anyone want to host their own paranormal webradio show?

cormac_s

I run a server (radiocrackle.com) which is set up to broadcast web radio shows. if anyone (including you 6th) fancies taking a shot at hosting a paranormal radio show (the nightwatch show is a good example of what one sounds like) then fire me a PM and I'll send you all the details ....

Ziycon

Sounds interesting, anyone interested??

Car Mad

im sure 6th will most likely.let us know when its on if it goes ahead must listen in

Angelic

Hi

I am part of a Paranormal Investigation team based in the UK - we might be interested in helping out - would it be possible please for someone to contact me to let me have some more information of requirements etc!

Cheers

Angelic

cormac_s

Here is the rundown on requirements and how to set things up (though these instructions make it sound harder than it is):

WEB DJs NEEDED

The Theory

You play tracks on your mp3 player, and maybe do some live talking. This is then all sent from your computer, over the web to my server. the server then streams it out through the url http://www.radiocrackle.com:8000/listen.pls for others to listen too. Its handy for DJs to have broadband, but not essential. Listeners can use dialup or broadband.

Theres two kinds of set ups - playlist only and DJ talk/playlist. Theres no real point in doing playlist only shows really, since a simple m3u file does the same trick and is accessible at any time.

mac:

http://www.panic.com - Audion - free download and since its unsupported, theres even a serial number on the panic website for the app. with this you just need the connection info which i would supply. You could do a playlist show straight off on a mac.More on using a mic in a minute

PC

Broadcasting using WinAmp and Shoutcast

Your first step will be to download and install the Shoutcast plug-in for WinAmp (versions 2 and 5 only. does not work in 3.) available here: http://www.shoutcast.com/download/broadcast.phtml

Once you have that downloaded and installed, open WinAmp and "O" to open your Options Menu, then select "Preferences" and under "Plug-Ins" select "DSP/Effect". From the list on the right select "SHOUTcast Source DSP". Be aware that stacking output DSP/Effect plug-ins while using Shoutcast is not advisable.

This will open the window for administration of the Shoutcast plug-in. Across the top you'll see a series of tabs - Main, Output, Encoder, Input:

Main - This is a quick reference that shows you if you're connected, which outputs are connected and the overall output volume. Also shows the "About" blurb for your version of Shoutcast

Output - You'll need to select which Output you wish to set up from the list at the top. Then click on the Connection button to put in the information for the server you're to which you're connecting.
Address: this is the address of the server to which you're connecting (will be supplied)
Port: this is the port on the server to which you're connecting (will be supplied)
Password: the server will likely have a password that you'll input here (will be supplied)
Encoder: from the dropdown menu select which encoder you're using for this connection (we'll set these up in the next step)

Then click on the button that says "Yellow Pages" to set up the information about your broadcast. Be sure to click "Make this server public".
Description: self-explanatory. put the name and a brief description of your show in here
URL: this is simply for additional information purposes - ie, if your show has an official webpage or site
Genre: show genre (for classifying your show on the Shoutcast website)
AIM, ICQ and IRC: input your personal information if you desire
Be sure to click "Enable tag updates" if you want to broadcast the ID3 tags of the songs you're playing.

Encoder - Here you'll set up the encoders that you used in the previous step. Its all pretty straightfoward. Select an encoder from the left (doesn't matter which), select its settings from the dropdown menus on the right. Voila, you're done.

Input - This is where things may require a little practice. Essentially you have two options for Inputs: You can use a microphone plugged into your soundcard and toggle inputs back and forth between voiceovers, or you can use an external source for both voiceovers and music.

If you want to use another computer or other external source for the music, simply run that source and your microphone into a mixer and connect the mixer to your soundcard. Then make sure your Input Device is set to Soundcard, and you're ready to go. The benefits to this are that its really hard to screw up and you can step on the ends and beginnings of songs during your voiceover. The downsides are that you cannot broadcast ID3 tags this way and that you need that other computer or cd player or whatever you want to use.

The more traditional method is to use WinAmp in conjunction with a microphone plugged into your soundcard. Once you have your microphone plugged into the soundcard, select the appropriate input location under Soundcard Mixer -> Mic Input. When you wish to play music select WinAmp from your Input Device and you'll broadcast whatever is playing in WinAmp. Then when you want to do a voiceover, switch the Input Device to Soundcard (you can lock the Push To Talk button so that it stays on) and you'll broadcast anything coming into the Mic Input you set. Adjust levels in your soundcard mixer as necessary to achieve the appropriate volume.

Don't forget to change your Inputs before and after voiceovers, lest you broadcast an embarrassing period of silence, or (sometimes worse) whatever your microphone picks up while you think you're streaming music.

Using a Mic

Theres two ways to do this as well.

Option1
for example, I used audion and one machine. I set audion to the audio in, switch on the stream, gibbered a bit, turned off the stream, switched the audion stream source to the playlist, restarted the stream and started playing the playlist. its a bit of clicking but if you play three songs at a time and then chat, its not that bad. The handy thing is that you only need one machine and a mic going into your sound in port. You could obviously run the mic through an amp or preamp first depending on your computer system

Option2
This is two machines and a desk with a mic. Basically the advantage here is that theres no switching - you have one computer coming into a channel on the desk and the mic in another channel. the desk outs go to your second computer, which is set to take the stream from the sound in port. the second machine sends the stream to the server and the server serves it out.

To use, you just turn down the fader for the first computer and turn up the mic, and then do the reverse when playing music. Its an easier way to do a show, but you need more gear.

---

The basic info is get winamp, download the winamp shoutcast extras from shoutcast.com, put in the server info (which I'll send to you if you decide to do a test show) and off you go ....

6th

Yep, definately looks like something I'd be interested in. I'm snowed under at the moment but its something I've talked to a couple of people about and planned to get into it at some stage.

Is this opening only going for a limited time or is it something we can get onto you about in the New Year?

Stoner

I'd suggest 6th too, he'd be good, he as a good face for radio:D

6th

Is there any legalities for playing music?

cormac_s

the offer is open as long as I have the server - and I intend to hangon to the server.

Theres always legalities with music. The best way is stick to unsigned bands who havent any legal contracts with any third parties, and who therefore have complete control over their music. Send them a quick mail saying you'll be playing their tunes and you;d be grand. Ive done quite a few music shows in my time at radiocrackle and ive found thats the best way to avoid hassle (plus its a handy way to get listeners)

6th

Good idea.

Is it live or prerecorder? Sorry but i'll have a million questions once I think it all over.

cormac_s

it can be either. Depends on yourself. If you wish, you could prerecord the whoel thing, then stream it live and then once the live stream is over, it would go up onto radiocrackle.com to be streamed on demand and also put into the itunes podcast directory in the itunes music store - or you do it live, record it (i use HiJack on the mac) then it could be uplaoded to radiocrackle for ondemand streaming and itunes ...