How-To Set up Shoutcast on Winamp

[Cirga]

This is really not too tough. Just make sure that you follow the instructions and actually "test" it yourself before you start broadcasting. You dont have to be connected to the stream to test it. If you use your microphone while playing your own playlist it will let you hear exactly what the people listening will hear when you broadcast.

First:

Download Winamp 2.91 Here.

Download the Shoutcast DSP Plugin Here.

Install Winamp. Then install the DSP Plugin. It will be installed in the same folder your installed Winamp in. Default is C:\program files\winamp.

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• Open winamp
• Click in the upper left corner where the little box is located
• Go down to where it says Options
• Then click on Preferences

You can also just hit "CTRL+P" to get to your preferences in Winamp as you can see in this image below.

[Cirga]

• Click on DSP/Effect
• Select the Nullsoft SHOUTcast Source DSP v1.82b plugin

This will open the plugin. When you have this selected in preferences every time you use winamp it will also be open. To close it you just go back into Preferences and select "none".

As soon as you open the plugin you should start seeing the Input levels reading things. They pick up mic noise and your playlist if you have anything playing.

[Cirga]

• Select the Output tab at the top of the shoutcast source window.
• On the connection tab the address is: www.pctechtalk.com
• The Port for the "MAIN" stream is 8000
• You will be told the password to use. If you dont have it please ask one of the PCTT staff.
• Select the encoder you wish to use (we will go over encoders in another step)
• Select the automatic reconnect on failure. You should actually change it to 10 seconds so you can beat the playlist. The playlist will connect if the stream is down for 30 seconds.

We do have two streams. You will want to Click on Output 2 and fill in all the same information. For Output 2 change the port to "9000" and change the encoder to "2" (again encoders will be explained).

[Cirga]

Here is what your Output 2 should look like:

[Cirga]

Encoders

Encoders actually tell Winamp what speed to send the stream to the shoutcast server in , and also tells it what frequency to make the stream whether in mono or stereo.

We have two streams. The High Frequency stream (8000) and the Low Frequency Stream (9000).

Encoder 1 Setup

• Select Encoder Type "MP3 Encoder"
• Select "56kbps, 22.050kHz, Stereo"

[Cirga]

Encoder 2 Setup

• Select Encoder Type "MP3 Encoder"
• Select Encoder Settings "24kbps, 22.050kHz, Mono

[Cirga]

Input

This is the most important part. This is what allows you to use your microphone with your streams. Important note: TURN OFF IRC SOUNDS, MESSENGERS, AND WINDOW SOUNDS while streaming. Any beep or ding your computer makes will be broadcast. Yes it can get annoying to listeners.

Settings:

• Input Device: Select "Soundcard Input"
• Input Settings: Select "44100Hz, Stereo"
• Make sure Microphone is selected.
• Leave the Levels defaulted. You will adjust these later on when you are testing your microphone.

Music Level - This is the main music level when you are not talking. 0dB means it will be at the level you have set in Windows.

BG Music Level - This is how loud the background music will be when you takl on your microphone. You normally want this to be lower than your mic level so that people can hear your voice.

Mic Level - This is the level of your mic when you push the button to talk. 0dB may be too loud.. I keep mine at either -8 or -6 when I broadcast.

Fade Time - I leave this at 2000ms.. that way it takes 2 seconds to fade in and out after and before I talk on my broadcast.

Push to Talk - When you push and hold this button.. the music will fade and your mic will start receiving sound.. as soon as you hear the music fade you can talk .. say a few things.. and then release the button to let the music fade back in.

Lock - This would only be used if you are planning on talking for a very long time and dont want to hold the Push to talk button. this will lock your mic on.

[Cirga]

Click on Open Mixer in your Input tab.

This opens two panels. Your Volume(or play) control and your record control.

Volume(Play) control

• Make sure you have microphone in view. (if you dont.. go to options - properties - put a check in the box next to microphone in the list on the bottom)
• Make sure that microphone is NOT muted. Then lower the volume in this panel all the way down to the bottom.

[Cirga]

Now lets get the recording working. First go up to Options and click on Properties in the Volume control panel.

[Cirga]

Volume Control Properties window.

• Select the "Recording" option at the top.
• Look in the box below. You need to find one of the following things. What U Hear, Stereo Mixer, or "X" Mixer.. It will be different for each sound card. For sound blaster I have What U Hear. For this generic soundcard shown below its called Stereo Mixer. You may have to experiment a few times to find the correct one on your PC.
• After you put a check in that box hit OK at the bottom.

[Cirga]

After you hit OK. You will be back at the Recording Control Panel now.

Settings:

• Put a check in the "select" box under your mixer, or the "What U hear" slider. Remember that this could be a different name.. its whatever one you just added in the previous step is what you want the recording of your PC to use.
• You can adjust you rmic volume in this panel. This will be the volume of the microphone when you press the "Push to Talk" button in Winamp. If you are too soft this is where you want to turn it up.

[Cirga]

All done!

You are now ready to test your mic.

• Load up a few songs in winamp and push your play button. You should see the input bars start lighting up quite a bit.
• Go to the Input tab in your shoutcast panel. And hold down your "Push to talk" button. You should hear the music fade.. and start hearing some sound from your mic. Talk a bit.. and make sure your voice is loud enough where you can hear it very well over the music.
• If its not working or not loud enough.. go back to your Recording Control mixer panel and either up your microphone volume.. and/or go to your options - Properties again and find a different mixer to try.

Does it take some tweaking? Yes
Is everyone settings a little different? Yes

Just keep fiddling and you will find your perfect settings. Took me about an hour of testing to figure mine out. Good luck DJ's!

[Cirga]

I FORGOT one thing

Go to your Output tab in Shoutcast. Under "both" output 1 and 2.. click on your Yellowpages button.

• UNCHECK the "Make this server public". We dont want it displayed on shoutcasts website.
• Description : Put in your name and PCTechTalk Radio as shown
• Under URL put the pctechtalk.com web url.
• Put a check in "Enable Title Updates"
• You dont need to fill in Genre or anything else in there.. since this is not public there is no need for them

Edit: Make sure the box 'Make this server public' is not checked....*Lion*

[RipperRoo]

additional things you need to do when connecting/disconnectin

when you connect, dont forget to tell the bot you are the dj, otherwise you wont recive the requests/shoutouts via pm

this can be done by any pctt staff member who is op'd by typing the following !setdj username , if you are an op and want to make yourself a dj just type !dj , once your set as the dj, feel free to change your nick at will within the channel, as the bot can keep track of you once identifyed to it

if the playlist is up you also need an admin to kick the host from the stream, a list of staff who have this power will be available shortly, but for now just ask the ops in pctechtalk.com to do this for you if its your time slot, as they have access to the required passwords.


On disconnection, either set the dj to !nodj if no playlist takes over automaticaly, or !pldj , sets The DJ To Automated Playlist Only.