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KRTH tweaks.

DoctorWu

DoctorWu

Since Jhani took over at the first of the year, there's been a series of slow but noticeable tweaks to KRTH's sound.

There's the reversion to an earlier, more Drake-ish jingle package (already noted here). I've also been hearing Bill Drake's vintage "And the hits... just keep on comin'!" liner dropped between songs during long sets. The music mix changes are, of course, evident. Last night I heard "Ventura Highway" and Rare Earth's "Get Ready", both missing from KRTH for a long time.

Today I noticed changes in the processing, too. the sound is more open and full, with a bigger bass presence and, it sounds to me, less overall compression - the horns and background vocals on Dionne Warwick's "Then Came You," for instance, are clearer and more definied, where they used to be buried pretty deep in the mud.

And I've also noticed stereo mixes creeping in on 60's era songs that were formerly mono on KRTH, like the Rascals' "It's A Beautiful Morning."

I'm liking the direction Jhani's taking. What does everyone else think?

- Doc
 
Jhani is very detail oriented. I'm not surprised he'd be tweaking the audio, adding stereo mixes, changing the cue points on song fades.

I'm hearing more disco in the mix. (I admit I didn't really listen to K-Earth before, so I may be late on the impressions.) I heard Earth Wind & Fire's "Fantasy" last night. I think I also heard Santana's "Black Magic Woman."
 
The audio stuff is great for audio freaks,but it doesn't mean
a damn thing to the average listener.Most consumers think MP3
is the absolute sound hallmark. They don't notice it,
they wouldn't know hi-fi from wi-fi. That said I'm glad that
the Drake formatics are back in.


> Jhani is very detail oriented. I'm not surprised he'd be
> tweaking the audio, adding stereo mixes, changing the cue
> points on song fades.
>
> I'm hearing more disco in the mix. (I admit I didn't really
> listen to K-Earth before, so I may be late on the
> impressions.) I heard Earth Wind & Fire's "Fantasy" last
> night. I think I also heard Santana's "Black Magic Woman."
>
 
I can assure you.... no audio processing changes have been made.... You're listening waaaaayyyyyy tooooooo closely!





> The audio stuff is great for audio freaks,but it doesn't
> mean
> a damn thing to the average listener.Most consumers think
> MP3
> is the absolute sound hallmark. They don't notice it,
> they wouldn't know hi-fi from wi-fi. That said I'm glad that
>
> the Drake formatics are back in.
>
>
> > Jhani is very detail oriented. I'm not surprised he'd be
> > tweaking the audio, adding stereo mixes, changing the cue
> > points on song fades.
> >
> > I'm hearing more disco in the mix. (I admit I didn't
> really
> > listen to K-Earth before, so I may be late on the
> > impressions.) I heard Earth Wind & Fire's "Fantasy" last
> > night. I think I also heard Santana's "Black Magic
> Woman."
> >
>
<P ID="signature">______________
Find Me If You Can</P>
 
> The audio stuff is great for audio freaks,but it doesn't
> mean a damn thing to the average listener. Most consumers think
> MP3 is the absolute sound hallmark. They don't notice it,
> they wouldn't know hi-fi from wi-fi.

Doesn't matter if they conciously notice it: eliminate the
compression, and eliminate fatigue...the stations just becomes
easier to listen to for a little longer...<P ID="signature">______________
but wait...there's more!</P>
 
Changes, yes. As much as everyone is giving them credit for, no.

Black Magic Woman is a charter member of the K-EARTH 300 club.

I've long had a theory that no four hour period goes by on the station without a Santana song being played, but I can only stand to listen to the station for about one set, so I can't verify.





> Jhani is very detail oriented. I'm not surprised he'd be
> tweaking the audio, adding stereo mixes, changing the cue
> points on song fades.
>
> I'm hearing more disco in the mix. (I admit I didn't really
> listen to K-Earth before, so I may be late on the
> impressions.) I heard Earth Wind & Fire's "Fantasy" last
> night. I think I also heard Santana's "Black Magic Woman."
>
 
> I can assure you.... no audio processing changes have been
> made.... You're listening waaaaayyyyyy tooooooo closely!
>
>
>
>
>
I wonder what's KRTH using for soundprocessing equipment at the moment?
 
> Since Jhani took over at the first of the year, there's been
> a series of slow but noticeable tweaks to KRTH's sound.
>
> There's the reversion to an earlier, more Drake-ish jingle
> package (already noted here). I've also been hearing Bill
> Drake's vintage "And the hits... just keep on comin'!" liner
> dropped between songs during long sets. The music mix
> changes are, of course, evident. Last night I heard "Ventura
> Highway" and Rare Earth's "Get Ready", both missing from
> KRTH for a long time.
>
> Today I noticed changes in the processing, too. the sound is
> more open and full, with a bigger bass presence and, it
> sounds to me, less overall compression - the horns and
> background vocals on Dionne Warwick's "Then Came You," for
> instance, are clearer and more definied, where they used to
> be buried pretty deep in the mud.
>
> And I've also noticed stereo mixes creeping in on 60's era
> songs that were formerly mono on KRTH, like the Rascals'
I like most of the changes in presentation so far. The return to the legal id at the top of the hour followed by the jock coming on live sounds so much better than before. I also like hearing a live personality right before the stopset rather than song-promo-stopset as most other stations do. Also the Bill Drake drop-ins add a nice touch.

I would, however, do something about the music. It's still way too repetetive. One weekend, between Friday and Sunday, I heard "Ooh Child" at least 5 times. On the way to work "Spill the Wine" was played in AM drive. I heard the same song in PM drive, the same day! I say instead of playing the same Stones songs over and over, how about "Mother's Little Helper" or "19th Nervous Breakdown"? It would be nice to hear "All I Need" or "You're My Everything" instead of the same Temptations hits over and over. Instead of only playing "I Want You Back" by the J5 play some of their other hits like "ABC" or "The Love You Save". KRTH could be a teriffic station. The jocks are great. The imaging is great. The overall presentation is great but they must do something to the MUSIC!!!!

Scott
> "It's A Beautiful Morning."
>
> I'm liking the direction Jhani's taking. What does everyone
> else think?
>
> - Doc
>
 
> I can assure you.... no audio processing changes have been
> made.... You're listening waaaaayyyyyy tooooooo closely!

Hmm - you sound like an engineer! :)

Well, you're right, I am listening more closely than usual. Funny how your mind'll do that to you.

- Doc
 
Audio freaks?

I'll argue with you a little bit there.

I remember for a while that "It Keeps You Runnin" by the Doobies was my favorite song. Loved it, turned it up loud when it came on (every hour and 45 minutes; this was 70's Top 40, y'understand).

Shortly thereafter I bought my first nice stereo and the first album I bought was - you guessed it - "Takin' It To The Streets". And I put on that cut... and it sounded different. I could hear percussion and details and drum kicks and -- stuff I'd NEVER heard on the radio.

I think there's a similar moment for everyone who listens to the radio. Maybe it's not as much of a slap-in-the-face as I had, but it's there, nonetheless. And folks wonder why their favorite songs don't sound as good on the radio. They don't know about overcompression, but they know they don't like whatever's going on.

- Doc

> The audio stuff is great for audio freaks,but it doesn't
> mean
> a damn thing to the average listener.Most consumers think
> MP3
> is the absolute sound hallmark. They don't notice it,
> they wouldn't know hi-fi from wi-fi. That said I'm glad that
>
> the Drake formatics are back in.
 
Don't get me wrong, I agree that the right processing
can help a bit,& too much can cause tuneout. You sound
like an audiophile, for my money about the only clean
station these days on FM is KJAZZ, I love it. But I learned
a long time ago a lot of people can't really even hear
stereo, much less high end hi-fi. Hence the emphasis
on booming bass today.


> > I can assure you.... no audio processing changes have been
>
> > made.... You're listening waaaaayyyyyy tooooooo closely!
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> I wonder what's KRTH using for soundprocessing equipment at
> the moment?
>
 
I'm no audiophile, just an ex-PD who hangs out with engineers way too much :)

- Doc

> Don't get me wrong, I agree that the right processing
> can help a bit,& too much can cause tuneout. You sound
> like an audiophile, for my money about the only clean
> station these days on FM is KJAZZ, I love it. But I learned
> a long time ago a lot of people can't really even hear
> stereo, much less high end hi-fi. Hence the emphasis
> on booming bass today.
 
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