Unit 6 – Production Process

Radio Commercial Forms Straight-Read Copy is presented with no music or other effects Depend on quality of one’s voice Emphasis, Pausing, Inflection, and Rate Chosen based on tone of voice and enthusiasm

Radio Commercial Forms Fact Sheet Commercial Listing of basic information and characteristics Announcer must ad-lib the spots Sounds natural Straight Read and Fact Sheet are difficult because the only tool you have is your voice

Radio Commercial Forms Music Bed Commercial Punches up straight read commercial Appropriate mood Not distracting or too loud Could also use SFX to create a “natural” environment

Radio Commercial Forms Music Bed Commercial Punches up straight read commercial Appropriate mood Not distracting or too loud Could also use SFX to create a “natural” environment

Radio Commercial Forms Donut Commercial Combination of recorded message and local live copy Jingle is at beginning and end, local announcer is inserted in the middle Timing is essential Live Tag Recorded info comes first and announcer adds a bit of information that connects message at the end

Radio Commercial Forms Spokesperson Commercial Well-known person, owner or manager High Production Value (Dramatization/Slice of Life) Collection of voices, music, sound effects, singers Present everyday scenes and insert commercial message Mini dramas with characters, settings,

Structure of Commercial 1. Get Attention Ask a question Make an unusual statement Use a sound effect 2. Create Need 3. Satisfy Need 4. Demand Action

Analyzing Commericals Goal Selling is not the only goal Also interested in image What are they trying to accomplish? Mood/Tone Read it to yourself first Tone of voice must be appropriate Understate the tone, don’t be too obvious Identify changes in the mood

Analyzing Commericals Sincerity/Energy Must attract and hold attention How should this sound? Be cautious when using humor Message What is advertiser trying to get across? Action, Idea, Urging Identify key information and emphasize it

Analyzing Commercials Intended Audience Demographics Listen to everyday conversations Helps with dramatized commercials Emphasis Key words Mark your copy

Analyzing Commercials Timing +/- 1 sec on target Pause, Tempo variation, Clarity, Phrasing Hard Sell v Soft Sell Hard Sell – tension and excitement Soft Sell – relaxation and conversational

Pre-Production Very little radio happens by accident Involves planning Thinking, Writing, Gathering, Discussing Always be on the lookout for ideas Formal and informal research Find Unique angles

Pre-Production Think about WHY you are producing the project Informative, Entertaining??? Motivation will affect how you put piece together What action do you want audience to take? How do you want the audience to feel? Create visuals with audio

Pre-Production Think about WHY you are producing the project Informative, Entertaining??? Motivation will affect how you put piece together What action do you want audience to take? How do you want the audience to feel? Create visuals with audio

Audience & Style Demographics – age, sex, income, nationality, etc. Psychographics – hobbies, interests, affiliations Same information can be packaged for different groups Be original, bring a personality to your project Serious, funny, silly, sarcastic, epic, etc.

Production Elements Voice (VFX) Host/Narrator Actualities Characters

Production Elements Music (Audio Architecture Library) Foreground (focus) Background (bed) Music Libraries Usually sectioned by style Can create your own beds

Production Elements Sound effects (SFX) Augment (add to) or Punctuate a point Atmospheres (Effect It CD) Natural environment Stingers (Imagio Library) Short and sharp to command immediate action SFX Libraries or create/record your own Silence can be a SFX Dramatic pause vs dead air

Production Elements Scripting Writing and collecting audio will happen simultaneously Ongoing process Script is the blueprint Beginning, middle, end construction Script Format Words are LEFT justified All other FX in brackets and RIGHT justified Double spaced, All caps

Analog Audio Analog is electrical signal whose shape is defined by the shape of the sound Can store a duplicate of this signal on magnetic tape Sound pressure changes result in changes of voltage and are recorded as changes in magnetic strength Each new generation of analog recording will be subject to degradation, because signal slightly changes shape Depends on tape, and there could be defects or decreases

Digital Audio Digital is electrical signal composed of series of on/off pulses (binary numbers)

Filtering Analog signal is stripped of frequencies above and below human haring range Aliased – inaudible frequencies are shifted into audible ones Anti-aliasing – they are not

Sampling Analog signal is divided many times a second Measures the amplitude at each moment a sample is taken More samples, more exact the reproduction Much like motion picture 32,000 44,100, 48,000 samples per second are common Rate must be at least twice as the highest frequency We hear up to 20,000 Hz, so 44,100 Hz rate is common

Quantizing Rounds each amplitude sample up or down to the nearest value Bit Depth = rounding levels Higher the bit depth equals better fidelity of the recording 1 bit = 2 levels (no amplitude or maximum amplitude) 2 bits = 4 levels 3 bits = 8 levels 16 bits is most common = 65,536 levels 20 and 24 technology is now being seen

Coding Putting 0’s and 1’s in a series to correspond with each value This binary code is what is actually recorded So we can have numerous copies with not loss of quality

Editing -Won’t usually record what you want on the first try Eliminate mistakes without rerecording entire thing Do it take by take Take out vocal filler Decrease length of production work Must achieve exact length for your pieces Manually edit pauses Time compress Record out of sequence Rearrange order of recordings Use portions of longer recordings

Digital Editor 2 track and multitrack Need a DSP Audio card Software programs Adobe Audition Digidesign Pro Tools Sony Sound Forge Steinber Cubase Studio Other Types Digital audio workstations Personal audio editor Shortcut

Digital Pros/Cons Accessing and cueing up is faster Adjusting length Encode file with other labeling information Ease of repair If it does crash you lose EVERYTHING though -Backup your files Noise problem (fans, disk drives)

MIDI & Latency MIDI/SMPTE each allow operator to sync multiple different pieces of equipment together Latency Time to convert analog to digital, add digital effect to audio, or to move audio from one place to another Usually only milliseconds More complex the project, more you are susceptible to it

Digital Audio Editing Begins after you have recorded audio into the system or Ripped – pulling audio from CD Edit View: Record, process, edit Waveform view: shows audio file you are editing Transport buttons: control recording and playback functions Timeline display: timing information and horizontal/vertical zooms to scale the audio File, new, select appropriate recording specifications Sample rate: 44,100 Channel: Stereo (Mono if voice only) Bit Depth: 16 bit Clicking record begins the recording Check your levels at the bottom (keep them around -6) You can save from here Region Trimming Shift + Click to adjust edit points (may need to zoom)

Nondestructive Nature Original audio isn’t actually altered You can always save a copy of your master unedited file Undo feature allows you to go back a step if you have not saved Can use the same audio in many places within a project

Multitrack Techniques Each element can be recorded and placed on a separate track Manipulated individually and played simultaneously Pull down menus give you a variety of functions Audio can be mixed, moved, copied, and deleted Each track has pan and volume faders

Multitrack Techniques Over-dubbing: Adding a new track to existing tracks Punch In/Insert Edit: Record over just the part that has mistake Bouncing/Ping-Pong: Combining two or more tracks on a multitrack recorder and recording them on a vacant track

Multitrack Voice FX Voice Doubling: Illusion of 2 people reading same script at same time Chorusing: Adding at least 2 more tracks on top of double in sync Stacking: Singing in harmony to existing track Dovetailing: Appears to be 2 different announcers