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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.
(Have a question you'd like to see
submitted to the RAP Network? Email it to
jv@rapmag.com. Thanks!)
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. |
