How to Make a Radio Station ID With the Imaging Voice

To make a radio station ID in Club Ready Music, select the Imaging voice on the DJ drop tab, write the station name, frequency and slogan in words, add Echo and Reverb tail, pick Dry (voice only) or Impact hit as the bed and render at 5 s or 10 s. Imaging is labelled station ID, processed in the voice list, and it reads at normal speed with medium stability, which is what makes a frequency and a slogan land evenly every time. Each render gives three variations, and the Dry download gives you the voice alone to drop onto your own station bed.

Steps

1. Write the ID as it would be announced

A station ID has a fixed shape: name, frequency, then a slogan or show reference. Write it the way an announcer would say it, in words, inside the 200-character limit of What should the voice say?: 'Pulse. Ninety-nine point one. The city's dance station.' Spell numbers out so the voice does not guess at '99.1', and separate the three parts with full stops so each one lands as its own phrase.

2. Select the Imaging voice

Choose Imaging from the four voices. It is tuned to sound like a processed read, at normal speed, with enough stability that all three variations stay close to each other. That consistency matters for IDs, because a station runs the same ident dozens of times a day and listeners notice a wobble. Smooth works as an alternative for an overnight or chill-out ID.

3. Set the FX chain for radio

Untick Stutter, which is on by default and belongs in a club, and keep Reverb tail. Tick Echo for the two slap-back taps at 240 and 480 ms that give a classic imaging bounce to the end of the frequency. Leave Pitch down off for a daytime ID; use it with Reverb tail for a late-night version. Leave Air horn off.

4. Choose the bed

If the ID will play on its own between songs, pick Impact hit for a short front-edge thud under the name. If you already have a station imaging bed, pick Dry (voice only) so the MP3 has no music to clash with it, or simply use the Dry download from whatever bed you chose. Riser can work for a top-of-hour ID that leads into a show open; set 10 s so it has room to climb.

5. Set the length

Choose 5 s for a name plus frequency and 10 s for a name, frequency and slogan. The clip is never shorter than the length you pick and stretches up to 60 seconds if the read runs long, so it is better to pick the length that matches the script than to let it overrun and lose the bed's shape.

6. Render and choose

Press Render 3 variations. Play all three in Club Ready Music's Renders panel and pick the one with the cleanest frequency. Because Imaging is stable, the differences are small; listen for the read that places a clear gap before the slogan. Render again with a different wording rather than hoping for a better read of a clumsy line.

7. Download for the playout system

Press MP3 for the finished ID with FX and bed, and Dry for the voice only. Both are 44.1 kHz stereo at 320 kbps and normalised to −8 LUFS, which is hot for broadcast processing; turn the file down in your playout or editing software to match your other imaging. Copy link gives you a URL to send to the programme director.

Tips

• Make a family of IDs from one session: a 5 s name and frequency, a 10 s version with the slogan, and a Dry version of each for layering.
• Write the frequency with the word 'point' and spell out decimals: 'one-oh-four point seven' reads more reliably than '104.7'.
• The Dry file of an Imaging render is the read without Echo, Reverb tail or bed. It is the right stem for your own sweeper production.
• A station name that is a made-up word benefits most from the phonetic hint under the text box.
• Drops are fixed at −8 LUFS; a broadcast chain will handle that, but a podcast of your show wants the ID about 8 dB lower.

Common problems

• The frequency is read as a phone number or a date. Digits were left as digits. Write the number out in words with 'point' between them.
• The slogan rushes into the frequency. No punctuation between phrases. Put a full stop after the frequency and keep each phrase under six words.
• The ID has a machine-gun start. Stutter was left on. Untick it; Stutter is a club effect and is on by default.
• The ID is louder than the rest of the station's imaging. Club Ready Music normalises every drop to −8 LUFS. Lower it in your playout software; there is no loudness control for drops.