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Radio Chaos · Posted - Fri Apr 13, 2001 7:23 am

Hi there. I do alot of producing for the internet and radio and would be happy to help anyone out in those areas. Cheers!

Vance
Sonic Valley Productions (http://www.sonicvalley.com)
Radio Chaos (http://www.radiochaos.ca)
Radio Atlantica (http://www.radioatlantica.com)

kevin · Posted - Wed Apr 25, 2001 2:58 am

hi. i just need some advise in the preparation of audio for radio broadcast use.
what should be the steps for processing audio that would sound best for radio? whats the best eq setting for unedited audio, if any? i've heard many finished materials that sound so good, meaning, the music bed sounds loud, yet,every word is very much audible. how do they do it? i know these questions would probably make you laugh, but i surely need some good answers.thanks.

Edited by - kevin on 04/25/2001 03:09:51 AM

roverradio · Posted - Wed May 09, 2001 3:00 am

Kevin:

The best final processing I've heard comes from the L1 Ultramaximizer plugin - part of the Waves 3.0 bundle. It's awesome, and fairly idiot-proof to setup. It makes everything sound F A T!

Craig Jackman · Location: Canada

Easy Tiger, don't overdo it. Sure the Waves L1 makes everything sound huge. The problem is that when it gets sent out over the broadcast chain it's going to be multi-band compresssed then limited to within an inch of it's life anyway. If you want to check what I mean, run the same file through the L1 3 or 4 times and notice the diminshing returns and how is sounds progressively more lifeless and small.

If you are preparing something for radio broadcast, just make it sound good in your studio first, without running the entire finished product through heavy compression or limiting. That's your finished file. Then check the finished file by simulating the air chain compression by PREVIEWING it through heavy compression and limiting ... don't actually process it, just listen to it. Make any changes to your finished file that you see fit. If you're really the curious type, call up your favorite local station and ask for the Chief Engineer. Ask him what compression ratios an threshold settings he's using. Explain why you're doing it, and he'll likely fill you in.

As for EQ, if it sounds good to you on a couple of different systems, you don't need any special EQ to add. The nature of the multiband compression that the transmission chain adds is going to add a bit of EQ at the top and bottom anyway.

Chiefgunner · Posted - Wed May 09, 2001 4:39 pm

Amen Craig! And if I may ad, Practice, Practice, Practice.

radiosykes · Posted - Wed May 30, 2001 10:29 pm

Hey Kevin. Craig brought up some good points. Actually, chit chatting with your engineer would be a great start! It never hurts to know your stations processing. Regarding the final products, it all lies in the mix! Watch the levels of your music and element tracks. You don't want them to drown out the voices. If you want your voice tracks to cut through the mix try rolling off some of the low end (80hz and below transmits very poorly over the air). Depending on how bassy the voice is, i'll roll off anywhere from 100hz to 200hz. Also, try playing with the upper mids, maybe 3k-6k. I have a 4 band setup for one of our voices where i highpass him at 125hz and slightly boost the 3-6k range. Too much of the upper end can make things sound shrill though, especially when the multibrand compression kicks in so be careful. I never boost any more than 4db. The L1 is an amazing tool (I use it religiously) but like anything, when abused it can be a bad thing. Hehe. I use the L1 as the final step in my chain (eq, compression, gate, L1) just to level things out. IT RAWKZ!