September 2000 RAP
September 2000 Highlights
Feature: Quick And Dirty DAW Tricks
By Craig Jackman
Pop Filter, "Alternative" Filter, Multi-Band Limiting, Time Compression,
Keyboard Macros, The Internet, The Antares Mic Modeler, Wheel Mouse, Drive
Partitioning, and System Maintenance.
Interview: James Stodd, BRMB, Birmingham, United Kingdom
By Jerry Vigil
Commercial radio in the United Kingdom is still relatively new in
comparison to commercial radio in the US. And in the past decade, the UK has
seen an explosion of commercial radio stations that has quickly ushered UK
radio into the spectrum of great radio around the world. Capital Radio is
the UKs most profitable radio group with 19 stations throughout London,
Birmingham, Cardiff, Oxford, Kent, Sussex, Hampshire, the North East, the
North West and the East Midlands. The group now broadcasts to over half of
the UKs adult population. James Stodd is Capital Radios new Regional
Production Manager, having recently relocated from Capitals Red Dragon FM in
Cardiff to BRMB in Birmingham. In this months RAP Interview, James offers
some insights into UK radio and production and gives us a dose of
first-class image production with a remarkable demo on this months RAP
Cassette..
Test Drive: SEK'D Samplitude Studio 5.5, with Prodif
Plus Sound Card
By Steve Cunningham
As some of you know, I'm a Macintosh guy. While I've used Wintel
computers now and again over the last 15 years and Im familiar with them, I
do all my audio work on Macs. So when RAP Editor Jerry Vigil invited me to
review a multitrack editing package from German manufacturer SEKD that runs
under Windows, I gathered my courage, rented The Empire Strikes Back, and
prepared for a journey to The Dark Side... Nah just kidding. This stuff is
great! The box that arrived on my doorstep included Samplitude Studio
version 5.5 and the company's PRODIF PLUS sound card. First, well install
the sound card into the old Dell PC.
Feature: In Defense of "Bill"
By John Pellegrini
There is a famous story, which was recently recycled on chain e-mails,
about a young "sailor" named "Bill." He goes to sea and is shipwrecked and
drowned. Another man, a Prince, needs an alter ego. You see, he's a member
of Royalty, and the Royal types aren't supposed to engage in "commoners"
work. But this Prince loves the theater and loves to write poetry, so he
finds Bills name in a graveyard at his church and uses that for his pen
name. There are other variations on this same story about the Prince,
usually claimed to be the Earl of Oxford, but all of them end the same way,
with the smarter-than-thou author stating, "now you know the Truth about
William Shakespeare." Except that the Truth of this story is a BIG FAT LIE.
Q It Up: The RAP Network Speaks - MP3 and Commercial
Delivery Via the Internet Part 2
By Jerry Vigil
This months Q It Up gets part 2 of our responses as we focus on the use
of the Internet to send and receive audio for on-air broadcast.
Q It Up: The use of the Internet for delivering commercials
to radio stations is here, with companies such as SpotTaxi.com,
SlingSpot.com, AudioSonix.com, and SpotTraffic.com all vying for a piece of
the new pie. The common thread is the use of MPEG compression to reduce the
audio files to sizes more compatible with today's Internet connection
speeds. There is a concern among some radio engineers that the use of MPEG
compression in conjunction with existing audio chains that utilize other
digital compression algorithms may cause some degradation of the quality of
the audio, resulting in a potential tune-out factor. What are your thoughts
on this, and on the use of the Internet for spot delivery in general? Is
your Chief Engineer for or against the use of MPEG files on the air for
commercials? Is your station planning to utilize this technology? Feel free
to add any other comments you have on the subject.
Radio Hed: Feelings
By Jeffrey Hedquist
Feelings, nothing more than feelings. How will the audience feel when
they use your product or service? If you can transmit that emotional
response in the commercial, you'll get listeners to start using it in their
minds. Their imaginations will provide the most powerful "test drive" on the
planet. Put the listener in the situation where they'll experience those
feelings.
...And Make It Real Creative
By Trent Rentsch
Guarding the secrets one has spent a career mastering is natural, but
limiting. If you have a good idea and you meet another Creative with a good
idea of their own, doesn't it make sense to share, so you both leave with
twice what you walked in with?
The RAP Forum: I Did It. Every Writer Should Do It!
By Albert Berkshire
I did it. In fact, I did it again. I did it in 1998 and I did it again in
2000. Only this time I gave up the power baton to do it. God it feels good.
Now you may be thinking its a demotion but really, its not. In fact, I
strongly recommend every writer do it at least once. I'm so convinced its
that good, I asked one of my fellow writers to consider doing it too. Okay
okayIll fess up. You may not think its that big of a deal, but I'm all for
it. I quit my job as Creative Director for three stations to take a position
as a writer for one station. In fact, I'm not even the Creative Director at
this one station. I'm just a writer. A guy behind a desk.
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