MP3's on the radio?

[d46163]

Has anyone else heard radio stations spinning MP3's? There are a few stations around where I live that do this quite often and it makes me nuts! Since when did reducing half million dollar productions to highly compressed junk become acceptable? I know MP3's generate previously untapped revenue for record labels and distributors but if the final result is an MP3 why bother with spending all the money to make it sound good in the first place? Convenience must overrule quality..iPod sales probably prove that point!

[Improv]

I could be very wrong here, but I am under the impression that mp3 is the playback format of most major stations these days. I pray to god I'm mistaken, but my ears tell me I'm not.

[James Guitar]

yeh i hear mp3's all over the radio all over the u.s.a. (i travel a lot). poor, poor, poor. dfegad corporate radio.
-J

[Scinx]

I know when I hosted some shows, I used Mp3s because it was the only format that small, unsigned, indie bands could send me without it taking 100 years (broadband wasn't so pervasive).

As far as large commercial stations and whatnot - there are two other things that trump the mp3 gripe (in my opinion). First, most of the actual songs that are played on commercial radio are typically filtered into the trash folder in my brain. Secondly, if I'm listening on an analog FM signal, I'm not expecting a lush, clean, sparkling mix. Dont really consider AM and FM bands to be the most transparent in quality.

[lefthando]

Well I can't say for sure about songs and music, but pretty much every single radio commercial you hear is probably an Mp3. Judge the quality for yourself.

The interenet has done incredible things for the speed at which advertising agencies can operate. The flexibility of getting an ad to dozens of radio stations simultaneously far outweighs the benefits of higher audio quality. I'm not even getting in to the discussion of revisions.

Yesterday I delivered the final master of a radio single to the band's manager. I didn't bat an eye as he promptly put the disc in his mac to import the song in to iTunes as an MP3 at 128kbps. But when he proceeded to burn a CD of the same MP3 file, I flipped.

He was going to send an audio disc of MP3 files to the station.

I'll bet that wouldn't be the first time it's happend.

[Vocalvoodoo]

Originally Posted by Improv

I could be very wrong here, but I am under the impression that mp3 is the playback format of most major stations these days. I pray to god I'm mistaken, but my ears tell me I'm not.

Most station playback MP2's actually which is somewhat better than mp3's. But still not CD quality. When I was still working in terrestrial radio, most commercials were mp3 though. I would say 90% of commercials you hear on the radio are mp3's if not 95 to 99%. Some arrived on CD and every now and then a reel would come through. (guess people had to use all those reels they payed for rather than trash them) Barter spots on syndicated shows are the worst though. They usually go through MULTIPLE mp3 conversions before hitting the air. From mp2 to mp3 back to mp2 etc. Talking about sounding like CRAP!!! Some of the worst are those Larry King endorsed Ester-C and various other supliments he endorses. Man, they sound like they are freakin' 8 bit.

[danasti]

Originally Posted by d46163

why bother with spending all the money to make it sound good in the first place?

A good production translates into different formats. Just like a bad production will never sound good even on the best system. Even at a lower bit rate, made with a poor encoder, a good mix will translate. Even on a cassette tape/boombox good mixing is evident to me.

Also, there are drastically different qualities for mp3 encoding. I can make one right now at the highest bitrate from a 24bit wav file it won't sound too far off a 16bit cd version. It will surely sound better on my speakers than if I were to listen to a cd(aif) through a radio staions cd player, compressors, limiters obscenity delay, etc... etc.. and finally dialed in through a tuner.

[PMoshay]

Definately mp3's and even worse sometimes. I do a radio show called "Decent Exposure" with my friend Jimi Jamm that is on a few Clear Channel stations and the sometimes the music i pull off the server (or that is sent to me) is frightening!

I got sent a "radio mix" version of a Collective Soul song that Chris Lord Alge mixed that sounded so bad that my 90yr old grandma wold have said it sounded like crap. When we A/B'd vs a good mp3 or AAC it was night & day better. The funny thing is, the crappy one actually sounded fair on air as there is sooooo much pre-transmission processing (at least 2-3 limiters + 2-3 multiband processors).
But better always sounds better..........

Please email us songs for the radio show:
Requirements are....
1. Must be a pop song (something that would fit the Z-100/Star 93.3 format)
2. The Band or artist must have a CD that is for sale on the internet that we can link to from the station's website (CD Baby, iTunes, Garageband.com,etc or your own site is fine).
3. Don't expect a follow up email about the song unless it is placed on the weekly show, then you will get a email with the links and time. We can only get 8-10 songs added each week.
4. This is a way to get on the "ClearChannel Radio empire", we are trying to get cool independent artists to the listeners who tune in to the hit pop radio station format, no record label or payola necessary, just great songs.

email: Jimijamm@clearchannel.com
Title your email: Song Submission for Decent Exposure
Send a good quality 128k-192k mp3 or mp4

You can check out more on Decent Exposure at:
http://myspace.com/decentexposureradio
or
http://star933fm.com/pages/jimi.html

[DeepSpace]

Yes, mp3s are junk. But let's get this in perspective.

Until at least the 1970s, almost all radio listening was done on low-fi receivers tuned to narrow bandwidth mono stations with <20dB dynamic range and replete with RF interference and reception issues. Moreover it was standard practice to compress and equalise *all* program content before it went to air.

Even as FM and Stereo AM broadcast formats took hold throughout much of the world, reception (signal strength) for a substantial proportion of listeners has been such as to compromise quality - not to mention the fact that most receivers/tuners/'hi-fi' systems are plastic junk.

I too have come concerns about proliferation, mis-use and over-use of compressed formats. But frankly, radio is the least of my worries.

[RadioMoo]

Originally Posted by Improv

I could be very wrong here, but I am under the impression that mp3 is the playback format of most major stations these days. I pray to god I'm mistaken, but my ears tell me I'm not.

We're using MPEG-2, 256kbps. Enough said?

Sometimes when a station wants to add an old song that they don't have in their library, they'll just steal it off the web. So you the listener hear a data-reduced file imported into the automation system and converted to a data-reduced file again and then played through an Orban Optimod or other type of processor. You can't help but notice.