Production Archives – Insanity Radio Training

How To Make A Good Demo

Posted by

Jamie Woods on February 7, 2019

Here’s some advice from previous station winners on how to make demos, and write accompanying content.

You may find this useful when applying for industry-jobs, or when entering the Student Radio Awards. If you’re entering awards, I’ve added some extras to some bullet points to try and make things easier for you.

Be yourself.
The judges can tell if you’re trying to be similar to a personality.
Put your best link first.
Your first link needs to be short, and should be your best one. First impressions really count. The more confident you sound, the better. (Okay, perhaps they don’t need to be crazy short if there’s a good reason)
If you’re applying for an entertainment category (or an entertainment-y station like Radio 1) put something bloody hilarious. If you can make the judge laugh, you’ve got a damn good chance of winning.
If you’re applying for a specialist category, open with a really interesting fact that shows you know and love your music.
If you’re applying for a speech category, start with some engaging and thought-provoking content.
If you’re applying for best male or best female, stick to the advice above based on whatever you’d categorise your show as.
Create a different demo for each station you’re sending it to.
Not all stations sound the same. Radio 1 want different-sounding presenters to Heart, and Radio 4 wants very different presenters from Capital. If you’re sending your demo into different stations for consideration, you should really bear this in mind, otherwise the person listening to it will likely throw it out.
Listen to the station you’re sending your demo to, and get a feel for exactly what that station’s vibe is (this is important even with local radio).
Don’t be afraid to be creative!
Done something that hasn’t been done on radio before? Judges love that. Again, it’s all about being you. Be yourself.
Be selfish.
If you’re submitting an entry to an individual category, and you have a co-host, try to keep their voice out of the demo where possible. The occasional line is fine, sure, but it’s your demo. You can include them in a show-specific category, of course!
No seriously, be yourself.
Are you seeing how important this is yet?
Pre-record a show.
Cheeky plug here.
But seriously, if you pre-record content, you can keep trying to record a line or anecdote until it sounds perfect. All demo content for the awards need to be something you’ve aired, so you can’t just sit in front of a mic and make a demo.
Bear in mind that it’s very easy to confuse “perfect” with something that doesn’t have hiccups but sounds very unnatural. Don’t go overboard on re-recording.
Listen to your final demo in full
After you’ve finished editing, sit down with a clear head and listen through your demo. Be as self-critical as possible, as you really want your demo to sound as close to perfect as possible.
Make the markers between different links clear.
Use a transformer/electronic sound effect to separate links. The rules technically require this.
You can get some here.
Proof-read your write-up.
Got to submit a written entry? Make sure it’s proofread. Get someone else to proof read it, to make sure that it’s sound and tiiight. Don’t ramble. Treat it like an essay if that helps.
Ask for help!
Send your demo to someone else to get it listened to. If you have a producer, email them first. I’ll (Jamie Woods) be really happy to listen to your demo and give you some strong feedback. I’ll also try and share it with my professional contacts.
I can’t stress how important it is to get people to listen to your demo.

Presenting/Production/Uncategorized

Downloading Visual Content

Posted by

Madeline Breed on March 7, 2018

Downloading visual content is actually pretty easy, plus you’ve then got it forever to make your demos extra special!!

1) Type in 10.32.0.126:9292 to a search bar one one of the insanity computers. These are the only computers it will work from.
2) Fill in the start time
3) Fill in the end time (No longer than a 30 minute period as it can crash the server)
5) Click download mp4
6) Should open up a new tab and will take a few minutes to load, varying on how long the download is
7) It will then download the video file which can be found in the downloads folder

Production

Playing Out Syndication: Student Radio Chart

Posted by

Jamie Woods on November 6, 2017

In this post, we’ll explain how to syndicate a show (such as the Student Radio Chart Show)

You will need:

The raw streaming URL for the server in question. It might look like one of these, but could be anything
- http://0.0.0.0:8000/stream
- http://0.0.0.0/;
- http://stream.bbc.com/listen.mp3
Access to the main studio

This implies the show starts at 2PM. Adjust accordingly.

Open VLC from the start menu
Go to File, Open Network.
Enter the streaming URL from above
Press “Play”
Pre-fade listen OB1 on the mixing desk to see if there is signal. If not, check Stereo Tool is running. Open its window, and see if there are any green signal bars showing up on the monitor.
If there is signal, use the green knob on the mixer to adjust the volume. It should peak at around 5, and never exceed six.
On Myriad, set the current (1PM) hour to Auto Fade, so that it finishes exactly on the top of the hour (i.e. at 14:00:00), instead of early or late.
On Myriad, empty the log hour (2PM) completely, except for the green Top Of Show. Empty any following hours (3PM) completely, including the green Top Of Show.
Make all hour(s) (2-3PM) Live Assist.
After this log item, add the “SRA Chart Show” purple marker. (It will show up green in the log, this is normal!) This is on the second page of the Audio Wall sweepers page.
Set this to a stop.
Once you reach the SRA Chart Show, and the stop, turn on and fade up OB1.

At the end of the show, fade down OB1 and hit “Go”, like you would finishing any other link.

Presenting/Production

How to use the portable recorders

Posted by

Beth Carr on March 3, 2017

One way to get content for your shows is to record clips outside of the studio and we have two recorders that you can use to do that – the Tascam and the Zoom. These are especially useful for members of the News Team and the Music Team but anyone can use them as long as you’ve been trained – you can ask your team leader or the Head of Training for this.

Before you use one of the recorders, you’ll need to request it from a board member and then sign it out on the sign out sheet. Make sure you state the purpose and which recorder you are signing out so we can keep track. You cannot take the recorder home overnight and you are responsible for it whilst it is signed out so look after them and report any damage or technical problems to the board so we can sort them out. Make sure you sign it back in when you return it too!

Using the Tascam/Zoom is really easy and the instructions are on the document below – you can click the image for a bigger version and a pdf is available via email!

Myriad/Presenting/Production/Uncategorized

Music Won’t Go In The Hour

Posted by

Jamie Woods on November 18, 2016

If you’re pre-recording a show you may occasionally come across a really weird bug where music will sit outside an hour.

Not to worry, there’s an easy(ish) way to get around it, it just involves digging into menus a bit more than you may be used to.

First, delete the dodgy hour. Right click on the hour’s purple markers and press Delete. It will panic and say “Do you REALLY actually want to delete this? Please no”. Ignore its pleas and continue clicking Yes.

Next, go to Log, Add Hour To Log. Under there, click Add Hour from Carts

File, Add Hour To Log, Add Hour With Carts

This will open the normal “Select Date” dialogue. Enter the hour at the start of your pre-record, select the right date and press ok. You will have to do this again later for the second hour.

Select Date

Next, it will pop up with a really odd looking Audio Wall browser. This is more or less a list of what you see on the left hand monitor.

Double click “1”, or Top Of Show (in orange), to select it.

ss2

Great. Now, just type “1” into the next dialogue (not 10, otherwise it will insert 10 sweepers in a boring order), and press ok.

"How many carts" dialogue - enter 1

That’s it! In the log you should now have an hour starting with the TOP OF SHOW sweeper, just like when you normally plan a show. You will have to do it again to add your next hour of music, but just leave the other hours non-existent so that they can be filled later on with playlist music.

Be sure to change the hour mode to Auto, not LiveAssist or AutoFade. And don’t put stops (red squares) anywhere in your pre-rec.

Myriad/Presenting/Production/Uncategorized

Pre-recording in Studio 2

Posted by

Beth Carr on November 13, 2016

Pre-recording is nothing to panic about! There are two ways you can pre-record a show – we recommend using the first, SegEdit. Setting up is the same for both methods.

Set Up in Studio 2

Before entering the studio, log your music into the time slot when your show will be aired (most pre-records are 2 hours so use two hour long slots) – if an error message appears when you ‘Go To’ your hour, select the ‘Log’ drop down menu on the top left of the screen, then select Add Hour to Log > Add Empty Hour and choose the hour (or two) that you need. You can then drag and drop songs into the hours as usual.

christmas-pre-recording-shows-in-studio-2

Sign in to the presenter’s Insanity account on Myriad in studio 2.
Make sure all three power switches behind the equipment are turned on in studio 2.
Press the ‘AUD’ button above the microphones that are going to be used during the recording – these are the two channels on the far left of the sound desk.
‘Go to’ the hour in the log that your pre recording is scheduled to play on air and make sure it is set to AUTO (it should not be in AutoFade).
Press the round ‘PFL’ button above Myriad cart 4 (blue channel, far right of the sound desk). All the Myriad channel faders should be down.
On the right of the sound desk are 10 buttons, set out in two columns – press the top two (AUD) but leave all the others.

christmas-pre-recording-shows-in-studio-2-1

1) Using SegEdit: (recommended)

Highlight over the song you want to play after your link and open SegEdit (located on the right hand computer screen above the logs).

Pre-recording using SegEdit

Press the spacebar to play the end of the track before your link.
The recording will start automatically when the microphone picks up sound so make sure you are quiet until you want to start recording. You MUST start the recording before the red line near the end of the track – if you’re not ready to talk, make a noise like a cough or pop to activate the mic (then you can be quiet again). You can see the duration of the recording at the bottom right hand corner of Myriad.
Press the spacebar again to start playing the song after the link and then spacebar again to stop the recording.
If you are happy with the link then remember to click save!
Repeat the spacebar button pressing for all voice links.
Once you are finished, right click the top of the hour that contains the time and date and select ‘Export this Hour to a file’ – save it in Computer/Music (M:)/PRE RECORD LOG FILES and save it as ‘Presenter/Show Name Date Time’. Make sure you do this for both hours.
Make sure you log out when you are done!

2) Pre-recording into carts: (commonly for interviews or other features)

Log into Myriad.
Find an empty cart on the AudioWall – 8000-10000 is used for recordings.
Right click on the empty cart and select ‘record into cart’. It will automatically start when the microphone picks up audio.
Press stop on the bottom right corner of the screen (the recording cart) to end the recording and save it if you are happy.
Make a note of the pre-recorded material’s cart number so you can log it with your music in your show.
To locate the cart your pre recordings went in to, click ‘Jump’ on the left hand side of the computer screen and type the number of the cart.
Edit the name and artist to something more memorable and put the date it will be aired to make sure the cart isn’t accidentally deleted.
You can drag your recording into the log as you would with music and use SegEdit to blend it in with the songs.

Beds in Studio 2

If you want to add beds to your pre-record, you can do this in studio 2!
Choose the bed (or beds) you’d like to use and drag it into cart 1, 2 or 3. Select ‘AUD’ and keep the fader up on the sound desk (these carts are the other three blue channels on the right, next to cart 4).
Start playing the bed whilst voice recording (either on SegEdit or into a cart) on the Myriad screen and when you want to talk over it, drag the slider down to between 5 and 10 (it may sound louder on the headphones than it will on air)
If you want to talk over an intro to a song, fade out the bed as you would when live and press the spacebar to start the next song on SegEdit.
PLEASE NOTE: The ‘ON’ buttons above the Myriad faders do not start tracks as they would in Studio 1 so you have to manually press play for the carts on the screen and then click back onto the SegEdit panel.

Resetting Studio 2

Once you are finished with your pre-record, turn off the ‘AUD’ and ‘PFL’ buttons on all the channels you have used.
Put the three Myriad channel faders back up and turn off the ‘AUD’ function on the right hand buttons.
Log out of Myriad and return the studio to how you found it:

Resetting Studio 2 to broadcast settings

Any problems, email training2.insanityradio.com or ask your producer.

Presenting/Production

Downloading your show

Posted by

Beth Carr on October 6, 2016

So you’ve come out of the studio, high on adrenaline and keen to come back next week? Or are you wanting to cry and composing an email to Head of Operations saying you never want to see a radio studio ever again? Whichever one of these best describes you, we highly recommend you download and listen back to your show. Why? Here’s a few reasons:

If you feel like it went badly, chances are that there was a moment in your show when something happened to throw you off. Being able to reflect on what you said/did can help you avoid the same situation happening again – perhaps you tried to discuss a topic you weren’t confident about or you struggled to turn the mics on.
Having a recording of your show means that you can share it with friends and family, who can give you feedback on what they liked and what they’d like to hear more of. These are the core listeners for your show and can help you gain an audience if they genuinely enjoy what they hear.
If you had a particularly good show you can use the recording to create a podcast. This can reach more listeners and those who missed out on your live show can catch up.
It’s also a good idea to keep a record of bits of your show that you are particularly proud of. There are multiple opportunities to enter awards, both as an individual or as part of the station as a whole, and these often require demos – basically a compilation of your best bits. If radio is something you want to go into as a career then a good demos should hopefully help you to bag your dream job.

So, how do you find the recordings of your show? Good news is that each hour is automatically recorded, so all you have to do is download the individual hour for your show. To do this, you need to visit logs.insanityradio.com – this only works ON CAMPUS but you don’t have to come to the media suite to do it. The page looks a bit like the one below:

logs

Once you’ve found the homepage, you need to select the day of your show – this is in the format YYYY-MM-DD. This will send you to the page below:

logs2

You then need to find the file for your show – each one is in the format YYYY-MM-DD-TT.mp3 (T meaning time). As shown above, the time in the file name is the start of your show and the time printed at the end is the end time, with the files saved in hour long slots. If your show is two hours long, make sure you save both files! To actually save it, right click on the blue hyperlink and select ‘Save Link As’ or ‘Save Target As’ (depending on your browser) – this will allow you to save the file to your USB stick or directly to the computer.

There will be more training material on podcasting, demos and how you can use your logs later in the term but for the mean time enjoy listening to your shows on the logs!

Myriad/Presenting/Production

Hour Modes – A Quick Overview

Posted by

Jamie Woods on October 4, 2016

You’ve probably seen and been trained briefly on Hour Modes, but what are they and why are they so important? Let’s explain.

The log (essentially the big playlist that contains ordered songs that’s on the right hand screen) is split into hours. Every hour, the clock essentially resets.

The “TOP OF SHOW” thing that appears when you plan your show is known as a Top Of The Hour/TOTH, and often in radio there are news bulletins exactly at X:00. Usually, we want this to play as close to 00 as possible, otherwise we get either overrun or underrun. Overrun is when an hour has too much content, and underrun is when it has too little.

Both are completely preventable, and I’ll explain how to after we define each of the different modes.

Each hour in the log has a specific mode – one of the following 3. You can change the mode in the studio as you feel fit by clicking one of the 3 buttons on the top right screen.

LiveAssist
This is the only mode where stops (red squares) have an effect. This mode is aimed for hours where a presenter will be in the studio, and automatically loads music into Cart Players ready for them to play to assist them.
Auto
If there are stops in the log, Auto will completely ignore them. This is useful if you have to pop out of the studio for a couple of seconds, but don’t want the system to top it up with music. Overrun and underrun won’t be resolved by this.
AutoFade
(This mode will only work in the studio that’s on air.) AutoFade will try its hardest to automatically time the music to finish EXACTLY at X:59:59. If it can’t, it will fade songs out early. When no presenter is on air, this is recommended, as it is the most accurate. It’s also recommended for pre-recorded shows.

The “Hour Mode” buttons are the three above the top. Note the “On Air” one in green.

What does this mean for me?

When the hour is on LiveAssist, your show will play as normal, even if you’re not in the studio. That means that if the log hits a stop, the music stops, and silence goes out on air. This is very bad and unprofessional.

When planning a show, remember not to change the Hour Mode to LiveAssist unless you’re either:

Currently in the studio, or
Just about to enter the studio (ie. you’re planning out your show the hour before)

DON’T put the hour mode onto LiveAssist if you’re planning your show a while in advance, and definitely don’t put them in pre-records!

A studio with nothing playing out – disaster!

When you complete your last link, it is very advisable to put the log back onto AutoFade. This will ensure that you have no overrun or underrun, and is fair on the next presenter, and is the professional’s choice.

Don’t be scared, after a couple of shows this will all become second nature to you! Let us know if you have any questions.

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