 near the host's position, Dan connects the XLR audio outputs from the station's console to the BD960's XLR audio inputs. Then he connects the BD960's XLR audio outputs to the XLR audio inputs of the station's compressor/limiter (which in his installation is fed from the console). With loud program material feeding the signal chain, he adjusts the output gain on the compressor/limiter, so that the top yellow LED on the BD960's input monitor lights frequently and the red LED lights seldom (if at all). Dan knows that Good Gain Structure is next to Godliness.

He also connects the BD960’s relay to the phone system, so that when

DELETE is hit, the miscreant

caller will be disconnected. He doesn’t have to do this, but it is the policy of his station.

Dan also knows that when someone hits

DELETE, the BD960 can play the recorded jingle or silence.

According to the manual

(which he read cover to cover), it will play silent filler if the RECORD LED is dark or jingle

filler

if the RECORD LED is illuminated (the BD960 must be in normal mode - GREEN BUTTON lit solidly). Dan observes

that the RECORD LED is lit, so he knows the jingle filler will play when someone hits DELETE. (If he wanted

silent filler instead, he would hold down the GREEN BUTTON and press RECORD.)

+ 12 hidden pages

Eventide BD960 Users Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual