Advice on DJing and radio.

I posted this in the SL answers forum but there have been no responses, I am beginning to think I may have posted it in the wrong forum.
Apologies, I am very new to SL.
So, I'll post it again here in the hope someone can help me. Sorry if this is the wrong place.

Hi there, I'm pretty new to SL and loving it.
I see and hear lots of radio stations and DJ's around the world and as a music lover I would like to try my hand at DJing in SL.
Now I am usually quite a resourceful person but in this case I am stumped. I have conducted a search on the forums here for music, radio and DJ and cannot find anything that comes close to answering my questions.

What I would like to know is:

How can I DJ in SL? What software do I need? Does all of my music require hosting somewhere?

Basically i need an idiots guide XD

Is it simple or horrendously complicated?

Any help at all would be very much appreciated. =D

Thanks in advance,
Angel.

Hi Angelique,

You basically need 4 things to be able to DJ in Second Life:

1. A streaming Server to distribute the music to anyone who will listen (ie Shoutcast, Live365, etc. *** do some shopping around for the best prices and service) Prices vary greatly depending on bandwidth and max. listeners. Some providers also put a cap on monthly throughput as well. If you can get in with an online radio station and DJ for them, you can usually use their stream without having to pay the station, but that really depends on each individual station.

2. A streaming music program. SAM (Streaming Audio Manager) is probably the most popular, and is available on www.spacialaudio.com . There are also plug-ins available for Winamp as well. Streaming music programs allow you to be able to stream your music from your PC up to the streaming server for distribution to the listeners.

3. Music and other stuff to play (MP3, WMA, WAV files). It's helpful to have a good quality headset with a boom microphone if you plan on doing any talking. Try not to use a stand mic and speakers, because usually you end up with nasty feedback. I use Plantronics headsets, they have never steered me wrong.

4. You need a place for people to tune in at, which means basically dropping the stream listener URL onto some land within the world, so anyone on the land can hear it. Each person on that land who hears your stream counts as one listener. People tuned in outside of SL can use Winamp, iTunes, etc. to hear your stream as well.

Hope this helps! Hit me up in-world or PM if you have any more questions, I'd be happy to help you out!

Peace!

Arti

Welcome to SL Angelique

Streaming to SL is not a difficult task, but it does have costs and some very important requirements.

First of all, you need a server. If you plan on dozens of listeners, your server will require enough bandwidth to be able to handle several users. For example, the average household cable or DSL connection will only be able to support 3-4 users while SL is running. Most people rent server bandwidth from somewhere.

Once you have a decent server, the rest is quite easy. You simply need to have Winamp and the Shoutcast plugin, which is available from www.shoutcast.com, both of which are freely available.

If you plan on speaking while on-air, I highly recommend the use of a compressor and a broadcast quality microphone, like Shure or EV. Matching analog with digital can be a mess if they don't match properly.

I hope this helps you

Yay! Thanks ever so much guys, I thought it may be something along these lines.
I've heard good things about shoutcast before so I think I'll go nose about there.

Thanks again!

IM me in world and I will send you a resource of a server I use that is great if you want to do some initial runs through DJing. Can even let you test out broadcasting onto some land I own in world if you do not have any.

Bringing your own music in world can be lots of fun. Good Luck!

A big thank you to those who have sent me messages about hiring me. I haven't even gotten my server set up or anything yet

I should point out that I am in the UK so my time zone may not coincide with your target audience too well, also at this time I have no mic so will be unable to blab between tunes (Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, he he he).

Thanks for the help and for the offers of tuition, I'll contact you this weekend for a chinwag.

Angel.

Also...I tried IMing you the other day when I saw your post in the Answers thread. If you're interested you can apply for a job with the station I'm a senior manager at www.club69radio.com we are one of the most listened to stations in SL and ALWAYS in the top 1/3 of the Shoutcast rankings. IM me or DjSnuggles Divine in world for any questions.

Heyo everyone! I've also been aspiring to possibly be a DJ here but have become stuck.
I can't seem to find any land where I can practice my stuff and see if I have it set up correctly.

If anyone could send me an IM in game or something, I would very much appreciate it.

Thanks!
Sai Sachertorte

This has probably has already been done...

In the few small, impromptu events I have been to, finding the URL to tune into can sometimes be tedious i.e. digging it out of chat. Now what would be nice is to have a stand up microphone or a little desk mounted microphone. Actually the shape of it doesn't matter. The microphone justs add a really nice bit of atmosphere. Instead of station name like ABC,NBC, etc. on the little plaque, it would be the name of your DJ group.

Now, the microphone has a really simple script that triggers on a touch event. It opens a browser to the URL of the stream. Something really simple like:

default
{
touch_start(integer total_number)
{
llLoadURL(llDetectedKey(0), "TestRadio", "http://myStreamURL");
}
}

I wish you luck. Just be aware you will spend far more on services than you will ever make back from doing gigs. Most DJs work for tips. I run an (almost) 24/7 webcast streaming audio into second life. Although new, we are growing. You can IM me if you're interested in doing some DJ work for my station.

Maximus Massiel
Owner of RadioMaxx
www.radiomaxx.net

I'm not in it for the money, just to iritate people with my music taste >.<

I've been trying to set up a stream at my home via a stereo changer. the only stream that I can get to run is one that just has an ip and port (i.e. 192.168.0.1:8000), but when I try to load a .pls file (what I always thought was the standard WinAmp stream extension) I get nothing. I can load the file into Media Player Classic (I use it instead of Winamp for this computer) and hear it just fine, but nothing when I stream it in game. Is having WinAmp installed on the client computer a requirement for listening to these files, or are these files just not supported. If the latter, then what file types are supportes, as most all I've been finding is .pls and .asx

.pls isn't supported, but what you do is open it your media player and look for the properties of the stream. Somewhere among them you will find a the ip and port. And that you can put in SL.

In world, I will be teaching classes on these issues:

Setting up your own stream
The logistics of a stream (put in simple terms)
& Different ways to DJ in SL


Look for me online, shoot me a message

Thanks, once you gave me the tip about ripping open the pls file I was back on track. Some of the streams still wouldn't load, but it might have just been a matter of a full server or something like that.

I am also looking for a little help getting my stream in sl
If i hand out my http://82.30.4.126:8000/listen.pls
to friends outside of sl they are able to listen
however when that addy is popped in the land or into our radio jukebox no stream can be heard
Just wondering if there is something basic I am not doing
Any help on this would be great
Cheers
Audio

yes you only need paste in :

http://82.30.4.126:8000

^^ thats your stream url


the/listen.pls will make peoples web brosers open up their default audio program ie winamp.

and thus isnt needed within SL.

ty for the help ...if i was not so bald i would def be blonde