Does your hit radio station 'speed up' songs?

[stereofidelic]

My hit radio station 95 triple x speeds up songs. I can honestly tell. Everything sounds so much better on radio to me. I called in one night being really bored i asked them if it was true. The guy said yes, they do speed up the songs by around 10 seconds because airtime matters, as well as making the song sound better? I guess...

So this is going to sound crazy, but im so used to listening to all my favorite songs on the radio and when i've played them in their regular nature by Ipod... its noticable to the point where i'm annoyed with having to switch from two different speeds. I took it upon myself to download Audacity which lets you edit mp3s and all that jazz, i sped up the tempo of alot of songs i like that are played on the radio station, it just sounds better and its true!

Anyone else notice this?

[🅳🅸🆂🅲🅾]

I have noticed that some songs sound a lot better sped up just a little. Especially Hip Hop/R&B songs. Some sound painfully slow at their original speeds when I listen to the song on the CD or from the iTunes single. Wild 94.9 in San Francisco really does that for a lot of the songs. I know they do that for the purpose of getting a couple more songs in, but usually so they can get some more ads in.

However, I have noticed that some stations speed it up too much and it doesn't sound good.

[tico]

Mine does, but this practice is limited to just CHRs. A lot of country stations (including one in my area) does it too.

[Slinky]

I agree with the original poster. I like my music pitched up a little bit, especially on faster paced songs.

[threedollafoaholla]

We pitch 2% on my station. The station (top 20 market) that I do weekends for pitches 3%. I worked for another top 25 market station once that pitched 4%.

[stereofidelic]

Thats pretty much the same percent range i speed up my songs when i use Audacity.

But when you listen to Misery business on the radio you CANNOT sing along, its too fast lol.

[Pipa]

I can't listen to the original versions of "This Ain't A Scene, It's An Arms Race" and "Stronger". They're ridiculously slow. They sound so much better when you up the tempo 4% in Audacity.

[stereofidelic]

Its true. But at the same time you ruin the good songs a little bit (at least i feel like i violate the songs natural... entity?) lol when i change the speed... like for Love Song by Sara Bareilles or Tattoo by Jordin Sparks.

[Pipa]

The songs do feel a bit choppy when you speed them up, but it's not noticable enough to bother me.

[John77]

Yes. Country KHAY 100.7, CHR:KIIS 102.7

[stereofidelic]

Do you know how many times i had to go back to Audacity feeling unsatisfied while listening to Complicated (on my ipod) and then hearing it on the radio still not at the same pace? Basically i changed the speed by like 7 times now rather than a regular 3 that usually radio seems to do for other songs....

[atlantaboy]

Kiss 95.1/Charlotte sped up their songs big time when I lived there (esp. in the late 90s and early 00s)...I remember listenin to Kryptonite by 3 Doors Down and it sounded like twice the speed it was played on the Alternative station lol

Seems like CHRs nowadays use it as a tool though to make Hot AC and Alternative songs appeal to their shorter attention-span listeners...

Don't think Bubbly, Realize, or Shadow Of The Day would've had a chance on CHR if they weren't sped up a bit...same with Paralyzer and Never Too Late in less rock-oriented markets

Oh yeah...I remember hearin Boston by Augustana played on Kiss 95.1 at what must have been a 20% increase in speed, and I actually liked it a lot better

And yeah Star 94 def. speeds up Love Song a bit...IMO it sounds better...

It is weird IMO goin back and listenin to the CD versions of Stronger or Everything You Want by Vertical Horizon cause they seem to drag so much compared to what you're used to listenin to on the radio

[Crushcrushchris]

I remember that BLI does that and Z100 used to do that.

Some songs sound better, but others don't.

[derek]

Mar 13, 2008 21:53:43 GMT -5 stereofidelic said:

So this is going to sound crazy, but im so used to listening to all my favorite songs on the radio and when i've played them in their regular nature by Ipod... its noticable to the point where i'm annoyed with having to switch from two different speeds. I took it upon myself to download Audacity which lets you edit mp3s and all that jazz, i sped up the tempo of alot of songs i like that are played on the radio station, it just sounds better and its true!

Anyone else notice this?

See, I did this a while ago and while it did sound neat at first, listening to the spead up version ALL the time made it.....unspecial to me....like, it became the "normal" speed of the song. And in result didn't sound "cool" anymore. So now I just leave the radio to speed up the song. :)

[tfstorm]

WKQI has to speed their songs up 4%. A lot of times people sound like they're on helium.

[atlantaboy]

I was drivin through NYC and heard "Realize" by Colbie Caillat on WPLJ NOT sped up, and IMO it didn't sound like a hit to me...when I hear it sped up on WSTR/ATL, it sounds like it's gonna reach the Top 10 or come close

[tico]

Star is speeding up songs now?

[atlantaboy]

Apr 7, 2008 20:33:14 GMT -5 @tico said:

Star is speeding up songs now?

They def. speed up Realize, Shadow Of The Day, Love Song, and Never Too Late...other songs just a small % I think - not as much as stations like Kiss 95.1/Charlotte though

[shocker]

It's not CHR radio stations that increase the pitch to speed up the tempo of songs. Many independent D.J.s do this too as a means of making the slow and mid-tempo songs more danceable.

I used to do this when I D.J.'d years ago. Adjusting the pitch to make a song faster or slower is also good for re-mixing. It helps keep the same BPM when throwing different songs into the mix.

[threedollafoaholla]

I don't do it here on the station I recently took over. It's never been done here and since I don't have competition doing it (or competition at all, really), I don't feel like I need to do it.

[musicfanpete]

Mar 13, 2008 21:53:43 GMT -5 stereofidelic said:

My hit radio station 95 triple x speeds up songs. I can honestly tell. Everything sounds so much better on radio to me. I called in one night being really bored i asked them if it was true. The guy said yes, they do speed up the songs by around 10 seconds because airtime matters, as well as making the song sound better? I guess...

So this is going to sound crazy, but im so used to listening to all my favorite songs on the radio and when i've played them in their regular nature by Ipod... its noticable to the point where i'm annoyed with having to switch from two different speeds. I took it upon myself to download Audacity which lets you edit mp3s and all that jazz, i sped up the tempo of alot of songs i like that are played on the radio station, it just sounds better and its true!

Anyone else notice this?

I read your post last week and have since downloaded Audacity. I like that I can now change the pitch of songs on my Ipod using this! I too like the fact that a slightly higher pitch makes songs sound a bit more "energetic". Many songs I have pitched up by 2%, with a few at 3% (probably what Kiss-FM in Chicago does).

How any station can pitch a song up 4% as some posters have mentioned is beyond me though. If I want to hear the Chipmunks sing, I'll just go out and buy their CD!

[threedollafoaholla]

Funny how opinions can change... I've started doing it since I last posted in this thread, but I only go +1.5%. Just enough to make certain songs seem like they don't drag so much, but not enough that it's distinctly noticeable or distracting.

[musicfanpete]

Jul 28, 2008 18:26:18 GMT -5 @threedollafoaholla said:

Funny how opinions can change... I've started doing it since I last posted in this thread, but I only go +1.5%. Just enough to make certain songs seem like they don't drag so much, but not enough that it's distinctly noticeable or distracting.

Since the other day, I changed all my songs to 2%. The 3% songs sounded a bit too fast, so 2% across the board works for me. I don't think that's too much of a difference from your 1.5%.

[atlantaboy]

^Yeah I was on a road trip yesterday, and couldn't listen to "Realize" on stations that didn't speed it up (cause it seemed to drag too much...almost like a Norah Jones song) - and when stations like WSTR speed it up it's hands-down one of my fav. songs -

Also noticed that a lot of CHRs speed up their songs at night (someone said the DJs do it not the stations, so that must be partially true I guess, or they're gettin a directive to speed up the hits on their "night show")

WFBC/Greenville SC was insane last night while I was drivin through...never heard All Summer Long played so fast in my life lol

[musicfanpete]

Jul 29, 2008 9:16:14 GMT -5 atlantaboy said:

^Yeah I was on a road trip yesterday, and couldn't listen to "Realize" on stations that didn't speed it up (cause it seemed to drag too much...almost like a Norah Jones song) - and when stations like WSTR speed it up it's hands-down one of my fav. songs -

Also noticed that a lot of CHRs speed up their songs at night (someone said the DJs do it not the stations, so that must be partially true I guess, or they're gettin a directive to speed up the hits on their "night show")

Hmmmm. I have never come across a station that speeds or pitches up songs by the daypart. But I guess you learn something new everyday! :)

WFBC/Greenville SC was insane last night while I was drivin through...never heard All Summer Long played so fast in my life lol

[smokey87]

Personally I cannot stand radio stations that speed up songs, or clip out portions of songs. The artists didn't record them that way, and its a disgrace imho. That is why I seldom listen to radio, and just play CD's in my car...the way the songs were meant to be heard.

[Au$tin]

One does. I hate it when it does. Basically, because I can tell it's going faster, but then I second guess myself and think maybe that is it's correct tempo, but then I think that it's sped up again....

I get a headache when they do that.

[tico]

Jul 29, 2008 9:16:14 GMT -5 atlantaboy said:

Also noticed that a lot of CHRs speed up their songs at night (someone said the DJs do it not the stations, so that must be partially true I guess, or they're gettin a directive to speed up the hits on their "night show")

WNSL Laurel/Hattiesburg used to do this at night. Actually, it was just the DJ himself because I used to hear him on Saturday afternoons and the songs would be sped up during his shift. All the other times, the stations played songs at the normal speed.

[threedollafoaholla]

Aug 18, 2008 23:18:52 GMT -5 @tico said:

Jul 29, 2008 9:16:14 GMT -5 atlantaboy said:

Also noticed that a lot of CHRs speed up their songs at night (someone said the DJs do it not the stations, so that must be partially true I guess, or they're gettin a directive to speed up the hits on their "night show")

WNSL Laurel/Hattiesburg used to do this at night. Actually, it was just the DJ himself because I used to hear him on Saturday afternoons and the songs would be sped up during his shift. All the other times, the stations played songs at the normal speed.

I know that programmer and used to be a jock on that station. Yes, there is a difference from one part of the day to the next. If I remember correctly, everything outside of 7P-Midnight is pitched up so slightly that you barely notice it (0.50%), but past 7P it goes up to 2.0%. That's actually very easy to do with Prophet NexGen. All you have to do is drag and drop a command into the log that says "Set Song Pitch = (insert number here)%" and it does it. I used to do it when I programmed for Clear Channel, myself. I'd pitch at 1.5% from 6A-6P and 2.5% from 6P-6A, but I had to do so because I had a 100,000 watt CC CHR (that I actually did weekends for, on the side) booming into the northwestern part of my market that pitched at 3.0% around the clock. So, in order to not sound S-L-O-W against them, I had to compensate a bit.

[derek]

I swear Q102 speeds songs up even more during late nights when no DJ's are on the air...usually it's 3%, but at night the songs seem to go REALLY fast.