OK so you want to DJ huh?
Here's what you need and need to know about Internet "Radio" DJ'ing.
1: You will need a computer with a good sound card.
2: You will need a simple broadcaster and audio player, such as Shoutcast and Winamp.
3: You will need a good mic and headset.
4: You will need music tracks (with permission to play them).
and lastly..,
5: You will need a "radio" stream, or time on someone else's.
So what OS and soundcard should you use?
You will need a computer running ideally Windows 98SE or above, that is capable of going out onto the internet with
a steady connection, with a hard drive of 80gig with at least 20gig to spare (This can be a partition, in fact we
recommend it, for additional tracks, trust us they grow!).
The best soundcard to use is a Sound blaster, either 16bit or a 32bit.
The 24bit has problems with Windows XP and as for Vista, DON'T even go there!
There are a few broadcasters that work very well, if the "radio" streams at 128kbps 41000khz with MP3 encoder.
For two examples, Sam, which you pay for, is also a player and Shoutcast, which is free, is a plugin for Winamp.
Because our stream runs at 32kbps with an Advanced Audio Codec (AAC+) the Sam broadcaster/player will not work without
this additional codec input and may hang anyway. (It also uses RAM in bucket loads!)
Shoutcast/Winamp however does have this codec and can run and recieve even on a dailup connection because the
stream is 32kbps.
Alot of people say that Winamp/Shoutcast does not run properly and hangs the computer.
This is because alot people now use Windows XP and have Real Player and Quick Time installed.
You don't need either
of these two products 'loading' your operating system. Real Player takes over and anything else you put in crashes or
hangs. Quick Time is almost as bad and if you haven't got a MAC, there are better things to play MAC type files!
Everything that Real Player and Quick Time deal with, can be played in Winamp with far less problems!
Ok what mic should you use?
Some DJ's use a bog standard computer microphone. This is alright for a short period of time but the quality of speach
is utterly crap and tends to distort over the stream or the mic level quality can be very quiet and muffled,
a bit like talking from inside that big woolie jumper your granny knitted and never wore!
The more serious DJ's use a more professional mic with a mixer input. You can get this sort of equipment cheaply
enough from either
Ebay
or..,
The ElectronicS Shop.co.uk
Or any other good supplier of DJ kit and we recommend BEHRINGER.
If your thinking about DJing with us, you will need to find unsigned and independent artists who play their own
material.
What we mean by this, is that it's completely original, not cover versions.
So where can you find such music?
Their music is everywhere, just check out your local gigs and see what
bands are playing. Go out and hear them play, if they have CD's to sell, buy one!
Or you can go on to myspace.com
and tunesquare.com,
check out the music. There are loads of unsigned and indie artists whose music is already in their profiles.
Some artists let you download them free of charge, if they are not downloadable, contact them about it and ask.
Most of them will only be to happy to oblige you. Getting airplay as an indie artist is not easy and can even cost a lot
of money.
At PheonixRadioNet, we promote indie music FREE, it costs the artists nothing.
Once you have your music, checkout what radio plays what, if you like what you see, ask if they are looking
for new DJ's.
If the radio plays mostly major artists ask if they are paying royalties to BMI, PRS, etc, the reason is
most internet stations do not pay and they hide the title tracks on their broadcaster, so that when somebody does
check em out, they can't prove what they are playing.
To be honest, paying BMI costs a lot of dollars, we're talking about $350 plus addtional admin charges.
We have found that these organisations do not always pay the bands their royalties that are due to them, from air play.
Once you have chosen your radio, you will be set up with all the stream codes to put into your broadcaster and be
given a test on the stream to see if your capable of DJing and that all the technical bits are smooth with no glitches.
Once that test is out of the way,
Hey you're a DJ!
Welcome to the world of Internet "Radio"
Wanna join us?
Don't ask, don't get!
