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Sidebar to my rant: voice tracking at B 105.7

K

KayJayJay

Guest
Does anyone check what they've recorded before committing it to the server to air? Cases in point? A few months back I enjoyed a voice tracked shift from the weekend talent where every track sounded recorded complete with music and just enough delay to make it sound like a bad case of slap back reverb. Then last week when break after break during the midday shift was so buried under the music as to be unintelligible. Oh and Bernie...I remember a time when you'd have endlessly whined about someone not identifying the station in a jock break. Seems that sadly must not matter to you any longer.
 
You don't have to identify the station as much in a PPM world - no need to boost recall to get folks to write your calls into their Arbitron diaries.
 
Well aware of that thinking. Thank you.

Yet Sean, Ann and Eric still do. So...the person who was so demanding that everyone in the market follow his "exacting standards" years ago, now should get a pass for being lazy?
 
PTBoardOp94 said:
You don't have to identify the station as much in a PPM world - no need to boost recall to get folks to write your calls into their Arbitron diaries.
Click to expand...

Since the PPM also shows that listening is done in rather small bits, averaging around 15 minutes per incident, it is important to remind people "where to come back to". The techniques are a bit changed, but the need to give people a destination for future listening is possibly greater than in the diary world.
 
KayJayJay said:
Then last week when break after break during the midday shift was so buried under the music as to be unintelligible.
Click to expand...

Typically voice tracking isn't done together with the music. In other words, the voice tracks are recorded as files, and they are dropped by automation between the other elements. However, I don't know the exact details of the particular system at this station.
 
TheBigA said:
Typically voice tracking isn't done together with the music. In other words, the voice tracks are recorded as files, and they are dropped by automation between the other elements. However, I don't know the exact details of the particular system at this station.
Click to expand...

The sad fact of life these days. I was glad I experienced working in radio for a short while in the 80s, the end of the live DJ era. The pre-recorded drop-in breaks don't have the same excitement. But the economics of the current landscape almost dictate it. It could be better if DJs recorded their breaks accompanied by the ramps of the songs playing in one ear, but setting up such a system to do that would be time consuming. Not happening.
 
joebtsflk1 said:
The sad fact of life these days. I was glad I experienced working in radio for a short while in the 80s, the end of the live DJ era. The pre-recorded drop-in breaks don't have the same excitement.
Click to expand...

They can. Most of them do. It's not hard to do. In fact, even in the 80s, when you were on the air, it was not unusual for there to be pre-recorded drop-ins, like traffic and weather. Commercials are pre-recorded. Casey Kasem was prerecorded.

Having said that, depending on market and format, more than 70% of a typical broadcast day is still live and local, just as it was in the 80s. Just that the music isn't on disc, but hard drive. Make a visit to either of the country stations in Indy, and you'll see live DJs in the control room for the majority of the day.
 
Today's automation is capable of providing the fade and intro of songs in the tracker's headphones. I assume most use it, but obviously if a jock was getting drowned out by the music he/she didn't pay any attention.
 
And that's the rub. I understand the technology. I use the technology. It's not the least bit time consuming to play back and re-record if needed. And when I hear voice tracking done as badly as the examples I've referenced, I know that someone is being lazy. Call me out-of-touch, but I still expect better from the stations and persons discussed.

As for country radio live in the studio...only AM & PM drives are live in studio at FMS. Middays appears to be tracked from Dallas. Hank might be a bit better but I doubt JD is live in studio for a full 7 hours daily, nor is PD Fritz live for his full four hour shift. And as for the so-called "Big" 98.3, the third Country station in Indy, nothing local. Hardly anything close to "majority of the day" in all three cases.
 
Yet, for some crazy reason, they still leave the damned things on 24 hours a day.
 
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