Apr 22, 2008 09:22 pm After reading the piece a second time, I think a more appropriate title for the thread would be "How radio and music are killing each other."
How radio and music are killing each other
Posted on Apr 22, 2008 08:53 pm
Herb Utsmelz
Ne'er ate 'er
Member Since: Apr 05, 2006
...is something similar to what television did to radio. This article is not for audiophiles with weak stomachs.
Sigh
www.omniaaudio.com/tech/mastering.htm
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Apr 22, 2008 09:22 pm After reading the piece a second time, I think a more appropriate title for the thread would be "How radio and music are killing each other."
Apr 22, 2008 10:05 pm Wow, thanks for sharing that one. That clears up a lot of what I am hearing. Coupled with the diminished frequency range of the FM bandwidth, it makes perfect sense.
Apr 22, 2008 10:29 pm And then my youngest son wonders why I don't listen to the local metal station on the radio in the car. Yet I can put the CD's on of the same music. I did explain it to him and think he understands.
I've been aware of this for years. And as it is stated in the article todays CD's that are subject to the loudness wars are way out of line when that stuff is turned onto them.
Another reason I only listen to one station. A public radio station known as The Current. They don't twist the dials up like most stations do. They actually believe the music should have some life left in it.
Another reason I hate corporate radio. They just have to be the biggest and loudest. Doesn't matter if they are the most annoying.
Thanx bunches Herb, no my dander is up and the hair on my back is standing on end again. :-)
Apr 22, 2008 10:50 pm I'm with you Noize. Between the moronic, constant commercials, the mega-mush processing, and the personality wars, I have only PBS stations programmed. To be honest, it doesn't make me angry at all. They all play the same five songs that I don't care for amyway, and I don't have to listen to some moron screaming I ate a joes! It changed my life! Obviously.
Apr 22, 2008 11:31 pm Destroying the signal was nothing new twenty-five years ago when I was in radio. I remember looking up at the meters on the FM Optimod processor in disbelief. The needles hovered and fluttered at about -2 dB and never dropped below that, unless the air was totally dead.
When I record liners for radio, I normalize to -1 dB and use no compression or limiting, because I know the station will handle - heh - the rest. I suspect that the PD at the station I usually work for compresses them before he puts them on the air anyway.
Noize, you're right on with PBS. NPR has the same mindset. The folks in charge really do care about quality, and haven't fallen into the common crap trap.
Compressor BEWARE!
Apr 22, 2008 11:35 pm Oh and Noize, thanks for changing the thread title.
Apr 23, 2008 09:02 am Mr. Herb,
Ok you've been on the inside. What would you recomend for general directions in regard to mastering for radio? I got the double kill gig in regard to compressed sound for sure, but I would also suspect a pretty big frown in eq would be necessary as well to match the bandwidth of FM and to dodge having the ends of the frequency spectrum being basturdized by audio equipment designed to be loud rather than have any consideration of content.
Apr 23, 2008 09:56 am It's articles like this that make me glad I'm drawn towards creating music with little-to-no appeal for the general population, thus eliminating the "need" to cater to ridiculous self-imposed "standards" that the pop music industry have cornered themselves into.
On a related note, I feel that radio isn't killing music, it's killing itself. Anything that takes peoples' focus away from sh*tty mass-produced crap and forces them on a path of finding their own true music is a good thing in my book! For some reason, the general population is convinced that music is simply background noise for the ride to work, with commercials thrown in for fun. As we all know, this is, in fact, EXACTLY what radio is! It is programmed with the SPECIFIC INTENT of keeping as many people as possible from getting angry enough to switch the station, to make sure they hear as many advertisements as possible per-hour.
CD's don't have ads.
Real music isn't on the radio.
Free your ears!
(end rant)
Apr 23, 2008 10:22 am Spoken like a true musician Mr. Anarchist! Yup, and as you noted that is what non-musicians want, or all they know, as if there is a difference. Hell, if you don't distort the hell out of a master, half the public will think there is something wrong with it. They know good! They done did hear it on the radeo!
Apr 23, 2008 12:07 pm Walt, I'm not sure there's any one answer, but I suppose I would recommend flat EQ. I record my liners flat. You'd want it to sound as natural as possible, without it being too dissimilar to the rest of the fare.
<<<throws hands up in air
Apr 23, 2008 12:13 pm Good point. It really isn't about sounding good, it's about sound "like".
Apr 23, 2008 03:10 pm Here's a ten minute section of audio from our local "Drive 105," straight off the air.
My quick visual analysis concluded an average dynamic range of about 2 dB. Yippeeehaaa.
Apr 23, 2008 03:19 pm That is discusting! Can you plot an overall frequency patern of the mess?
Apr 23, 2008 03:41 pm 
The spike at 19 kHz is subcarrier leakage. Cheap ghetto blaster.
Apr 23, 2008 04:20 pm 
Fairly typical stereo phase, at least.
Apr 23, 2008 08:02 pm OMG! That's prue blastisimo noise!
Cute..."Cheep gheto blaster"
I have never seen anything like that.
Apr 23, 2008 09:30 pm Herb, we used to have a Drive 105. Then the crop. guru's nixed it into oblivion.
And speaking of NPR The Current is actually not PBS it is MPR which is part of NPR really. It is all funded by the listeners. I'm a sustaining member since the station came on the air. Its like locked in to a specific amount per month. I'm also part of the member challenge fund. The studio donates a rather large sum of cash that member must reach a certain goal and the cash is then put in the kitty. I joined forces with another studio this last drive to make a rather huge challenge and it was matched in 2 hours by several smaller studios. Pretty cool to see the effect that little indy station has had on the local music scene.
And your welcome Herb. How did you know it was me? Just a guess?
Apr 23, 2008 09:46 pm "Drive (add approximate frequency here)" is, of course, not a new concept. It goes with The Zoo, Jack-FM, and all the other cliche marketing shticks.
I guessed it was you because you seemed to be the on-duty administrator. On the ball, as usual.
Apr 23, 2008 10:47 pm I'm wit ya on the supporting NPR. Good friend mans phones for them. I done got me a "Bone Conduction" T shirt even one year!
Apr 24, 2008 03:47 pm I pretty much stopped listening to music on the radio for a while. I just went straight to NPR or BBC.
I have satellite radio in my car now, and though the squish is still there (annoying), there are a few stations that play very cool stuff ("deep cuts" kinda kidney...album tracks rather than just the singles). The novelty is hearing something like "Pictures of Home" from Machine Head rather than "S.O.T.W" for the billionth time.
Apr 24, 2008 03:49 pm Quote:
Here's a ten minute section of audio from our local "Drive 105," straight off the air.
Just wrong.
Can you email them the link to the HRC tips section....."how to use a compressor"?
Apr 25, 2008 10:17 pm Yep, my head unit is satellite ready. I just need to get me a subscription. But as long as The Current is playing stuff I like and not playing the same crap as the corp. radio stations I am very happy. Besides, with about 3000 CD's to choose from I really don't care if I listen to commercial radio on any format other then The Current.
Apr 25, 2008 11:34 pm How's the fidelity of satellite radio systems nowadays? The last time I heard a demo (Sirius), most of the stations sounded like low bitrate mp3.
We always take prerecorded media on the road with us, as radio stations fade quickly in the Rocky Mountain time zone.
We take a lot of classic radio recordings. For those interested,, check out www.reelradio.com/. You can download hundreds of old air checks from some of the legends of radio. Noize, I think you in particular would appreciate them. A one year subscription is $13, and it's well worth it.
Apr 26, 2008 10:28 am Why not just tune into the static between the channels?
Apr 26, 2008 11:44 am You're darn tootin it effects the cd's we by there Willbarry. Sorry, I got the full version via subscription before you cut it down to 3:05 :)
Got a stark expamle the other night. We decided to do a few covers for a benifit and two of the songs were "The animal I've become" sorry paid little attention to auhor, and "Mustang Sally" as done by ZZ Top. Holy crap! Ole ZZ let er fly no squish. Damn does it sound good! Now the other, good grief, the whole bottom end is "infered". Hell, the whole thing is infered.
Apr 27, 2008 07:28 pm Herb, that is a gold mine for certain. I'm gonna have to make some time to browse through that stuff. There is a Dan Ingram one that is freshly restored that I would love to hear. I'm gonna have to cough up the 12 bucks I guess. I'm sure it will be well worth it. He was one of my idols back then as his show was pretty killer.
Man Herb, I think you've really dated the both of us with that site.
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