THE PRODUCTION TRIBUTE

With Michael Jackson's death came a flood of audio tributes throughout radio. Some say this idea has been overdone and should be deleted or overhauled.

What to do? Go with the critics and skip it, or stand on tradition and risk being the old skooler? This is difficult because so many radio conventions are coming under fire. Revenue is down and it's easy to say that whatever radio is doing isn't working. When faced with this type of issue, we turn to the audience. Do they think it's tired? Is it a tune out? Let's start by taking a look around.

What we're observing is deep coverage in all media to feed the ravenous appetite of a huge fan base that wants to remember and celebrate Michael in many different ways. 30% of twitter's traffic became about him. Artist The Game released a song with Chris Brown, Diddy and 5 other aritsts as a tribute. Every info outlet from the New York Times to TMZ covered the story as well as the vigils that followed.

In contrast, Farrah Fawcett and Ed McMahon tributes were tougher to find. Audio clips were played and mentions were made but more elaborate, produced tributes were scarce. That puts it in perspective. It doesn't seem that radio is tribute happy or has beaten the relevance out of the concept. When something big happens, radio, like any other broadcast medium, airs relevant content to address what's top of mind for a large part of the audience.

Maybe the beef some critics have is that tributes can tread a fine line between reverent and cheesy. Point taken. Sometimes quality can suffer when you're producing against the clock to feed the immediacy beast and a tribute is a delicate piece of production. Preparation is key in these situations.

We would suggest asking yourself a question or two for starters. Do you have a plan for production when major events break? What are your go-to resources that you can rely on for quality material?

On a broader scale, we'd like to say that good is good and audiences rarely tire of high quality entertainment. Ok, Sarah Connor Chronicles was canceled but, on a personal note, we think of that as the exception rather than the rule. Consider that movie trailers have been around a long time and have followed a fairly narrow formula. Nobody is saying "trailers have to go...the formula is tired". Many websites are dedicated to nothing but trailers because people don't seem to tire of them.

It's our opinion that a well crafted tribute piece is still a powerful programming element that deserves all the attention and resources you can give it. It's another area where imaging jumps to the front and becomes the radio station.

FILTERED VOICE SET UP VIDEO

The filtered voice is everywhere. Even though everyone is doing it, it's good to share info in hopes of trying different things to get the best results. There are many approaches to getting a similar sound so, we just wanted to share one that works for us frequently. See the video on youtube.

SRI LANKA GETS RIPPED

Our trip around the world continues as TNL Radio in Sri Lanka picks up Ripped. Wherever there's rock, there's Ripped. Check out TNL online.

DOES THIS MAKE ME LOOK FAT?

Honest feedback is hard to find. Nobody wants to be the bad guy. Certainly, nobody wants to tell an audio producer that his voice is not so hot, his reading skills are sub par or his production style is inappropriate. It's hard to be your own judge since you're too close to your work. You need reliable info that is completely honest without crushing your soul.

This is one area where the web is not the answer. Comments online tend to be extreme and you often have no idea of the sources experience. It takes an honest relationship with someone you respect to fill the feedback void. Think about it. Is there at least one qualified person who would tell you the truth if you put out a stinky promo? The PD doesn't count since they can't really tell you why it's stinky.

If you have that one honest person, that may be all you need. Good thing since finding more than one is almost impossible. Just as important, why not be that person for someone else. Tread carefully though, since many do not wish to hear that they are less than pure genius. Those who can handle the truth are the ones bent on self improvement and they'll likely reciprocate.

If we can increase honest feedback, we can increase the quality of radio imaging across the board. In that spirit, take a friend to lunch today and tell 'em they stink. They'll love you for it.

VEGAS BABY!

One cannot live without distractions. Confucius or somebody said that maybe. Here's 30 seconds of the control 24 in vegas mode. Don't worry, it's sfw. See in hd on youtube.

HARVARD ROCKS

In a recent radio interview, a member of Incubus talked about the fact that he's attending Harvard. His main reason for doing so is, "I just want to learn stuff". One of the things he's studying is music but, he also has interests in biology and physics.

Being diverse is important. It's easy to forget that when you're spending days and nights in a studio because it sucks you in like a good video game. You forget about time, space, sleep, nutrition and hygiene. Production studios and the creative process are addicting. Even though computers have made everything incredibly fast compared to the analog days, nobody is checking out at 3pm to play golf.

This is where the Incubus example factors in. It would be easy to obsess in the life of a musician but, a lot of rock stars believe diversity is important and being in the studio too much can lead to creative burn out. Biology and rock may not seem connected but, exposure to most anything can be brought back to the studio and tossed into the creative process. Exposing yourself to completely different environments, people and experiences can help keep you fresh.

Sure, there are times when you need to obsess in the studio to make things happen or meet a deadline. When there's a break, however, getting as far away from the studio environment as possible can be the perfect thing to keep you energized and edgy. While taking classes at Harvard may not be your thing there's always cliff diving, bear wrestling or a weekend ice road trucker gig.

JURASSIC DESK

This monster Euphonix console was the central nervous system for live performances on Rockline not that long ago. When The Bag moved into the Rockline studios, comments like "I'll bet you guys get a lotta use outta that" bounced around quite a bit. The truth is, we stared at it like your dog stares at you when you change his food. It's a great desk and it was the bees knees in it's day but, our mixing and mastering takes place in pro tools and this behemoth does not really speak that language. PT integration is key for us to crank out the tracks day after day. We use the control24 work surface designed by digidesign and focusrite. Pro Tools can be a persnickity program and you'll likely find, as we did, that 3rd party products don't provide a similar level of integration. If you're on PT and speed is your thing, it's tough to beat the digi stuff.

We're not schilling for digi, just trying to warn you if you're looking for a work surface. There are a lot of good products on the market but, think about how well they speak pro tools. The Euphonix turned out to be a $100,00 (used) gem that we had to pass on for something smaller, cheaper and better for our work flow.

HOMEPAGE FACE LIFT

In the past we've referred to our website as Stalin's day planner. It was functional but a bit on the dull side. Not so anymore. Our site not only looks better now, but also has much improved functionality. The homepage is a hub that can get you to our facebook, twitter and blog pages, play demos and of course, get users into their service. We've made a video that introduces you to all the features of the new homepage. You can watch it in fabulous hd on youtube by clicking here. The interior of the site is changing as well. A video on that is coming soon.

BROWN BAG ON MYSPACE

Our page is up and functional. To take a look, click here. No surprises for current Bag fans. It's another place people can find us and our demos. The universe is surfing...and diggin' the Bag.

OUR FIRST PROD TIP VID

We're always looking for new ways to be a deeper resource not only to our users but, the entire audio production community. This is the first in a line of tip videos that we hope will come in handy. If you have something you'd like to see us cover in a future video, email us at production@brownbagimaging.com. See the bigger hd youtube version...click here.

FIREPOWER LANDS THE BIG ONE

Brown Bag is no stranger to big call letters. As radio geeks, we never get tired of stacking up legendary stations that dig the Bag. The latest monster set of calls in our collection is WLW Cincinnati. Iphones and Blackberrys along with Tweeting and Facebooking all take a backseat with the people of Cinci when it comes to the killer local programming on WLW. The ratings tell the story and we are pumped to have them on board. Welcome to Firepower.

On a loosely related note, Skyline Chili rocks!

IS PRODUCTION KILLING YOU?

No. Your love of creativity and knob twiddling is probably doing more to keep you alive, however, staring down a computer screen all day and half the evening does have some drawbacks.
According to WebMD.com, sitting at the computer too long can cause insomnia, obesity, back, arm and hand injuries and a thing called Computer Vision Syndrome or CVS which is basically, one or all of the following problems: eye strain, tired eyes, irritation, redness and blurry vision. Furthermore, sitting at your console too long can also burn out your ears. Many in the industry refer to this phenomenon as Ear Fatigue. It’s not a medical term but whatever you choose to call it, we’ve all felt the negative effects of it. It starts with an incremental increase in your monitor mix volume and ends with the early morning realization that all the levels on that music bed you’ve been working on all night are all wrong.

That’s why we’ve gathered a quick list of some simple things you can do to stay focused, stay productive and stay healthy while doing your radio gig. Here are some of the obvious ones.
• Take a break! (duh!) It may sound obvious or even ridiculous (especially when you’re in the middle of trying to get a last minute bit together) but believe it – breaks will save you in the long run. The Complete Guide to Public Speaking by Jeff Davidson, states that the average attention span is 7 minutes. Your attention span is probably better than that but odds are you are losing focus after a couple of hours already. Take 5, take a walk, bs with co-workers – anything to break the cycle.
• Brighten your screen (Not too much), choose a higher refresh rate. Your eyes are hurting and your head aches because screen’s refresh rate is set to low, and the flickering of the screen (even though you dont see the flickering) is causing the discomfort in your nugget.
• Place your speakers/monitors 30 degrees to the center line of your room or so that you only see the face and not the sides of your speakers. This will help reduce ear fatigue and give your ears the full spectrum of sound without having to increase the volume. Also, 40 or 50 bucks gets you a sound pressure level meter at Radio Shack http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103667. This thing will help you to mix and monitor and appropriate levels and help keep you from slowly increasing your levels as your ears fatigue.
• Change it up. Don’t spend all day on that same piece of imaging. Move on to another piece to break the monotony.
• Associatedcontent.com tells us to listen on a different system like a ghetto box or a car stereo. Incidentally this will also help you get out of your seat for a couple minutes (kind of a twofer thing)
• Get a mouse that doesn’t destroy your hand/arm, doesn’t break the bank and that doesn’t suck. Logitech has highly rated ones on CNET, particularly the MX1100 http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/mice_pointers/mice/devices/4676&cl=us,en Or if you’re into track balls, there an inexpensive option called Track Man Wheel that also fetched good ratings on CNET http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/mice_pointers/trackballs/devices/166&cl=us,en
• Finally, get the sleep you need. The average Joe needs 7 to 8 hours per night. We know this isn’t always possible in this day and age but try to stick with it as much as possible. It will help increase your output. It will also prevent you from throwing carts at salespeople (nice classic reference).