I Detect A Pattern

Microphones are available with several different pickup patterns. That is, they are more sensitive to sounds coming from certain directions. In broadcasting, we work primarily with three patterns: Omnidirectional, Cardioid, and Hypercardioid.

These diagrams show the sensitivity of the microphone, with the mic pointing “up” in each case.

Omnidirectional:
Equally sensitive in all directions. The sound will be picked up whether it originates directly in front of the mic, from the side, or even behind the mic.

This is popular with TV reporters for general outdoor work. It picks up the sound of the surroundings as well as the reporter’s voice. Aiming is not critical. However, when used indoors, any imperfections in the room’s acoustics will be easily heard.

Cardioid:
Picks up very well directly in front of the mic. Lower sensitivity from the sides, with little pickup of sounds coming from behind the mic. On stage, this pattern reduces the chance of feedback from the sound system. In a studio, the cardioid pattern helps to isolate the sound being recorded. It will hear mostly the voice or instrument, with very little of the room’s ambience.

Hyper Cardioid:
This pattern is found in long “shotgun” mics. It doesn’t reach any farther in the forward direction than a regular cardioid, but by reducing the pickup from the sides, what’s directly in front is more easily heard. There is a small amount of pickup from the rear.

In the field, shotguns mics are used to pick out a particular sound at a distance (hearing a certain voice in a crowd). In the studio, it is often favored by voice-over artists for its articulate pickup as well as rejection of an imperfect room.

It’s not unusual for a reporter to have one of each type of pattern available. In the broadcast studio, the cardioid pattern is the most popular.

By choosing the correct pattern for the job, you will more clearly hear the sounds you want, and not the stuff that you don’t.

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Spice It Up

That program you are working on would sound more lively if it had an appropriate piece of music as an opening theme. And maybe an occasional “zing” or “whoosh” sound effect would come in handy when you really need to drive a point home. Or you might want the soft sound of the countryside as a background for your story.

The folks at Sound Ideas have put together several packages of music beds, sound effects, and other production elements that can add just the right amount of interest to your production.

These collections are packed full of professionally-produced tracks made specifically for radio production, from musical intros and one-minute beds, to background sounds and just about every other kind of sound element that you might need.

Each disc has a different assortment of royalty-free music, zaps, explosions, and effects to keep your productions sounding fresh and interesting for a long time.

Say it with a *BANG*

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Make Sure You Are Always On

Radio is the best source of crucial information when disaster strikes.

If a big storm takes out the power to most of the town, you turn on the radio to find out what’s happening. When will power be restored? Are the schools and hospitals open? Should I stay put, or head for the hills?

Local radio stations have a long tradition of staying on the air, no matter what. They understand that they provide a crucial link to important information for the residents of the community they serve.

But, in the process of upgrading our facilities, sometimes the certainty of staying on the air is compromised.

This last winter brought several significant weather events, from hurricanes to blizzards to flooding. In some cases, local broadband data services (wireless and internet) have gone down, or been shut off intentionally to avoid major damage to the equipment. The problem is… many radio broadcasters have recently come to rely on these services as their primary means of delivering the audio from the studio location to the remote transmitter site. When the internet service shuts down, there’s no audio to feed the transmitter. You’re OFF THE AIR!!

It’s not difficult to set up a stand-by source of program material that will automatically play some generic audio if the link from the studio is down. But that’s not good enough when the public needs to hear current information RIGHT NOW. It’s a good idea to have a plan for getting audio to the transmitter when the usual paths aren’t operating.

- Dial-up telephone line. (Just about as reliable as radio for being there when you need it.) Call the transmitter site on a conventional land-line telephone. You can put the phone call on the air by using a controller such as DR10 or TAC5.

- Have a small mic and mixer set up at the transmitter site. (See our Podcast Packages). If you can get to the location, you can go on the air live from the transmitter building. And if you have 2-way radios to communicate with local emergency agencies, you will have the most current information to report.

Do what you can to keep your community informed in an emergency. They are your audience. They are your advertisers. They are your neighbors. Be sure they can depend on your station whenever they need to know what’s important. Because radio is Always On.
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Broadcast Microphones

If you do most of your product research by viewing musician’s forums and recording sites, you might have the impression that the only type of microphone worth having is a condensor… and you would be very wrong. Dynamic microphones are much better suited for most broadcast work.

Let’s look at the differences between dynamic and condensor microphones.

SENSITIVITY -
Condensor mics are very sensitive. Made to pick up the smallest detail. This is an excellent feature when recording a delicate instrument in an acoustically- perfect recording studio. But it’s usually not a positive feature for broadcasters.

Most broadcast studios are not perfect acoustic environments. We’d rather not hear (quite so clearly, anyway) the computer fan, the air conditioner, the room echo, and other random noises from down the hall.

DURABILITY -
Condensor mics are fairly delicate creatures. Too much rough handling, or even moisture, can cause crackle, hiss, or complete failure. They are best suited to  a nice, warm, safe recording studio. Use a dynamic mic if you expect it may get dropped or wet.

PORTABILITY -
Condensor mics require a phantom power source to operate (often written as +48V). Many portable mixers, like those used for sports broadcasting, don’t provide phantom power. Dynamic mics don’t need any external power.

The most popular dynamic mics for on-air studios are RE20, SM7, and MD421. Popular handheld models for portable use are VP64A, MD46, RE50B.

Browse all of our dynamic mics here. There are many models to choose from, in several price ranges. Some have mute switches. Some have extra long handles to allow space for a mic flag (showing the station’s logo is always a good thing).

Broadcasters rely on dynamic mics because their particular features make them uniquely suited for our applications.

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What’s Your Back-Up Plan?

One day, some critical piece of equipment is going to fail. Maybe an electric surge will wipe out a mixing board, or a microphone will be dropped. Maybe the computer will suffer a virus or hard-drive failure.

Have you thought about how you are going to get on the air when this happens?

A lot of folks try to get by with only one mixing board, hoping that there will never be a problem. Then when something fails, you are off the air until repairs can be made, or a new piece of gear can be ordered. Planning for the inevitable will minimize the disruption to your broadcast, and keep the listeners (and advertisers) happy.

For many small-to-medium size operations, a backup studio can be put together easily by using one of our Podcasting packages. These are simple, capable, and compact solutions. These are producing high quality work for many internet broadcasters. Think of some of the things you can do with the extra equipment:
- It can be a second place to do production while the main mixer is on the air.
- It can be your “newsroom”
- It can be be your “remote kit” to do broadcasts away from the main studio.

The Podcasting packages may not have every feature of a full-sized broadcast studio, but they can certainly be called on to serve as a temporary studio while repairs are made to the other gear.

Add some flexibility to your studio, and have a back-up plan. Call us.

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Remember “Telephones”?

What type of phone service do you have in your studio? Not too long ago, the answer was obvious… you would have had an analog telephone line with a touch-tone phone. But now, the odds are pretty good that your phone service might come from your cable TV provider, or that you only use a mobile phone (no “land line” at all).

This creates new challenges for putting a caller on the air. Fortunately, there are solutions for the new generation of telephone services.

If your phone service is from a cable company or internet service, determine if you can use an ordinary telephone with that service, or does it require a special phone? If it allows you to use an ordinary phone, then any of the POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) hybrids will work fine. If, however, you are required to use a “special” phone, it may have proprietary circuitry. In this case, use one of the PBX models discussed below.

Just to keep it simple, I’ll highlight products from a single manufacturer. JK Audio has a variety of telephone hybrid products that will connect your callers, no matter which type of phone connection you may have.

Broadcast Host, Innkeeper1, and Innkeeper LTD are popular models for use with traditional POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) phone lines. Each has it’s own special set of unique features, but all will work fine on a conventional analog phone line.

Internet-connected phones, or other proprietary types can usually be connected with the Innkeeper PBX or PBXport models. These connect between the phone unit and the handset cord. The Universal Host additionally includes a USB connection to your computer for Skype calls.

And for the “my-smart-phone-is-my-only-phone” folks, the BlueKeeper uses your wireless phone’s Bluetooth feature to make the connection.

These are solutions for a single caller. If you need a multi-line system, with 2 or more simultaneous callers, we have solutions for that, too.

The technology that you use to talk to callers is changing. We’ve got the gear to put those callers on the air.

Call us. We’ll direct you to the most appropriate products for your situation.

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Making The Pieces Fit

It takes many pieces of gear to make up a studio… mixing board, microphones, processors, telephone hybrid, codec, recording and playback gear… and more.

Each item comes with instructions (really, I’ve seen them). Problem is, the instructions will tell you how to get that one item running, but not how to make it “play nice” with everything else that’s connected to your system.

The folks that made the mixer don’t show you how to interconnect everything for a multi-caller talk show. And the hybrid maker doesn’t tell you about routing signals to interact with a codec. No one is quite sure how to monitor something in your headphones without being recorded.

It’s not really the manufacturers’ fault. With so many different types of equipment available, and the fact that every studio’s particular needs are unique, it’s nearly impossible to cover all the possibilities.

You need to talk to someone that has actually used this stuff in the way that you plan to use it. Music stores may not have knowledge of talk shows. On-line discounters may not even know what the product is, or what it does. You need to talk to a studio engineer or a broadcaster. Don’t know any? Well, you’re in luck…

BSW has supplied the radio broadcasting industry with professional equipment for over 40 years. Most of our sales staff have decades of hands-on experience using and configuring broadcast and pro audio gear. We know which pieces go where, and why.

Call or email us. Tell us what you want to accomplish. We’ll direct you to the products that can get the job done.

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