Radio station Sound Quality help!!!!

TheShield

Hi all!!

i'm in the process of setting up an internet radio station and have it all ready to go.
The only problem is the sound is very flat and dead?

I'm using an i7 macbook pro and can get audio plug-ins for it from ik multimedia but don't know what i need?

I want to have that 2fm sound?

What effects do i need??

I don't mind paying for the plug ins..

PaulBrewer

TheShield wrote: »

I want to have that 2fm sound?

If you're serious about getting the '2FM Sound' Audio Warehouse can help you.
We install some of their studios.

PM me if you are. Thanks.

TheShield

Hi Paul,

I'm hoping for to buy software to get close to that stereo compressed sound and don't want hardware.

Any suggestions??

DamagedTrax

best thing you could is slap a limiter over the top and crush the life out of it.

unless you have a spare few years to learn how to engineer and do it properly

TheShield

Thanks for the advice damaged!

Any particular type?

Will that help the stereo expansion?

http://www.ikmultimedia.com/trsingles/moreinfo/moreinfo8.php

TheShield

There are 3 types:



Brickwall limiter

Multiband limiter

Vintage Tube Compressor/Limiter Model 670

Which one?

DamagedTrax

standard brickwall limiter is what you need. set the output ceiling to -.3 db (yes thats - point 3) and raise the input until you're seeing maybe 5/6 bd of gain reduction but it wont help with stereo expansion. infact with certain source material it may well have an adverse affect of your stereo field. all a limiter will do is raise your average volume levels to radio levels (with the loss of fidelity unfortunatly when used in extreme settings).

for stereo expansion of a mono source you're going to need to use the haas effect or a similiar widening effect.

but if you're outputting to stereo you shouldnt need it for a radio podcast.

have a look at this plugin anyway

http://www.mathewlane.com/DrMS.html

Bluebirdstudios

The notion of wanting to sound like 2Fm - followed by which plug-in limiter/compressior do I need to get.
Will be quicked blown out of the water if you ever seen exactly whats involved in high-end broadcast sound. Take Paul Brewer up on his offer and go see whats needed. I'm sure you'll end up rethinking your targets with a more realistic mindset.
That 2Fm sound your refer to is not something that can be bought on a sub €1000 plug in. I've been inside RTE studios and their studios are equiped with both superb analogue and digital outboard not to mention acousticly balanced broadcast rooms, soundproofed booths , Whisper quiet AC, Perfect power distributors,top end broadcast Mixers etc... These are the things that get that sound your after. A budget figure for this would be - well lets just say there's plenty of zeros to the left of the decimel point. I don't mean to be hard or negative sounding but its worth pointing this out it may avoid disappointment or unnesscesary fustration.


ON A MORE HELPFUL NOTE-
- you'll also need to consider de-essing
- getting good filters for Broadcaster's vox
- getting good time delay units for broadcast signals allows for look ahead facilty on limiters
- Tc finalizer 96k might be a unit worth looking at, it will give you most of the tools others have mention in a single unit
- Be careful with stereo expansion, 1. it messes with mono compatability 2. if overdone softens the punch in summed part of audio.

Goodluck in your endeavours - What's the best way to describe the material on your internet station?

-Declan

krd

TheShield wrote: »

Hi Paul,

I'm hoping for to buy software to get close to that stereo compressed sound and don't want hardware.

Any suggestions??

The 2fm sound is compression, limiting and STEREO chorus - exciterisation.

If you've got Ableton - slapping one of the mastering effects racks on will work.

You want that crunchy car stereo wanker sound - Hey cock suckers, you're listening to 2fm. Home of the hits. Arsehole radio at its' finest.

Are you one of these people who've been practicing their mid-Atlantic radio voice for years and think if only they could get on the radio, they'd be famous like all the other gob****es. Hey Gob****es - up next Lady Ga Ga, with smell my tit.


I'm kind of pissed, because I've spent the last hour listening to an amateur DJ mix on mp3 - where the DJ exciterised the high end and killed the low end.

Exciterisation makes stuff sound good for about 10 seconds - after that it's a headache.

Hey Cocksuckers - it's 2fm - where we're tossing off the hits right in your face hour after hour.

JG009

Lot of things to consider. Are you familiar with Breakaway broadcast audio processor? Well if you have a machine up to the job you can get as good as 2fm, if it is for internet only - on air there is more to consider.

For mics etc you would need your own processing chain. Well if it was me thats how I would do it. Some folk would scream at you for this but ive ran mics through protools with software plugs ins so that they were working in real time and then through breakaway broadcast (Compressor, EQ, Desser, Gate etc). You need to play with things as BBP does its own work on things too so you have to allow a bit, sort of under do the compressors etc. It will take hours of playing around.

Source of audio is important too, if you are ripping stuff with url to mp3 etc you are going to sound crap. Forget the 2fm sound.

Soundcards and mixer again if these are gack you know the score.

For a decent set up you will need multiple PCs. One PC will be turned into a standalone processor - the one that runs BBP.

For those not familiar with BBP while it is a software processor it is not to be laughed at. Big names in the business are sh1t scared of it. Google it and see plus that Leif dude seems to know his stuff.

* I failed to mention some plug ins can run into the 1000s and I don't know if said sound could be achieved on standard digi plugs. Maybe it could come close could be wrong. Or ableton ones may be better. Youll need an interface to power the mics too.

JG009

If you want more info on BBP and to see how it compares to 8500s etc check this out.
http://www.claessonedwards.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=63&Itemid=80

splitrmx

PaulBrewer wrote: »

If you're serious about getting the '2FM Sound' Audio Warehouse can help you.
We install some of their studios.

So what have they got in their studios?

krd

splitrmx wrote: »

So what have they got in their studios?

Cocaine.

maccored

the standard web radio quality is 64 or 128 kbps, either stereo or mono - so the sound will be pretty ****e anyway. any higher than that and the standard punter probably will have difficulty streaming.

JG009

A lot of stations are 256 or 192 now. Well the euro dancey type ones anyway.

maccored

yeah, where people have way better connections than ireland. Still, its not exactly the peak of sound quality regardless.

JG009

maccored wrote: »

yeah, where people have way better connections than ireland. Still, its not exactly the peak of sound quality regardless.

No its never going to be recording studio quality but you can get a decent sounding stream. http://radiotime.com/station/s_6807/DRS_Virus_Shake.aspx

Compare that to http://spin1038.com/onair/schedule/

maccored

i'd assume thats down to the quality of the stream.. as I say, you try running a webstation in ireland at more than 128 stereo. You'll get complaints. I run http://raid.radiocrackle.com at 64k mono just to keep everyone happy.

TheShield

There's a lot of helpful stuff there guys and thanks for getting back to me...

Whilst i know i won't get the Exact quality of the audio on 2fm (Forget the formats and presenters) i just want to inject some kind of life into the sound.

I was listening to some other radio stations on iTunes radio and i have to say that while some sound brutal there are some that sound as good as the 2fm sound quality on fm!!

Now seeing as i have some ideas for the sound what about the hosting??

I'm with Blacknight on a maximus package and am set up for to broadcast on itunes with a player on the website,now i'm using Nicecast at the mo (Only for tests) on the mac-itunes link but as for the website is there any good broadcast software out there for mac that will allow you more than 10 or 20 people to listen at the one time??

I'm sorry if me question is dragged out but i'm sure you guys get the idea?

JG009

Whoever your using as your server should have an option in the control panel to allow bitrate and listener numbers.

If you are hosting your own station you wont be able to allow much to run on a standard internet connection and I dont even know how to do it this way. and not too up to date on mac software.

Did you look at BBP?

QuadLeo

Check these guys out. Still a hardware solution but I've heard good things. Can't imagine they're cheap though.

JG009

I see your orban and I raise you a pc running BBP.

QuadLeo

That BBP thing looks pretty good. Never heard of it before. Decent value too at $29.

JG009

QuadLeo wrote: »

That BBP thing looks pretty good. Never heard of it before. Decent value too at $29.

Oh yeah forgot to say the broadcast version might be overkill for an internet station, if its only $29 you cant go wrong. I was thinking of the full version.

maccored

if your server is running Shoutcast then you can connect and broadcast to it through nicecast. you'll need either a dedicated server to serve Shoutcast or rent one as an online Shoutcast packages (heres an example ) . You cant host and broadcast from a home broadband connection.

sprig

I do a regular show online using software called nicecast
it is streaming into the shoutcast servers for our station, www.rascalradio.net

Nicecast is well sweet as it allows me to use the au/vst plugins from logic 8 which is installed on my mac.

Its all about the right Comps and limiters,
Someone mentioned earlier in the thread bout just slapping a limiter on it and pushing it to the max but i dont think thats good advice.
Slap a limiter on it for sure and then push it a bit but not to the wall,

Its as good as it gets imho

Nicecast = esay