Recording a 30 second spot for radio?

**Josh Ryan** · #1 07-21-2003, 11:02 AM

any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated. All of my experience (the little I have) has been recording bands of one flavor or another, and mixing for CD purposes. This is a local ad for a local a local company, but I really would love to make it sound better than the average crap one hears all the time from local adverts.

fastplant · #2 07-21-2003, 11:39 AM

I did one once. The only advice I'd give is be careful not to go over board on compression and effects. Only because it will sound odd when compared to other radio spots. Not sure if that makes any sense, sorry. But what I mean is if it stands out negatively compared to other spots people might not pay any attention to it, only to the fact that it sounds different.

**Josh Ryan** · #3 07-21-2003, 01:24 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by fastplant
I did one once. The only advice I'd give is be careful not to go over board on compression and effects. Only because it will sound odd when compared to other radio spots. Not sure if that makes any sense, sorry. But what I mean is if it stands out negatively compared to other spots people might not pay any attention to it, only to the fact that it sounds different.

Gotcha! thanks, that does make sense.

JMX · #4 07-21-2003, 02:03 PM

Also, check it on the usual suspects, play it on car stereos, small stereos, big ones, etc.

**Josh Ryan** · #5 07-21-2003, 02:07 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by JMX
Also, check it on the usual suspects, play it on car stereos, small stereos, big ones, etc.

check!

Should I try to compensate for excessive radio compression at all? Leave it a bit loose or make it real tight?

fastplant · #6 07-24-2003, 08:59 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Blisshead

check!

Should I try to compensate for excessive radio compression at all? Leave it a bit loose or make it real tight?

I'd leave it a bit loose, only because readio stations are going to compress it also and too much compression will make it sound awful.

Turock · #7 07-24-2003, 09:25 AM

I did a far amount of this 15-20 years ago. I always went straight to the board. Most times my part was written out for me and other times I was asked to create a certain "feel". Anything else such as compression was later added by studio personel to have the final product sound like they wanted.

**Josh Ryan** · #8 07-24-2003, 04:21 PM

Ok thanks! Turok, I am the studio personel in this case, not the bassist. I'll probably go light with it so the radio compressors have something to grab hold of and don't squelch the entire thing.