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).

IT'S TIME TO UPGRADE

We all know that HD has had it's issues. Critics have been quick to point out that they feel HD programming, along with awareness and acceptance is anemic. Well, the web is full of nothing but critics and remember, critics have nothing to do unless content creators and innovators do something first.

That leads us to talk about HD success stories. We found a blog that took its shots at HD but didn't forget to talk about the good stuff. The blog is http://hdradionews.blogspot.com/. Here's an excerpt from it...

"We are again witness to early innovation, this time around by HD Radio multicasting pioneers. Their work is, again, being largely ignored or discounted. The work of Mark Pennington [RIFF2], Clear Channel, Boulder [The Studio C Channel, KBCO] and Bonneville, St Louis [iChannel.fm] are some that merit our attention, serious study and praise. "The play's the thing" so said Shakespeare and operators need to embrace and drive nothing less than a content and application renaissance, a creative revolution of game-changing innovation."

The blog also put the programming quagmire in perspective by pointing out that a similar sitch existed when FM was just getting off the ground. Operators just simulcasted AM programming until the government interfered. Then, innovation exploded and FM was the next big thing.

Realistically, HD is sort of in its infancy or maybe the terrible twos. Radio companies are putting resources into it and things are happening but, in a web culture driven by flaming and laptop critics, the success stories can be harder to find.

If you know of a success story, tell us at production@brownbagimaging.com. We'd love to help spread the word.

UNDER THE KNIFE

We have a new home page http://brownbagimaging.com/. It was time for a face lift and some new functionality. Now, you can link to our twitter, facebook and Bagazine pages directly from the home page. The latest tweets are handy but if you want to look up classic tweets, click through.

All four of our current barter services are seen on the home page. If you have access to the Signature Series, just log in and you'll see it right where it used to be. More changes are coming. Changes to the interior of the site will follow.

Thanks for diggin' The Bag.

TV TEACHES US STUFF

Many programmers have said that radio could learn a thing or two from television. True, but what we ending up learning most is that tv spends a lot more money on almost everything. Of course, tv is working with a network mentality and radio has been a local medium. Networks have budgets such that they can produce promos for a sports broadcast that run only twice. Hours are spent making a 30 sec piece that runs only in pre-game to create some additional hype on top of what the commentators are doing. Good lesson there. Possibly two lessons. One, all promos don't have to be repeated ad nauseum to be effective. Two, promos can be done in a way where they seem like part of the programming instead of a commercial interrpution.

Perhaps these two lessons are related. When a promo is repeated frequently, it may take on the feel of a spot. Naturally, if it's also driven by sponsor copy points, it may be hard for it to be perceived any other way.

In the sports hype promo mentioned earlier, it's important to know that the promo uses video that looks like programming. If the Giants are playing the Eagles, clips from past Giants/Eagles games are chopped up over a familiar music bed to frontsell the action. In between hits, passes and touchdown grand standing are shots of rabid fans with bare, painted chests that prove beer makes one impervious to January temps. Production that's fun and exciting? Promos that exist for the sole purpose of entertaining the audience? Yes, it's true and radio can certainly learn something from that part of television.

Radio can do this kind of production quickly and cheaply. No FOX network budget is necessary nor is a team of producers lead by an expensive director. If you have a personality driven morning show, why not ditch the standard clip promo occaisonally and do it up NFL style?

Making production an integral part of programming does take more thought and creativity but that has always been what it takes to make a station stand out. Enteraining content wins and imaging can be a major part of it. Just ask KROQ or Z100 or WEBN or ALICE or Howard Stern. A new convert is FOX sports radio. They have hundreds of affiliates and have gone mad with the imaging.

So television (a.k.a the boob tube or idot box) actually has something to teach us. Hang out and watch the promos instead of running to the kitchen and plowing through a bag of chips like Megan Fox is at the bottom.

RIPPED ALASKA

The title of this article is not a new dessert spinoff of Baked Alaska. It's a shout out to our newest Ripped user KZND in Anchorage. Our last add was WLUP Chicago. So, Ripped continues it's world tour of all radio stations big and small that are buried nose ring deep in pure, uncut, shovel to the face attitude. Don't miss the axle throbbing, ground pounding excitement. We'll sell you the whole seat but...

EVOLUTION. JUST DO IT.

Being a creative services director these days involves writing, editing voicing, mixing, mastering, promos, commercials, an air shift and dealing with the neighborhood schizophrenic who shows up wearing a tin foil hat insisting your transmitter is making him wet the bed. That makes you indispensable right? Not even close. All that stuff that used to be considered creative magic is now the domain of anyone with a cracked copy of a DAW and the ability to read English reasonably well. Is that dude as good as you? No, however, it's not that simple.

Radio is looking for new revenue and new ways to reach an A.D.D audience that has an iphone pouring jibber jabber into one ear, and an ipod jamming stolen music into the other. As you've noticed, many stations are not focused on imaging right now. They're trying to populate HD channels, squeeze more cash out of the website, develop twitter contests, provide podcasts and of course, figure out the people meter.

So, ask yourself where you fit in to these new priorities. Have you shifted your attention? Learned new skills? Contributed ideas? Evolved?

As a production person, your tendency is to tweak and refine. You're likely to have valuable critical thinking skills and a creative mind that always remembers to entertain or at least be interesting. That makes you a great candidate to lead your station in new directions. Tough times always provide opportunities to those who are flexible and resourceful.

Sometimes having fewer tools and smaller budgets forces people to be more inventive. Many of you may remember being more wildly creative when you were working in smaller markets with less of everything. You took more chances and you went the extra mile to make goofy ideas come to life. Those corny commercials you made actually got results for local clients. You were evolving all the time. Some of you are in that phase right now.

No matter who you are, it's time for a growth spurt. Here at The Bag, we're trying new things too. We're using ipods for field recording, using more live musicians, experiementing with analog stuff and one time, we bought a bag of kazoos for a holiday project. Even on the tightest budget, you can still afford a bag of kazoos.

YOU STINK AT BEING A NINJA

It's 4a.m. and you have an irate neighbor/roommate/significant other threatening your life because he/she has been listening to you voice, edit, mix and master all night. Ever so politely you explain that mixing on headphones is a no no for audio pros. Further, you explain that you feel you've been fairly quiet since you blast it much louder when you're at work. Still, the enraged victim persists in detailing exactly how he/she will dismember you if you don't stop with the racket.

Save yourself from a CSI-style crime scene with a new plug-in called Redline Monitor from a company called 112db. It allows you to mix and master on headphones by simulating near-field monitors.

The usual wide/extreme stereo separation that you hear in headphones is replaced with
the detailed stereo image that you are used to hearing. You will be able to
mix with confidence using your cans. Set your levels, stereo placement, and
finalize your mix with out punishing those around you.

Headphone mixing is now a reality anywhere, anytime, and without ear fatigue (as long as you don't slam yourears with unsafe volume levels). Redline will help you achieve better
separation and make your mixes sound as if you mixed in front of your near
field monitors.

This is a great tool! We test drove the demo. Remember, we don't get paid or get freebies for endorsing anything. We're not greasing friends in the biz. We just test stuff and if we like it, we tell you about it.

Check out the 60 day demo at:

http://www.112db.com/redline/monitor/?demo


We did some math for you too:

1 Meter = 3.28 Feet

1.5 Meters = 4.92 Feet

2 Meters = 6.56 Feet

2.5 Meters = 8.20 Feet

3 Meters = 9.84 Feet

3.5 Meters = 11.48 Feet

4 Meters = 13.12 Feet

ABLETON LIVE

With today’s budgetary constraints and time pressures it’s difficult to stay creative. But picking up that dusty Ableton Live disc you’ve got laying around may just be the amp-up you need. Follow these steps.

• Find an Ableton Live CD. Most of you probably have a free version of Ableton Live Lite but don’t know it. Lot’s of free software comes bundled with the hardware we buy these days. . M-Audio products such as the Axiom midi controller, the Trigger Finger, Fast Track Pro and the Audiophile 2496 audio card all come with free versions of Ableton Live. Digi also offers Ableton with Pro Tools upgrades and such.
• Install the Ableton software and register it. This will allow you to get discounted upgrades to full versions later on should you wish to do.
• Go to the Defaults tab in Preferences and change the Warp Mode to Complex. This will allow Ableton warp the song appropriately, i.e. interpret the tempo of the song properly. Now you are free to mash up your music
• The SESSION VIEW will be the first thing you see when you open Ableton Live. This view can be very useful but can take some time to get used to, so in the interests of time we will use the Arrangement View since it looks and feels similar to most other DAW platforms. Simply hit the tab key to flip over to the ARRANGEMENT VIEW.
• Click and drag the 1st tune you want to mash up into one of the tracks. Remember, the free version of Ableton allows only 4 audio tracks at one time, so you will have to double up if you wish to mash up more than 4 songs in one session.
• Double click on the clip (that’s the colored part of the music track you dragged in.) You should see an information pane called the SAMPLE DISPLAY open up at the bottom. There you will see the track tempo. A good sounding mash up will typically use songs of similar tempos so you may have to do some tempo sorting and weed out the songs that are too fast or too slow. But you can pretty much speed up and slow down any warped track you have dragged in the Arrangement by changing the main project temp at the top left.
• Now just edit out the parts of the songs you wish to use, splice them together and add your sound elements.
• If you get lost, there is a wonderful box at the bottom left called the INFO VIEW. Put your cursor over any part of the interface and a brief description of what you are mousing over will show up there.

BRAINSTORM OR JUST DRIZZLE?

Getting fresh ideas means using someone elses brain besides yours once in awhile. Resist the urge to be a one man band. Take the kick drum off your back, remove the cymbals from between your knees and for cryin' out loud put down the banjo. Here are a few tips to guiding a brainstorming session that'll help you get some new creative juju.

Assemble a group that can be controlled. Never put too many radio people together for free forming unless you've got a punch bowl full of ritalin.

Encourage pointless ideas. If you have endure a bunch of wacko crap to get one great idea, it's worth it. Let people's minds wander.

Set time limits. Keep the meetings under an hour. Also, try to limit each persons time for explaining their idea. If they can't articulate a concept within a minute, they'll derail the energy in the room.

Look for people that click in the group and have them pursue ideas further outside the meeting.

Do not rate ideas. This is important. Too many sessions start out with "there are no bad ideas" and then people are mercilessly ridiculed as others in the room compete for the best one liner criticisms.

Record the session. You can't take notes as fast as people can free form. Use a small unobtrusive recorder so it's not a point of focus.

Have a facilitator. That person should not contribute much but should provide encouragement and help move things along.

Be ready to act. People need to know that you're not wasting their time. Put the good ideas into action quickly and share the results. This makes people want to contribute more in the future.