Calling all producers/engineers on here! Can you help?????

[MARKEG]

Basically I've just been offered a radio show on Megapolis Radio in Moscow, Russia. It's a huge audience, pretty unbelievable - broadcasting to about 15 million ppl.I kid you not. This is pretty huge. Carl Cox actually did the last show but I will take over now every week.

I'd been looking to do my own show on this very site so this all ties in nicely but basically I now urgently need to get fine tuned tips and trick on recording a really pro radio show. I want to have my studio all set up perfectly and then just send the show to them every week.

I know about recording the whole this so that's no problem but I know nothing really about mics. What mic do I need? I need something to take away the p's and s's. Obviously this can't be a plugin cause the mic is live over the mix, so is there a special mic with some sort of screen designed for radio? Or so special radio mics exsist that do this automatically?

Then I need to know about reverb on the mic! I'm reckoning a nice short ambient reverb that makes my voice sound in a nice sexy place. What do you lot reckon?

Also, what would you all do about fader riding? Whenever I've done pirate I always remember just pulling down the volume ever so slightly each time I speak. But someone today mentioned sidechaining on the compressor. In theory this sounds really interesting. Does anyone know is this a standard way commercial stations work?

And also, would you compress your voice? This would surely help make it sound more powerful. I'm just thinking out loud here.

Anyway I'm sure there's more issues and if you know of any, I'd sooo appreciate your thoughts!

At the end of the day this will also help when we set up BOA Radio, especially as a I can then make a sort of 'list of things that will make your show sound more pro' for everyone.

Help me out here ppl! This is a huge thing for me ;)

[Evil G]

nice one!

i've heard of some people using the sidechain to automatically lower the music whenever you talk, but most radio dj's i know prefer to ride the fader themselves.

for your mic setup, check the dbx 376 or something similar. mic pre, compressor, de-esser, all in one unit.

and keep in mind that the radio station will probably be using a compressor of their own to maximize their signal going out, so don't compress your mix too much or it will come out sounding squashed to all hell.

[Barely Human]

You will need a decent mic, a condenser will be fine as long as you can set the polar patterns on it. You will also need a pop shield. You can buy these, a lot of people just use a pair of tights tho, and stretch them over a coat hanger.

For the ducking, in most cases, mixers used in radio have a ducking feature enabled to duck the music when talking, You could use a sidechain for this i suppose. I would add just a touch of compression to even your voice out, so when you speak quietly it is still the same volume as when you speak loudly. Remeber not to put your monitors too near to the mic, and dont have them loud at all. Most monitoring should be done through headphones. Make sure you can switch the mic off without a nasty pop aswell.

Mic technique is always going to be the key. Make sure you speak at it from a close distance, and always keep within the width of the polar pattern. Compression will help to smooth the levels out though.

[SlavikSvensk]

try this one

http://www.8thstreet.com/product.asp?ProductCode=8145&Category=Microphones

[rounser]

Do a search on google for "radio production" or "pirate radio" or "radio studio articles" and such. There's a tonne of information out there...I had some links but this page reloaded and they got lost. :P

[TechnoNRGKid]

I've heard a tad about sidechaining vocals.

Congrats on the Radio thing.

[FILTERZ]

try this one

http://www.8thstreet.com/product.asp?ProductCode=8145&Category=Microphones



400 quid though :shock:

[FIK]

Basically Also, what would you all do about fader riding? Whenever I've done pirate I always remember just pulling down the volume ever so slightly each time I speak. But someone today mentioned sidechaining on the compressor. In theory this sounds really interesting. Does anyone know is this a standard way commercial stations work?




This is usually done trough a talkover switch.
It just pulls down the volume of your music as soon as you talk into the mic, same like a compressor. I've had several mixers over the years and they all the talkover function, so I doubt u will get any difficulty finding one (maybe check your mixer, there might be one on there!)

[MARKEG]

yeah i got the allen and heath and i dont think it has it on. i've used alot of dj mixers in clubs over the years that have this talkover feature but it interests me more being able to set attack release and drop level. i think i will definitely try the sidechaining option.

anyway i went to sound control today and they recommended:

the se z3300a £225
and the focusrite voicemaster £310

now i don't know very much about all this but i have a dbx in the studio and i love it and i've definitely heard of shure. 'se' scares me and 'focusrite', well scares me too. what the hell should i do? i don't want to pay the earth but then again i don't want to compromise on quality. £500-£600 seems like the type of price i wanna pay for all this. actually £30 would be good hahahhaa.

no serious, what do you lot think?

[MARKEG]

also, that shure is an 'instrument' mic isnt it? that's what it says anyway..

[Barely Human]

I would look at an AKG C 414 B-XLS personally, or any other AKG 414..

[MARKEG]

well i've bought the dbx 376 cause i really trust dbx

let me check those mics out too!!! any other suggestions for mics? I don't wannna break the bank though cause this dbx wasnt cheap!!! hahaha

[MARKEG]

wow 400 quid. ermm.. well i don't really wanna spend that if i can help it but like i say i don't want to cut corners either.

[MARKEG]

http://www.akg.com/products/powerslave,mynodeid,186,id,219,pid,219,_language,E N.html

this one looked good. 300 quid. yeah i think 300 is a limit on this. what do you reckon guy or is there something better out there for 2-300 quid?

[messyfuture]

waves ultramaximizer+ has a setting for voice/broadcast

might be usefull to have a look at that so see what sort of compression settings you would need to be using

[RDR]

Get the focusrite... its quality stuff...especially as a vocal front end. For microphones a decent condensor such as a rode nt2. or perhaps an AKG c3000 would be good. Ducking your vocals is a necessity and gives the production a much more quality and produced feel. however you still need control over the master level, which you should have anyway.

[DotMatrix]

Remeber not to put your monitors too near to the mic, and dont have them loud at all. Most monitoring should be done through headphones. Make sure you can switch the mic off without a nasty pop aswell.

I'd always wondered about this. I was in a radio station the other day and they had it rigged up so that when ever the mic goes on the moniters turn off.

I thought it was really neat, basically when you want to talk you put the headphones on so you can hear the master out, click the mic on and presto total silence. Then when you finish talking the mike goes off the moniters come on and your free to mix away to your hearts content.

just thought I'd mention it cuz it's sort of on topic.

[MARKEG]

yeah i'm thinking get the track ready in my mixer headphones then switch my headphones to the overall output, then knock the monitors off.(i have to have the mic on the Mackie to add reverb cause I can't do that on the allen and heath DJ mixer). the the prob is, my headphone out volume on the mackie desk also controls the control room output. hmmm. i'd have ot knock them off at speaker on off switch i think.

i wonder how i would be able to sort it to get when the mic speaks the output cuts. hmmmm. this has something to do with a switch. the mic has has to somehow switch the output to say 'no'. and it must be timed too, otherwise, as soon as you stop speaking, bang it's on. perhaps quick attack and slow release - like MASSIVELY slow release. what would be able to do this? certainly a standard compressor couldnt. a gate perhaps???? ahhhhh but you've just said it's down to actually switching the mic on and off. wow. erm well then the switch of the mic controls the output switch. this must be a piece of hardware that enables this, i can't see a way this could be done without it. this is really interesting. if anyonwe has the answer, i'd love to know.

[Basil Rush]

yeah i'm thinking get the track ready in my mixer headphones then switch my headphones to the overall output, then knock the monitors off.(i have to have the mic on the Mackie to add reverb cause I can't do that on the allen and heath DJ mixer). the the prob is, my headphone out volume on the mackie desk also controls the control room output. hmmm. i'd have ot knock them off at speaker on off switch i think.

i wonder how i would be able to sort it to get when the mic speaks the output cuts. hmmmm. this has something to do with a switch. the mic has has to somehow switch the output to say 'no'. and it must be timed too, otherwise, as soon as you stop speaking, bang it's on. perhaps quick attack and slow release - like MASSIVELY slow release. what would be able to do this? certainly a standard compressor couldnt. a gate perhaps???? ahhhhh but you've just said it's down to actually switching the mic on and off. wow. erm well then the switch of the mic controls the output switch. this must be a piece of hardware that enables this, i can't see a way this could be done without it. this is really interesting. if anyonwe has the answer, i'd love to know.

You could do this with a foot switch or something quite easily. To be honest though if it's a pre-recorded show you could just overdub the talk ! :)

Also the quality or otherwise of the microphone is nothing compared to the quality of the room you record it in. You really want a close dead sound for that intimate DJ on the radio kind of vibe. If spend 400 quid on shortening and deadening the reverb in the room and a hundred quid on the Mic you'll have a far beter sound than if you'd spent 400 quid on the Mic and 100 quid on the room.

We're just in the process of rebuilding the vocal booth in the studio here at the moment ... it's going to be fantastic!

If you really want the Mic to duck the speaker volume then you'll want to do something like this:

Put a gate on the Microphone first, run the output of the Microphone to a compressor side chain, run the monitor mix through the compressor, high ratio low threshold, fast attack very slow release.

If your desk has midi mutes then a whole range of other automation options open themselves up ...

IF you need a seperate headphone volume control or a seperate volume control for the speakers an old DAT machine or something in record-pause mode usually works ...

[MARKEG]

wow gate first, then comp. hahaha i was nearly there!!! hehehe

this is brilliant thanks basil. ooh i can't wait to get this rolling next week. what a mission! hehe

[shpongled]

Basically I've just been offered a radio show on Megapolis Radio in Moscow, Russia. It's a huge audience, pretty unbelievable - broadcasting to about 15 million ppl.I kid you not. This is pretty huge. Carl Cox actually did the last show but I will take over now every week.

I'd been looking to do my own show on this very site so this all ties in nicely but basically I now urgently need to get fine tuned tips and trick on recording a really pro radio show. I want to have my studio all set up perfectly and then just send the show to them every week.

I know about recording the whole this so that's no problem but I know nothing really about mics. What mic do I need? I need something to take away the p's and s's. Obviously this can't be a plugin cause the mic is live over the mix, so is there a special mic with some sort of screen designed for radio? Or so special radio mics exsist that do this automatically?

Then I need to know about reverb on the mic! I'm reckoning a nice short ambient reverb that makes my voice sound in a nice sexy place. What do you lot reckon?

Also, what would you all do about fader riding? Whenever I've done pirate I always remember just pulling down the volume ever so slightly each time I speak. But someone today mentioned sidechaining on the compressor. In theory this sounds really interesting. Does anyone know is this a standard way commercial stations work?

And also, would you compress your voice? This would surely help make it sound more powerful. I'm just thinking out loud here.

Anyway I'm sure there's more issues and if you know of any, I'd sooo appreciate your thoughts!

At the end of the day this will also help when we set up BOA Radio, especially as a I can then make a sort of 'list of things that will make your show sound more pro' for everyone.

Help me out here ppl! This is a huge thing for me ;)

you know what would be cool...I'm not sure if it would work, but...have an eq preset set up that is basically where your voice sits when you talk normally (test it on a spec analyzer for various styles of talking), and have it do some subtractive eq on the track everytime you talk, that way your voice might be able to become part of the track more.
If you were to do that, you'd definitely want to compress your voice, so you could talk at a certain level easier I would think. Maybe sidechain it a bit too, use all of them subtely (sidechain, eq, compression) so maybe it would work the best.

[JamieBall]

I use an AKG S3000 for vocal stuff (and most other stuff too).

I used to work in a studio and I reckon, for your cash, this mic out-performs pretty much everything else in the price range and also sounds better than 1k mics etc.

You should be able to get one for about £150. Try this up against a shure or any competitor and I pretty much guarantee it'll nail 'em, regardless of what the spec says.

It'll capture every nuance of whatever you throw at it (careful about loud explosions, though, it's quite sensitive!)

All you need then is, as someone has already mentioned, the coathanger and tights attatchment. However, some stores will chuck in a pop shield anyway.

[tekkers]

well the radioshow sounds good however ya managed to record the mic..


i recently myself had to try and figure out the radioshow thingy - it was all pre recorded so just added mic talk when needed...just a simple shure c606 mic - looks kinda professional but not really! - i dont think ya need a mega mic not unless ya tryin to record singing or proper bbc4 radio play vocals... used abit of eq on ma voice - mostly some bass roll off - abit of hi boost for more air ....not tooo close and shouty at the mic - and some compression and reverb to try and sound less of a twat...

tracked it all out in acid - and for the radio ducking effect i'd pull down the volume of the music audio - makes it sound like its ducking and all that when ya just turnin the volume down abit....

waves l3 compressor on the whole thing...


it all sounded fine i thought - just couldnt stop sounding like a twat tho!


:shock:

[tocsin]

Hehe. Mic quality really doesn't matter that much for broadcasting. The frequency response of the good ole Shure SM50-57-58 is fine. Most of the time, for the recording purposes, it's normalization/compression to get the volume. Same with commercials.

BTW, Mark, just get a filter for the Ps and Shhh sounds and don't talk directly into the mic. (I'm talking about a real kind of screen filter, not a plugin).

At the same time, I'm reading that you are mailing them the show to play? If so, why couldn't you use software? You've got a multitrack recorder (either hardware or PC) right? Send the music equipment to one audio track and the vocals to another. It'll give you the ability to record the whole thing live and then fix the vocals later if any sound anamolies come up.