I have an off the wall question, but I was hoping someone might could help me with this. I was wondering if there are any "clues" to help identify when a broadcast is voice tracked as opposed to live.
Tia!
Keith
Tia!
Keith
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Voicetracking Question
- Thread starter keithneese
- Start date
In the early days of automation it was much more obvious. Today the equipment is much more capable/flexible, and the people who do voice tracking are also quite capable and flexible. Smaller market radio is more likely to be obvious when automated. They don't spend on the very best equipment, and often do not spend for the very best talent... though there are some really, really good voice trackers in some small markets who just want to be in their favorite town so they don't leave for the big city and the big paycheck.
Some clues: No exact time, temp or request line is ever mentioned. No live request calls are aired, or if they are, they do not mention local landmarks, current weather or current events. Dead air between songs or between music segments and commercial breaks… where a voice track should be but isn't. Heck, I've heard stations where the announcer was mentioning songs that hadn't played; the order of the voice tracks must have gotten jumbled. But it went on for about 20 minutes of breaks!
Thanks for all the answers!
If you can tell, it's being done wrong. But Zack is right - you can't give out the exact time on a VT cause the top of the hour sync window is around 3-4 long. Requests and emergent weather issues are harder to do too - but can be done. But, if you are relevant, local, entertaining, AND you cut the tracks the same day - it's virtually impossible to tell a voice track from a live jock.
the marv said:
Not necessarily.. It's possible with nexgen I know to wire up a weather probe and then record temp breaks and have those run with the weather..
so VT weather plays "tomorrow high of 85" <vt temp> "right now it's 72 at WXX FM" <jingle> <song>
Each talent records temp breaks for the typical range of weather and those are told to air when that talent is scheduled to be on air.
When I was in Dothan, I would VT the first and last hour of my show. Then do 4p-6p live. I would give temps. "Sunny, hot and 91...here's Tim McGraw". (It's not a stretch to look at the weather forecast and make an educated guess)
Outside of the morning show, the relevance of the time is almost nill. At the top of the hour you can get away with: "It's 4 o'clock!" even if it's 4:02. People aren't thinking, "4:02?! I'm going to be late for work!".
I know plenty of other jocks will bank requests and then play them back when the song comes up. "96.9 The Big Dog, that was Blake Shelton, "CAN I HEAR THE NEW ONE FROM RASCALL FLATTS?"...right up the post. If you put in the effort, then the listener will never know.
Speaking of: It's not that DJ's are trying to deceive the listener. It's a man-power issue. It's the state of the economy and of radio as a whole.
Back in the day, before computers or automation, you had to have a human being in the radio station. Now, most jocks have secondary duties, and voice-tracking is the ONLY WAY they can finish up their busy work. For example, in Dothan, I was Chief Engineer + IT guy + Afternoon host. It would have made for a very long day, had I had to spend an hour prepping and then 4 hours in the studio.
Outside of the morning show, the relevance of the time is almost nill. At the top of the hour you can get away with: "It's 4 o'clock!" even if it's 4:02. People aren't thinking, "4:02?! I'm going to be late for work!".
I know plenty of other jocks will bank requests and then play them back when the song comes up. "96.9 The Big Dog, that was Blake Shelton, "CAN I HEAR THE NEW ONE FROM RASCALL FLATTS?"...right up the post. If you put in the effort, then the listener will never know.
Speaking of: It's not that DJ's are trying to deceive the listener. It's a man-power issue. It's the state of the economy and of radio as a whole.
Back in the day, before computers or automation, you had to have a human being in the radio station. Now, most jocks have secondary duties, and voice-tracking is the ONLY WAY they can finish up their busy work. For example, in Dothan, I was Chief Engineer + IT guy + Afternoon host. It would have made for a very long day, had I had to spend an hour prepping and then 4 hours in the studio.
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