[BC] Radio stations that buy new equipment...

[SteveOrdinetz]

At 09:36 AM 10/27/2007, Mike McCarthy wrote:

>The bottom line CAN be helped by prescriptively selecting suitable 
>equipment which would permit streamlining operations, thus allowing 
>your attention to be allocated to better uses than babysitting a 
>manual console.
>
>Since there are only the 2.5 of you (plus the dog), I'm sure some of 
>your time can be spent on production, sales support or related 
>business/office functions.  Investing in a more advanced switching 
>system driven by the automation system would allow complete 
>automation during those non-live times and for you to attend to more 
>pressing matters...like production.
>
>So buying the fancy stuff doesn't necessarily mean better sound. But 
>it does buy more time for you to spend doing more important functions.


There's also the issue of reliability.  How long is that el-cheapo 
Emachine computer gonna last before the hard drive crashes?  Ditto 
for the Behringer mixer...how long before the faders get funky and 
intermittent.  Or get feedback because you forgot to turn down the 
monitors when you faded up the mic.  Or the consumer CD player where 
the drawer jams after 6 mo?

Don't get me wrong, I've had to make do with consumer stuff before 
too, but if you wanna be a pro, use professional tools.  No one is 
saying you have to buy a top-of-the-line digital console with all the 
bells and whistles, but you said yourself that visitors were a bit 
taken aback to see a studio that looked low budget.  Better to go 
with the well-maintained 15-20 yr old board that's made for the job 
rather than some toy mixer.