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.
http://www.dbpoweramp.com/dmc.htm
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.
http://www.dors.de/razorlame/download.php
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.
http://www.msijukebox.com
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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