Investigate the Technologies for Multiplatform Radio Broadcasting

At the Radio1 Xtra studios, they have several technology to help them with the pre-production and production overall to make sure their content gets aired and is on time. An assistant producer explains how they produce the Newbeat for Radio1 Xtra. Using immense amounts of audio technology does not require them to use analogue as this lacks the sound quality compared to digital.

At 0:05 seconds they have shown a Pioneer DJ Controller with the large jog wheels which adjusts the speed of the song or sound they are playing by spinning the wheel clockwise or anti-clockwise. This smoothly mixes the song to flow from one song to another making a smooth transition. This is perfect for ends. It also makes the audio sound professional and clean. They can also use this to change the pitch, tone and sound overall. 

At 0:25 seconds, I have spot headphones around the Studio Manager's neck. This is used for listening to callers that are phoning in and also to transfer the sound back out the room and back through the headphones so that the sound does not begin to hiss and make feedback in the background. It travels out to the racks room where all the source feeds arrive before being redirected to the various studios. This happens when two people converse through a mic or phone and the sound gets too much if they are too close within the radius. His workstation is surrounded by computers and mixers as the sound is all digitally produced and broadcasted out to all radios or black box devices. Without the computers, the radio would not be able to air on DAB. 

In the video, you can faintly see, yet it is blurred out - a cartwall which is used to keep the music log of all songs and soundtracks. This can also consist of jingles, adverts or songs that are pre-recorded the night before and then aired on the radio when live. This has an entire list of thousands of songs from throughout the years and also the latest songs on the chart. These can also have music bed tracklists to play in the background whilst he is telling the daily news.
 
 





At 0:39 seconds, we see a mic hovering beside the studio managers head which he speaks through to record his vocals. This allows us to hear his dialogue live and clear. The presenter can also use off-mic which is when they are picked up by a mic without then speaking directly into it. It has the effect of reducing the volume of their voice and also making it sound thin and hollow in order to not receive mic rattle.


A playlist is a list of songs chosen for the days programme where they will have to fit those certain amount of songs within a limited time - the duration of their programme. The playlist that Radio1 Xtra play everyday, they post on their iPlayer page where you can listen back to the playlist of listen to the single track you were looking for. This allows the listeners to find a song they missed or liked and listen to it again. It can be listened to on the computer, on the internet and the app. Young listeners can download the iPlayer app to listen back to Radio1 Xtra's posted playlists or listen to it live. As millennials are very digital and always have their devices in their fingertips, iPlayer makes it easy for them to listen to radio playlists. This is posted according to each day and always posts the recently aired playlists first. They also have an option where listeners can add the track for later to listen to it. 

The digital playout system is a system full of jingles and sounds that have been downloaded and played without the DJ being behind their desk. All these sounds can be automatically set to play on the radio. The image of the system portrays several different buttons containing sounds.