This page opens with the Radio voice: everything below 500 Hz and above 3,000 Hz removed, and 35% distortion. Record a line and it plays back as if it came over a handheld radio.
The sound of a two-way radio
Two-way radios are built to carry intelligible speech in as little bandwidth as possible. Analogue land-mobile radios transmit audio from about 300 Hz to 3 kHz; the bass and the air above 3 kHz, which make a voice sound full and close, never arrive. The small speaker in a handset rolls off the low end further and distorts when the radio’s limiter pushes the level up.
This preset copies that chain: a low cut at 500 Hz, a high cut at 3,000 Hz and distortion for the small-speaker crunch. The result is thin, bright and a little harsh, exactly what listeners recognise as “over the radio”.
Making it convincing
- Short, clipped sentences: radio speech is terse. “Copy that.” “Moving to position two.” End transmissions with “over”.
- Speak loudly and close: radio users speak up. A louder delivery gives the distortion more to work with.
- Add a squelch: a short beep or a burst of static before and after each line, added in your editor, sells the effect.
Variations
Under Fine-tune, raise Distortion to 60% for a bad signal, or add a little Echo for a stadium PA. Click Telephone for a phone line or Megaphone for a loudhailer on the same recording.
The settings on this page
500–3000 Hz · distortion 35%. Every setting can be changed under Fine-tune; the page only chooses where it starts.