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Radio And Production
January 2009
January 2009 Highlights
2008 RAP Awards:
Call For Entries!
We’re proud to announce the Call for Entries to Radio And
Production’s 19th Annual RAP Awards! After many requests, we
have decided to open eligibility to independent production
houses! Get all the details here.
Feature: Objects May Be Closer Than They
Appear
by Craig Jackman
I have a confession to make. Over the last couple of years, I
haven’t been doing very well at one phase of my job. Sure, I’ve
produced some nice spots the clients liked, some really good
promos the PD liked, I’ve stretched the boundaries on some of
the things I voice, and I’ve written some promos that I’m really
proud of. There is one more area of my job though, and that is
my role of supervising the other Producers at my cluster. It’s
that area that I need to work on.
Interview:
Willy B, TVforRadio, Woodbury, CT
by Jerry Vigil
To say the least, Willy B has had an interesting career life.
When we last checked in with Willy 12 years ago, he had left a
12-year stint in the construction business to jump back into
radio, and quickly found himself as the Creative Services
Director at a 4-station CBS cluster in Boston, playing in a
facility equipped with nine Orban DSE 7000s. Since then, Willy B
has left the comfort of those regular checks for yet another
daring adventure, TVforRadio. Willy has taken what he knows
about radio and radio production, mixed it up with the latest
tools in the video production world, added some solid business
sense, and he’s now living a production guy’s dream, producing
video for radio from his studio in the Connecticut mountains.
Check out Willy’s website at TVforRadio.net for lots of video
samples, and check out this month’s RAP CD for some audio from
Willy featuring some of the biggest voices in the industry.
Test Drive:
Sony ACID Pro 7
by Steve Cunningham
Having recently checked in with two of our favorite Sony
products, Vegas 8 and SoundForge 9, I thought it time that we
check in on Sony’s Acid product, which has recently arrived at
version 7. A percent-off email that showed up on Black Friday
provided me with further encouragement to upgrade. Moreover, we
haven’t checked in with Acid since version 3 way back in 2002,
and the loop-based production tool has changed a great deal in
six years.
Production 212:
The Rules of Production
by Dave Foxx
I got the most bizarre piece of email recently, asking what
kind of criteria I use to judge other people’s production. I
thought it bizarre because I had a difficult time coming up with
a simple answer. This column (I hope) will be the result. It’s a
pretty complex bit of work and explaining it in as few words as
possible is like trying to explain why The Thinker by Auguste
Rodin is a masterpiece. This is the essence of radio production.
We use science to create art, but trying to quantify art in
scientific terms is nearly impossible. There is a certain
something that makes it work which completely resists
explanation. However, here is a simple checklist you can use to
make sure all the components are there.
Q It Up:
The RAP Network Speaks -
How would you rate this past year?
Q It Up: How would you rate
this past year on a professional level, based either on personal
experience or just observation of the industry as a whole; and
what’s on your list of goals to improve things in the New Year?
Are you going to upgrade that old computer? Finally get that new
plug you’ve been wanting? Take some voice acting classes? Get
your freelance business off the ground?
If you have a question for the RAP Network, email it to
jv@rapmag.com!
...And Make
It Real Creative
by Trent Rentsch
It’s been awhile since my Muse and I had a chat. So long, in
fact, that I figured I must be on the right Creative path…
surely he would have some comment if I strayed while writing,
voicing, and/or producing… he’s not that polite, nor that easy
to ignore. Yes, I really must have this Creative thing down; all
that lazy Muse had to do was put his feet up and watch me roll!
I actually started getting a little mad about it… how dare he
lay around when there’s work to be done? Why should I slave
while HE’S on an extended vacation? Isn’t a Muse supposed to be
where all the Creative ideas come from anyway? And what about
all that haze up there? What, did he start smoking cigars…
Radio Hed:
Write a Sequel
by Jeffrey Hedquist
It’s no secret that studying the masters will improve your ad
writing, but be careful. Many musicians learned cover tunes of
their favorite artists, then did their own arrangements of other
people’s songs, and finally progressed to writing their own
music. Direct marketing pros almost always say, “Copy the top
experts’ ads word for word, over & over – in longhand – to get
into the mindset of the most successful writers.” Then improve
the ad, or write your own. Good advice but…
Monday Morning Memo:
Why Most Ads Don't Work
by Roy H. Williams
I’ve said many times, “Most ads aren’t
written to persuade, they’re written not to offend.” This goes
back to chapter one, “Nine Secret Words” in my first book, The
Wizard of Ads. Do you remember the nine secret words? “The Risk
of Insult is the Price of Clarity.” Clarity. Ah, there we have
it. Rare is the ad that makes its point clearly. The customers
who cost you money are the ones you never see; the ones who
don’t come in because your ads never got their attention.
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