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How do you define Broadcast Quality for Film, TV and Radio?

Broadcast quality = sounds good enough to broadcast.There's the old idea that a good song is good even in a cheesy piano vocal demo on a cassette, but these days I don't buy that. For one, a lot of today's music is based on the groove, arrangement, and sounds. But mainly, you're putting your music up against other peoples' that is well-produced. The one that sounds better is going to win every time, even if the one that doesn't is a better song.

Well, I'd say that if you don't have any line noise, you have good tonal balance between your bass, midrange, and highs, and the instrumentation and vocal sounds are at least medium quality (and nothing out of tune), then you've got "broadcast quality". Even though it's the exception rather than the rule, the Vonage "Woo Hoo" song is "broadcast quality". It doesn't have a lot of polish and isn't flashy in any way, shape, or form, but it does have the qualities I mentioned in my definition. Generally you want better than "Woo Hoo", but I think any of us are capable of meeting and exceeding that quality standard in our home studios.

Heck, that's my definition of "mediocre" - the bare minimum baseline, beneath which you're in the "sounds like ass" category. But this is a "how long is a piece of string" question, adorian. What's the context? Why do you ask?

I don't know about anyone else, but when the "Woo-Hoo" Vonage commercial comes on, I hit the mute as quickly as I can. I agree with Nick. I'm sick of hearing garbage recordings on TV. Film is only slightly better. Though, to me , the questions are: Are you proud of what your music sounds like? Does it favorably compare (sonically) to other things you hear, that are already in TV, film, and radio, that you would like to compete with? And if not, do you know why not?Try posting a link to your music here on this forum and get other opinions. There seems to be some fairly constructive reviewers here. Use the feedback to help you answer your own question. If you don't get replies, that may be another kind of answer, though. In that case, the "Studio Buddy" might be a good place to start.Good luck.DKB

Good one, Nick.

We always do the old car trip method. We take our songs and similar popular songs in a car with a good (in our case working) stereo. Drive around, listen and compare our songs to their songs. Stick the eq settings to flat and don't change any knobs when you switcht the disc. This is particularly effective for comparing mastering levels. Of course you can do this in the comfort of your own home studio too, but we like to hear our mixes on other stereos as well. Make sure you're comparing to a CD quality song, mp3's and radio might give you false readings. Good luck and always strive for the best you can do regardless.Theresa

Many thanks for everyone's helpful suggestions? I would also like to ask: How many kHz is preferrable for BQ? i.e. 44,000, 48,000, 88,000, etc.

My understanding is that the standard is 44,100. If I am wrong, someone out there please correct me ... (Like I had to say that last part around here LOL!!!) Casey

Adorian:16 bit, 44.1 KHz, redbook CD is the industry standard. I doubt seriously that any screener will listen with anything but an average CD player. The higher sample rates are mostly used for the recording process (for better resolution and high frequencies) and for archiving mixes. At this time there are no widely used and commercially accepted digital mass distribution methods that are of higher resolution than CDs.