January 2005 RAP
January 2005 Highlights
Feature: Preparation, Preparation, Preparation - The New
Game in the Land of VO
By Donna Summers
Everything is perpetually changing at the speed of sound and as we speak
in the world of VO. As in real estate, the name of the game for a successful
VO talent and agent, until recently, was location, location, location. Only
those relatively few talent located in NY, LA, or Chicago, got a shot at the
big jobs. Since the Internet has taken us all virtual7, the VO marketplace
has exploded from local to global in the click of a mouse, making VO
bookings more competitive than ever before
Interview: Sean Bell - NYPD: New Yorkshire Production
Department, New Yorkshire, United Kingdom
By Jerry Vigil
Most RAP Interviews about someone with their own production business
start out with a story of a career in radio. Sean Bell started as a club DJ
then worked his way into an ad agency and a production house before
launching NYPD, the New Yorkshire Production Department. In a few short
years, Sean has grown his business very well, and his work is heard
throughout the UK and in many other countries as well. This months interview
gets an inside look at NYPD and the services it provides. There are lots of
similarities to US-based one-man production shops, but there are some
differences, too. And though more and more producers exit radio stations to
launch their own production house, it appears there's still plenty of work
out there, thanks in no small part to a world getting more and more
connected with the Internet. Be sure to check out Sean's demo on this months
RAP CD!
Radio Hed: Quick Fix Directing
By Jeffrey Hedquist
There are hundreds of techniques and years of training that can improve
your directing skills. What I'm presenting here are some quick fixes simple
ways to get those voices to sound like real people, drop the "announcer"
artifacts from their voices, connect with the script and with the other
actors in the spot (if any), and connect with the listener.
Test Drive: WaveLab 5 from Steinberg
By Steve Cunningham
I've been using Steinberg's WaveLab 4 (which we reviewed in the January
03 RAP) as my primary stereo editor for a couple of years for several
reasons. Sure, it does all the standard cut, copy, and paste stuff that all
the others do, and it does them well. But it has several tools on which I
now depend, sort of like having a good spell-checker in a word processor. It
certainly helps that its quick and easy to use (for the most part), and
Steinberg has issued updates on a timely basis. Best of all it hasn't
crashed on me ever. So when I started getting promotional emails announcing
WaveLab Version 5, I was definitely interested.
Production 212: Don't Step in that Cow Pie
By Dave Foxx
When I first started in radio (back in the dark ages before digital audio
and computers in the studio), I had a PD named Johnny Ryder who took me out
to the pasture behind the radio station there in Central Utah and told me,
"There's a thousand people out there who'd kill to have your gig." You have
to bear in mind that I was working in market 152 at the time. The local
population belied his math, but I got the idea. As I moved up in market
standing, that number kept growing. My constant goal was to get the gig, to
work in the number one market at the big gun CHR. During 2004, it really hit
hard that I had done it, because people kept asking me how to do it
themselves. I spent a bunch of time on the road last year, talking to folks,
many still standing out behind their radio stations, about what I do and how
I do it, trying to spread the gospel of good imaging and good radio.
Q It Up: The RAP Network Speaks - What was the last book
you read on radio creative?
Q It Up: What was the last book you read on radio
creative - how to write and/or produce creative radio spots and/or imaging?
If not a book on "radio creative", what was the last book you read that gave
you some creative ideas you were able to use in the studio? Tell us about
it.
...And Make It Real Creative:
By Trent Rentsch
I have a new Creative hero. He's not world famous, yet, although Id
venture a guess that if you've heard his work, you wouldn't forget it. He's
not one of the biggest, although he'd tell you that, pound for pound, that
might not be accurate. But as far as being one of the best, there's no doubt
about it, although not always in ways one might think of as traditionally
creative. Meet Roy. This is actually kind of awkward, as I know so little
about him myself. What I have been able to piece together is that Roy is a
radio producing, music making, comedy writing, video creating, life loving,
first generation Flower Child. While this is a valid description, it really
doesn't tell the enigma that is, well, Roy.
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