RadioScum (Thread 2.0) - Faraday needs to suck more

[xRECKONERx]

And here's the link for tonight's show, also on the wiki

[hohum]

Hey guys!

If anyone is interested in a free alternative to SAM Broadcaster (which is quite a professional solution but fucking expensive software) then read this post. With this set up you can pull in and rebroadcast Skype calls and just about anything else on your computer which supports audio playback and recording.

Background

I've pretty much been a life long mac user until recently when my macbook pro fell 10 stories to the ground and ultimately to its untimely demise. The logistics of getting anything into this country easily coupled with the fact that I just don't have money to replace it right now has forced me into a situation where I'm using whatever hardware and software happens to be available to me. At the moment what's available is a Lenovo IdeaPad Y570 -- not really a bad laptop hardware wise; however, it runs Windows.

I'd like very much to be able to fill my time slot by not having to steal software to get it working properly so I set off on the task. What I've accomplished actually works very well.

The Tools of the Trade

1) First and foremost this won't work unless you have a sound card which supports the Stereo Mixer device driver as an Input device. This is roughly the equivalent of SoundFlower for Mac OS X. Chances are excellent that if you have fairly recent hardware you also have a Realtek HD card but I'm sure other modern sound cards are supported as well. Just don't ask me which ones.

2) Butt (and I'm not even kidding). It's a very simple little application which connects to any support recording device (in our case the Stereo Mixer) and rebroadcasts that into an Icecast or a Shoutcast stream. http://butt.sourceforge.net/

3) A head set. Almost mandatory. You need to be able to monitor what your listeners can hear.

4) A decent microphone. There are studio quality Mics you can get these days for <100 bucks. I recommend the Samson CO1U for the low end and the RODE NT1-A for something which is a bit more studio-quality. With USB mics you will always hear a slight hissing noise which is feedback from the current on the line. This is normal. You can't really do much about it unless you're willing to spend the money on an all analog setup (Analog mixers, analog mics, etc).

Enable Stereo Mixer

The first thing you need to do is enable the Stereo Mixer driver for your sound card.

1) Right click on the White speaker icon in your system tray
2) Go to Recording Devices
3) Right click anywhere in the white device listing area and pull down to "Show Disabled Devices"

At this point "Stereo Mix" should appear as one of your recording devices

4) Right click on Stereo Mix and pull down to Enable

The stereo mixer on its default settings introduces a fair amount of delay which will be distracting to you as you speak into a Microphone. To help eliminate this problem take the following steps:

5) Right click on Stereo Mix and pull down to Properties
6) Go to the Enhancements tab
7) Check off "Disable all sound effects"
8) Check off "Immediate Mode"
9) Click OK

Your Mic needs to talk to Stereo Mix now (and trust me you WANT to be able to listen to yourself talking)

1) Right click on the White speaker icon in your system tray
2) Go to Recording Devices
3) Right click on the Mic (or Mics) you intend to broadcast with
4) Pull down to Properties
5) Go to the Listen tab
6) Check off "Listen to this device"

Once again the default configuration may introduce gnarly delay issues. To fix this

7) Go to the Enhancements tab
8) Check off Immediate Mode
9) Check off Disable all sound effects

Usage Tips for the Mic

The record levels on the Mic are pretty low by default. This is a good thing. If you've ever seen people doing live broadcasts they are right up on their Mics. The rational is that in a studio setting you want to eliminate as much ambient noise as possible. People WILL hear things in the background such as birds chirping or A/C running -- especially if you've gone out and spent money on a decent Mic. It will pick up every little pin drop.

You want to torture your listeners as little as possible at the sacrifice of your own comfort levels. Don't be afraid to get up on your Mic but FFS leave the record levels as low as possible!

You may have to play with the volume levels of your applications in order to get the right balance between speech and music.

Setting up da Butt

1) Launch Butt
2) Click the Settings button
3) Under the Main tab, pull the Audio Device menu down to "Stereo Mix"
4) Under the server menu click the Add button
5) Change the Type radio button to Icecast)
6) Fill the address text box in with "listen.radioscum.fm"
7) Fill the Port text box in with 8004
8) Fill the password text box in with the the "Source" stream password as provided to you by jdodge, Prana or BBM in the "Welcome to RadiosScum" PM that you received.
9) Click the ADD button
10) Under the Stream tab set Bitrate to 128K

Windows "helpfully" manages audio levels of running applications.

Turn if off. Please.

1) Right-click on the white speaker icon in your system tray
2) Go to playback devices
3) Click the Communications tab
4) The "When Windows detects Communications activity" radio button should be set to "Do Nothing"

Applications like Skype and Mumble also come configured to lower the ambient volume levels when you're on a phone call or some mouth breather is theorycrafting about LoL on Teamspeak while you're trying to play a game. These applications all have settings to disable volume control.

Configuring your applications to use the Sound Mixer

At this point you won't need to change any settings on most applications in order to pick up its audio for rebroadcast; however, for communications applications such as Skype or TeamSpeak you will want to rebroadcast what's being streamed back out over the application.

Most applications allow you to select the Mic device (or the Input device, or whatever other terminology is associated with "Take audio from this device and treat it as if it were a Mic").

Change the Input device for your application to "Stereo Mix" and you're all set to go.

After Thoughts

I'm surprised at how well this works. I can't see spending 300 bucks on SAM Broadcaster when almost everything you need to conduct a broadcast is built right in to your operating system. The only third party application is BUTT.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to reply in thread.

[Xalxe]

>haven't quite finished reading

Does this work for Mac?

[xRECKONERx]

Mac is much simpler. All you need for Mac is the program NiceCast, and it pretty much does everything for you.

[hohum]

Mac is much simpler. All you need for Mac is the program NiceCast, and it pretty much does everything for you.

Not only that, but NiceCast is far less expensive and far more intuitive than SAM will ever be. If you're using a Mac SoundFlower and LineIn (also available from the same place you got NiceCast) will quickly become your best friends.

Unfortunately since I don't currently own one I can't do a write up at the moment.

[AGar]

Butt is also Mac compatible, for those interested.

[xRECKONERx]

I use Nicecast and that's it. In the "Effects" tab, you can turn on two different effects: VoiceOver and Application Hijack. I use VO if it's just me talking over some music, and I use AH if I'm jumping to Skype.

[Xalxe]

mmm, but what if you were to play background music?

I don't imagine that would work...

WELP I found what I'm messing with tonight.

[hohum]

The problem with VoiceOver is it tends to slowly lose sync over time even when buffering is at its lowest setting causing voice over delays to be noticable. Have you ever tried to run a broadcast for more than 3 hours at a time?

I solved that issue by disabling any sound effects that came with Nicecast and using Soundflower as my input source. LineIn provides but the Mic support and the feedback mechanism to Skype can be configured by using one of the two SoundFlower drivers as your recording device.

[xRECKONERx]

mmm, but what if you were to play background music?

I don't imagine that would work...

WELP I found what I'm messing with tonight.

It's pretty simple.

You pick a source for your broadcast (for me, Songbird). Then, you setup the effects tab with Application Hijack/Voiceover. You click start on the effect, then click start on the broadcast. There's a slider to choose how you want to mix things.

For Mashups & Mafia, it works like:
Start broadcast with Voiceover on and all the way slid to the "Voice" side.
First round of mashups, slide Voiceover back to "Source" and play music in Songbird. Stop Voiceover.
When Skype happens, I start the Application Hijack, slide the crossfade over to "Application", and make the Skype call.

[xRECKONERx]

ANYONE AVAILABLE TO COME ON THE SHOW?

Xalxe has backed out, and I'm waiting to hear back from someone if they can do it.. if they can't, I'll need an immediate fill-in.

[zoraster]

I could probably do something until 7:45ish

[Andrius]

I could fill in if you needed me. Would probably have to leave like 5.15ish but.

[xRECKONERx]

zoraster is filling in for Xalxe! Thanks, zor!

[xRECKONERx]

Tonight on Mashups & Mafia:

- Dr. JD, Medical Examiner & the one, the only zoraster chat with me!
- Our next installment in JD Rants: this time, on the Newbie system
- Are power roles

really

that powerful? Or do we just

think

they are?
- Probable shenanigans
- Mashups
- Mafia

We're live in 45 minutes, so tune in!

[Cogito Ergo Sum]

Oh hey, I'm home exactly in time for this.

[Eddard Stark]

Yarr!

[xRECKONERx]

I WHIP MY HAIR BACKNFAWTH

[zoraster]

By less complicated you mean he rips off half of a song rather than only a few seconds?

[xRECKONERx]

exactly >.>

There's LESS GOING ON at the same time

[hasdgfas]

How about Zorberg?

[Cogito Ergo Sum]

Miller without cop seems fairly common of late.

[zoraster]

yeah, but it still makes a cop claim more believable is my point.

[Cogito Ergo Sum]

Well, no, not all that much currently.

[Faraday]

yeah 2 week deadlines would be great