Major newbie here...
  • Vote Up0Vote Down Rich StrongRich Strong
    Posts: 10Member
    We're converting the student radio station at MSU Denver to a new software. Right now, Airtime is the one recommended by an old radio engineer friend of mine. 

    Questions:
    1) I used extended tags to set "mood" as the category by which Airtime will sort songs for different shows. How do I now carry it out in Airtime -- get the songs into the library in such a way that songs to to their correct show but no other shows? PS: calendar is built, too. 
    2) Are there any audio processing plugins that are usable with Airtime? This is kind of a big deal for a student radio station, where levels can be, well, up and down a little. :) If I could have a compressor and a limiter, and maybe an exciter as I do in my current Nicecast, I'd love it. 
    3) Or, could I just use Airtime as the playback and scheduling machine, and pipe the stream through Nicecast on the Mac in our studio? Would the metadata transfer? 

    Our current system is PSI. That's Prophet Systems International before it became the behemoth Prophet, owned by the US conglomerate iHeart Media. If I had to guess the vintage on our PSI, I'd have to guess late 1990s. Seriously. Maybe early 2000s. 

    Thanks to anyone who replies. Sorry I'm so new. 
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  • Vote Up0Vote Down Voisses TechVoisses Tech
    Posts: 1,423Member
    While these questions are best answered by the profession team of Sofab,I will attempt to give you my valuable incite

    On Question 1

    Airtime use what is called smart blocks to decide its algorithms.This is basically a playlist based  on whatever criteria you wants.So lets say you tag all your songs "moods" and you use the comment tag (i also use this for commercials and station beds) as this indicator,you can pull all your mood tags either through a smart block or normal playlist.
    You want to take a look at this blog
    https://blog.sourcefabric.org/en/news/blog/2838/Get-the-most-out-of-Airtime-smart-blocks.htm

    And the manual http://sourcefabric.booktype.pro/airtime-25-for-broadcasters/preparing-media-for-ingest/
    Pay attention to that very section on administration

    This smart block metod from what I learnt do not realy shuffle,randomly selects,or repeat normal(in the same selection) as I do not use it as my main playout *see 3 below

    On Question 2
    This is where many radio enthusiasts and myself breaks ranks. I strongly of the opinion that software studio applications and plug ins are designed for more making and tweaking music files than streaming and transmitting sound.
    You would better to use hardware components where you can change things on the fly.
    So for
    • my mics I like Behringer-MDX-1600-Auto  or similar (used as an insert)
    • My studio audience I like  Behringer-HA4700-4-Channel-Headphone-Amplifier
    • And any 12 channel or more mixing or broadcast console

    Now the advantage of this is

    • that you can take outputs from the mixing deck and run to any transmitter at the same time put to your stream encoder/client like nicecast
    • You eliminate at least one-point of failure,so that even if a machine is down you are still on the Air

    There are many suggestions on using things like http://www.stereotool.com/ ,liquidsoap plugins  and many others but to me they are just fancy meters( nothing this http://www.pssl.com/American-Audio-19-in-Rack-dB-Light-Meter cannot do) which becomes the hardest to interact with in a streaming environment,where at times you literally have to stop transmission or the stream to accept a setting.

    But if not satisfied then you might want to have a look at this https://blog.sourcefabric.org/en/news/blog/2868/How-Silan-and-ReplayGain-made-Airtime-broadcasts-sound-better.htm

    On Question 3
    • Scheduling    most definitely
    • Playout         Maybe for me

    Why maybe for me.

    I think on the fly yes like when a guess is in studio or for autodj (link show does this tremendously)

    As i said use whatever you want as your playout or playback media

    • Main desk   - Amarok,Itunes,winamp,rythmnbox,idjc,Sams,Zaro, you name it whatever
    • Djs             - Mixxx,Virtual Dj,Tractor
    • Hardware    -Tape decks,Mixing Boards,Broadcast console

    So Here is my picture

    Hide as much as they want,Airtime is a remote interactive web broadcast solution.

    Lets Say You are at Campus A, Some one over Campus B ,do not need more than a Laptop to takeover and  Broadcast through Campus C - Main Station in the cloud or on Mars  for All the Listeners on the whole campus and all over the world.

    Its Main function will be lethargic to run a 24/7 talk show (maybe music)


    but have look at this post https://forum.sourcefabric.org/discussion/17139/link-show-is-a-nice-replacement-for-autodj-but-its-100-unreliable where @Bart make a miraculous suggestion on how to deal with a bug where you would just wake up and all gone blank and dead air.Since @Bart suggestion,I never had that problem again

    Metadata

    is a challenge though.There are many possible thousands of suggestion on solving this from

    The first two options are easiest but the third option is dependent on Sofab.


    If Sofab developed the core module and plugin separately then this is so sweet,some how it seems there " modus operandi" is "one size fit all take it or leave it" - terrible swipe 

    This a major script that needs refactoring so that data are exported in the simplest fashion "good ole" txt or csv .This is what RadioDj,SAMS,Playlist and on and on are doing

    So scour your friend Google and look for some recent post on metadata ( the older ones are touchy,you might have to do a lot of rebuilding)

    On the current system you are using like Sofab and Windish and all old school technocrats,they think "you should have it there way"   .

    My thing is "I like it my way".this is why since 2007,I have never invested in any windish os.

    I love google and no matter what they want to do they have this snippet of chance with me.You are free to break it ,shake it,create it but make it the way you want as long as you are not harming ,terminating or destroying any one

    Airtime is suppose to be open source so rush in and as my days are counted here,there are troves of information to build on.

    Open source gives you the ability to Vision it,Dream it and make it reality,

    So enjoy your quest and in case you have other question,there is a live chat here https://www.sourcefabric.org/en/airtime/ in the right hand corner,you can go "tickle the tentacles"

    I am

    VOISSES

    of the One

    8 to Go

    Post edited by Voisses Tech at 2015-02-09 15:06:16
    Anyone reading this a find it funny about my grammar , I make no apology ,Go get a translator.
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