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Cause aint nobody got time for Amateur's
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This is Talking With The Pros with me, Jess B. Every week I talk to professionals in their industry. This week we're talking to production guru and operations manager, Jason Fee. With me, Jess B. In the age of digital media, audio is a vital and key component in the world of media. It is relevant in today's job market, especially in Las Vegas, the entertainment capital of the world. Audio production is thriving with more than 100 job opportunities in my great city of Las Vegas. It's no wonder the field of audio production is dominating when it comes to entertainment and immersion. We'll learn more about tricks of the trade, where does audio thrive, key components that people may not know about in the world of audio, the future of audio, and what is something an industry expert would value most if money was no object. I really enjoy audio in all forms, whether it's music, the radio, or entertainment. Going a live show or even a production. I'm always listening and watching. I love hearing the special moments where you have an ear for audio and you know what's happening like reverb, what sound is happening, it's filling the room, bouncing off the walls. You're really immersed in the experience, an audible experience. Now there's so many things that audio gives back. Audio gives us books on tape, they give us a connection, whether that's through a DJ personality podcast or you can really take a deep dive into any genre or niche via podcast. Somebody's out there right now talking about that special interest of yours and you can find that through podcasts. When you get a chance and an opportunity to learn more about audio and really experience the people on the other side of that microphone in say a radio setting, you really get an insight to who they are. And audio is such a gift that keeps giving, whether it's music, audio production, or something that's not seen. Audio is not seen but heard. It matters so much. And if you're blessed with ears to hear, it's a sense that we may all take for granted. But in the end, when something sounds bad, you know it. And you can tell right away. It's something that when you get really into, you can take and start picking it apart. When something visually goes wrong though, you don't really know exactly if that's supposed to happen or not. It can be played off visually and you can just move on to the next scene of a performance. It's those little things, things that when something in audio goes wrong you can tell really fast. Your ear is gonna pick up on that experience whether it's going to a live show and experiencing things like feedback from the stage or off an instrument or just the way that the things are set up in an audio engineer's perspective. Audio engineers have a really important task to make sure that the experience is a good one, whether it goes down to decimals or how well the live mix or effects are happening. In audio books, though, that's really one of those experiences that's something you're getting this visual representation in your mind and you're listening to a person and that imagining that character coming to life and that sound of their voice and what you've downloaded is now on your phone, in your app, in your AirPods and you're having that 101 connection. It's something you could do passively. You can listen to an audiobook while driving, while walking, while exercising. Same thing with music. You can be doing other things and go about your day and enjoying some great music. You can continue on your day and your routine but unlike visual mediums where something live is happening or it's on your phone and you really need to sit down and take it in, it's going to grab your attention and you can't really be doing other things. In audio you could have it on in the background but when it comes to visual mediums you're pretty much gonna be fully connected and that thing is gonna be taking focus. So that's the great thing about audio. You can go about your day, mix it up with music or a podcast or an audiobook and on the weekends you can go see live shows and enjoy what audio has to give. Every week and every day it's something you can really enjoy and when we take it into the professional scape we're going to hear from professionals and what they're doing behind the scenes and the things that you may not know about. We're gonna find out when talking to our experts, the professionals. I'm so excited for our first guest. He's a KUNV Station Operation Manager and Production Guru of 25 years of experience. He's what I like to call a pro and we'll be hearing all those little close insights into what goes into being a pro and what it takes. Thank you for coming. You are the operations manager at KUNV and I feel that you are quite the expert in the field of radio and audio. So I had a comment of is a bachelor degree you know really necessary and I take a stance on that a bachelor's in audio production is relevant and vital in today's world of media. I have a couple questions. With your 20 years of experience and knowledge in the world of radio, what is one trick that you would tell another pony that they need to know and learn when they come into the world of audio?
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Well, it's 25 years I've been doing this. One trick for someone who is, I'll tell you what, my best advice to an aspiring audio producer or engineer would be save your sessions, okay? Sometimes saving a session in whatever audio editing program you're using can be a pain in the butt, takes an extra minute, but over my storied career, I have gotten probably too good at what I call Frankensteining audio, which is where you've done a mix down and you have your complete your complete, you know 32nd whatever it is, but you've not saved the session and you need to make a revision and you then have to go and find the backup music find the effects and then try to Frankenstein that into a new being so yes my my advice to any new production person was get in the habit of saving your session and labeling each one of your audio files. That will save you a lot of hair.
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Nobody would want to be caught without having saved their files properly so that when you need to go back and make those changes, you have them in the central location, you know how to bring them back up. I know when you're saving a session how important it is to have them in one place because you are going to have to then link the files back if you have them. Definitely going and building a great foundation of having that external hard drive for instance and making naming folders and putting them in one place and having all of those be where they're living. But again, making sure to have backups because having it all saved is one thing, having your session saved is another thing, but also having backups in case there's an emergency. Cloud Drive is where you store your files, but also having them ready to go wherever you're going, especially when things start to add up and a lot of files pile up. Music and templates and your sessions are all taking up a lot of space. Definitely invest in an external hard drive. Alright, thank you. And in the age of social media and pictures and videos, where does the role of audio really thrive?
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I think you know, yes, you're right, video is king, right? And I always, being an audio production guy, was always jealous of the people who could do video, because video seemed like the Quan. But more so now than ever, podcasting, think about the music, every TikTok has to start with a sound file, right? And a lot of people have gotten pretty clever in creating their own unique sound files, which then lend themselves to the video that people use to make their TikTok. So I think that your video is only gonna be as good as the sound, unless you've got some sort of a viral hit that you gotta see to believe. Best video productions are the ones that also have well-edited sound, with sound effects and good edits and cuts and use of music and effects and tight and keep it moving. So I think now more than ever, audio is in the forefront of the media lens, right? Because you really can't have the complete package unless you've got great sound, yeah. Yeah, that's so true.
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Often in social media, audio is overlooked. Having music and a great sound behind these images and video really accounts for something. That's what I want to emphasize is how important audio is and how through social media, often immediately just thought of as a visual entertainment, it really comes down to audio and audio quality. It's going to be something that you're experiencing through audio and it's going to be a catchy beat, a catchy sound, something funny, and we're hearing this through audio. It's a valid profession. It's valid, period. When you tell people about your work here at KUNV radio station, what are some key points that you tell them that they may not
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know about radio? Frustrating. How do I feel about my job? Frustration, anger. Tell me more about that. So having worked in commercial broadcasting since 1999, I've done it all. I've cleaned the toilets, I've painted the walls, I've paid the checks, you know, I've done it all. So I know every aspect aspect of the industry. To come and get the opportunity to teach that to students is the greatest gift of my career. The one challenge I find is that the students are students. Their attention level isn't what you would expect in dealing with a professional, but I deal with professionals and their attention level ain't much better. You're dealing with what I truly enjoy about this job is seeing passionate, ambitious, driven, you know, you can see the students in every group who want to be here, who are like I see myself in. The ones who want to put in the time, work, you know, coming over the weekend, hey, can I get the access code so I can borrow the gear so I can do this? Those ones are the best. But also, you know, turning that light on for someone who didn't think it was in them. You know, they didn't even think that, you know, be on the radio or try to do a podcast or didn't even think they could edit or they don't even know why they're here, but somebody told them they had to come down here. Seeing seeing the light turn on for them is awesome. So I frustration. I'm kidding. You know, the big the part of working with students that I'm still adjusting to is just that your passion for breaking things. Things always, you find new and amazing ways to break things. You have no regard, you have no idea what quarter-inch jacks are, what adapters are, how headphones pro sound works. It's constant, I can't believe they've done it again. And every semester it just, it's like a groundhog day. I've got 15 new students who don't understand what a quarter-inch jack is, can't return headphones. But that's, you know, but every semester, I, you know, there's three or four or five of you who I really am proud of and, you know, see you guys really take off.
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Aw, thank you, Jason. Okay, we might break things, but we're learning, Jason. We don't really want to break things. Maybe we're learning how to use things and sometimes things break in that process. I know I haven't broken anything, so surely you're not talking about me. I agree. I am one of those people that the light came on seeing that this is something I can do and it's possible and I really enjoy it and I want to learn more and more about it. And that's all thanks to you, Jason. Thank you so much for showing everything. Want to learn more. You're the man. You're the production guru So teach me your ways because you're the best 25 years the best, okay? Where do you see audio going into the future audio going into the future you are the visionary Jason? That's a big label
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Where do I see audio going in the future? Well, I don't know my skill set has never been technical right I've always been like a user I'm a guy who knows I don't how to play a guitar I don't know why this guitar is better than the other guitar, but I can wail on a guitar That's sort of like my audio production skill set. I don't do it the right way. I don't do it the wrong way I do it my way, but I do see advances in Spatial audio I know that because I have Apple music and I hear them kind of releasing new versions of songs where you know Space is kind, you know, you can look in one direction and it shifts how the sound kind of works I also was a big fan I don't know what happened to it But I think it was called like 4d sound if you've got a set of air pods in and I'll play a song for you You close your eyes, you're in the room with those bongos playing in front of you and the guitar is behind you. It's really something. I think if you just look to the MSG sphere and what they're doing with soundscaping and sound design and how they present sound with just endless channels and speakers and ways
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to experience sound, I think what you're saying is lending more towards web 3.0, immersive, you know, really augmented. Do more with immersion, right? So like, you
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know, when you're gonna be in these virtual worlds or, you know, and you're in meetings or, you know, you're gonna be, you know, wearing a pair of VR goggles but you're at a concert, you know, how are they gonna, you know, what is, what can they do with the sound to make it more immersive? I think that's kind of a cool idea.
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I can't wait. Dolby MSG Sphere, leading the charge when it comes to audio. They're thinking outside the box, innovating, creating new experiences for people to enjoy in the form of entertainment. All of that's just super exciting, something new to experience in the audio world. Innovation is so important. These things are still very relatively new. Criticism on both of those ends. As long as we're trying new things, I know the ideas and concept are going to be game changers in the world of immersive entertainment. That is definitely we're looking for and the next generation is going to be asking for. Always taking it to the next level, taking it one step further from where we are today. I'm just excited for that and experiencing an audible experience never been done before. What you're talking about, I've looked up reviews, some people are saying oh they've tried it but they don't like it. But again it's more of a technology thing whether they have the AirPods, the setup correct, or the speaker system setup correct. Again, these things are dependent on the technology that's going to be its carrier. Dolby is working on and the AirPods experience on Apple Music to enable that. I think that's always updating, constantly bringing new experiences. Now, if financing and funding weren't an issue, what is something that you wish right now you could be doing in radio?
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Financing and funding weren't an issue.
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Biggest wish?
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Yeah, I wish that, you know, I wish that I could pay all of the people who work for us right now a fair wage. You know, we work for a public college station and, you know, the money we have is next to none. So a lot of people work for us who, you know, come in out of the goodness of their heart, you know. I'm not really used to that. I've always only ever worked with people who were paid well and, you know, we had that expectation. And if you didn't do what you're supposed to, you were gone. Here we're dealing with a lot of volunteers and stuff. So it would be nice to be able to afford to be able to, you know, pay salaries for people. It would make my life easier. But I guess if I could do anything, you know, I would love to have all of the toys in the studios. You know, I'd like to have the new automation systems. I'd like to fit the studios out with wide orbit touchscreens, which is radio station automation. I'd like to have, you know, fully, you know, like all the bit boxes, a shortcut 360 to take phone calls. I'd love to have a web streaming interface with an auto director so that as I talked or my guest talked, the camera shot would change and that would simultaneously broadcast that online, which would then be transcribed. So the disabilities requirements then be able to somehow pay to have the rights to mix it all down into a podcast, which we could then upload and to deliver to, you know, whoever wanted that over all the podcasting platforms. So I mean, I guess to be able to do it all. We're always trying to do it all. And you know, you kind of most of the time, because of your budget, sort of have to pick and choose which little piece of all we're going to get done. And I think it would be nice to, you know, if money were no item, let's see if we can do it all. And then most importantly, pay the right guy to come set it up for us so that there weren't any issues after got it all set up it just ran perfectly all the time yeah yeah and tell me more
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about like would you call it commercial radio in your 20 years of experience 25 25 tell me about some experiences that you had oh boy well where do you want me
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to begin from the beginning start from the beginning of my commercial experience?
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Yeah. Tell us the highlights of those.
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Well, okay, so I started my senior year of college. I was a broadcast journalism major, so I was intending to be a news reporter. Then my senior year, like in October, I heard a commercial on the radio saying, hey, we need interns. So I went in and applied for the internship. They liked me. They said, we'd love to give you an internship I went back to my college and my college like said you missed the deadline, but stick it out We'll tell them you know tell them whatever you got to tell them get that internship So I did and I ended up actually Just as I was starting the promotions director the guy who was in charge of the interns my boss was quitting so the marketing director Said hey, would you like to be the new promotions director? Because I, you know, I was really eager and excited to be there. So then they hired me. So then I ended up getting a full-time job with CBS my fall semester of my senior year. So I was, I had a job, thank God. And then I did, because I was running the internship program for CBS, I of course gave myself the most lucrative internship you could get. I think I took like 12 credits my senior year or my last semester so I got out a bunch of classes. And then I kind of worked my way up to an on-air position where I would do like late nights on Sundays and then eventually I kind of worked my way up to a night gig where I was doing nights from 6 to 10 on an alternative rock station where I went by the nickname Bender. So I was pretty successful with alternative rock in the early 2000s when it was hot, like when it was My Chemical Romance and the band for old people now, right? The band when we were young festival. And then I was doing so well with women that they moved me off of the Alternative Rock and moved me back to the Top 40 station where I had initially started. And I stayed there until 2007 when I realized that my morning show weren't going to leave so I needed to get a better gig. So I ended up taking a gig in the Cayman Islands and I went down there to do a morning show and within a year of being there my boss got fired so I said I'll take his job so then I got his job so now I was a program director and then we had to fire the other program director so I said I'll take her job so now I was programming two stations. So then they gave me an assistant, was then up to an operations manager. So I was programming and overseeing operations. And then we acquired two more stations. So I had a bigger staff and then we bought a TV station. So then I got back into journalism and I became a TV weatherman. And then I decided to head to iHeartRadio in New York to do a morning show. Then COVID happened and that kind of went kaput, but they had to pay out my contract. So I got a year off and that kind of brings me to here. But I mean, throughout my career, I've, you know, I've, you know, if I get hit by a bus tomorrow, I've lived a good life. I've had the highest of highs. You know, I've accomplished almost everything I've ever dreamed I could accomplish. Somebody upstairs is looking out for me because now to be able to transition while so many people in the radio industry are just struggling to find anything. You know I managed to get out just at the right time like I usually do and now I get to teach you know the next generation of
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audio radio people. And I'm so thankful and appreciate that you're here teaching us everything and you're instilling in us everything you can and I just want to continue to learn more and more from you Jason. So thank you for taking the time and coming on today again. This is Jason Beattie with KUNV Operations Manager, a vision extraordinaire. Thank you. You're welcome. What a great interview with Station Operations Manager Jason Beattie. He really has his industry down and with 25 years of experience, he has so much to share that we need to get him on again. I really want to hear more of what he has to say, anything more that I can share with you so that we can learn more about audio production. And if you're really thinking about making this a career, as am I, we really need to get more guests just like him. He really gave us the rundown here of the tricks of knowing when to save your sessions and making sure you make that Let's face it, saving a session and saving those files in multiple places is so important. Could you imagine all the work in audio, something that you produce, you edit, and then losing all of that? I think he's right on point to inform us the most basic of things, but again, the most fundamental thing. And with the age of social media, how even though we're presented every day with photos and videos, we're not taking into account the impact, music behind photos, audio behind a video, and the role that those play in our everyday life. Audio is so beautiful, audio is so important, and we can really see that through visual, social media, we're still being impacted with an audible sound that is taken for granted, but definitely matters the most. When Jason tells people about what it's like to work at a radio station, a public radio station, those people may not know the impact, and he might not even know the impact that he's having with the fellow students here that are coming in to KUNV to do podcasts, to do an on-air show at the Rebel HD2 studio, or even jumping into HD1 91.5 Jazz and More. Jason is influencing and affecting all those around him in a positive way. for one, I'm thankful to be able to take in all that he has to share and offer. I hope that you've also learned more about the inner workings of a radio station, a public radio station, and how things like financing are a major contributing factor to what it's going to look like into the future, how much the radio station is going to move forward and progress. With that said, they are in the middle of spring membership drives. Now we kind of understand why that's so important. Without funding, things aren't possible here at KUNV to instill into future broadcasters and students and the community. We want to keep audio moving forward into the future. We want to see though radio may be seen as a dying medium, it's nevertheless more important to get a message out there, to make connections with those behind the microphone, to see how with an audio and broadcasting background, how interchangeable, how everything is weaved together. As Jason stated that he was looking into doing a news broadcasting major. Because of his skills with audio, he found himself going more in that direction. And I can really relate to that being a double concentration major, wanting to put my feet into both fields, wanting to be a double threat. Now, as I've experienced radio and audio production more and more, I find myself really focusing into my one concentration more than the other. And I'm doing this podcast of talking with the concentration more than the other. And I'm doing this podcast, talking with the professionals and getting that inside look into what it's like going into the future. Now, as I stated in the beginning, how vital audio production is in the world of entertainment, in a industry as a whole, and in the job market, we can see that there's things like MSG Sphere that are going to be such a large scale in Las Vegas, such a big footprint that we may not know what's to come. Though we know that MSG Sphere is coming and is happening and is on its way, on track to open up with a U2 concert, which I'm sorry, I'm not a fan of. Not gonna say that it isn't gonna rock. Let's get some more artists that are more relevant with the younger generation so that we can really get some traction. Whatever demographic they're really gearing towards, because right now it's not the youth, they really need to take into account what they're going to promote, the future of audio, and need to take into account what they're going to promote, the future of audio, and what's to come. I'm so excited to continue to talk to pros with me, Jess B. I love you, catch you in the next one. Bye!
Transcribed with Cockatoo