That’s CUSTOMER SERVICE or why Manley is the SH**!

Just a quick post today… My friend Harry Legg (you all know Harry as the Voice for iconic radio stations all over the world (f.e. 2Day FM) and being one of my format voices for benztown CHR) send me this:

9 /11 a day to remember – Benztown’s 9/11 Imaging

Every one of us remembers exactly, where he was in that particular moment, when he first saw this unreal pictures on TV. The attack on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon shocked the entire world.
Last year we had an incredible dedication piece of audio done by Paul Armstrong remembering that day in September.  This year we remember the heroes, the victims and honor their legacy with a dedication mashup from various benztown formats including work from Justin Case, Chris Davis, James Stodd, Jan Brückner, Dan Kelly, Adam Venton, Dan Gustaffson and myself.

Always on top and CUTTING EDGE – NT Imaging and Work Parts

What’s important in N/T imaging? Right! BEING ON TIME and BEING RECOGNIZED! We make sure, you’re getting both with our custom imaging and format suited work parts.

Check out the latest NT update with imaging ninja Harry Legg and young aspiring composing talent Oli Schneider on the work parts.

The power of NETWORKING or produce David Guetta’s new syndicated radio show!

A few days ago, I received a stunning element from Benztown News/Talk imaging director and voice over talent Harry Legg. It was the opener for David Guetta’s weekly DJ Mix…. You’ve read right! Harry’s producing and voicing an international syndicated radio show with one of the biggest names in Pop History – DAVID GUETTA.

Pretty nice, what? Check out how former WKTU creative services director Harry managed to get this fantastic job and what skills it takes to create the imaging for this show.

Take action for a great 2012 and a healthier life!

Hi guys,

this time it’s getting a bit more personal. Benztown Imaging Director and VO talent Harry Legg thinks a lot about people in the industry and their sometimes unhealthy environment. He shared the following thoughts with me to post it here. Check Harry’s tips and tricks to avoid the unhealthy working life, especially in radio. Enter Harry.

A Synthesizer and Vocoder sharp like a razorblade or my newest toy – Andre’s Production Diary Part 46

Hi guys, it’s Andre.

It’s been a while, since I started as volunteer in the Benztown Studios in Stuttgart and I’m still here and learning everything about radio imaging and production from the pros.

Yesterday, Oli showed me some of the new Plugins, we for our production and one of them was Razor by Native Instruments. He played the first sound and it blew me away. The sound were so unbelievable clear and sharp, so I had to do a test session. After spending the whole day playing with Razor (audio coming soon) I knew, this is gonna be one of my favorites.

To all fans of smooth and gentle sounds: sorry, I have to disappoint you, cause Razor is kicking the sound in your face!

Controlling Razor is pretty easy. You have all your parameters and FX in one window and the presets are great to work with. Choose your favorite sound and tweak around the settings (I love using LFOs and Razor’s LFOs rock!).

To all the guys, which aren’t interested in another synthesizer: Razor is more than just a synth.

Razor includes a pretty good Vocoder and there’s a preset for every use – hard, melodic, distorted, airy…

To give you a first impression of Razor’s vocoder, I’ve recorded some examples with vocal samples from Harry Legg, one of our voice talents.

You might expect an extreme price for this piece, but it’s only a few bucks. To all fans of sharp sounds and vocoders with a small budget, take a look at Razor. I guess, I have the perfect Christmas present for myself 🙂

Cheers and have a nice weekend

YOU ARE Rockstars! FROM OZ to NYC, from Serbia to the Phillipines from Paris to L.A….

YOU ARE Rockstars……And I say this from the bottom of my heart. Without you and your suppport, the blog would not be possible! August was our biggest blog month ever and Andre and I want to thank all of you guys for creating something remarkable together and developing a place, imaging guys can go to learn, chat,  share and get inspired! When I started that almost a year ago, I never had a clue that this baby would grow so fast and get so massive! I am proud of every single post, the unbelievable personal stories and the great new connections and relations around the globe for all of us.  I am proud of you!

Thanks for sharing all your tricks, infos, ideas and wisdom. Thanks for your incredible talent, your time, effort, pics, screen caps, videos, audio, posts, comments and and and….We can make the imaging world better, increase the overall quality and develop new talents in our world.

Let’s keep on rocking!

Andy & Andre

Please post your personal blog experience below as a comment or send me an email to blog@benztown.com. Can’t wait to hear your connects and stories!

Ninjas create the most powerful NT Imaging or the legendary AM 560 – WIND!

IN 2010, Benztown went NT! Our library is on full speed and one of our most important clients and flagship station is WIND in Chicago. So it was one of my greatest goals to write more about NT on the blog, because it is a fascinating format from an imaging standpoint. Everything has to be intense, needs massive impact, but still is content based and the spoken word needs to stand out. It is serious and funny at the same time,  entertaining and informative, political correct or incorrect. To say it in one word: Challenging!

In general, NT Imaging is a total US domain and has been underrepresented on our blog for a long time. But lucky as we were, Harry, our NT imaging director got the chance to interview the PD of one of the most legendary AM stations, AM 560 – WIND, Marcus Brown. They talked about how powerful NT Imaging has to sound in todays competitive environment and what the challenges are to create remarkable, intelligent elements on a daily news flow basis. Harry used to work for legendary stations like the Big One in Cincinnati and has a wide experience in this field as well. Check out his latest Imaging pieces for AM 560 – WIND, learn from Marcus how to successfully brand a NT station and how to create outstanding NT imaging on a daily basis. Enter Harry and Marcus

1st ever Benztown Webinar on Friday – PREVIEW Audio!

Hi all,

first I wanna thank you for your massive interest in this. I am really excited in start doing this –  maybe even on a regular basis wit a special guest each time. For Friday: All places are taken, so sorry, but we had to limit this to guarantee and good Q&A part. For those who can’t make it, please don’t hesitate to send over your questions considering session setup and VO treatment (blog@benztown.com) and we will discuss during the webinar and post a few days later. I received really great material from our guests Mike and ? (the secret guy, you know this already) and I am really looking forward to share it with you.

Until then, here are a few great VO artists and the benztown VO treatment of them as audio and PlugIn Combo:

Harry:

used PlugINs VOX: EQ 3 7-Band, Sci-Fi, MondoMod

used PlugINs Aux: EQ 3 7-Band, L2, T-Racks3 Prog EQ 1A, RVox, L2

Rachel:

used PlugINs VOX: EQ 3 7-Band, L2, H Delay

used PlugINs Aux: EQ 3 7-Band, L2, T-Racks3 Prog EQ 1A, RVox, L2

Cousin:

used PlugINs VOX: RCompressor, R EQ 6-Band, EQ 3 1-Band

used PlugINs Aux RCompressor, R EQ 6-Band, EQ 3 1-Band, D-Verb

Don:

used PlugINs VOX: EQ 3 7-Band, Sci-Fi, MondoMod

used PlugINs Aux: EQ 3 7-Band, L2, T-Racks3 Prog EQ 1A, RVox, L2

Stuck in old plugIn Combos? An Unbelievable Vocal FX PlugIn Combo from outta space!

Ryan our Imaging guy for Country was listening through some Rock library Bits and discovered a Sweeper Harry did Muse’s outta Space concert ages ago.

Ryan loved the sound of the amazing plugIn combo on Rick’s Voice and I really digged that Vocal FX, too. So here it is : The Preset for an unbelievable Outta Space Sound Vocal FX!

Harry, Thanks for sharing!