I had this question come in the other day, it’s always worth repeating for everyone. ~Frankie
What do I need to have a good broadcast quality? -Bob
Hello Bob,
The best way to get a good broadcast is to have a quality mic input for your computer. Most webcams these days all look great – so any decent webcam you can find at Walmart will do fine.For sound, it depends a lot on the type of performance you put on. If it’s a singer-and-a-guitar kind of show, then all you need is a good USB “podcast” mic. We recommend a Blue Snowball ($50) – http://amzn.to/1u3MyaT
For a more complicated setup: multiple mics, amps, keyboards, etc – the best approach is to mix them (with a multi-mixer) before you connect it all to your computer. A great product to do this is an Alesis 4-Channel Multi-mixer (under $60) – http://amzn.to/1vt77Nt Like the Snowball mic, this is a USB plug-in to your computer. Your computer will see all your sound as one simple mic input source. They both give great sound and make it VERY easy to hookup.
-Frankie
The key here is simplicity. I’ve seen it many times over where tech-gurus try to perfect their sound with computer software – especially those who use a computer as their mixing board, effects machine, and so on. It just takes much more processing power (CPU cycles) for your computer to mix multiple sound inputs AND broadcast the video upstream. And there are always a zillion more things that can go wrong.
So the advice is – process everything before it gets to the computer you are broadcasting from.
Frank Podlaha on December 7, 2014 at 12:55 pm said:
Oh, and the Alesis Multi-mixer can produce a stereo signal into your computer. More on that later when SJ upgrades its broadcasting software to full mp4 stereo quality.
Velcro Mary on December 9, 2014 at 8:02 am said:
I’ve seen you mention “full mp4 stereo” a few times. Does the current version only broadcast in mono?
Frank Podlaha on December 9, 2014 at 9:51 am said:
Right, it’s combined into one channel. Although most people only source in one channel. But the current sound is at 44kHz CD quality – so it still sounds great.
Markus K on December 20, 2014 at 3:56 pm said:
Very helpful and clear.
I would add that it a compression can really help. I don’t know whether the Alesis has compression as an option, but I use a similar looking little mixer by Behringer, which has compression on each channel. That means I can compress both my vocals and guitar (and Wavedrum too) to avoid nasty distortion from peaks and to get a full sound. I think the price is probably very similar.
I totally agree that simplicity is key. Don’t drown your performance in effects and stuff, keep it as direct as possible.
By the way, I have been really enjoying my sets at StreetJelly. I have been busy with other things the last week, but I hope to be back in full force in a couple of days. 🙂
mike on June 30, 2015 at 12:41 am said:
I tried a first broadcast and what I realized is the feed is mono only. I had stereo going in and only one channel was going through. Since I had some panning of my voice an guitar it wasn’t working to well. I didn’t see anywhere it describing that it is one channel mono.
Frank Podlaha on June 30, 2015 at 12:45 am said:
Right, Flash broadcasting (nellymoser audio codec) is one-channel. Make sure your computer is set to one channel for that sound device. We are working on a stereo broadcaster, currently in beta-testing. You may see a few StreetJelly musicians currently broadcasting in stereo. We’ll be upgrading everyone to stereo shortly. ~Frank
Komuso on November 3, 2015 at 11:48 pm said:
“Right, Flash broadcasting (nellymoser audio codec) is one-channel. Make sure your computer is set to one channel for that sound device. We are working on a stereo broadcaster, currently in beta-testing. You may see a few StreetJelly musicians currently broadcasting in stereo. We’ll be upgrading everyone to stereo shortly”
Hi,
I just signed up and was hoping to do some shows (I’ve been a long time SecondLife Live Musician).
I was just trying to work out how to get my master mix into the flash player input when I saw this.
Could you confirm if the input is mono or stereo?
What bitrate are you encoding and streaming at btw?
Cheers,
kt
Frank Podlaha on November 4, 2015 at 12:07 pm said:
The Flash-based broadcasters is indeed mono, at 44.1kHz. In your computer settings (Control Panel > Sound… in Windows) – set your mixer device to one-channel at 44.1k. However, it’s ok if the mixer is set higher or stereo. The Flash codec will still only deliver at mono, 44.1k.
Komuso on November 4, 2015 at 7:37 pm said:
That’s a bummer. Stereo feed is a basic level of audio for a decent user experience.
Also Flash is dead. Period.
Are you going to change it anytime soon?
Cheers,
kt
mike on December 13, 2015 at 10:46 pm said:
You need some simple, useful information here. Is the input to your site a stereo or a mono feed? If I have a stereo input only one side works. Should you see meter levels on your screen when broadcasting? Even though people say they can hear something I see no indication of a meter leve.