Hey all,
I have been commisioned out pf my league by my pastor. I have to do 5 radio spots, TODAY, for a local AM radio station. I know to mix in mono but I am not sure how much limiting and what Hz range to work within. I know AM has crappy audio so if someone could tell me where to put the roll offs and any easy tips to make it sound better it would be appreciated. I know I am not qualified to do this but "in my weakness, God can show His stregnth!"
Any help is extremely appreciated, and not just by me if you know what I mean!
Thanks.
Matt in GA
Comments
Good advice to contact the station and ask their engineer. Mix-
Good advice to contact the station and ask their engineer.
Mix-wise:
Make it mono-friendly.
Like any other recording, your goal is make it sound as good as you can. Although for AM you might deliberately chose content that translates well in the mid-range, you don't roll-off highs and lows to make your master sound like it's coming from an AM radio. You should be able to take the same spot and hand it to the local FM station. The "Hz range", will be dictated by the limitations of AM technology. Give them a good sounding master.
The engineer(s) at the station will take your spots and compress, limit, EQ as he/she sees fit to squeeze as much "fidelity" as possible into his AM signal.
Good luck!
Having worked in both AM and FM stations I can tell you that we
Having worked in both AM and FM stations I can tell you that we produce everything at full response, which translates to 50 hertz to 15,000 hertz. There is nothing above or below that that is transmitted. For sermon oriented broadcasts, light compression in your recording is the rule. The station will add its own aggressive processing/peak limiting/peak clipping and/or composite clipping. But you still want a consistency of level in your production. Producing in stereo is also the norm but attention has to be paid to phase coherency. So make sure you are production sounds as good in Mono as it does in Stereo and you'll be good to Go d.
Please don't squeeze the Sermon.
Mx. Remy Ann David
ok, did a few spots, Not the greatest audio, but it might work f
ok, did a few spots, Not the greatest audio, but it might work for AM...
I put a link up in the songs/mix forum. Tell me what you think and any major issues that need correcting.
Thanks for your help on this one, I really am in the dark on this one, baptism by fire - it's the only way to learn, right??
Matt
First off, don't be afraid to ask the station's engineering dept
First off, don't be afraid to ask the station's engineering dept about this. They should be able to clear that up for you, there's no harm in asking.
What format are you supposed to be sending them? What level? Many AM stations run at +8VU. You really need to call the station.