SHOUTcast Streaming Information

Why should I have a Primcast.com hosted SHOUTcast Server?
Streaming internet radio is one of the fastest growing and most exciting areas of the internet. Now anyone may quickly and economically run their own radio station to advertise their musical creations or enjoy the songs of their favorite artists. Due to our easy to use web-based interface, no prior knowledge on the working internals of SHOUTcast is necessary. Also, streaming audio takes up a lot of bandwidth, often much more than you can support off your home internet connection. Our stable servers and high capacity bandwidth take over this strain and enable you to broadcast at a higher quality and support more listeners.

SHOUTcast is an inexpensive solution for DJ's or bands who want to get their music out to the world and gain attention. Why bother with the cost and hassle of demo tapes, when you can direct interested parties to your SHOUTcast server and let them listen through the internet. If you have a website, or would like us to create one for you, you can have a link on your site that will directly open a user's media player and begin playing your SHOUTcast audio stream. It's the perfect way to get your music out to people all over the globe.

How do people find my station?
When you sign up for a SHOUTcast account, we will automatically list your station with SHOUTcast.com, which is a directory of stations on the internet. People across the globe go to that site to find stations to listen to by searching for particular genres, artists, track names, etc. You will be able to input the genre you wish your station to be listed under in your server control panel. In addition, the artist and track name playing on your server will automatically update on SHOUTcast.com. If you have or wish to create a webpage for your station, you can have a link on the site which will automatically open the users default media player and begin playing your station with one simple click. Your SHOUTcast station will also have a specific web address which you can give out to people so they can listen.

How does SHOUTcast work?
Basic Components of SHOUTcast are the Server and the Transcoder. The server allows a client to connect using the transcoder, which may be hosted from the site of choice or from the servers at Primcast.com.

The Server has two basic functions:

1) To allow connections from a transcoder with password from a client. The transcoder may connect to the server from any location.

2) To broadcast the audio content to listeners anywhere on the planet.

Transcoder also has two basic functions:

1) Broadcast live audio content on the top of static MP3 content from any location or vise versa. Using this method a client may control the MP3 playlist on the fly using Winamp while speaking on the microphone connected to his PC. This is very useful if you intend to be a DJ.

2) Broadcast static audio content directly from Primcast.com. MP3's may be uploaded via a web interface or using FTP. Using a web interface, a client may create a play list with a preferred song order and allow the transcoder to broadcast the music to his listeners.

How to Broadcast Live with SHOUTcast using turntables.
To broadcast with SHOUTcast the live content from the turntable you will need to install the software that would allow you to connect your turntable to the PC. Most new turntables have USB or FireWire audio output build-in so they can be easily connected to the PC. The PC should have the hardware drivers installed for the turntable and recognize it as a valid audio input device.

The turntables that do not have the USB or Fire wire audio output connections can be attached to the PC with the Long male to male 1/8" Stereo - 1/8" Stereo cable

Here are the cables that can be used to connect the turntable to the PC:

Step 1.
Obtain Dual Short 1/8" Stereo - 1/8" Stereo cable with two female endings (also known as Dual Headphone Jack splitter).

One plug will be used for headphones (we are assuming that the headphones have a classical 1/8" stereo-out male connector) and the other for the line-in on the PC audio card.

In some cases the 1/8" Stereo - 1/8" Stereo cable may not be needed if the turntable has several headphone jacks. If the headphone jacks are not 1/8" Stereo the 1/4" adapters may be needed. Also the turn table could have RCA out, in that case 1/8" Stereo Plug to RCA can be used to plug the turn table directly in to the soundcard Line-in.

In case the turntable has only the 1/4" stereo-out you will need the 1/8" to 1/4" stereo adapted. Plug the adapter in to the stereo-out of the turntable and then the Dual Short 1/8" Stereo - 1/8" Stereo cable in to it.

Step 2.
The last cable you will need will be the long male to male 1/8" Stereo - 1/8" Stereo cable.

Plug the earphones in to one end of the Dual Short 1/8" Stereo - 1/8" Stereo cable and then the long male to male 1/8" Stereo - 1/8" Stereo cable in to the other end. The long mail end of the 1/8" Stereo 1/8" Stereo cable should go in the blue soundcard line-in jack. WARNING: before you connect the cable to the soundcard make sure the volume is at minimum.

How to configure Winamp DSP to broadcast live content from the turntable in to the SHOUTcast streaming Station.

Step 1.
Please download and install the FREE DSP plug-in from http://www.SHOUTcast.com/download/broadcast.phtml#plugdownload (assuming here that you are using Windows).

Before you install the plug-in please exit Winamp. Then after you install it please start Winamp again. When you start it again you will see a SHOUTcast Source applet pop up in addition to Winamp.

Step 2.
In the Encoder menu on the Winamp SHOUTcast Source applet, please set the encoder bit rate to what ever bit rate you ordered from Primcast SHOUTcast Hosting (ie. 24kbps to 128kbps). This is the bit rate up to which you are allowed to stream.

Select the Input menu and set the Input device as Soundcard or the Turntable USB/FireWire device if it is listed. If the Soundcard device is selected the sound input will come from line-in of the soundcard device, we assume here that the turntable has microphone functionality build. In the Input Settings set the Sample Rate to 44100Hz.

In "Mic Input" options section select Line Input. Select Open Mixer and set the check mark close to Line Input.

WARNING: do not plug the turntable output in to the Microphone jack (color red on the soundcard) since this may damage the soundcard.

Step 3.
Go to the Output Menu in the Winamp SHOUTcast Source applet and find Output Configuration fill in the info about your server:
Address: <IP address assigned to you>
Port: <Port assigned to you>
Password: your-password (This is also the server password in the Web-Control System)

When the connection is established you should see the numbers in the Output menu, under Status start changing, this means you are connected. Then, go to the Input menu and select your input device.

There are several proprietary applications that can be used to broadcast SHOUTcast content. One very popular that many people are use with SHOUTcast is SAM Broadcaster. You can download the demo from here.

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