Volume levels of your servers?

[FunkRepublic]

I've been listening to several stations on the Shoutcast directory under my own genre… funk and soul. I've done a lot of tweaking of my audio using Waves plugins, compressors, limiter, etc etc. I have my output signal fairly compressed to maximize volume level without distorting.


I've notice that one of my fellow competitors WEFUNK Radio is not only waaaaaay louder than I am, but they are only broadcasting at 64 while I am at 128. I noticed that their stream actually sounds pretty good.


- Am I overdoing it with 128 ?
- Am I stuck with my volume level because I'm streaming remotely live to my server, as opposed to streaming directly from the server itself?

I'm an old radio guy, so just trying to maximize my loudness, clarity, etc without getting in to the distortion zone.

 

[Support]

Old funk and soul records are a lot more quieter than modern recordings as you are aware. It could be due to the volume of the original source material. Are 'WEFUNK Radio' playing tracks from the same era or more modern recordings? There is also the possibility that they are using a limiter / compressor across the whole stream if its live and depending on their set-up. Also, the stream maybe pre-recorded rather than live.

Streaming live to the server as opposed to streaming from the server could be the issue. This could be down to your soundcards playback volume, the program that you are using for playback or even the live stream encoder that you use.

There is quite a difference between the quality of streaming at 128kbps and 64kbps. Please see the following guide for a more detailed explanation and some audio examples: http://forum.internet-radio.com/faq/2055-what-does-bitrate-mean.html

We are very fond of the Waves plugins, but another limiter we have found that allows you to push the volume that little bit extra without introducing unwanted artifacts is the Fabfilter Pro L. FabFilter Pro-L - Professional Limiter Plug-in VST VST3 AU AAX RTAS AudioSuite

 

[FunkRepublic]

thanks

That's a great article on bitrate. Our format is funk and soul from 1960 - 2012... so we got everything including old quieter tracks as well as brand new loud tracks.

Yes we use compression / limiting across our entire output live signal to our streaming servers... so although I'd like to be a tad louder, all in all we sound pretty good.

 

[Support]

That's a great article on bitrate.

Many thanks for the kind words regarding the article.

All the best with your station! 8)

 

[bamboman]

increase your volume level. Make a good bit rate. play good music. People will love to hear your radio.