Programming: Behind the Dial

Chris England takes a look at some studio basics

In the last Behind The Dial, we looked at disc jockeys and their personalities, but now we turn to the equipment and techniques they use behind the microphone.

Firstly, 'radio' studios tend to be split into either 'production' or 'on-air' use.

Production Studios

'Production' studios, where commercials, trailers and complicated programme inserts are put together, will have all the latest sound and voice effect devices, multi-tracking tape recorders and a library of odd noises and pieces of music. This is not to say that a broadcast can't be made directly from a production studio, but most of the equipment available to the disc jockey would just be sitting idle. And, most importantly if the station is unlicensed, all the equipment in the room could be seized during a raid.

Meanwhile, the 'on-air' studio is usually kept to the bare essentials. Indeed, most unlicensed stations keep their equipment down to two record decks, a cassette player, a microphone and a four-channel (stereo) mixer.

The less knobs and buttons in front of the average disc jockey the better. They do tend to fiddle with the tone controls as if they were in a disco, so these are usually hidden preset controls only alterable by an engineer. There is never any real need for an 'on-air' studio to alter the tonal quality (treble/bass) of a record or tape, as these were set up when the items were originally recorded.

The only controls the disc jockey needs to play with are those affecting the level or volume. The overall sound coming from the studio must remain at the same constant level. The DJ's voice, any jingles, commercials or trailers must all come out of your radio at the same level as the records, so you don't have to constantly adjust the volume control yourself. To help manage this, the output of the studio is usually fed through 'compressor / limiters', which automatically squeeze the sound into roughly the same volume level before it gets to the transmitter.

Cans

However, broadcasters can't just rely on 'compressor / limiters'. They must sort out the levels of each item on the mixing desk. The fastest way of doing this is by listening on headphones.

The less knobs and buttons in front of the average disc jockey the better

Presenters wear headphones or 'cans' throughout their programme to hear exactly what's going on. The volume level of the 'cans' is set such that when they speak into the microphone they hear their voice coming back to them at exactly the same level as they would if they were wearing no 'cans' at all. Presenters wrongly hearing their own voice too softly or too loudly will badly adjust the way they speak to compensate, and this will be noticeable to the listeners. An example of this is to listen to somebody singing along to a song with headphones on. If they can't also hear their own voice in the headphones, their singing will be disgustingly flat and loud.

Checking Levels

Once 'cans' are set to the correct level, the jock will instantly hear if a record is drowning out their voice, is too quiet, or has become too loud. They can then confirm the fine adjustment of the level by watching the meters on the mixing desk, altering volume controls to keep the needles flickering in roughly the same place. A good DJ will re-check the meter readings at least every twenty seconds, and constantly listen for any noticeable change in their headphones.

When it comes down to the actual equipment in use, broadcasters (especially those in hospital radio) like to blame it for their mistakes. They dream of ultra fast start turntables, and cartridge machines to replace their cassette players. However, they say a bad workman always blames his tools, and the average disco console is really quite adequate for all-music radio.

In reality, a good and slick DJ will never need more than two cassette (or cartridge) players, two turntables and a microphone feeding into the mixing desk for on-air work.. All the tricky bits will have been pre-recorded whilst doing the production work when preparing the programme. These are put on to tape, and listed on a running order.

Running Order

A running order is a list of the order in which the records, inserts, commercials and trailers will be played. Information such as the time length of each record, when it was recorded, its chart position, etc. is also written on the running order. It is not a strict script, but it will contain info the DJ can use if they want, to make them sound very knowledgeable. It also saves trying to read it from the record whilst it's spinning.

Most jocks know most of the records they will be playing off by heart, but new releases, album tracks, or oldies they haven't heard for a while should all be listened to before going on air. Good sounding jocks don't really need to pre-plan their programmes; the best ones always do.

Messing Around

Where possible, presenters will sit in a studio just messing about from about half-an-hour before they are due to start their programme. This helps them warm up and tune themselves into the job. Then, with ten minutes to go, they'll visit the loo and have a drink of coke or water, before finally returning to the studio with three minutes to go. They listen to the closing words of the previous presenter... then it's all theirs.

And, after all that effort put in by the deejay, we sit at home listening and think how easy it all sounds.