November 2006 RAP
November 2006 Highlights
Production 212: No Static At All
By Dave Foxx
Any regular reader of this column knows that I am a major proponent of
the use of compression in production. I’ve written at length about
compressing voice tracks, effects and even compressing the end product. One
thing you will note though is I have never advocated the compression of
music, particularly hit music that plays within promos or commercials.
Interview: Brendan O'Driscoll, 96 & 103FM, Cork, Ireland
By Jerry Vigil
The RAP Interview continues its journey across the Pond with our first
visit to Ireland, a country where pirate radio once ruled not so long ago,
and commercial radio is still evolving. Brendan Driscoll heads up the
Production Department at 96 and 103 FM in the city of Cork, Ireland’s 2nd
largest city. We get the scoop on everything from pirate radio in Ireland to
mandatory 9-minute caps on hourly commercial loads to Ireland’s advertising
watch-dog, the Advertising Standards Authority. Be sure and check out some
of Brendan’s excellent work on this month’s RAP CD.
Test Drive: Edirol R09 Wave/MP3 Recorder
By Steve Cunningham
It has been awhile since this feature looked at the state-of-the-art in
portable recorders, and much has changed. As with computers, portable
recorders are smaller, they sound better, and have more features than were
available just a couple of years ago. This month’s case in point: The
Roland/Edirol R09 portable recorder, which records 16-bit, 24-bit, or
MP3-format digital audio, has built-in stereo mics, connects to your
computer via USB for file transfer, and fits in your shirt pocket. It looks
to be perfect for client interviews, recording stuff for podcasts, and even
for acquiring sound effects in the field. But is it really perfect?
Feature: Your Station's (ceiling) Fan
by Neil Holmes
My daughter and I were having a pillow fight in her bedroom. We got
carried away and thwack! A pillow whacks the ceiling fan. Cuh-thunk
cuh-thunk cuh-thunk. Now the ceiling fan, a four blade, has one twisted and
bent. Here’s the thing: no matter how hard you try, you can’t get it back in
balance. While on the phone the next day with a frustrated AE, she was
lamenting the lack of respect between sales and the air staff. They rely on
each other, but her sales manager keeps alienating the air staff with
comments like "without us you wouldn’t have a job." Then my daughters
ceiling fan started spinning in my head - Cuh-thunk cuh-thunk cuh-thunk. I
couldn’t help but think of the radio station as a ceiling fan.
Notes Off the Napkin: Constipatus Cerebrus
by Andrew Frame
A sucking chest wound. It’s not a good sound. Very similar to the sound
your brain makes when you’ve got a block. Days when you can’t write to save
your life. And trying to plow through is akin to appealing to reason with a
sixteen year old girl. It might not help that the cocktail napkin that
contains the "copy notes" is pretty marginal, too. So, instead of going
through, let’s go around.
Q It Up: The RAP Network Speaks! - Do You Use
Workstation Templates?
Q It Up: Workstation Templates: In a recent Production
212 column, Dave Foxx described how he uses Pro Tools project templates to
save time. If you use templates, regardless of your workstation, tell us
about them. How many do you have and what are they used for? Take one of
those templates and describe it in detail — number of tracks, what the
tracks are for, effects and plugins on specific tracks, etc. Feel free to
elaborate on the subject and give us your thoughts on using templates in
radio production.
Feature: The Home Studio - An Update
by Craig Jackman
I just had the chance to upgrade my home studio, and just like before I
got to do it cheap. Best thing is, it now works even better than it did
before. It all started with my in-laws. They found out that my daughter was
going to a new school next year and would probably benefit from a new
computer. Our old computer was a dog’s breakfast of my family’s leftovers
and spare parts from hither and yon. We’d had it for so long it was no doubt
completely infested with spyware and many different viruses. The hard drives
were too small at about 6GB between the two, and the sound card took a dive
when we switched to XP. It was time to send it to a much deserved
retirement.
Radio Hed: Rip and Learn
By Jeffrey Hedquist
How do you get good? How do you consistently create breakthrough,
attention-grabbing, result-getting quota- busting radio commercials? Well,
some people can do it on their first ad and each attempt after that just
gets better. For the other 99.9999999% of us, the best thing to do is NOT to
try to create from the depths of our naivet. Why? Because we’re gambling
with other people’s money. Do that later, when you’ve got a track record.
...And Make It Real Creative:
By Trent Rentsch
If you’re in a situation where every day is a battle against time, your
co-workers, clients, your "crummy" production library, that crap copy
written by Lord knows who, a nagging sore throat... remember: some losses
are unavoidable. I’ve had three recently that have been hard to deal with.
The Monday Morning Memo: Getting What You Want
by Roy H. Williams
One of these days I’m going to calculate the odds of pulling away from a
drive-thru window and actually finding what was ordered in the bag. For 3
years I’ve been calculating the odds of getting extra lemon for your tea
when you add the phrase "lots of lemon, please" in America’s better
restaurants. Currently, this request will get you some small quantity of
extra lemon 47.4 percent of the time; usually a single, sad slice alongside
the sliver you were going to get anyway
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