Using BUTT with #Traktor for Internet Radio
I’m a heathen! I don’t use SAMS for my radio show. I use Traktor. How do I send my streams to Shoutcast?
So I’ve been spinning tunes for Eve Radio (http://complete.gamingradio.net/everadio) for almost a year. For most of that time I’ve been using Traktor LE as my DJ software. I’m a HUGE fan. I started using it when I picked up a Numark Total Control. I’ve been in love ever since. Of course that introduced an issue. Traktor LE doesn’t have Shoutcast support. I’m using Pro now and it only supports the Ogg Vorbis format. Alas, Eve Radio wants my stream to come in as MP3 so I need a third party app to project my show into the vast morass of the World Wide Web.
I’ve done some perusing of the Traktor forums and I have to say, I’m not impressed with the bulk of the solutions. The signal chain for most solutions is just __ing daunting. Plug this output to this computer and reroute it to this other one and then run your own Shoutcast server and make these four hundred config changes. Oh no. I’m not going to be bothered. But I am going to broadcast. Oh yes, goslings. I am going to broadcast.
Sourceforge (http://sourceforge.net) has rarely failed me so I ran over to them and did a search. Guess what?!?!?! The perfect application was just sitting there, ready to be downloaded. It’s called, Broadcast Using This Tool (BUTT) – which is an unfortunate name – try searching that one on twitter! You can go and visit their Sourceforge project page at http://sourceforge.net/projects/butt/. It’s awesome.
Why is it awesome? Well, for starters it’s really light weight. Once installed it takes up less than 4MB of disk space. When it’s running it stays under 1% of CPU utilization and a smidge over 4.5M of memory. Not bad at all!
It’s also got all the features you could possible want:
1. It will record your stream in WAV, MP3 or Ogg format for later listening, publication, or whatever floats your boat.
2. It will accept tagging information either from a file or from manual updates (which is huge when using Traktor).
3. It supports multiple configuration files so if you do multiple shows – for the same station or a different one, you can configure the stream information independently and just select the desired show data from a drop down.
4. It supports MP3 and Ogg formats for streaming.
5. It has its own level meter (something WinAmp doesn’t have to my dismay) so that all of the assorted applications that you use are rolled into one meter.
The best part is that all you need to do to get it to work is set the “input” to your sound card’s “What You Hear” setting and you’re in business. It’s so very easy. If you’re into live mixing for your internet broadcast then I can do nothing but recommend this tool. Oh! And it’s totally free! Even bettah. Thus the streaming part of my rig is all set. Faboo, eh?
Things I haven’t quite worked out yet
These are things I’m still not terribly happy with. If you have any suggestions I’d love to hear ‘em.
1. I’m still getting used to the four deck layout. This is just a matter of practice. I’ll have it soon. What’s happening is when I put my sweeper or talk over music in decks C or D and the crossover is enabled I almost always flub the fade. Definitely a work in progress.
2. Controlling the microphone with Traktor. I’ve seen some options for input control to various decks but I haven’t really explored that yet. I’m super excited to get this working because it’ll remove another application from my desktop whilst broadcasting.
3. Now that I’m using Traktor Pro, enabling an MP3 encoder for the Shoutcast streaming would be really slick. Yes, I realize this article is all about overcoming this issue, but… It’d still be cool. It’d also address this next issue:
4. Automatically updating the tag information to the Shoutcast server. I’m not a huge fan of having to manually enter each song. My show must play merry hell with stream ripper software.
