voice-tracking question

First off, I should mention that I am using Scott Studios

What I'm wondering is is it possible to pot down the music when voice tracking.  I know you can pot up/down the hot keys, but can you change the levels on the songs themselves?  I was talking to a friend at another station a few years ago and he told me that they could at their station, but he was pretty new to radio at the time and could have been mistaken. 

Why I'm asking is because my engineer has said it's impossible, because the music we hear while voice tracking, isn't actually what hits the air, just a copy of it (which makes sense), but I think there must be a way.

What about with the other on air systems?

Randy.

I'll be the first to admit that I haven't used any of these systems for ages - but I think that your engineer is almost certainly correct. Most, if not all, voice tracking systems keep all of their component parts separate - so your voice parts are stored separately, and when the whole thing goes to air it controls itself (within parameters set by the station, obviously) as far as levels are concerned. Most of these systems have some sort of 'ducking' arrangement, so that when you talk it pots the music level down - but this will come back up automatically when you stop. The reason that you get a feed is so that you know when to stop!

I don't think that you can make any other sorts of changes to the overall output at all. It's absolutely normal for the station output to be processed by an Optimod, or some other box - generally to smooth all the level changes out, and maximise the 'loudness', and this means that any changes to levels that you made would automatically be compensated for anyway.

Unfortunately, you are part of a system - but in no way are you in control of it. C'est la vie...

Thanks Steve.  That's basically what I thought.   My friend who told me that they could do it at his station was probably mistaken.  He was probably just simply turning down the volume in his cans.  lol

I did figure something out however...with the segue button, you can manipulate the levels so you can talk over intros.   Takes a little more time, but it should do the trick.  I'm voice tracking this weekend so I'm going to look into it.

Randy. 

I did figure something out however...with the segue button, you can manipulate the levels so you can talk over intros.   Takes a little more time, but it should do the trick.  I'm voice tracking this weekend so I'm going to look into it.

That would make a lot of sense - well, it would to me anyway!

I don't know about Scott Studios (Google) automation system, but in iMediaTouch's Voice tracking program they give you little level markers (similar to theose in AA's multitrack view) to adjust the levels of the songs with especially the intro section. Once you record the voice track you can then manipulate the level markers on the song and save the changes. These changes only effect it at time of playout of both the voice track and the song. It is NOT permenant to the song's volume. I love this becaause if you have a really hot song, you can change it's volume under your voice track just as you would on-air. Yes typically the on-air processing takes care of most of this, but some porcessors aren't as good at the voice part as others. Optimods are the best ones IMHO. Others like the Omia's don't ptocess the mono vocals of the voice track well. see image below and notice the little yellow dots.

Thanks to this thread I learned what I want to know.

One thing I used to do when voice tracking with Scott systems was to keep an eye on the song's level on the vu meter in the voice tracking software. If I saw the level was low, I would lower my mic level a bit and if the level was hot, I would raise my mic level. It really made a big difference when it hit the on air processing and sounded consistent on the radio.
Good luck!
John