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Underground > Creation >

Pump Up The Volume!

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21:49 / 12.09.05

Alright, I was listening to this cool online radio station, http://www.awakenedradio.com/

And I thought to myself:

"Hey Oddman. I betcha' your fellow Barbelithers would be interested in expanding Barbelith's Death Grip on The Internet by not only being able to communicate to people's eyes, but also to their ears."

And I knew he had a point.

So, who has the intelligence?
The resources?
The Time?
The Great Voices?
Excellent Musical Taste?

I really do think this would be a great way to expand and evolve the Barbelith Empire.

Hell, if it takes off, just imagine if we could get Grant Freakin' Morrison to do an online radio interview?

Think big, people, and get back to me.

Oddman out.

23:59 / 12.09.05

I'm interested. How would it work, exactly? Or better yet, how do online radio stations work anyway?

00:06 / 13.09.05

put a check next to "Excellent Musical Taste?"

this sounds like a big project, and knowing Barbelith's history with big projects, the cards are stacked against you.

still, if you could pull it off, it would be a great thing to have.

Phex: Dorset Doom

00:57 / 13.09.05

Buddyhead Radio is pretty simple and the format (one big podcast style file for a show which can be streamed or downloaded) would be the easiest for 'lithers to pull off without eroding our already scarce free time. (And if we can get the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Snoop Dogg and the coked-up drummer from the Icarus Line to do interviews then we've pretty much got radio nirvana right there)

Bard: One-Man Humaton Hoedown

04:44 / 13.09.05

I have a voice like an angel. I give no promises as to the condition of said angel, though.

17:47 / 13.09.05

Buddyhead Radio is a good starting template.

But here's my plan.

The first thing that I feel needs to be worked out is hosting. I have a job now, so I suppose if I had to, I could pay for the web-hosting, but I'd like to keep this as inexpensive as I can.

But, before this thing gets off of the ground, I think I will e-mail the esteemed Mr. Coates to see if I can get this greenlit as an official Barbelith project.

And, anyone with any knowledge about web-design, post here or PM me.

This is going to be a big project, but I need another big project to do in my spare time, because I always get my hands glued together airplane model glue, and I can't paint very well. So, I assumed that the next logical progression would be to start up a radio station.

I'm a nut, and this might fall through and land in some fiery pit of nevergonnagetdone-edness, but I say what the hell.

Lets give it a shot.

Solitaire Rose as Tom Servo

05:17 / 14.09.05

This is a very good idea....

Are we thinking of podcasts or actual radio shows with an actual schedule, or something else?

17:24 / 15.09.05

Alright, I got the greenlight from Mr. Coates.

I think to get started, podcasting will be the beginning, but I would like to have a schedule with DJ's and stuff like that. Maybe new programs could be on Fridays and Saturdays, and we just Loop or podcast for the rest of the week?

Hit me up with some suggestions folks.

Withiel: DALI'S ROTTWEILER

20:57 / 15.09.05

I know b3ta/talk, despite its worrying right-wing bias these days, does do an infrequent radio-station thing at ftlfm.com, which, as far as I know, works entirely with computer microphones to talk into and shoutcast/winamp for the actual broadcasting. It seems fairly easy to set up, and there are tutorial thingies here, here, and here.

I'd love to contribute somehow (either with my limited webdesign skills, or by hosting a show myself).

Also, it might be cool to set up an all-Barbelith show once a week with entirely original content; there are a fair number of recording artists about (and although I'm shit, I'll happily make my 13 or so tracks available for DJs (or anyone else for that matter) to download), and there could be interviews and poetry/short story readings and things like that.
From what I've seen, it's a workable concept with a bit of effort and enough content other than people's media libraries to make it viable. Actually, that's another thought: If this is to be at all affiliated with Barbelith proper, there might be legal problems related to playing files across the Internets to people who don't own those tracks. Hmm. Anyone with better legal knowledge able to help me out here?

22:17 / 15.09.05

about the legal stuff: as far as I know, as long as it's streaming, there's no problem. as for podcasts, it gets a little bit shady, but the record companies haven't been cracking down yet (because they know it's helping more than hurting them)

02:43 / 16.09.05

I was thinking about having a rotating palette of DJs, considering we are all on different timezones. So, maybe to get started, we could just have live DJs on Friday and Saturday nights, and then just loop some different music for the rest of the week.

But as for an all Barbelith program, I am thinking that to be awesome. We could do interviews, music, whatever. It'll be fun.

But before we get to that shite, I just have to figure out how to get some sort of web-page offa the ground so that we can link it up nice and proper and official to Barbelith. I'll figure out this streaming audio business whilst trying to add in with my mic some idiotic commentary, so I can figure out how loud I need to speak, whether or not I should buy some better sound equipment, (which is very likely)...etc.

As for Webdesign skills, Tarquin and anybody else, hit me up with a PM or post here, because this is going to be kickass, and it will be kickassier with more people's input. Same with hosting, and funny (or serious) program ideas, send 'em in.

I better get to work on this, but please, if anyone has any input at all, pour it in.

And thanks for the links and info so far.

03:50 / 16.09.05

Oh, and if anyone has any reccomendations for some nice audio equipment, like mixers, samplers, drum machines, hell, even slipmats...just tell me where I can find some nice shite on the cheap.

Scrambled Password Bogus Email

15:28 / 16.09.05

Well, ebay, naych, but if you want it boxfresh then you can do alot worse than here

Ah. Except you're in Canada.

IF you were UK, it's hella cheap, includes VAT and is very reliable with great aftersales.

But you're not, so scratch the whole idea.

Ebay.

17:22 / 16.09.05

Thanks Money...I'll check Ebay.ca and see what I can dig up. So, who is good at webpage designing?

Solitaire Rose as Tom Servo

22:06 / 16.09.05

Is there a good site on how to put together a podcast? I've never even recorded a .wav file on my computer, but this could be a fun idea, and I'm looking for new kinds of creative things to do.

I have a few ideas for a radio show, so I'll be thinking about it for the next few days...

20:14 / 17.09.05

Anyone have any DJ software? I am going to go out and pick some up pretty soon, I'm just finalizing what kind to get.

22:30 / 17.09.05

Oddman, I can do webdesign. PM me when you get the basics set up.

22:58 / 17.09.05

we should do some radio dramas
i've always wanted to do one... it would be so much fun

05:54 / 18.09.05

A radio drama...that'd be frikken hilarious.

Phex: Dorset Doom

19:06 / 18.09.05

Oddman: When it comes to DJing, Traktion DJ studio is generally considered the standard, though I'm not too sure of the price and whether it'd be suitable. I'm really not sure how to go about recording a show at decent quality.

20:59 / 18.09.05

To start with, I've just got a computer mic, so I can focus my money more on crossfaders, etc. I'll look into that program you mentioned.

I'm in love with this project.

21:44 / 19.09.05

I talked to Tom Coates, and he said that if the board was cool with it, then he was cool with it, so I started a forum over in Conversation.

You can see it here:

I said pretty much the same thing when I linked that forum here.

22:28 / 19.09.05

Quiet and Relaxed's post in the conversation thread gave me an idea: Barbelith is a discussion community, right? so why don't we tie that into the station. I'm thinking we can have hour or half hour long shows called Head Shop, Laboratory, Switchboard, and Temple - where some of the regulars (if they were up for it) would discuss topics (maybe even culled from the board itslef) roundtable style. There could even be live call-ins, or IM-ins, or something.

Solitaire Rose as Tom Servo

23:39 / 19.09.05

Oh...if there was a way I could do it at my house, I would SO love to do a comic book call-in show.

03:17 / 20.09.05

Shit guys. That'd be sweet. Roundtable style Barbelith debates...LIVE. That's awesome.

And a comic book guru battle or something? We could do stupid stuff like have contests to see who has the most inane knowledge of comic books.

The winner gets a ham.

Phex: Dorset Doom

05:39 / 20.09.05

As for hosting the thing, how about... Barbelith.com? There's about seven inches of purty colors to the right of the various forums that we're just not using, so, if this is going to be as big as it has potential to be, why not just put it on the site itself? It'll mean we attract more visitors, meaning more subscribers meaning more money to Tom via the donations, ergo vis a vis concordantly everybody wins.

09:27 / 20.09.05

I mentioned that I could help on the other thread. I'd just like to say: forget streaming radio, or at least live streaming radio. It's pointless when you've got a transcontinental board, it's harder to do, it's less convenient for listeners unless you also record the sessions and store them as MP3 (in which case why bother streaming?) The advantages are pretty minimal and increasingly irrelevant with broadband being more common, hosts having more bandwidth and people having MP3 players.

Podcast it. Podcasting is just a convenient way of accessing audio (or video or in fact any type of) files, it's nothing special or difficult.

Regrettable Juvenilia

11:04 / 20.09.05

I'd very much like to contribute in some way - pretty much the only way I know how is sending MP3s, ie making a playlist - I don't have a mic and wouldn't know where to begin recording an actual radio show...

22:16 / 20.09.05

Fridge, I like the podcasting idea...but I would still like it to be a mostly Live production, so that we can capture that spontaneity and randomness that comes with live conversations and people e-mailing in their comments live and everything. To make sure that everyone can hear programs, I think that we should rotate DJ's to appropriate time zones.

But we can still use the podcasting idea, like so that people who may have missed a really cool program or debate can still be in on it by downloading it.

I had an idea that if we go Live by Christmas time...I will be on a break from school and alla that, and I will host the first full 24 hours round the clock of Barbelith Live, just to make sure that everyone gets a taste of it, no matter what time zone they are in.

24 hours hosting a radio show might sound kind of ridiculous, pompous, and somewhat pretentious, but I had a dream about it last night. Which actually doesn't mean anything.

But before I start making lame-ass promises, we got's ta get this beast offa the ground. Everyone with technical expertise, ideas, whatever, post here or PM me. I have been pricing out DJ programs and am currently going to work on a way to get streaming working...but I'm not sure if I can do it in a way that will make quicktime and Realaudio listeners happy, because I am mostly just familiar with WinAmp and Windows Media.

This is so possible guys.

Time to make Barbelith Evolve.

22:52 / 20.09.05

You can quite easily have effectively live shows that are podcast. All you have to do is record them, and not edit them afterwards.

There really isn't any time of the day that I would regularly tune into a Barbelith radio station. I don't even turn on the TV for things that I really want to see; I'm more likely to Bittorrent them after the fact.

Face it - doing streaming stuff means that you get about three listeners, who are the people that you've called up before the broadcast and said "hey! log in and listen!" If you want an audience you have to provide a means for them to listen even if they don't hear about it for a few days. Unless you can actually provide 24/7 content, which, let's face it, we can't, listeners are going to want things that are saved and accessible offline. This is why streaming audio sucks.

23:23 / 20.09.05

but regardless of my format bitchery, the important thing is to get people who want to produce stuff to do so, and then deal with the distribution issues afterwards

00:36 / 21.09.05

Fridge, you make a point, but read TeN's post above. I checked into the legality issues, and with streaming, we won't have to worry about getting sued.

I will clarify this right now...We will do podcasts. But, I'm not giving up on Live Radio yet. If it crashes and burns, thats fine, but I think we should try it first. We can podcast old shows.

I just love Live because it gives the listener a sense of integration and connection to the broadcasters. Sending in instant messages to the hosts and then hearing their replies right away on the air...it's just fun. So, lets try some new shit, and if it doesn't work, then it doesn't work, but lets not light fire to a quilt that isn't even finished yet.

The above quilt analogy was lame. I have no idea where that came from.

00:49 / 21.09.05

I need to clarify...we won't get sued either way...that's not what I meant...

XXII:X:II = XXX

01:26 / 24.09.05

The reiterate what I said in the thread on Conversation, me wantee in. I will hopefully have DSL from home in the foreseeable future; other than that, what ought I have access to in order to be involved?

XXII:X:II::XXII:X:II

17:39 / 24.09.05

Ok, I am setting up my server computer, and I am going to start to see if I can just put it on a little home-made website and test it out a bit. Then I'll submit it to Tom Coates, and then we will figure out how we can do the DJ thing for everybody who wants to.

I am thinking though, that for that to work, we will either need a shared online server, or all of us will need out own home servers and then find a way to plug-in and plug-out of the station. Anyone have any ideas on this?

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