Creating your own Streaming Audio audio studio has never
been easier. There are so many great products around today that will allow you
to produce high quality streaming audio for a fraction of the price it used to
cost.
HARDWARE
The first thing you will need is a compatible computer.
Today every new computer is already set up with everything you will need. A
basic sound card with a mic and line in jack. If you do not have a sound card
they are very cheap and you can get a good one from any standard computer shop.
Next you will need a good mic. These come in all sizes and
shapes with different configurations however a general all round mic like the
Logitech Noise-canceling microphone is fine for beginners. I suggest you get a
desk top one to start with, as you may want to move into video later and so you
wont want a headset in your videos.
Of course you could go up a stage and get a preamp with a
professional mic but this will start running into dollars and the whole aim of
this article is to help you get started.
Next you will want to get some cables to connect up your
tape recorder and other audio equipment. Again the computer stores now have
packs that will connect up pretty well any device into your computer to
digitalise your sound. You want to record directly onto your computer however
you can get those old tapes and Vinyl records into a digital format also.
SOFTWARE – RECORDING
Recording your audio is probably one of the most critical
parts of this process and again you can get software that ranges from free to
many thousands of dollars. For this exercise I suggest you download the free
copy of Audacity. This is an excellent free software package that will allow
you to record from your microphone or any equipment you have.
It provides excellent editing capabilities and also will
allow you to edit multiple tracks and then combine them into one single track.
For a quick overview of how to do this you can watch this video and also
download the software
http://mp3soundstream.com/Audacity_Tutorial_-_Free_Audio_Editing_Software.html
SOFTWARE – CONVERTING
The next piece of software you will need for your studio is
a converting program that will allow you to convert different formats. For
example you may have a real audio file and you want to convert it to mp3.
dBpoweramp is like the Swiss army knife for the audio industry and will convert
just about any file to any other file format.
Convert from one format to another, just about every audio
type is supported: mp3, mp4, Windows Media Audio (wma), Ogg Vorbis, AAC,
Monkeys Audio, FLAC and many others whilst preserving ID Tags. It will also rip
CDs for you.
SOFTWARE – REDUCTION
If you are going to stream an mp3 direct then you may want
to recompile the file to a smaller format. RazorLame is a so-called “front-end”
for use with LAME. LAME is a great MP3-Encoder, it’s very fast, it produces
high-quality files, has many advanced features (like Variable Bitrates and
Joint-Stereo), and it’s open source. Unfortunately, it is a command line
utility, and that is where RazorLame comes in: It provides an easy-to-use
graphical user-interface which makes MP3-encoding even easier!
The best way to use this software is to get one file and
compile in a number of different formats to test the size against quality.
SOFTWARE – STREAMING
There are a few different ways of streaming your new audio
files. If you have Macromedia products you can simple organize this your self
however there are some great third party programs around that will do it all
for you at a fraction of the cost.
MP3 SOUND STREAM
This is a simple piece of software that takes any mp3 or wav
audio and converts the whole file into a swf file and then attaches a button so
that viewers can listen on a web page without needing to download any extra
software. This is because the flash plugin is on 98% of computes and if not it
will automatically detect and load the small plugin. This is great for anyone
not wanting to get into all the technical aspects of streaming audio.
You will not need to reduce your files at all with this
program as it does it all for you. This is perfect for anyone wanting to stream
one file at a time and wants to do it quickly and efficiently. It will stream
even over most modem connections.
http://www.mp3soundstream.com
MSIJUKEBOX
For people wanting to stream a number of files then
MSIJukebox is a great alternative. This software lets you choose any number of
mp3 files and then organises them using an XML file. By using the above free
programs you can significantly reduce the size of these files to save on
bandwidth.
Because MSIJukebox streams the actual mp3 you can also have
a lot higher quality playback including stereo files. This is much better for
those wanting to stream a number of very high quality mp3 files.
SUMMARY
So there you have it. A complete studio set up for under
$100. Just download all the free software and purchase any of the streaming
audio products that you want. You can then create, edit and manipulate any
audio files you like. You will also be able to add these audios to your
website.
With the web surfer becoming much more “web savvy” than they
were a year ago, they are expecting not only information but also an
entertaining web experience.
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