MusicMaster Blog

By Drew Bennett

Inside the Modify Editor Layout icon of the Schedule Editor, you will see a section on the right hand side where the colors of elements can be changed. Double click the sample for Songs:Music here and change the Foreground Color AND the Background Color to white. Click OK again to get out of the editor. Now any song element in the Schedule Editor will be filled with the color of the category it resides in.

By Drew Bennett

If you have two or more sections of MusicMaster open, you can tile them on your screen and see them all at once. In the menu at the top of the software, choose Window, Tile Horizontal or Tile Vertical. MusicMaster will arrange the sections of the software in vertical or horizontal tiles on your screen. Explore all the drag and drop features you can perform from section to section. Happy scheduling!

by Paul Ziino

Often times we are asked which Hour Rotation rule to use, and many times we end up explaining the differences between “Day Offset Window” and “Sliding Day Offset Window”. Here’s the scoop…

Day Offset Window is used to protect X number of broadcast hours for Y number of days on either side of a play being tested. The most basic setting here is “Days=1/Window Size=1 Hour”. This protects a song from being played two days in a row in the same broadcast hour.

Sliding Day Offset Window with a setting of “Days=1/Window Size=1:00” would protect a song from being played two days in a row while sliding that 1:00 over the time being tested, splitting it in half so as to check +/- 30 minutes on either side of the play being tested.

Let’s assume we’re testing a play at 9:05am on Wednesday. Day Offset Window is in place with that “Days=1/Window Size=1 Hour” setting. This would look at the 9am hour on Tuesday (one day back) and Thursday (one day ahead), and if the song played anywhere within the 9am broadcast hour on either day, it fails the rule. Note: if the song played at 8:55am on Tuesday, the 9:05am Wednesday play would pass this rule as it is in a different broadcast hour.

Now if we have that same play at 9:05am on Wednesday, but this time we have a Sliding Day Offset Window in place with a setting of “Days=1/Window Size=1:00”, MusicMaster will look at Tuesday (-1 day) and Thursday (+1 day), and if that song played within 30 minutes either side of 9:05 (8:35am-9:35am) on either day, it would fail the rule. Note: if the song played at 8:55am on Tuesday, the 9:05am Wednesday play would fail this rule as it is within the +/- 30 minute window.

Let’s take it a step further. We’re still looking at that 9:05am play on Wednesday. This time our Day Offset Window is set to” Days=1/Window Size=3 Hours”. MusicMaster will look at Tuesday and Thursday in the 8am, 9am, and 10am hours (same hour plus the hour on either side for a total of 3 hours) and if the song played within those hours on either day, it would fail the rule.

But if we used a Sliding Day Offset Window set to “Days=1/Window Size=3:00”, MusicMaster will effectively slide that time frame centering it on the play being tested with an equal amount of time on either side. This would mean +/- 1:30 on either side of 9:05am, or 7:35-10:35am.

The Sliding Day Offset Window can be more precise than the Day Offset Window, because Sliding windows can be adjusted to the minute. For example, a setting of “Days=2/Window Size=1:44” will protect +/- 52 minutes on either side of the play being tested for 2 days back and ahead.

In both Day Offset and Sliding Day Offset windows you can check the “Test Past days only” box on the rule properties window to do just that. Then MusicMaster would only look at past play history and not test against future spins.

Using a combination of Hour Rotation rules including Day Offset and Sliding Day Offset Windows can help maximize a song’s day-to-day separation and exposure.

By Drew Bennett

Purging your database will re-index the data and put everything back in order. It’s much like the defragmenter on your hard drive. It removes errant characters and puts all of your data back in order. The result is a more efficient and faster database. To purge the data in MusicMaster, choose Tools, Purge. Make sure no one else is in the data when you run purge. It needs to perform that function without multiple connections open. I tell my clients to perform this once a week or when you think about it. Happy scheduling!

By Marianne Burkett

Imagine your owner or General Manager walking into your office or the studio telling you “Hey, we’re starting a new format, you’re in charge and we’re launching ASAP.”

Oh boy…your stress level has just risen 150% and you’re wondering …”Where do I start?

The order in which you implement the project is important. The first 3 steps done in the order below will save you a lot of time and frustration.

The first thing you do is acquire a library of music from a reliable source. There are several companies that can provide libraries in a hurry, with a simple internet search. You need the new library ripped into your playout or automation software. When you do so, each cut is assigned an automation number – which is crucial in the early process.

Next, clone your existing MMwin database and strip the clone of its music and non-music. That way, you’re retaining important files like your export to automation design and printed log design.

The new library you’ve acquired can be pulled into MusicMaster using a Library Import utility, or you can copy/paste the new library right into MusicMaster from an Excel spreadsheet. You may need to put a call into your MusicMaster Scheduling Consultant for assistance, but both the Library Import and Copy/Paste are relatively simple procedures.

I recommend the next steps be done in this order:

Create Categories Populate the Categories Code all the music you decide to use and make sure your Artist Keywords are in place. Build Clocks. If you’re launching a brand new format – a few starter clocks should suffice. Remember – Rome was not built in a day. Build the Clock assignment grid and activate it. Install some basic rules in the Rule Tree to get you started. Click on the Rule Tree Wizard for some basic recommendations and build from there. Run the Scheduler to see the results of the rules you’ve created. Test your export to automation to make sure the music is accepted into the playout software.

I promise if you follow these steps, the rest is easy. Checking your rotations and turnovers – tweaking the rules etc…

Of course, as with any major undertaking – consult with colleagues – or put a call into your MusicMaster Scheduling Consultant with questions you may have. You can also access a world of knowledge within the MusicMaster website by accessing our webinar series or support center.

Our job is to help you be successful.

By Paul Ziino

Have categories to which you do not wish to apply your All Categories rules? Bypass them! Right-click the MusicMaster Rule Tree header of the rule tree itself, select Rule Tree Properties, then check any category you wish to ignore the All Categories rules.

Or you can click the Properties icon in the Rule Tree (third from right), then check the categories to bypass.

Click OK, then save your rule tree!

By Marianne Burkett

What is the “Format Scheduler”?

In a nutshell, the Format Scheduler allows you to pre-schedule your Clocks and Assignment Grids in advance on a calendar.  You can also “rotate” your Assignment Grids.

The Format Scheduler gives you the ability to “override” your active assigned clocks for a pre- determined time frame for a date range, or perhaps for just one hour on a particular day. Just what you need if you would like to have different clocks in place for the holiday Monday coming up (perhaps you have a specialty weekend or count down planned, or simply will be voice tracked Monday) and need to have those clocks in place to export to your automation system.

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Did you know there is a calculator hidden within MusicMaster Windows? This cool utility can be found in the Turnover Analysis section of the software (to get there, click on the two circling blue arrows icon on the toolbar, or by selecting DATASET-ANALYSIS-ANALYSIS). On the lower level of the split analysis screen, you’ll spot a row of icons and the calculator icon can be found there. This is the Turnover Calculator, and it allows you to play with the number of songs in the category (Slot Count), the number of times you call for it (Avg. Per Hour) and the turnover time (Avg.).

By using the calculate buttons, you can see graphically what the turnover would like with various setting To use this, change one of the three fields shown, and then click on the calculate button you want to view. For instance, if you were setting up a new category and you knew that you wanted a turnover for the category of 29 hours (1d 5:00) and you wanted to play four songs per hour, you would fill in those two pieces of information. You would then click on the Calculate button to the right of Slot Count. MusicMaster would then determine you need 116 songs in the category.

If you are contemplating making clock/category changes, I think this is an invaluable tool to help you make decisions on “what you should do” to achieve your rotation goals.

Keep in mind, the turnover calculator is showing you graphs for a category with a 1 search depth and no rules.  The use of search depth and coding and rotation rules will effect the overall turnover pattern in real-time scheduling.

If you have any questions in regard to the Turnover Calculator or any other feature of MusicMaster, contact your Music Scheduling Consultant.

By Marianne Burkett

You’re watching a scheduling session in MMwin and wonder why it’s scheduling certain categories first through last. If you’d like to adjust the order in which your categories schedule – otherwise known as “pass order”, simply right click on your “Info Bar” and click on “Schedule Properties”. Or, you can go to Dataset/Schedule/Schedule Properties. Then, put your cursor on the category you’d like to move up or down and drag the Blue Arrow to the place on the list you’d like the category to schedule. Click “OK” and you’re done. Good rule of thumb when scheduling: schedule your smallest categories first and work your way down to the largest category. That gives MusicMaster more songs to test later in the pass order to adhere to the rules you’ve set up in the Rule Tree.

This is an option under DATASET-LIBRARY-CATEGORIES. You will find the rectangle on the right labeled GROUPS.

The box that appears allows you to select the categories you wish to include in the grouping and name it however you wish.

Groups – This handy feature allows you to create groups of music for quick reference in other parts of the program. We’ve already created three defaults: all categories, music categories and non-music categories. You might further refine this by create a group that includes only those music categories that you rotate, or by pass or scheduling order if you do certain categories on separate automatic scheduling runs. These groups will appear on the Info Bar for easy access.