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WRIF's audio sounds like shit again

Discussion pertaining to Detroit, Ann Arbor, Port Huron, and SW Ontario
SteveS
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Re: WRIF's audio sounds like shit again

Post by SteveS » Sat Oct 22, 2022 5:51 pm

I think Smooth Criminal was ripped from YouTube and they didn't get the right version. Mike Kernen used to jump us for downloading shitty YouTube videos and loading them into Vault for over-the-air play. Sounded like garbage.
As someone that has never worked in radio that's amazing to me that YouTube recordings would actually be played.



Mega Hertz
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Re: WRIF's audio sounds like shit again

Post by Mega Hertz » Sat Oct 22, 2022 9:11 pm

SteveS wrote:
Sat Oct 22, 2022 5:51 pm
I think Smooth Criminal was ripped from YouTube and they didn't get the right version. Mike Kernen used to jump us for downloading shitty YouTube videos and loading them into Vault for over-the-air play. Sounded like garbage.
As someone that has never worked in radio that's amazing to me that YouTube recordings would actually be played.
You better believe it. All three stations got a "talking to" from the engineering department about that. We would either put it in ProTools or run it directly into AudioVault. The bit rate and the audio chain made it sound like absolute shit. It sounds like this is what happened here. You can be sure they don't have an actual CD to rip it from.


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Colonel Flagg
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Re: WRIF's audio sounds like shit again

Post by Colonel Flagg » Sat Oct 22, 2022 9:28 pm

Mega Hertz wrote:
Sat Oct 22, 2022 9:11 pm
SteveS wrote:
Sat Oct 22, 2022 5:51 pm
I think Smooth Criminal was ripped from YouTube and they didn't get the right version. Mike Kernen used to jump us for downloading shitty YouTube videos and loading them into Vault for over-the-air play. Sounded like garbage.
As someone that has never worked in radio that's amazing to me that YouTube recordings would actually be played.
You better believe it. All three stations got a "talking to" from the engineering department about that. We would either put it in ProTools or run it directly into AudioVault. The bit rate and the audio chain made it sound like absolute shit. It sounds like this is what happened here. You can be sure they don't have an actual CD to rip it from.
I'm going to go out on a limb here... I'm guessing whoever was doing this was from the "I listen to everything online" generation?


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Mega Hertz
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Re: WRIF's audio sounds like shit again

Post by Mega Hertz » Sat Oct 22, 2022 10:01 pm

Colonel Flagg wrote:
Sat Oct 22, 2022 9:28 pm
Mega Hertz wrote:
Sat Oct 22, 2022 9:11 pm
SteveS wrote:
Sat Oct 22, 2022 5:51 pm
I think Smooth Criminal was ripped from YouTube and they didn't get the right version. Mike Kernen used to jump us for downloading shitty YouTube videos and loading them into Vault for over-the-air play. Sounded like garbage.
As someone that has never worked in radio that's amazing to me that YouTube recordings would actually be played.
You better believe it. All three stations got a "talking to" from the engineering department about that. We would either put it in ProTools or run it directly into AudioVault. The bit rate and the audio chain made it sound like absolute shit. It sounds like this is what happened here. You can be sure they don't have an actual CD to rip it from.
I'm going to go out on a limb here... I'm guessing whoever was doing this was from the "I listen to everything online" generation?
I believe so, but "longer tenured on earth" people may have been culprits, also. However, I loaded the library for WCSX for a couple of years. While I am in that "download everything" age group, or was, I went in song by song with the best CD version available. Some titles were brought in from home from my personal collection. Recorded into AudioVault at proper levels. If you ever hear the edit on "Money" by Pink Floyd, that's my handiwork. A perfect word edit in 7/8 time was a challenge lol

But shitty mp3s going out over the air sounded like absolute, grade A, USDA choice shit. And it does, and that's what I think happened with Smooth Criminal. Get a rip of it anywhere you can and get it loaded for airplay. Maybe even listen to it on YouTube and see if it sounds like the version WRIF has.


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Mega Hertz
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Re: WRIF's audio sounds like shit again

Post by Mega Hertz » Sat Oct 22, 2022 10:05 pm

https://youtu.be/bf2nbcqxsn0

This sounds kind of close 😆


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format this
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Re: WRIF's audio sounds like shit again

Post by format this » Sun Oct 23, 2022 2:54 am

Yuck. Enjoy this instead.

https://youtu.be/CDl9ZMfj6aE


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MWmetalhead
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Re: WRIF's audio sounds like shit again

Post by MWmetalhead » Sun Oct 23, 2022 7:31 am

The first one does indeed sound close to the horrendous recording WRIF plays, although I'd say the WRIF version sounds worse yet since their audio settings artificially speed up the song.



syntheticexctasy
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Re: WRIF's audio sounds like shit again

Post by syntheticexctasy » Thu Oct 27, 2022 12:53 pm

MWmetalhead wrote:
Sun Oct 23, 2022 7:31 am
The first one does indeed sound close to the horrendous recording WRIF plays, although I'd say the WRIF version sounds worse yet since their audio settings artificially speed up the song.
Not only that, but I've learned to recognize when other stations use the same shitty processor as WRIF.....It adds an overall tinny and digital sound to the audio no matter how they have it set up.



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MWmetalhead
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Re: WRIF's audio sounds like shit again

Post by MWmetalhead » Thu Oct 27, 2022 7:56 pm

There were brief periods this past summer where WRIF's audio sounded really good, then days later, it would start sounding like crud again.

There's something in the "stack" that makes it sound so piss poor.



syntheticexctasy
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Re: WRIF's audio sounds like shit again

Post by syntheticexctasy » Fri Nov 18, 2022 1:20 pm

MWmetalhead wrote:
Thu Oct 27, 2022 7:56 pm
There were brief periods this past summer where WRIF's audio sounded really good, then days later, it would start sounding like crud again.

There's something in the "stack" that makes it sound so piss poor.
We could be hearing different things, but the tinny crapshot sound that I notice is definitely from some type of digital processor. Can be heard clearly on WCSX and WLLZ as well. I've heard it on several out of market stations as well, notoriously WIIL. Interestingly, it's most noticeable to me during electric guitar prominent music, especially if a single note is rang out for a bit. I notice it a lot during Volbeat songs.

It's also long been annoying that analog compression (while likely done with a digital device) and processing are still used on the streams sent to the HD encoder. We don't need compression and limiting on the digital side, just makes the audio quality sound crappier than it would be in the first place.



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MWmetalhead
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Re: WRIF's audio sounds like shit again

Post by MWmetalhead » Fri Nov 18, 2022 8:54 pm

My Hero by Foo Fighters sounds awful with WRIF's horrible processing.



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MWmetalhead
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Re: WRIF's audio sounds like shit again

Post by MWmetalhead » Sun Nov 20, 2022 9:05 am

"Monsters" by Shinedown is another song that sounds squashed thanks to WRIF's engineering incompetence.



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