The Dancefloor Classics Studio

For the audiophiles, anoraks and techies among us......

We do it differently.

Most radio stations of today apply very high levels of processing to compress the audio signal so that they sound artificially "loud." This sounds ok through the average car stereo or in a noisy workplace through a small radio, but it has a detrimental affect to the dynamic range and overall quality of reproduction, especially when played back through a good quality hi-fi system with large loudspeakers.  For this reason, our studio output uses only minimal level "class A" compression to give the best possible audio quality.

Our policy on audio quality.

We are committed to ensuring that by the time our broadcast reaches you the sound is as close as possible to the original cd or vinyl recording. An important part of this process is the signal source - the studio. Our studio uses the latest Denon media controllers and players giving state-of-the art audio quality.

For the Sky broadcast, the show is uploaded using OGG.Vorbis compression at Q7 (VBR) which, bit-rate for bit-rate, is far superior to the more commonly used mp2 or mp3 and gives better stereo imaging, soundstage and definition. 

The audio signal for the podcast is taken directly from the output of the studio mixing console without passing through any of the radio station or SKY processing or compression. It is then encoded to mp3 at 160kbps using a high quality LAME encoder.

Below are the details of the equipment we use to achieve our goal, to bring you quality music in true high fidelity. 

Production

Automation

Radiohost Broadcast

Media Controller

Denon DN-HC4500 USB MIDI / 96k Audio Interface & Controller

Mixers

Denon DN-X1600 Digital audio mixer with 96k, 24bit audio processing

Sony SRP-X100 Broadcast line / mic Sub-Mixer

CD Players

Denon DN-D4500 Twin Transport CD/Mp3

Turntables

2 x Technics SL1200 (modified) / Shure WHLB cartridges VTF: 2.5g

Mix Production Software / Hardware

Ableton Live

Traktor Pro2 / Denon DN-HC4500 Controller

Stereo Master Processing

Focusrite Platinum Compounder / Compressor / Limiter / Noise Gate

Minidisc

Sony MDS-E11 Broadcast MD Recorder

DAT

Panasonic SV-3800

Microphones

Main presenter: Neumann U87i Large Diaphragm Condenser via TL Audio VP-5051 Valve Processor / Eq

2nd Presenter: Red5 Audio RV6 Large Diaphragm Condenser via Focusrite Trak Master Processor / Eq

Additional Microphone Processing: Aphex 104 Aural Exciter Type C2

Monitor Loudspeakers

Mackie HR824 powered THX Certified High Resolution Monitors

Headphones

Behringer Powerplay HA-4700 Headphone Amplifier / Distribution unit

2 x Sennheiser HD25mk2 Headphones

1 x Beyer Dynamic DT100 Headphones

Misc

Canford Broadcast AC Power Distributor

Drawmer DS-201 Dual Gate

ART PB 4X4 Power Conditioner & Distribution System

Acer PC - 2.8ghz Quad Core, 6gb RAM / Windows 7

HP PC – 3ghz AMD Athlon XP Processor, 2gb RAM / Windows XP

Recording / Mastering

Sky Broadcast :

Denon DN-F650R solid state audio recorder in WAV mode then converted to ogg.vorbis at Q7

Podcast Recording : 

Denon DN-F650R solid state audio recorder in WAV mode and converted to mp3 160kbps using LAME encoder.