Radio Fever

The first thing anybody will know about me, is that I am a massive nerd. No matter how much I try and disguise this by wearing my sunglasses on my head and buying clothes that are vaguely in fashion, I have to confess, I am the a massive geek. This I think is really quantified and solidified when it comes to technology. Not only do I have to be able to talk fluently about anything and everything to do with technology, that has involved hours and days of me sat, reading through the entire wikipedia website to learn about how a computer works and what all the funny little cables do, I also get far to excited about it when it comes to new gadgets. The perfect example of this is when we run Alrewas Radio. I spend hours and hours of my life just looking through websites at all the different kit, miss, mixers, software and broadcasting hosting packages to find out about them all and what all the features of the are and do.

There is something about the radio kit which fills and little hole in my heart with liquid honey and boyish excitement. This is very hard for me to portray to the regular listener, because it is so weird, but there we are. This is something which I am very proud of, mainly because I get really excited about it, and the circle repeats…

Anyway, I really want to tell you about what I have found out, in the name of Alrewas Radio. I have been speaking to a few people about upgrading the microphones that we use here at Radio Towers, as we currently only have 1. We would quite like 2, however that would require us to have the inputs via a mixer board, so we could use more than one microphone. Keep up with the thought processes… If we are expanding our inputs to 2, it seems sensible to try and get as many inputs as possible so that we can have plenty of inputs from guitars and other live musician type things, because we would love to get some awesome live music here on the Radio.

So I have been looking at a Behringer XENYX 1204 USB Mixer, which has all the FX sliders and controllers, along with 12 inputs, 4 of which are for microphones and then the other 8 are for things like guitars. The thought process behind this £160 bit of kit is that it will really allow us to be able to expand the Radio, maybe be able to mic up a whole band to play some awesome music live and local. This is something which excites me.

The next port of call after this is decided then is the microphones. Now originally I was thinking about a £120 condenser microphone, which is at an intermediate level, not the most basic by any stretch of the imagination. This was a thought that went along the lines of price is quality, however after talking to people about this, they have all advised me that unless we are in a completely soundproof professional studio, which would be lovely but is a million miles away yet, the difference between a £60 and a £100 condenser mic is pretty much non-existent. The very fact that it is a condenser microphone, means that the frequencies are much flatter and therefore beautifully realistic and crystal clear, which is what we want for radio. So that decided, we have our shopping list…

Apart from one more thing… We are professionals here at Alrewas Radio and we have to look the part as well as sound the part, and that requires some lovely microphone stands, which clip to our desk, and act like a boom scissor arm, which will stretch in front of our face and away from very smoothly, with the proper elastic suspension microphone mounts which allow us to not pick up any vibrations from putting your tea down on the table mid-link.

So our wish list has really shaped up, and I can't wait to be able to buy at least some of this kit! I told you I get excited about nerdy gadgets, well even writing this I am typing slower than I can think the post because I am that excited! Anyway I am off now to try nd find a rich person to buy us some stuff…

Thanks for reading, 

Follow me on twitter: @peachy146

Follow Alrewas Radio on twitter: @AlrewasRadio

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Alrewas Radio Update 5/7/13

Long time no posty I am afraid guys, and I do apologise! I have been busy hard at work. Yesterday for example, I did a 7-1 shift in the co-op, then I had 15 minutes for my lunch before I shot off up to the primary school to run radio workshops with some year 6s, for a podcast they are creating for their Leavers Evening!  enjoy doing stuff with the radio, so it is a great opportunity for me to dust off the old macbook and mics. I then dashed straight off to beavers, where we were playing a massive game of capture the flag in a field right next to the canal in a field full of cow poo. Lovely...

But as far as the topic of this post, Alrewas Radio. The last time I wrote, I was just about ta attend a meeting about something completely unrelated, but still very related! There is currently a development of a Village Neighbourhood Plan, to allow people to have a say in the development of the village, and this is something that I have been dragged into, being a young person on the organisers emailing list... But anyway, with a few other young people in the village, we are going to be creating some little short clips to do with our village plan.

At a meeting about this, I discussed with the Alrewas Radio Gods about the possibilities of future expansion of Alrewas Radio, and in the process, I have got a bit caught up in techy hype...

I have also borrowed some mixers and mics from the recording studio we have at school to use during the Alrewas Radio Barge Fest (24th - 28th July, be there or be square) and on the back of that we will have some funding to invest in some new kit.

I have been looking into it and I have found what I think we are looking for. I am thinking about investing in a 8 channel input alongside 2 radio condesner mics that, when used together, will give us a wider range of things to do and also a much better quality.

So, lots of new and exciting things to come from the production side of Alrewas Radio, as well as from the Presenting side! I hope you guys are all looking forward to it as much as I am!

Thanks for reading.
Follow Alrewas Radio on twitter: @AlrewasRadio
Follow me on twitter: @peachy146