I’ve been using Traktor DJ Studio 3 a for over a year now and it is an amazing program for digital DJing. One interesting feature in Traktor is the ability to broadcast audio to a streaming server using Icecast. Icecast is an open source streaming media server that runs on Windows and Linux. Traktor has an Icecast client built in that allows you to send an audio stream as Ogg Vorbis to an Icecast server. Ogg Vorbis is an open source audio codec that is said to be superior to MP3 in sound quality and is also license free.

It took some trial and error to get this working, but ultimately I installed the Windows version of Icecast server and used the Icecast client built into Traktor on a Mac. I have a Windows XP system running Icecast server to broadcast to the internet and a MacBook Pro sending the stream from Traktor to the PC over my local network. I hardest part was setting Traktor to broadcast. I found a button shaped like an antenna in Traktor’s audio recording section that lights solid red when pressed. This indicates that the connection is active and communicating with the server. If it blinks there is a problem with the configuration in Traktor’s broadcast preferences.

Several applications will play Ogg streams and I tested both Quicktime and Winamp successfully. Unfortunately iTunes will not play an Ogg stream. The positive side of this is that anyone who has iTunes should have Quicktime, so potential listeners likely already have software that can play the stream.

If you’re looking for an easy route to broadcast Rogue Amoeba’s Nicecast is simple, inexpensive and easy to setup. This was a great experiment for me and I really enjoyed putting all of the pieces together to get it to work. My next step is to stream a DJ set into the popular MMORPG Second Life via Icecast. Stay Tuned.

This is a fascinating video that demonstrates some new functionality in an upcoming release of Melodyne. This software not only allows you to seamlessly correct the pitch of notes, it actually lets you alter notes that make up chords. This as a great leap forward for music production and I can’t wait to hear all of the great music that comes as a direct result of it.

View the video.

I came across this great application that lets you browse through Beatport’s music catalog and actually mix music like a DJ would. The collest part of Beatport Sync is that it lets you crossfade between two songs as well as control the volume of each track. There’s an auto-beatmatch function that will allow you to have perfectly seamless mixes.

Beatport Sync is basically a stripped down version of Native Instruments popular Traktor DJ application available for Mac and PC. While Beatport Sync does not include all of the features that you’d find in other digital DJ programs, it’s a great start and a free one at that.

Download Sync at native-instruments.com.

It’s been a couple of months since I initially thought about changing this site. Since the conception of Spice Cadet Recordings a little more than a year ago there have been major changes in just about every aspect of our operations. The studio has moved several times, the label has parted ways with online distributors Beatport and 3BeatDigital, and I’ve been out of the studio when I should be working on producing new tunes. Beatport cited poor sales performance over the course of the two quarters that we were under contract. Apparently 3Beat’s label aggregation, distribution and online store was dissolved after another distrubutor went under. Even with all of the turmoil I knew there was a better way, so I started to develop a plan to take control of the situation.

In building this site one of my goals was to bring the music back online and make it available for purchase. While I explored ways to find more distribution channels one thing became clear - the label needs a stable place where we can sell music without relying on other factors. With that in mind I developed a store into the website where all of the original releases are available.

Spice Cadet Recordings will continue to expand it’s reach over the next few months. One possible distrubution channel is Itunes via Tunecore. Promotion will also become an important element of the label’s success in the next year. For the time being, our focus will be on completing several releases that have been put on the backburner for far too long.

I’m excited to get back into the studio after an extended hiatus. Look forward to hearing some new frequencies soon.