This has been a really interesting read, thank you all for your replies. I actually did a short stint of experience at a community radio station a few years ago, though it was online-only besides special events. I noted that we didn't really get the radio voice effect, in fact sometimes voices sounded sort of passive, almost as if the microphone was just listening to a room with a person speaking in it rather than capturing voice directly.
At that time we were in a single room with a cheap partition (booth/office) and some simple attempt at padding on the walls. Also bearing in mind that the equipment was almost entirely donated to us, I obviously didn't expect much.
These days I'm not looking to get into broadcasting, but I do like to try out recordings of my voice and do commentary and such, and wondered if there was a better way of doing this than to go with the common choice of a USB Blue Snowball. I mean right now I'm using a webcam microphone (Don't shoot me - I replaced my headset for a better pair of.....headphones, d'oh!) so anything would be better. I don't have the ability to dampen my room, silence my PC fans etc especially as I'm going to University next year. It also doesn't help that my keyboard is mechanical and so sounds like a damn typewriter. What can I say?!
Anyway thanks for your responses, you've all been really helpful.
As someone who has worked in UK and international radio for over 25 years I fell I can throw some light on what you are after. I see you mention Capital (I assume Capital London and not the relays they have throughout the UK) Firstly when you say "radio voice" are you listening off-air or out or the studio? The reason I ask is that prior to a [presenters voice coming out of the receiver (AM/FM/DAB/Stream/DTT/DSAT) it would have gone through a multitude of "processing" this is not strain broadband compression but a mixture of multi-band compressors (some tailored to work on voice frequencies only) and maybe even a bit of reverb too.
The final processing will most likely be tailored to the platform it is on (this is how the major stations do it - rather than a final processor then splitting the signal to the different platforms, each stream is processed to take account of that platforms technical parameters and the most likely receiver the listener will use to hear the station. So, for instance, AM processing will be much different to DAB) If you have listened to a recording out of the studio i.e. pre final processing it will still, most likely have been through a mic processor in the studio.
So to start. The microphone. The EV RE20 has been mentioned and whilst being a very good mic is rarely used outside US continental radio - I only knew of one station in the UK (now closed) that used RE20s and never saw them in use in other European stations where I have worked. Many of the major UK stations use a mixture of Neumann U87 (BBC Radio 1, Radio 2) Capital London used to use 87s (they used U47s in the 90s - a lovely mic) but may still use the one or other of the main presenter mics in UK radio these being the AT4033 and the TLM105. BBC Radio 3, 4, 5Live and 6Music mainly used 105 (R5Live use a few U87s). In BBC local they used to go for the Beyer M201 but now use the 105. On stations with tighter budgets I have seen the 4033 and AT2020 used as well as Behringer B1s and Rode NT1s. Classic FM used Beyer M740s when I worked there but may now use 105s.
The mics are usually processed within the studio. Some stations group the mics and stick it through 1 processor others (more commonly) have a processor per mic. BBC Radio 1 used to (may still have) give the DJ a choice of two processors and let them choose. Most processors are really like a mic channel in a box except they usually have line in/line out levels (plugged via the desk insert point) or AES in/out. With digital desks sometimes these processors are still discrete devices but other times are part of the channel DSP. The processors will compress/expand/limit the signal and add a bit of eq.
The main thing they do is save the presenters settings either on a card or via a desk login so they always have the same setup for every show. Products by Orban, TC Electronic, Yellowtec and recently Junger are most common. If you present on BBC Radio 3 (Classical) and Radio 4 (speech) you will probably have your mic set up for you and the levels ridden by the studio operator!
The processor that handles the station output is usually a digital device (although some analogue devices (esp on AM) are still used. There 4,6 or 8 compressor band devices that split the signal into frequency bands and compress each separately then mix it all back together taking account of phase/timing errors when doing so. Depending upon the platform some will also handle the first stage of the transmitter/RDS and DLS for DAB. The basic idea of the processor is to compress the signal to death (2-4dB dynamic range) which is what many of the pop/top40/AOR stations aim to do in the misguided belief that if your station sounds louder than you competitor then listeners will tune to you. (Utter crap BTW).
In fact the most listened to station in the UK (BBc Radio 2) does not compress it signal much at all and there seems to be a move towards getting away from this "loudness war".
Speech based and classical music stations tend to go easy on the compression preferring "gain riding" but still recognise a listener will not be receiving their signal in a perfect environment on iffy quality equipment.
If you’re on AM then you aim to make yourself heard above all the background crap that broadcasting on medium wave brings!
Hope this helps.
Iain - linkedin.com/ibetson
