I think OP wants to know how to achieve that special "radio sound" oftenly heard on radio promos, station ID's etc... It's pretty pumped by itself, and even further after additional hardware processing before hitting the airwaves. Hardware used is Orban Optimod, Omnia, Eventide and more.
Now, this is my main area of work for past 25 years - producing those stuff for Radio & TV all over the world. Each producer has it's own 'secret weapon' or special chains on his VO bus and Master. Things may vary, but the main ones are EQ-> SSL-style compressor -> Multiband Compressor -> Limiter
Setting up multiband compressor is probably the trickiest part. Start with Waves C4 with these settings and go from there.

Happy producing, cheers!

 

I still want to know what "sound" you guys are referring to.
Edit: Oh, maybe it's just squashed MB compressor (or dynamic EQ). Haha.

 

Something like that lol

 

Maybe you could say saturation too,it works well on the master buss,it helps to sound bigger.Something like Vertigo VSM-3 or BlackBox HG-2.

 

I wasn't joking at all. The high CROSSOVER value is what makes the effect the OP was after. That's why setting the ratio to 1:1 is for disabling any compression which the effect doesn't call for. As you can see, the OP achieved what he was looking for in his last post.

 

Please shed some light in what way a steep/narrow crossover frequency creates a "sound"? I must be missing something. Is it like "oh, damn that's a distinctive and super-steep high shelving boost"? Or some pre-ringing right at the crossover frequency? How many bands are we talking, and at what frequencies?

 

Last edited: Jun 15, 2019

Yes, why not? I have UAD Oxide Tape in my master chain, sometimes Studer, or Distressor. Vertigo does wonders for that 'BIG' radio sound. Depending what you want to achieve

 

From what I understand he's using the multiband compressor as band pass filter,but any standard EQ may do the job as well.
If it's not that I don't understand which effect he and the OP are looking for with a multiband compressor with a 1:1 ratio.

 

Ah, but he didn't specify that little detail. That's what I'm curious about.

I use the RS-MET CrossOver band splitter (with 96dB/oct crossover) quite frequently. But it has no "sound" per se.

If one want a steep bandpass (which I don't think the OP is referring to as "radio sound") on can use Christian Budde's RubberFilter which has 384dB/oct steepness.

I'm still curious to know/learn what they are talking about.

 

Ok, here are few examples so you can hear what's it all about. Pretty complex stuff

 

Yes. I know about multiband compression, dynamic EQ, FFT processing, etc (I worked in radio for 6 months and have used Orban compressors). I'm just curious what the "96dB/oct crossover" has to do with any of it.

 

So practically we're sort of colleagues? Nice!
As for the "96dB/oct crossover" part... Honestly, after all these years making stuff like this I've never heard of it or used it in my production

 

The OP was after that "radio sound" as he described. I'm certain that most radio stations use some multiband compression with high crossover which indeed create some pre-ringing at the crossover frequencies as you mentioned. They probably do use compression on each band though, but my point of putting the ratio to 1:1 was to only use the high crossover value so the OP would get what he was looking for.

There's no secret frequencies since any multiband compressor where you can change the crossover oct value will do. Most of them have a pre-defined set of frequencies split. I'm not fond of the ringing it creates to be honest, but I understood what the OP was after and how to achieve it and all I was trying to do is help him re-create what he was asking.

I don't believe radio stations do it on purpose, and putting the same "effect" on your track will only make your track sound horrible if it's aired on one of those radio stations since it will already have that pre-ringing "sound".

 

Last edited: Jun 16, 2019

If you don't compress anything (ratio 1:1,no make-up gain),your multiband compressor doesn't do anything.
And setting a "high crossover value" -as you said- simply doesn't do anything if your several compressor's bands don't compress anything.

Changing crossover values may change something in the sound since you compress your different bands or change their make-up gain values[and if you simply change make-up values without any compression,your multiband compressor acts like any EQ (low/high shelve or band pass shapes)]

And no,setting "high crossover values" hasn't anything to do with a "radio sound",that we haven't understood yet which effect you're looking for.And I say that even if I never have worked in any radio station.