mAirList Remote DJ Capabilities

English General
1

Looking for new radio automation software for a charity (not-for-profit, amateur) radio station at the moment, and of course the time’s come to take a close look at mAirList.

mAirList’s capabilities seem extensive and impressive, but I haven’t been able to work out its capabilities for remote DJs.

We have a single ‘proper’ studio for the station (ie a small room with a microphone, computer, CD players and a mixer!), but some DJs would like to do their shows live from their homes, essentially from a remote home studio, using music on their own computers. (Others just need voice tracking, but I’ve already seen that mAirList can do that.)

We need software that can present a single view to remote DJs - so that they can log on, initiate a graceful handover (request / authorise) if a human DJ is already on air, or automatic handover if there’s no-one on air, and then stream live audio to the station’s studio for broadcast, preferably using the Opus codec - all the while presenting the same view of songs on the playlist they would get if they were at the station’s studio. In other words, a basic multi-studio, single-output setup.

Can mAirList handle this, and if so, what licences would be required?

Thanks very much

2

Hi Terry,

I also work in community radio, handling the technical aspects of Voice FM (Southampton, UK) and the award winning Unity 101 Community Radio (also in Southampton).

I am about to install and train the Voice FM team on mAirList, as they’re looking for a professional alternative to the current software they use.

The simplest, and most cost effective way to do remote broadcasting is that each DJ uses there own software, and streams to a Shoutcast or Icecast server. Then you can schedule mAirList to pick up that stream for a set period of time, for example 1 hour, and re-broadcast that out from your studio.

You can also connect to your local mAirList database over the internet, but this would require each user to have a licenced copy of mAirList to do this, plus opening a port on your network to the internet. Or, you could setup a VPN (easily done with a Raspberry Pi) to provide a secure connection. Problem is though, that this would still require the user to push an audio feed back to the station, most likely using the method I mentioned above. Plus, they’ll be some latency in accessing the audio at the studio, depending on the users internet connection speed.

Remote Voice Tracking is also possible, but again would require internet access to the studio’s database, and each presenter/dj to have mAirList installed on there computer.

Hope that helps.

3

On a side note, when this is a non-profit station, and the DJs working from their home don’t receive any money for their work, they will be able to use Home Studio licenses (99 Euros per piece, with volume discounts available).

4

Just wanted to leave a quick reply thanking you both - Matt and Torben - for your replies. I’ll probably be after a Home Studio licence for my own use in a few weeks!

5

Hi, so the remote dj needs a separate shoutcast/icecast account and broadcast to that and then one picks it up from that stream?
doesn’t that get too pricey? is there another way to do that? how if mairlist stops broadcasting and the remote dj picks it up?

[email][quote=“mattauckland, post:2, topic:10799”]The simplest, and most cost effective way to do remote broadcasting is that each DJ uses there own software, and streams to a Shoutcast or Icecast server. Then you can schedule mAirList to pick up that stream for a set period of time, for example 1 hour, and re-broadcast that out from your studio.[/quote]

6

There is two ways.

  1. As Torben said, each DJ has a Home Studio license, and connects to you via the internet. You’ll need to open up a port on your router for them to connect.

  2. Setup a cheap Shoutcast server, no need for multiple user accounts, one is fine. Then each DJ connects to that when they are due to broadcast. mAirList can then be setup to re-broadcast that stream via the scheduler. I would advise putting a gap between each show, so the last DJ can disconnect allowing the next DJ to connect.

We do something similar at a community radio station I work with, only there we use a Barix Exstreamer in the studio, and each remote studio has an Instreamer to connect to our station. But the Barix kit is expensive, and it would work out cheaper just to give each DJ a licensed copy of mAirList.

7

why each dj would need a home studio license? most of the time they want to use whatever they feel comfortable to them, like iphones, itunes, whatever works for them.
do they need a license to connect to the studio?

Can you elaborate on the shoutcast solution?, or recommend the cheap shoutcast?

and since you mentioned Barix Exstreamer, what are the parts needed to make it work?

thanks

8

If they’re using there own DJ software then no, they won’t need a Home Studio licence.

The Barix equipment is an audio over IP kit, designed to send audio signals over either a LAN (local area network), or over the internet.

You have two parts, the Exstreamer 100 that receives a signal, and the Instreamer 100 that sends a signal.

Like any audio over IP kit you’ll need to open up a port on your internet router, and point that port (normally port 4444) to the local IP address of the Exstreamer.

Once configured, the Exstreamer will automatically accept an incoming signal from an Instreamer, and output the audio through the phono output connectors.

You can also achieve the same result using a bit of software called Luci Live. On your studio computer you would have a copy of Luci Studio which can receive and send audio signals (Link: http://www.luci.eu/products/luci-studio/), and then at the other end you would need either another copy of Luci Live, or you can use Luci Lite mobile phone app which is cheaper.

Plus, there is third way you can do this. This method requires the Google Chrome browser, and a single subscription to ipDTL (Link: https://ipdtl.com/gb/). ipDTL is developed by a former BBC Engineer, and is pitched as a replacement to the old ISDN lines. It allows you to send a high quality, low latency audio feed over the internet, without the need to open up ports on your router.

I’ve used all of the above solutions for various situations, such as ipDTL for live interviews and podcast talks shows, and the Barix kit we use multiple times a week to connect national, and international studio’s back to our Southampton based station.

I also mentioned the Shoutcast option as a cheaper method of achieving the same result. It all depends on how user friendly, and easy to setup and run it needs to be.

9

can you recommend a shoutcast solution? the other solutions are too pricey for us. thanks

10

Well personally I just lease a Digital Ocean server, and install Linux and Shoutcast on that.

But, if you’re not technically minded, then you could lease a Shoutcast server from Wave Streaming, or any other provider…although, having a $5 per month Digital Ocean server, and chucking CentOS and Shoutcast on it would be much much cheaper.

Or pay me a one time fee, and I’ll set the server up for you. Then you just pay the $5 per month.

11

An alternative to ipDTL:
https://now.source-elements.com/#!/
Same service and free up to 4 sources, connected at the same time, to the studio.
Just sign in. and invite your reporters or dj’s
Very good profesionnal solution.

12

Yes, ipDTL and Source Elements offering both came out around the same time, and they both use the Opus codec. Which is why you need to have the Google Chrome browser.

I like both, but personally favour ipDTL myself based on experience.

But, neither beats the Barix solution which is what 2 stations I look after use, because the Barix solution doesn’t need someone on hand in the studio, and is more stable. But you would expect that for what you shell out, and even that’s cheaper than dropping a few thousand on a Tieline setup!