The Return of Art Bell

Discussion forum for Art Bell's new show on the internet, Midnight in the Desert. Come in and discuss the latest news on Art, the show and guests.

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Post by Fan » 04-20-2015 06:12 PM

LeslieV wrote: A lot of what you saw is his ham radio equipment. The studio equipment he had, and still does, is older analog including tape cartridge players. Remember the time he glued his lips together. :eek:

Times have changed since the 90's and early 2K's.

The Sirius stuff they provided then took back.

So bottom line for his broadcast studio he does need to purchase more equipment.


Leslie


If he has a laptop and a mic he has pretty much all he needs. A workstation too I guess if he wants to do skype call-ins.
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Post by fos » 04-20-2015 06:18 PM

That makes sense, Leslie.

I have always had the impression that he was rather wealthy due to his radio career. I guess time takes care of that as well. :(

fos

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Post by Dude111 » 04-21-2015 12:05 AM

LeslieV wrote: Times have changed since the 90's and early 2K's.
Yes they have gotton even worse :(

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Post by LeslieV » 04-21-2015 08:30 AM

Fan wrote: If he has a laptop and a mic he has pretty much all he needs. A workstation too I guess if he wants to do skype call-ins.


He wants to deliver more like we remember him doing it including music and of course call in from around the world plus handle the commercials in house like he did back when he did it all.

Of course back then he was in his 40's and 50's and not 70 like now so I wonder how much of a load he really wants to take on.

As for rich, he is pegged at about $10M which is a lot to most all of us but in the grand scheme of things not a large sum at all.

And yes Dude, things have really changed since the 90's and early 2K and got a lot more scary.

Back then we had Art telling us of scary things that went bump in the night. At least in the morning we could see they were not hiding under the bed. :)

Today, I feel we are closer to glowing mushrooms than back when Art and I were kids and we had the Cuban crisis. :(

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Post by SquidInk » 04-21-2015 10:20 AM

I clearly remember Bell spending five figures to fly cats back and forth between Nevada & the Philippines. For me, it's the moment the illusion was shattered.

Up to that point, Art was like me -- he smoked too much, lived in a modular home out of town, drove a regular car, built stuff, ran a small business with his wife, etc. I really latched on to the idea that a regular guy like me could assemble some equipment in the spare room, and start asking tough questions; start shining the spot light of truth into the dark places -- like Groom Lake. It seemed like real Americana -- man lives next to secret base, does something about it.

In retrospect (and after listening to countless hours of pirate C2C from the 90's forward), I am highly skeptical. "Pizza Punch" & "Dark Matter" didn't help. Further, I wonder why we all loved Art Bell and his apparent desire to pursue the "truth" on a wide variety of topics -- from aliens to the Catholic Church -- but many of us called, instantly, for the assassination of Assange and Snowden. The best Art Bell shows featured special "lines" where "insiders" supposedly called in to "leak" classified info. Remember Lazar? Remember the flyover? Was any of it real, or was it just sanctioned entertainment --- worse, was it straight up disinformation/distraction? Remember the wingnut/eggplant debacle, where Bell turned on the audience which had handed him his wealth? He spit venom at "conspiracy theorists", after spending years harvesting dollars by broadcasting conspiracy theories.

Bell couldn't stand the fact that we would question the "official" 9/11 narrative --- after introducing a generation of listeners to MkUltra, and Roswell. It was nonsensical.

I have no idea what is going on here, but web casting a radio show is technically easy. It's also cheap. The bumper music doesn't matter. Piracy doesn't matter (except that it is helpful). Spoken ads are great. Now go, be relevant again. Start digging into all the weirdness. Give people airtime who otherwise would get none, and let the audience decide -- right?
Last edited by SquidInk on 04-21-2015 10:38 AM, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Fan » 04-21-2015 10:25 AM

LeslieV wrote: He wants to deliver more like we remember him doing it including music and of course call in from around the world plus handle the commercials in house like he did back when he did it all.

Of course back then he was in his 40's and 50's and not 70 like now so I wonder how much of a load he really wants to take on.

As for rich, he is pegged at about M which is a lot to most all of us but in the grand scheme of things not a large sum at all.

And yes Dude, things have really changed since the 90's and early 2K and got a lot more scary.

Back then we had Art telling us of scary things that went bump in the night. At least in the morning we could see they were not hiding under the bed. :)

Today, I feel we are closer to glowing mushrooms than back when Art and I were kids and we had the Cuban crisis. :(


To do that all he needs is a laptop and mic. That is all anyone needs now. All hardware functions are done in software. You have line-in, line-out and internet.

Most podcasters (ie broadcasters) use a nice quality mic if they can afford one, Heil PR40 is a very popular one.

Radio stations are all run by computer now. Most are fully automated as well. You want to run an ad? You click the ad button. You want to route 3 voice calls into a multiplex with soft music in the background? You click a button.

If you are doing live video it gets a little harder, but not much. You need a switcher, although most hosts do that themselves as the show is on.
The heartbreaking necessity of lying about reality and the heartbreaking impossibility of lying about it.

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Post by SecretWindows » 04-26-2015 09:52 PM

Fan wrote: To do that all he needs is a laptop and mic. That is all anyone needs now. All hardware functions are done in software. You have line-in, line-out and internet.

Most podcasters (ie broadcasters) use a nice quality mic if they can afford one, Heil PR40 is a very popular one.

Radio stations are all run by computer now. Most are fully automated as well. You want to run an ad? You click the ad button. You want to route 3 voice calls into a multiplex with soft music in the background? You click a button.

If you are doing live video it gets a little harder, but not much. You need a switcher, although most hosts do that themselves as the show is on.


I use a Shure SM7B with a DBX 286S channel strip and that goes into an Allen and Heath 10 channel mixer. I prefer the SM7B over the Heil PR-40 — and unlike the PR-40, the SM7B is a true broadcast mic.

Had a lot of great compliments from listeners and guests.
Had a guest recently tell me that our show together was the best he's done to date —and he was on Coast to Coast.

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Post by Fan » 04-27-2015 07:29 AM

SecretWindows wrote: I use a Shure SM7B with a DBX 286S channel strip and that goes into an Allen and Heath 10 channel mixer. I prefer the SM7B over the Heil PR-40 — and unlike the PR-40, the SM7B is a true broadcast mic.

Had a lot of great compliments from listeners and guests.
Had a guest recently tell me that our show together was the best he's done to date —and he was on Coast to Coast.


yup but even that is overkill if you want to do it on the cheap or with more automation. Your show does sound great though.
The heartbreaking necessity of lying about reality and the heartbreaking impossibility of lying about it.

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Post by SecretWindows » 04-27-2015 04:21 PM

Fan wrote: yup but even that is overkill if you want to do it on the cheap or with more automation. Your show does sound great though.

That is true.
When I started podcasting it was originally with a Blue Snowball and I found that to be too cheap. All of 2014 I used the Rode Podcaster and it was a decent mic — but I wouldn't go back to it from the SM7B.

My next step would be toward the RE-27 (if I purchased another mic).

Thanks for the compliment!
The 2014 shows were a learning phase and 2015 is more about finding my voice. 2016 should be even better.

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Post by fos » 04-27-2015 05:59 PM

I have done some video dubbing with a Blue Yeti. The sound quality is awesome at a fairly reasonable price. But it is a big microphone that includes a desk stand.

fos

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Post by SecretWindows » 04-27-2015 06:14 PM

fos wrote: I have done some video dubbing with a Blue Yeti. The sound quality is awesome at a fairly reasonable price. But it is a big microphone that includes a desk stand.

fos


The Blue Yeti is a decent condenser mic.
I know a lot of podcasters who use this one.

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Post by Fan » 04-27-2015 06:22 PM

and to be honest for every podcaster who uses a real mic there are 10 using $20 boom mic headsets and many of them sound good enough for talk radio.
The heartbreaking necessity of lying about reality and the heartbreaking impossibility of lying about it.

― Kurt Vonnegut, Cat's Cradle

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Post by Fan » 04-27-2015 06:24 PM

either way the point is Art does not need $20k worth of equipment.
The heartbreaking necessity of lying about reality and the heartbreaking impossibility of lying about it.

― Kurt Vonnegut, Cat's Cradle

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Post by SecretWindows » 04-27-2015 06:28 PM

Fan wrote: either way the point is Art does not need k worth of equipment.


No he doesn't.
In the past I know Art has used a broadcast headset.

I'm not even sure what he must be purchasing to spend 20k.


I may have to limit what I say considering that I am on the Dark Matter Radio Network.

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Post by Riddick » 04-28-2015 01:19 AM

Mebbe Art needs a studio filled to the brim with equipment 'cause it's what he's had all these years?

So much sticking to only bare essentials isn't his style, to do it any other way than he's accustomed to would be like asking him to go on the the air buck naked.... Not that there's nothing wrong with that! If nothing else it would add a new and controversial element to his show.

"Midnight In The Desert, Naked!" Let George try and top THAT.

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