Watch: A Peek Into my Studio @globocop's Lair
After a rather nerve wrecking and busy week, preparing not for one, not for two, but for three Radio shows: Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 2 hours each, I have created a setup that works for Radio Broadcast.
It' is more than the minimum setup required to get on the air - a much simpler configuration and cheaper equipment will do the trick for many.
It took about 3 days two set everything up and get through the steep, but rewarding learning curve...
I would like to thank both @r0nd0n and @ma1eevent for their fantastic support getting me started on the techie site.
Here is a video of my studio and a schematic, detailing my setup. However, one can broadcast with just one computer, a microphone, a music source, and an internet connection.
The key here is RAM and storage. Both must be plentiful.
Below is the schematic that's shown in the video.
1 or 2 machines?
I opted for this setup because neither of the laptops is powerful enough to handle all things, the broadcast stream, and the voice/audio in/output. The MACs fan goes wild if I run the Broadcast software, audio source, web browser and Discord all at once. It's not stable enough for broadcast comfort in my view.
Laptops
The MAC is a Macbook Air 2011, 4 GB RAM, 250 GB, and plenty of external storage via USB where the music library is stored.
The Acer is just as old, an Aspire 6930 with 3 GB RAM and 250 GB HDD. It was gifted to me for some data recovery work on that machine. At the time, I didn't have use for it. It's now loaded with Linux Mint. It's astoundingly fast and stable, compared to Windows, which I dismissed summarily from the machine.
Mics
Both Mics I have owned for a some time, so they are not new aquisitions. You can probably get a decent condenser mic for around $ 50 Dollars.
Extra
I recently bought the DJay Pro Software to make live shows easier - and it's a great little helper, although no fancy mixing with beat changes etc, though now I could.
I opted for Djay Pro, because it allows to work with Spotify on the fly. However, there are Open Source DJ products out there, such as MIXX - especially if you are working in Linux.
Internet:
I ordered 2xCat6A network cables today to wire both laptops directly to the router, as WIFI is not as fast as the maximum broadband speed available to me. This way I can maximize my network up and download.
I do not want the stream to experience break-ups, simply because I am launching a website... It is also more secure and shielded from outside interference and channel congestions with adjacent WIFI networks in the vicinity.
Software
Linux:
- Open Broadcaster Software (OBS)
- Discord App, to display the chat channel on the video feed during broadcast.
Mac OS X:
- Music Source, this can be iTunes, Spotify, VLC, whatever plays tunes,
- Discord App for responding to the audience channel or for guests via Discord
- Skype or similar for remote co-hosting or guests
Optional:
- Loopback by Rogue Amoeba to create virtual audio channels
- DJay Pro for music mixing
Loopback
This amazing software allows the user to create any number of virtual audio channels.
For example, I can create a channel that contains:
- iTrack Solo (Mic input)
- dJayPro (or other music apps)
I can now use that channel as the input for Skype, so that my co-host @disarrangedJane can hear the entire show, music and my mic as if she was here with me in Studio - real-time.
I then created another virtual channel:
- iTrack Solo
- dJay Pro
- Skype
...and use that as my main output to the OSB Linux, which includes Skype.
Lovely!
In any event, if you have any suggestions on how to improve my setup or have questions, or if you are an aspiring DJ for MSP-Waves Radio, don't hesitate to ask - I am happy to help.
Signing off...
~Chris
Please do check out our very own Steemit-Radio on MSP-waves.com, where a dedicated team of Steemians provide quality content - ON AIR. To know more, follow @msp-waves and support those who support Steemit online and on Air. 📻
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Christopher "The Hat" Hatfield @globocop
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