Mix like a Master Radio Presenter Perfect for Presenters and Podcasters There are two types of mixing desks being used in radio. Professional radio stations use broadcast desks. Community radio stations tend to use music mixing desks. In this blog, you'll learn how to set your levels on both types of desks. A Music Desk Being Used as a Radio Desk This is very common in the UK A Professional Radio Broadcast Desk Sonifex S2 Many community radio stations use music mixing desks as their broadcast desks due to limited funds. However, the skills you learn on a music mixing desk can easily be applied to any radio mixing console. Learn these principles well, and you'll be able to use any radio broadcast desk. In fact, most of you are going to come across mixing desks like this in the picture below. Don’t be disheartened. Music mixing desks can do most of the things that a professional radio desk can do. Balance Your Levels! Balancing your levels is VERY important. You can have the best show in the world; however, if your radio show sounds technically bad, then no one will want to listen to it. You need to learn how to use a mixing desk. Professional Sounding It’s imperative that your radio show sounds professional. Whenever you broadcast, you've got to make sure your audio levels are balanced. In other words, all the volumes coming out of the desk are at the correct level. At the end of this blog, I will link you to a PDF about audio levels. Do read it. It will help your shows. So Why Do We Use Mixing Desks? We use mixing desks to send a collection of sounds from the studio to people’s radios/computers etc. These ‘sounds’ can be voices, music, telephones, jingles, etc. Our job is to get those sounds into the desk and then out on air. Channel Inputs Each channel strip is an ‘input’. The mic channel is the ‘input’ for your voice; the computer playout channel is the ‘input’ for the music, the telephone channel is the ‘input’ for the telephone, etc. Each input goes into the desk through a separate channel, and each channel has its own fader. It's why you have a mic 1 fader (for the mic 1 input). A mic 2 fader (for the mic 2 input). A computer playout fader (for the music on the computer). A jingle fader (for the jingles). An aux fader for people to plug in their laptops or iPhones etc. and so on. Ponder About Taps/Faucets for a Moment! Think about the fader channel as being like a tap. When we turn the voice tap on, the voice comes out. When we turn the voice tap off, the voice stops. When we turn the music tap on, the music comes out. When we turn the music tap off, the music stops. You get the idea. Turning the tap on is either pushing the fader to the top of the desk or to where it says 0. (The number may have three little lines next to it). Turning the tap off is pulling the fader to the bottom. On Before You Run! On some radio desks, you may have to switch the channel “on” first before you open the fader. The Music Mixing Desk as a Radio Desk Switch the Channel On The Professional Broadcast Desk Switch the Channel On On these desks, it’s - switch on the channel - open the fader - easy. Watch Where You Go Some desks you open the fader up to the top. Other radio desks you open the fader to midway. As you can see below, the fader is opened to the top of the channel. On these desks below, the fader only goes to the middle of the channel. Distortion of Doom At my hospital radio station, we opened the fader to midway. However, most of my volunteers opened the fader to the top of the desk. Doing this, meant too much signal was going into the desk. Their music, and vocal links became too loud and distorted. Why? Simply put, they’d turned the volume up too high. Watch out for this mistake. Always ask your trainer where does the fader go on the desk. More About the Desk Think of the desk like this. Each fader is linked to a ‘source’. A ‘source’ could be a microphone, a playout computer, a phone line, a CD player, a record player, etc. Each channel normally represents one source. Don’t get scared by the number of faders on the desk. Just think one fader, one source. One Vision! (Bad Queen joke there!) Mic faders tend to be red. (It's not always the case though). Work One Desk, Work Them All A lot of radio mixing desks tend to follow the same configuration. In other words, a lot of the desks tend to look the same. Different companies may place individual buttons in slightly different areas, but all these desks are very similar. Once you can work one radio desk, you can pretty much work any radio desk. It’s just a case of searching for the same buttons. All You Need to Know Is... As a presenter to a radio show, all you need to know is how to pre-fade listen (cue) your source. In plain talk, this just means knowing how to set your volume levels and knowing how to monitor your volume levels. Setting Levels on a Music Mixing Desk The process is the same for every channel. It's also the same for a professional broadcast desk. 1. Keep the channel fader DOWN 2. Switch the channel’s ON button on. (If it has one). 3. Press the PFL button down. 4. Press play from your source or speak into the microphone. (Make sure you are in a comfortable position in front of the mic and speak at your normal volume.) 5. Look at the meters on the right-hand side of the desk. 6. Use the gain button at the top of the channel to adjust the source/voice until the meters peak at 0. (We go to 0 on this desk) 7. Switch off the PFL button (so that the button is UP). 8. Open the fader to 0 on the desk 9. Press play from the source/start speaking into your microphone. ALWAYS keep an eye on the meters during the broadcast. If the level is too high, then adjust the gain on the channel (the proper method) or lower the fader slightly. If the level is too low, then increase the gain on the channel or raise the fader. Let's look at this in more detail now. I'll explain how we set the levels on the desk that K2K Radio uses. Setting Your Voice Levels: Tutorial for K2K Presenters Find the mic fader. On this desk, it's usually Channel 1 for yourself and Channels 2 and 3 for your guests. They are the first three faders on the left-hand side of the desk. 1 2 3 4 ALWAYS make sure the fader is down first BEFORE you PFL (pre-fade listen) any source. Select your channel. Keep the fader DOWN. Press the ON button on. Press the PFL button in. Either play from your source (CD, computer, tablet etc.) or speak into the microphone. Look at your levels on the meters. What is the reading? If the meters don’t read 0, then adjust the channel gain. Either turn the dial right to increase the level or turn the dial left to decrease the level. As you can see below, the audio level is too low. Adjusting the Gain Let's turn the gain up. We'll turn the button (dial) right. As you can see, this is an immaculate desk lol! The Correct Broadcast Level (For This Desk) Now our levels are great! Next, switch off the PFL button. Raise the channel fader to 0 (on this desk). Speak or press play from your source. (CD, tablet, phone, laptop, vinyl). You're now broadcasting at the correct level! Repeat this method for channels 1-8. Let's Recap 1. Keep the channel fader DOWN 2. Switch the channel’s ON button on. (If it has one). 3. Press the PFL button down. 4. Press play from your source or speak into the microphone. (Make sure you are in a comfortable position in front of the mic and speak at your normal volume.) 5. Look at the meters on the right-hand side of the desk. 6. Use the gain button at the top of the channel to adjust the source/voice until the meters peak at 0. (We go to 0 on this desk) 7. Switch off the PFL button (so that the button is UP). 8. Open the fader to 0 on the desk 9. Press play from the source/start speaking into your microphone. Pre Fade Listening a Source on a Professional Radio Desk Watch this short video below. Pre Fade Listen With VU Meters Learn about where to find show ideas. Discover how to show prep like a pro. Master the mixing desk. What it is, how it works and how to use it. Discover what you shouldn't do as a presenter. Check out the Radio DJ Course Ashley Cowan runs the Online Radio School where he tutors in radio presenting and media interviewing techniques. He was a BBC World Service, Radio studio manager for nine years. He was also the station manager for Radio Kings, the hospital radio station for Kings College Hospital. Other crimes include being the training manager for K2K Radio & Whitechapel AM. Sometimes he even records The Economist Audio Magazine on random Thursdays. As a radio presenter, he's hosted radio shows on three FM stations. That was back in the day when FM radio was a big deal. The poor radio stations that had to put up with his brand of terrible comedy were: Radio DÅB, FLR 107.3 FM, and City FM. Radio DÅB had 100,000 listeners! Woo! When he's not writing about himself in the third person, then he was also a community radio DJ at Radio Kings, TGR Sound, Sydenham Radio, and Croydon Radio. He once did production work for Total Rock.com. That was a fun station with a cool owner and a great broadcast team! Brown fizzy water often accompanied the broadcasts! In his spare time, he's London Irish (so he likes a beer). He's recently created an online "Fingerpicking for Guitar" course. There he teaches the art of fingerpicking for... erm...guitar. Students can learn twenty different fingerpicking styles for their chords. Comments are closed.
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Ashley..
is an ex BBC, radio studio manager, and the ex manager of Radio Kings, the hospital radio station for King's College Hospital. He's presented on three FM stations and waaay too many community stations. Archives
May 2020
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