September 2005 RAP
September 2005 Highlights
Feature: Kootenstoopit Spoken Here
By Andy MacKenzie
In November of last year, Hedquist Productions, Inc. (HPI) of Fairfield,
Iowa, celebrated the nationwide release of their latest audiobook, A
Treasure’s Trove, based on the book written and illustrated by Michael
Stadther. Drawing upon over 30 years of experience as a director, producer,
and national-voice talent, HPI President Jeffrey Hedquist directed the
93-minute unabridged version of the book. Editing, music scoring, and final
mixing was done by producer Andy MacKenzie in HPI’s digital studio. Jay
Mattsson was the casting director and client coordinator for the project.
Mr. Hedquist narrated A Treasure’s Trove and also recorded
multiple-character voices along with Fairfield actors Geoff Boothby, Galen
Hawthorne, Thelma Ann Jones, Andy MacKenzie, David Murphy, Elaine Bankston
Speer, and Mira Waller in HPI’s studio. Producer Andy MacKenzie shares some
production notes with us as well as some audio excepts from the finished
product, which you can hear on this month’s RAP CD.
Interview: Mitch Todd, Sirius Satellite Radio, New York,
NY
By Jerry Vigil
It’s time to check in with that “other” competition… up in the sky.
Sirius Satellite Radio began broadcasting just over 3 years ago. They
project to have 3 million subscribers by year’s end. Over 120 channels of
commercial and commercial free radio, each needing its daily infusion of
imaging, promos, commercials, etc. That’s a lot of production! At Sirius,
there are two Directors of Production. Mitch Todd oversees the 65 commercial
free music channels, and his counterpart, Todd Stack, oversees the others.
We hope to visit with Todd Stack in a future issue, but this month we check
in with Mitch and get a look at his side of the task. Be sure and check out
the production sample from Mitch and his crew on this month’s RAP CD! Mitch
originally hailed from Cleveland Ohio and from 1976 to 1985 he was an on-air
personality/producer in Virginia and Atlanta, Georgia while still keeping
his hand in music production at various recording studios. In 1986 he
transitioned from air personality to Production Director in Atlanta. From
1987 to 2000 he worked as Production Director and Cluster Creative Services
Director in San Antonio, San Jose, Boston, Philadelphia, Cleveland and
Detroit imaging Rock, Alternative, Oldies and Country. Mitch has been with
Sirius Satellite Radio in New York since 2000 and still does voiceovers for
radio and television.
Test Drive: TC Helicon VoicePro Processor
By Steve Cunningham
TC-Helicon has become synonymous with vocal harmonizing and voice
processing. Their VoicePrism and VoicePrism Plus products have set a
standard for harmonizing and voice modeling processors. TC have just begun
shipping their flagship processor, the VoicePro, and I’m fortunate to get my
hands on one for this month’s review. This is a deep product, but most of
its magic is located near the top levels, so that’s where we’ll concentrate.
Production 212: A Place To Begin
By Dave Foxx
I watched a producer in Amsterdam set up a new session in Pro Tools a few
weeks ago, to record a VO session I was doing, and was astounded to see that
he didn’t have a template. “No template?” I asked. He looked at me like I
had two heads. When I related this story to a few producer friends, they all
had a similar reaction, “What do you mean, ‘template?’” I’d always come back
with, “You know… a basic session, already set up as a stationery file, with
everything already set up to go.” Again, I got the “you’ve got two heads”
look. If you don’t use a template, or if you do and are curious about how I
set mine up, this column is right up your alley.
Q It Up: The RAP Network Speaks - Do you have copy
deadlines for salespeople?
Q It Up: Do you have copy deadlines for the salespeople?
What are they? Do you have varying deadlines depending on the type of order?
For example, 72 hours for copy that needs to be written and produced, and
perhaps just 24 hours for dubs and tags? How closely are these deadlines
followed? If a deadline is missed, what generally happens? Please add any
other thoughts or comments you may have.
Feature: The Smart Spec Spot
By Ed Thompson
I have never believed that the spec spot was a worthwhile endeavor. I
have always thought that specs were a wasteful risk of station resources in
man-hours, studio, and equipment costs with absolutely zero guarantee of
return. In 2001, even I wrote an op-ed for RAP in which I detailed the
breakdown of what it costs a radio station to produce only one 60 second
commercial on spec. The main trouble with the spec spot is that it is
usually created from minimal copy points based on minimal knowledge of the
client’s business and with minimal direction of what the client hopes to
accomplish with their radio advertising. More often than not, a spec is used
as little more than weak bait on the end of a weak fishing pole, cast by a
weak A.E. I can’t really blame them. In my experience, those poor folks had
little more sales experience than a year at Payless Shoes and the only
training in radio marketing they ever received was watching the Jason
Jennings video series when they were hired. Yet, regardless of my personal
views, the spec spot will never be eliminated. But, what if we were to make
a more effective spec spot? A “smart” spec, if you will.
Radio Hed: Niche, Niche, Niche
By Jeffrey Hedquist
How can you improve your aim? Narrow your focus. We’d rather be treated
as individuals, than as part of a mass audience. When your client says, “I
want to reach everybody, “ask what groups in that universe of “everybody”
are their best customers. Each one of them is part of a niche.
...And Make It Real Creative:
By Trent Rentsch
I'm not sure why it’s taken me 3 months to mention that I’ve slipped out
of radio again. It’s not that I was worried about losing my credibility;
Lord knows I blew that before the end of my first words here, more years ago
than I can believe. I could say that it wasn’t all that important to me, but
that would be a lie. I’ve missed the business of hot air when I bolted
before; this time has been no different. So why, in a period where I’ve
found coming up with words for you harder than my son’s Freshman Algebra
homework, have I avoided the obvious topic?
The Monday Morning Memo: The Great Ad Myth
By Roy H. Williams
Ads are like houses. You can do a good job constructing a badly designed
house, but when you’re through, you’ve still got a badly designed house. It
doesn’t matter how good you are with a hammer and a saw when the blueprints
themselves are faulty.
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