.RECIPE FOR RADIO SUCESS


The Myth of Radio-Ready

Advertisements are created by marketing people, whose goal is to sell products, and often use ambiguous terms. The most ambiguous of those terms is radio ready. Be an aware consumer. Radio is the great leveler. It will take songs that sound very soft and "unpunchy", and bring them up to compete with the hottest recordings; it will take songs that are extremely hot and processed, and squash them down in a very unpleasant manner. In other words, mastering with overzealous dynamics processing can actually make a record sound bad on the radio, or at least, not as good as properly-prepared competition. I discovered this fact at least 12 years ago, when I found that my
audiophile recordings made with absolutely no compression or limiting were competing very well on the radio against heavily-processed recordings! Radio engineers will confirm this fact: Almost no special preparation is required to make a recording radio ready.


The Music Always Comes First

1 Write a great original song, use fabulous singers, and wonderful arrangements. Be innovative, not too imitative (if you can get past the "format" censors, your innovative music will attract attention).
2 Sparse, light arrangements often work better than dense, complex ones, because the dynamics processing on the radio can turn dense arrangements into "mush". When you examine the apparent exceptions (e.g., Phil Spector's wall of sound), the main vocal element is always mixed well above "the wall".


The Sound Comes Second

3 Radio Ready does not mean "make it sound like it's already on the radio".
4 Make sure your music sounds good, clean and dynamic at home and in the studio. That will guarantee it will sound good on the radio.
5 Many people are not familiar with good sound production and reproduction. First you must have a background, an ear education. Don't imitate the sound that you hear on the radio speaker. Compare your music to good recordings, auditioned on the best possible sound system. And don't forget the ultimate reference: the dynamic sound of live, unamplified music performed in a concert hall. There's also evidence that prolonged exposure to loud music is causing hearing loss in an entire generation of our children. The leads to a preference for compressed sound, because dynamics bother the hearing-impaired. This, in turn, leads to a vicious cycle of even more
loudness and further hearing loss. Do you hear me?


Preparing For The Radio

6 Peak to average ratio is the difference between the level on an averaging meter, such as a VU meter, and the peak level of the music as read on a PPM. A meter which displays both peak and average on the same scale is most desirable, otherwise, you have to do some arithmetic, and look at two meters at once. If the dual-function meter reads -17 dBFS average, and -6 dBFS peak during some short musical passage, then your music has approximately an 11 dB peak to average ratio. Choose high peak to average ratio (14 dB or more) or low peak to average ratio (less than 14 dB) according to the sound you are trying to create at home-in general, without fear of how that will translate on the 1 radio. If lowered peak to average ratio is part of your creative pund, it will translate on the radio, unless your processing was so severe that the average level becomes high enough to cause the radio processors to bring your music down (squash it). Avoid the danger zone, anything less than 6 dB peak to average ratio is dangerous, since radio processors are designed to try to maintain an average level, and they literally clamp material with too high an average level (material that would "pin" an ordinary VU meter). That material will probably sound worse on the radio than your competition with a larger peak to average ratio.

Think of your dynamics processor as a tool to help create your sound, not to be used for radio ready. The more compressed your material, the less the transient impact of the drums, clarity of the vocal syllables, and percussion. Sometimes that's esthetically 1 desirable, but often it is displeasing, depending on the type of music. Use a wide range, uncompressed monitoring system, to help decide which choice is best for your music. Compressors have always been used for effect in music production, and
sometimes misused, from the 50's through the 90's. The newly-invented digital compressors are far more powerful than the old analog versions. Entirely new effects can be created, and some of today's hit records are even based on those effects. But watch out when you step on the gas of that Formula One Race Car! I feel that many rock CDs made in 1991 (before the popularity of powerful digital processors) sound better than major releases made in 1998. Only you have control over your sound; there's no official speed limit, and no policeman to revoke your driver's license, even though engineers are crashing all over the place.


7 Subsonics

Excessive subsonics can drain unnecessary energy away from the total loudness. In addition, excessive subsonic material can cause radio compressors to pump or be exercised unnecessarily. Check for excess subsonic energy in several ways: By looking - with a real time analyzer, by listening - with a pair of subwoofers, and by testing: If you are confident in the calibration of your subwoofers, test if the subsonics are musically meaningful by comparing the sound with and without a high-pass filter. If the
sound gets clearer with the filter in, and you hear no losses in musical information, then use the filter on the program. Ironically, bass instruments (especially direct boxes) sometimes sound clearer when filtered below 40 Hz. But use your ears; don't extend this advice to the general case, and don't make this critical judgment with inferior monitors.


8 Excessive Sibilance

The combination of FM Radio's 75 microsecond pre-emphasis and poor sibilance controllers at the radio station can make a bad broadcast. Better to control excessive sibilance in the mastering. My definition of excessive sibilance is that which would be annoying on a bright playback system.


9 Excessive peak percussion

This problem is rare. Be aware of how radio processing reacts to a percussive music. Watch out for a repetitive rhythmic transient that's many dB above the average level of the rest of the music, e.g. very sharp timbale hits with peaks at least 8 dB above the average vocal level. Radio processing, with its slow release times, can bring the vocal down severely with each timbale hit, and render the vocal (and all the background) inaudible for seconds at a time. Ideally, fix this problem in the mix, not in the mastering. Proper mix techniques, with selective processing, can keep this situation under control. Of course, if you can no longer fix it in the mix, then careful application of the Finalizer's multi-band dynamics module will cure the problem without destroying the music's percussive nature. Just remember, this is a very rare situation that should be repaired with conservative, experienced ears, or your music will be ruined. Overcompression can ruin that beautiful percussive sound.


Loudness and the radio

Subtle multi-band compression and soft clipping can make you a ear louder on the radio. If you feel this compromises the sound of the CD when played on the home system, why not make a special compressed single just for radio release. This gives you the best of both worlds. But remember, if you make the average level too high, it may trigger the radio processors to drop the level of your precious song.


Do you know what comb filtering is?


Quelle: Bob Katz