REPRINTED FROM
by
Spirit Music Countdown
KCMS(FM)
My experience with the VoxPro dates to 14 years ago at KLSY(FM) in
New features, familiar feel
VoxPro was designed for editing phone bits, and was the brainchild of
I primarily use Adobe Audition 1.0, formerly Cool Edit Pro 2.0. I like this product for its multi-track application, but it falls short when attempting to edit calls on a live show, which I have done in mornings and afternoons for many years. Audition was not designed for such live application, and thus lacks editing speed and file accessibility.
Conversely, VoxProPC works best in live application and archiving bits for future use or for the Web. When you are doing alive show with recorded phone bits, speed is what you need. VoxProPC uses two separate tracks, one for voice or any other designated source, and one for a phone feed. There is an option to record the calls to mono, which saves some hard drive space. But because drive space is dirt cheap, use both tracks. The editing functions with separate voice and caller tracks can rescue a previously unusable bit, such as one featuring a voice stepping on another, with the time-slip feature. It separates the selected audio region by placing the caller region before or after the talent region, which then can be easily edited. I have rescued a great number of calls over the years with this feature.
You also can mute the caller or talent to cover up unwanted background noise.
The control panel has a smaller footprint (8.25 x 10.25 inches) than its Mac predecessor, offering a jog wheel and access to multiple hot key banks. You can assign five cuts to more than two dozen banks, which work great for drops and beds. With the exception of the hot keys, all functions have a keyboard equivalent. The keyboard remains essential for labeling cuts. Without one, each track is given a generic untitled name, which can easily be renamed at a later date.
If you have used the old Mac control panel in the past, you’ll be pleased to know that the PC control panel will feel familiar to you. You can still scrub the audio in search of edit points by rocking the arrow keys. Should you still have your old Mac control panel, you can use it with a hardware adapter for the VoxPro PC version, although you won’t have the same hot key functions. Not a big deal to most users.
A user can set up his or her own file structure for archiving bits, such as folders by day of the week, type of bit or archiving for a rainy day. Each user can have a log-in, so someone else’s bit of a lifetime will not be accidentally erased. A user can share a bit by transferring it to another user’s “in box.”
The administrator has access to user files, and can track drive space usage and suggest housekeeping when necessary. VoxPro PC workstations can be networked, offering multi- studio file access. I worked with an air talent who couldn’t bear to delete her phone bits, or “her babies,” as she referred to them. Not surprisingly, she would have a sizable option of the hard drive real estate. The solution was the export feature, which allows you to mix down an edited bit to a mono file or keep it split for future re-importing, and archive it as an MP3, WMA AU or WAV file. If you want to post bits on your station Web site, you can set a lower bit rate for exporting.
When an air talent does a lengthy interview with an artist or author that does not work well in a music-intensive format, I suggest selecting a few short clips for airplay, and then alerting listeners that they can hear more on the website, where the entire piece is archived.
The Insert Record function serves two main purposes, the first being to insert a clever retort or set up within the previously recorded call. It’s amazing how witty we can sound with this function. Second, it is easy to string several calls into one file, such as listeners guessing the answer to a question, or making a short comment on a topic.
If you have a selectable router to feed one channel of VoxPro, in addition to the jock mic, you could also send a mono mix, traffic feed, news feed, etc. It is also handy for recording airchecks for clients or remote breaks. VoxProPC is a good investment for music intensive stations to help talent produce great stuff.
For this latest version, the waveform graphic is corrected if there is any offset bias voltage present on the workstation. Prior to the fix, the waveform view gave the appearance of background noise. Additionally, Direct X was dropped in favor of using a wave driver that makes it more compatible with the various sound cards available. This has since been changed. VoxPro PC now will automatically choose your systems optimal setting.
One feature I would like to see is a trim function, to delete quickly any portions before or after a selection. Also, a “crop” feature would be nice in deleting superfluous audio outside of a selected region, making it similar to cropping a photo. This would save half a dozen keystrokes.
For more product and pricing information
contact Sales at Audion Labs,
203,sales@audionlabs.com or visit www.audionlabs.com.
Copyright 2004 IMAS Publishing (USA), Inc. Reprinted with permission.