"BROADCAST QUALITY"

[ewxxxx]

Hello all,We frequently see the term "BROADCAST QUALITY" in the listings. Could anyone define exactly what that is? How do you determine if you've achieved "BROADCAST QUALITY"?Mr. Moderator: Please feel free to add your opinion as well.Thanks,Eric

[davewalton]

Aug 14, 2008, 4:25am, ewxxxx wrote:Hello all,We frequently see the term "BROADCAST QUALITY" in the listings. Could anyone define exactly what that is? How do you determine if you've achieved "BROADCAST QUALITY"?Mr. Moderator: Please feel free to add your opinion as well.Thanks,EricI think our Moderator is actually "Mrs Moderator". There's been a slew of forwards lately for the minimalist piano and chill electronica. Because they were forwarded, it's safe to say they are all broadcast quality. Listen to some of those. Usually you'll see some posts about forwards that include links to the music. Find several that more or less fit into your genre and sandwich your music between them, listening to all of them as a group. If your track doesn't stick out like a sore thumb, it's probably broadcast quality as well.Heck... we're all in a good mood. Post a track or two and let a few people comment! Usually the people that ask, they do have broadcast quality and the people that post insisting that they KNOW their music is broadcast quality... they usually don't. Dave

[devin]

Certainly invest the time in listening to the songs in the "forwards" section. Then put your own stuff up and get some feedback.A turning point for me in my quest for quality was a pair of compositions. One titled "Circular Breathing" and the other titled "C"...I wish the old Taxi links worked, or I'd go find 'em for you.

[stoney]

Hi Eric,A good way to understand what broadcast quality is to just switch on the TV. There you will find a host of material that is broadcast quality. Judge your work against it to make a comparison.Generally though, I would say it is firstly having great sounds both virtual/recorded with a great performance/music and a great ability to mix well. Doesn't mean to say you have to be Dave Pensado but still good enough to create a good balanced quality mix/master that will stand out (or not depending on the scene/show) on TV. Post up some of you tune so that the forum members can let you know how close you are?D

[stoney]

Oh forgot also a real help is a great set of monitors. Can really make the difference to how you hear and mix your music!

[wodinlord]

Broadcast Quality simply means that in the reviewer's subjective opinion, the sound quality is good enough to be aired "as is". That includes the mix, the overall frequency balance, the performances, the sound of the instruments - everything. But again, as judged by the reviewer. Maybe they should just call it "professional quality," then it would be apparent that they mean it doesn't sound like a demo or a pretty good home effort, but can be heard next to stuff by the big guys and not sound out of place. That's why no one can tell you how to achieve it. I have to do mixes for broadcast every day in my job as an audio editor in a post-production house. I could teach you to do it, but I can't tell you how to do it.Wait a minute, I've got it - Broadcast quality means it has to be really, really good!!!Wodinlord

[mazz]

Listen to the music that is on any broadcast. Notwithstanding an excellent composition and performance (that goes without saying), does your mix stand up to what you are hearing? Will it translate from your studio to a TV show? Given that it will probably be "heard" behind some scene with dialog and sound effects, are all the frequencies balanced with no distortion or other anomalies that would call attention to it or get in the way of the scene?Granted, broadcast quality is somewhat subjective and not easily defined, but if you hold up what you hear every day on national TV as your bar and benchmark, you can't go too far wrong.Here's a piece that was used as a promo for a TV special that aired on national daytime TV. Apparently it was deemed "broadcast quality". In fact, they used the 192K mp3 demo for the spot!!!!!! (I make sure even my demo mixes sound great, you never know!) Maybe this example will help. http://www.johnmazzei.com/song/37Good luck!!Mazz

[frodo]

Aug 14, 2008, 4:25am, ewxxxx wrote:Hello all,We frequently see the term "BROADCAST QUALITY" in the listings. Could anyone define exactly what that is? How do you determine if you've achieved "BROADCAST QUALITY"?Mr. Moderator: Please feel free to add your opinion as well.Thanks,EricHi Eric,Actually, Taxi has a page dedicated to 'Broadcast Quality', with sound examples:http://www.taxi.com/faq/recording/broad ... lity.html- until next timefrodo

[nickfever]

Nice Frodo.I hadn't come across this yet.Nick

[ewxxxx]

First: Sorry. I didn't realize it was "Mrs." Moderator. My apologies.Second: Wonderful! Thank you all for taking the time to answer. I will go to the links everyone has posted and listen.I'm not saying I've not had forwards. I've had a bit less than 40% of my music forwarded. That's fine by me. I like that the Taxi standards seem to be high.As far as my TV goes... I only trust my TV to give me an insight into style. I don't trust the sound quality of the little TV speakers. Yes, I invested in some nice Tannoy monitors for my studio but I still trust my car stereo to be one of the final deciding factors.I've worked in music a long time but I've just entered into this area of production in the last few years. My biggest obstacle is forcing myself to write "commercially" as opposed to what I consider to be good music. I'm learning as I go. Also, thanks for the offers to listen. You can see my site at... http://www.watersmusicdesign.com/Thanks again,Eric