WMJI Audio

[collegeDJ86]

I had some curiosity regarding WMJI, and stations in general, regarding music equalizing.

I'm not an audiophile by any stretch of the word, but a couple days ago, I was flipping through my presets on my stereo and stopped on WMJI when I heard Elton John's "Rocketman" (I think). Usually, when I hear Elton John on the radio, the piano is quite clear with a soft bass and maybe guitar. But on WMJI, it sounded to me like the low-mids were way boosted, causing some distortion that made the song sound funny to me.

I know WMJI is primarily oldies, and Elton John is usually heard on soft or classic rock stations. Is there much difference in the station eq settings between the different formats? And, with WMJI moving some of their playlist into more of the classic rock era, do they have to be concerned with adjusting their eq settings for some of those classic rock songs?

 

[talkers]

Oh yeah each station tweaks their processors and equalizers based on the format of that station. A rock station is going to set theirs differently than a CHR station, or even an AC station. When I rebuilt a station (with a rock/alternative format )I set the equalizer and Orban pretty much flat with the mids down a bit to give it a good CD sound to it, and people noticed and thought the signal was really clean for only having 28 watts ERP (it was a college station). If it was a CHR I would have probably cranked up the bass and highs and kept the mids flat.

> I had some curiosity regarding WMJI, and stations in
> general, regarding music equalizing.
>
> I'm not an audiophile by any stretch of the word, but a
> couple days ago, I was flipping through my presets on my
> stereo and stopped on WMJI when I heard Elton John's
> "Rocketman" (I think). Usually, when I hear Elton John on
> the radio, the piano is quite clear with a soft bass and
> maybe guitar. But on WMJI, it sounded to me like the
> low-mids were way boosted, causing some distortion that made
> the song sound funny to me.
>
> I know WMJI is primarily oldies, and Elton John is usually
> heard on soft or classic rock stations. Is there much
> difference in the station eq settings between the different
> formats? And, with WMJI moving some of their playlist into
> more of the classic rock era, do they have to be concerned
> with adjusting their eq settings for some of those classic
> rock songs?
>

 

[I_Know_Stuff]

The audio issues are created by the compression used in the Prophet "NexGen System".

When audio is recorded into Nexgen it's usually compressed and squashed.

Most college stations playing CD's sound better than the stations on NexGen.

 

[HHH]

Some old freinds who were/are associated with WMJI tell this story.

WMJI used to play directly from CDs. By the mid to late 90s they accumulated a huge library, probably the best oldies library on CD in the country. Then, in 1999, Clear Channel switched many of their stations--inclusing WMJI--to the Prophet system, a computer-based recording/playout system, with all of the music on a corporate-supplied hard-drive. For some reason, the story goes, the geniuses at corporate had the oldies music dubbed in a hurry by two or three stations, astonishingly not WMJI for some reason. The source material was widely variable to say the least. One station reportedly sped up their music, so the tracks that they dubbed are too fast. I heard one story that old vinyl was used on some tracks, and that the WMJI staff at the time protested bitterly. Corporate went back and tried to fix up some of it, but its a patchwork of some good, some passable, some terrible. Its a shame.

Next time "You Keep Me Hanging On" from the Supremes comes on, you'll swear that it is Alvin and The Chipmunks.

 

[bigwoody]

> The audio issues are created by the compression used in the
> Prophet "NexGen System".
>
> When audio is recorded into Nexgen it's usually compressed
> and squashed.
>
> Most college stations playing CD's sound better than the
> stations on NexGen.
>

Prophet Nex Gen uses a 5.5:1 data compression. Regardless of how pristine something is, once it's dubbed to Nex Gen it becomes an Mp2 with the above data compression. Stations have to then process their audio to cope. WMJI is playing a wide array of music from 50s-70's, all produced differently over the years. Oldies is the hardest format to process.

I personally don't think WMJI's processing is as good as it's been in past years. It's sharp. On air mics aren't as full. And the lack of reverb, even the small amount it had (6% wet) makes the station sound flat.

Years ago WMJI used CRL (Orban) Milleniums in it's chain with an Aphex Compellor 320A for AGC and clipping. They still might. ALL mics, on air and production, are AKG 414 B/ULS condensers. They've had those since 1990 when WMJI first moved to 310 Lakeside. Those studios are still the best I've ever seen, especially in Cleveland.<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by bigwoody on 06/06/05 06:25 PM.</FONT></P>

 

[bigwoody]

> Some old freinds who were/are associated with WMJI tell this
> story.
>
> WMJI used to play directly from CDs. By the mid to late 90s
> they accumulated a huge library, probably the best oldies
> library on CD in the country. Then, in 1999, Clear Channel
> switched many of their stations--inclusing WMJI--to the
> Prophet system, a computer-based recording/playout system,
> with all of the music on a corporate-supplied hard-drive.
> For some reason, the story goes, the geniuses at corporate
> had the oldies music dubbed in a hurry by two or three
> stations, astonishingly not WMJI for some reason. The
> source material was widely variable to say the least. One
> station reportedly sped up their music, so the tracks that
> they dubbed are too fast. I heard one story that old vinyl
> was used on some tracks, and that the WMJI staff at the time
> protested bitterly. Corporate went back and tried to fix up
> some of it, but its a patchwork of some good, some passable,
> some terrible. Its a shame.
>

When it was Jacor, a lot of the music was dubbed in different locations around the country; various studios, different producers, analog and digital. Some songs had drop outs. I remember Daune Robinson playing a Stones song and it stopped halfway thru. The file was opened up and only half the song had been dubbed in. Sooooo, Doc Thompson, myself and the part-timers (one being Dan Zullo now Creative Director at Radio One) dubbed in about 300 songs. All CC songs are now dubbed at CC's Covington Ky digital studio location. Stations can request music from the CC Music ordering site. You can use they song provided, or dub your own. You must use the Corporate song number, but you can dub any version you choose on that number as long as you're the only station playing that song. If you share it you gotta play the hit version.