Just finished mixing and "mastering" a remix for some artists....it came up afterward that for radio play, as in to even be considered for radio play (and by radio play I'm referring to rotation on a major station rather than an independent station - and also keep in mind even if a song has these specifics the politics of getting play on the radio these days is a whole other topic)

to be considered there's specific things that they look for in the production/mastering of the audio...they can tell within the first 10 seconds of the track if it has it or not...

what specifically that is I'm not 100% sure of but I would guess it would be in the mastering due to how radio broadcasts their frequency...etc...

this is a good article explaining a bit on it:
http://www.masterdigital.com/24bit/mastering/radio.htm

But does anyone know exactly what the specifics on this is? Specific parameters in the mastering? More treble less bass in the mix???

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http://mephonics.com/
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or don't care to know....or maybe think they know already..

somewhere in between...

so took this all day course Saturday on it....and even as a self taught producer for the most part I thought I had a good basic understanding of production - and I do for the most but this course was and eye opener for me -

this former engineer and talent scout for inter-scope gave it...and yes there definitely are specific things that separate men from boys regarding producing material for commercial or "industry" sake. He went in depth on 4 but 3 of which are essential, that make records "commercially viable" and are basics that any serious producer should at least know of.

Even to question if these are really necessary they definitely make a huge difference in any production and someone in the know will be able to tell the difference of a rather amateur produced record vs something closer to professional or standard for "radio".

you could argue that "well these days radio play isn't important" - as I did...because let's face it even knowing these things doesn't mean you'll get radio play - but regardless even just these 3 items make a big difference even in how you listen to and produce music....

what these things are?? well I had to pay $350 for the course so.....to be sold not told.....but hopefully someone here has some type of insight on this right??

- if not just know that producing music is alot deeper science than what you may know.....

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http://mephonics.com/
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Just keep your levels the way they are and good for most systems playback. Basically a flat mix with no bass boosting or any boosting. It should souund good on a TV for reference.

Do NOT mess with loudness they use compressors at the radio station for that. They should be making your song the same volume with their gear not yours
http://keymusic.bandcamp.com/album/apophenia

https://keymusic.bandcamp.com/