Any Radio Folks Out There?

[DiamondDave63]

I was wondering what it would take to get some radio discussions going on here again. Any suggestions? How about ideas for sweepers & liners...or maybe where have you found some interesting royalty free fx online for use in sweeper production.

With that last thought in mind, here's a link I found just a few weeks ago that's great (IMO) http://www.fullblownkirk.com/newkirk/samples.htm

[Redman]

I agree. There needs to be a good spot for us prod guys to yap. This seemed like the perfect place.

Redman

[Sonic Valley]

Only thing is...everyone's so damn busy. Maybe we should get knee deep in some issues like. Production elements. Where do you get yours? Made from scratch or bought/leased. Who's your fav library company?

[Redman]

Good topic..

I've been pleasantly surprised with the MJI Hit Radio Image Kit. The Demo Cuts didn't sell me on it, but some strong reccomendations led me to pick it up (it's a barter thang). I'm glad I did! Great workparts and decent indexing make for a great package. Of course, I'm still a big fan of Killerhertz too. Brown Bag's Rocket Science is decent for anything but sfx...The list goes on, but those are the ones I'm on right now.

[Greg]

Like Redman, I like Brown Bag's stuff, too. I've used a ton of their stuff over the last five years, and it's consistently high quality.

[ImageGuy73]

Wow! finally a place to talk about radio production. I'm glad to be here too. A friend of mine told me about it.

I have a question regarding compression. Does anyone know how to get a KILLER compression sound? I've tried and tried, but to no avail. My stuff is attention-getting, but it just needs a "kick in the pants". Any help or suggestions would be appreciated! Thanks!

Danny

[DaveDiamond]

Let's hear some of your stuff.

[This message has been edited by DaveDiamond (edited 10-20-2001).]

[DaveDiamond]

Danny,

Got your email with the sample, thanks. Good stuff for sure but not really understanding what you mean about a good compression sound though. Do you mean a good compression sound for your mic or the overall mix?

If for the mic I've always found it better to use limiting rather than compression on the mic.

If for the overall mix I'd add compression to it after all tweaks have been made to the session just before burning to a disc or mp3 file.

You can find some awesome Direct X plugins at www.db-audioware.com (http://www.db-audioware.com) for PC.

Hope this helps. Below is a link to a sample of my latest demo. Enjoy.

DEMO (http://www.davediamondonline.com/davediamond_demo.mp3)

[ImageGuy73]

Dave:

Thanks for the positive feedback, and the advice. I've been using hard limiting on my voice, and it sounds great! It really seems to jump out!

I was referring to overall the overall mixing of the session. I have several plugins, including the DB stuff. I'm spending my free time just trying several settings (getting closer to what I'm looking for.)

Once again, thanks alot!!!

Danny

[ProductionBoy]

Hey Guys!
Just thought I would jump in and say that I just got Killer Hertz III the other day and I think It's Fantastic! It works for a CHR station but is perfect for Rock and Alt. Plus, if you need beds, I'd highly suggest Breakout Dynamix- Cool, Funky, Very Euro-Dance if you're into that.

Also on the topic of compression for voice: I've been using some Mastering software called Izotope Ozone. You can download a demo at www.izotope.com. (http://www.izotope.com.) It's, of course, mastering software but it works great on vocal tracks alone.

[Nashville Ed]

Hi All, I just joined this forum. I'm a full time Audio Visual Engineer-Manager.

I also pull a part time stint at local radio. The group was just purchased by Cumulus.

I was working full time radio in Atlanta for the last 10 years. I left Atlanta in search of greener pastures and a chance to be back "home" in Tennessee.

[Sonic Valley]

Welcome guys and happy holidays!

ProductionBoy, it's nice to see someone intergrating some mastering software tools in radio production. I've been trying to find a programmer who will help me with a voice plug. It's along the lines of the Waves Audio Track.

Nashville Ed, Welcome aboard my freind.

[Nashville Ed]

I have not produced a lot of liners/sweepers. I tend to produce more commercials both in house and a few agency spots.

As far as Production elements go, for speed the Library stuff gets used. I have produced my own elements.

I did a BellSouth regional agency spot, all the elements were original. The add agency did not want to risk any additional 'needle drop' fees, other than the one for the symphony music bed.

[Flame22000]

Wow, cool... I'm new to the radio biz, and it's nice to see a forum like this!

Kelly

[snarfdudes]

OK.....since this is for radio prod...

with 10+ years in radio prod, most recently as production manager at a 2 station operation (until management thought they knew my job better then me...well...I won't say anymore then that) I can do spots very well, but I want to brush up on the voice imaging thingy....

check out my demo site:
www.geocities.com/scottsnailham (http://www.geocities.com/scottsnailham)

I like the basic imaging demo there...it's OK, but I want to get a bit more fancy. specifically, those beat sweepers and i've heard stutters that pitch up and down. i'm using CEP. have access to SAW plus if I need it.

the big question is.....how do I do it??? can anyone point me in the right direction?? I get the Radio and Production CD on a regular basis (www.rapmag.com FYI) I hear this stuff, I wanna give it a try. hell, i'm creative enough to do it, just a matter of showing me how...

thanks for any and all assistance.

[snarfdudes]

OK.....since this is for radio prod...

with 10+ years in radio prod, most recently as production manager at a 2 station operation (until management thought they knew my job better then me...well...I won't say anymore then that) I can do spots very well, but I want to brush up on the voice imaging thingy....

check out my demo site:
www.geocities.com/scottsnailham (http://www.geocities.com/scottsnailham)

I like the basic imaging demo there...it's OK, but I want to get a bit more fancy. specifically, those beat sweepers and i've heard stutters that pitch up and down. i'm using CEP. have access to SAW plus if I need it.

the big question is.....how do I do it??? can anyone point me in the right direction?? I get the Radio and Production CD on a regular basis (www.rapmag.com FYI) I hear this stuff, I wanna give it a try. hell, i'm creative enough to do it, just a matter of showing me how...

thanks for any and all assistance.

[snarfdudes]

whoops....sorry....didn't think this posted the first time...

[ProductionBoy]

Well, Nice to see that this forum is getting HOT!

Snarfdudes has a great question about how to make all those cool sweepers with stutters and stuff. I'm not a master at this sort of thing but I've been trying to do it on CEP and Protools (Our friend DaveDiamond may be able to help us out better- his stuff sounds great!)

The easiest thing to do is to match your station's call letters and frequency to a cool beat. Get your Voiceover guy (or Girl) to say it very slow and sapce it our (for instance- Say 96.1 KLPX would be said "Ninety.....Six...Point ...One.....K.....L....P....X") This way it's very eay to match it over a hardcore 4/4 beat in a sweeper or a power intro of a song. I could post a sample of some of the stuff I've done to give you a better idea of what I'm talking about.

Of course, this may be elementary stuff to a lot of you guys, but it's good info to share.

Also, check out my station's website at www.channel4fm.com (http://www.channel4fm.com) and listen to us live on the web- you might catch some of my production work!

[ProductionBoy]

Just checked out snarfdudes demo- Nice one! Sounds like you already know what I'm talking about...Any other suggestions?

[snarfdudes]

never mind what I posted......I figured it out for myself.....

[snarfdudes]

thanks for checking out folks!!!! and the comments....

what started this whole thing off was the kid who took my job, CAN do all this stuff, so about time to teach an old dog new tricks...I got a mp3 from a contact in the same city that I worked and he sent me the new ID's....I can't argue the fact that this kid knows his stuff...of course, he probably doesn't have a life and is naive enough to get paid squat and do everything that management tells him (it was a very high volume station, and with imaging and music dubbing on top of that with no help for 2 stations, I don't envy him!!)

that aside, I have to get up to speed. I'm embarrased to say that I used to think that it's complicated and difficult. YES it can be complicated, the more SFX, the more it's complicated, but it's not difficult, just very tedious. the imaging on my site is a older one. I just cut a new one for a community station I volunteer with using my own set of pipes (which admittingly, is on the first one anyways) and I did what was suggested...saying each letter of the calls, panning, flange, phase a bit and drops, not to mention the "pitched up stutter" that I was wondering about. e-mail me at snarfdude@hotmail.com if you want to hear it...about 243k, at least until I have a chance to post it on the demo site....

my main personal page is located at:
www.geocities.com/snarfdudes (http://www.geocities.com/snarfdudes)

with the snarfdudes audio insanities link within the lotsa audio catagory....my mind can be really sick and twisted...hehehehe

[snarfdudes]

just listening to channel 4 right now...stream is very strong and excellent quality on my 56k dialup...a fair distance around the globe....8 hours difference 8 am there...midnight here in Halifax, Nova Scotia Canada...web came work good....do I see a sennheiser 421 in MCR???? and a digicart system-sonifex??? hello over there in dubai

[Sonic Valley]

Hey Snarf! Cool Page! I have a radio demo and am sort of new myself to radio. The wife has more experience...she's on air here in Halifax on MRG (the Q, C100, Kixx and Sun)

Maybe I'll post it and see what you think. I have one of the Q producers going over it as I'm applying to MRG.

[snarfdudes]

I know!!!! well about your wife anyways...hehehehehehe...

vaguely remember her joceline englund days overnight at Q.....you actually may have a chance to get in with that advantage. I would consider it myself, but metro radio is far too cliquey to get into...both at MRG and at MBS (I know MRG last I heard has 4 producers as it is, MBS 2) I was with MBS halifax on and off for 15 years, a good experience overall but I won't post the rest of the story here...then it was off to "the other place" which was hell, but very much a learning experience and a confidence builder in my professional ability and personally as well...it was time to leave when I did...

I am proud to say i've worked with virtually every major broadcast audio format of the 20th century....from the early days of cutting everything to 16 inch transcription discs (which I can easily play back and have some 300 of my own, including some cut in halifax in the 1930s and 40's) to 1/4" analog tape...have 3 machines...including a clone of a ampex 351 I got for nothing and of course broadcast carts(anyone remember those???)...to today's minidisc, DAT mp2, and mp3, and CDR. I have pretty much a machine (player if not recorder) for everyone of the above formats (except for DAT...anyone got a spare machine they wanna give away??? hahahaha) so this place looks like a broadcast museum to a degree. have a couple vintage mics...altec 639a, RCA Bk5b, EV 665, western electric 630, EV 635, and my main voice mic is a EV757. they all work, and work well, though cosmetically they could use some work.

I did transfer/restoration work for MBS halifax last year, mastering some 200 jingles for the CHNS 75th anniversary broadcast...most of the tapes were original stock from the 50's 60's and 70's (the 50's stuff on scotch 111) and were given to me 4 years ago for safe keeping. the tapes still sound fantastic given their age, and made the ampex clone shine when I used it to do the transfers to the PC. cleaned up using DC LIVE, as well as some EQ tweaking when necessary...

I've been playing around with audio for 20 years....start with a shoebox tape recorder...and went from there...still will even if i'm out of the biz for my main income.

[musicradio1]

Hey Snarfdudes, interesting to read your words - I've spent the last 10 years doing everything to keep pace with advances in technology. Today, and after reading your post, I realise I'm looking around for the nostalgia and building BACK into my digital studio environment the studer/revox tape deck, the DAT, the MD and (you'll laugh) the cart machines got plugged back in yesterday and fired those classic jingles on the first push of the big green button!

I'm interested therefore in your 200 jingle-restoration. If you'd like to get a hold of literally hundreds more, then I'd be happy to trade. Please do email me, and remember - radio was made to be fun!!

[snarfdudes]

"Hey Snarfdudes, interesting to read your words - I've spent the last 10 years doing everything to keep pace with advances in technology."

well for me, it was a necessity....like most out there....

Today, and after reading your post, I realise I'm looking around for the nostalgia and building BACK into my digital studio environment the studer/revox tape deck, the DAT, the MD and (you'll laugh) the cart machines got plugged back in yesterday and fired those classic jingles on the first push of the big green button!

I am laughing..I'm actually influencing someone on "retro thinking" hehehehehe...which is nice, as for too long I'm usually thought of as the weird one for collecting and playing with all this stuff..people make fun when they don't understand you I guess. I dare to say I left out cassettes, and Vinyl 45's and even a 8 track player kicking around here somewhere....as for carts, the station I left was doing renovations...they were not paying OT, so I went for gear...better then nothing. I have a ITC 3D here, I started out plugging carts into these things, so it's great to have. have about 300 or so carts...and hell, sometimes, i'll just sit for an hour here at home, and roll the carts to veg...maybe yap and go silly, good thing it isn't recorded...hehehe.

time for the thorough equipment list FYI and anyone who's curious. most of which I saved from the trash, or bugged an engineer for:

REELS:

AMPEX 351 MONO Clone (audio tek inc) with inovonics 375 record amp.

ITC 750 modified for stereo by me (needs a bit of work on the record amp, plays back fine)

TEAC 3300S- stereo 2 track 7.5/15IPS
TEAC A-4300 1/4 track 3.75/7.5 IPS

TT's

Technics Sp15 with 16 inch Microtrak Tone Arm and Russco Preamp

Mccurdy CH-12 (rumblemaster) with 12 inch gray tonearm and Russco preamp

CARTS:

ITC 3D STEREO Playback
GATES CRITERION Mono Playback (can handle 30 min carts)

Audicord E series stereo recorder (gotta work on it...problems with not recording 1 k cue tone automatically properly)

CD PLAYERS:

technics SLP150 single consumer CD player
Realistic CD5400 consumer CD player
(both modified for wired remote start)

CASSETTE:
realistic consumer SCT-74

MD

sony MZR-37 portable

MICS:

EV 757
RCA BK5B
ALTEC 639A
EV 635a
EV 665

PROCESSING:
UREI LA-4 compressor
GE BA9-B Tube compressor/limiter (needs to be recapped. can anyone provide a source for a manual/schematic for this???? saved it from the dumpster...no info..)

CONSOLES:

LPB S-13B rotary pot 8 channel 24 input works well.

COLLINS 212Z1 remote 4 channel mixer (1st one that was transistor circa 1956)

REMOTE:
UREI Report L MONO 1/2 track Reel Deck.

ok, these are my "toys", not for sale. they all work well, except where noted...i've just been lazy to play techy to fix em.(but guess who gets to wire them all together and make it all work??? not bad for no formal training..it's out of necessity..who else is gonna do it???) I'm burning mainly to CDR these days, but it's good to have these resources considering a large amount of reels, discs and other stuff i have kicking around, and sometimes it's just fun and creative to use the vintage gear, and i'm glad to have what I do, because looking at the prices on e-bay, I sure as hell couldn't afford what I have by buying it.

new technology can make things easier, but those of us who started with their hands on real gear often unique to radio, like the nostalgia I guess. we should preserve it in our own way, because it's quickly disappearing...now time to plug in a cart and play it after saying that...the go go's will do...

"I'm interested therefore in your 200 jingle-restoration. If you'd like to get a hold of literally hundreds more, then I'd be happy to trade. Please do email me, and remember - radio was made to be fun!!"

tell that to the accountants, and the middle management that think otherwise. been there done that, but to work effectively, and as a team, god, you have to. I was watching ET yesterday and Jann Carl was doing a standup promo for a feature on GMA, with charlie gibson and diane sawyer, and they kept screwing up her takes purposely...throwing paperballs, putting up signs, whatever they could...it's was great!!! and ET left it in. That kind of natural playfulness used to be in radio, but it's been lost on a large degree, due to the bean counters. we really need it back.

jingle trades??? sure. you also might contact the society for radio jingles and tunes in holland. it's a recognized repository for jingles all over the world, supposed by jam, TM century and many others. I forget the website now, but I contributed a few years ago with some of these I have...stupid me, I should send them the CD comp I did.

anyways, did I miss your e-mail???? didn't see it here. feel free to e-mail me at:

snarfdude@REMOVETHISFIRSThotmail.com

don't need the spam, so you know what to remove.

[snarfdudes]

oh...yes, I should say that among all that analog gear there's a PC (SB LIVE soundcard..for now anyways..i'm on a budget!!)...running various audio utilities including Cool Edit Pro 1.2...analog IN mainly for me is more practical obviously.

[snarfdudes]

DUH SD the moron,(DOH!!) realized how to get ones e-mail here AFTER I posted things.....

will e-mail you soon...

[snarfdudes]

as sort of a apology for posting all this blasted messages....hehehehehe

GO HERE FOR FREE SFX (Me and my Minidisc Recorder!!)yeah....it IS a shameless plug...
http://members.tripod.com/~s_snailham/FREESFX.html

I'm, working on a CD off and on for about 3 years now (almost have enough track to consider selling it)....had an offer to buy my library outright after someone came across this site..guess i'm doing something right...

[musicradio1]

Hey, I want to thank snarfdude for doing a swap on jingles - a cool guy!

[SeanCaldwell]

two sites for some cool effects that are under $1k
www.omegaproductions.com (http://www.omegaproductions.com)
Toli has some great effects packages priced under $500.

someone I know very well just came out with a new package called megabytes3. www.megabytes3.com (http://www.megabytes3.com) It's in use at Z100, Q100, Hot 100 and quite a few others...hot CHR stuff. A bit more technology based than Killerhertz, and half the price. Licensed to stations only.

Great board. Hope everyone is well. They can cut and cut, but production people will survive! Sean

[Producers Never Sleep]

If you want an AWESOME, Kick-Ass, Cutting Edge, Imaging Library...Let me tell you about the latest from
Omega Productions..Called Noise 3...Ya Know, I'm really not one for buying Libraries..But after hearing the Noise 3 Demo...WOW!!
and I had no idea that Noise 3 is on Such Legendary Stations such as K-Rock, NY; KLOS, LA; CKG in Chicago; and in U.K. on the Galaxy-FM Network...You Audio freaks really gotta check out the demo at www.omegaproductions.com/sfx/ (http://www.omegaproductions.com/sfx/)