Audio encoding tests for Freedom Feens – listener feedback wanted

Check out these three samples. It’s all the same 75-second chunk of a recent Freedom Feens episode. It’s a part with both Neema and myself talking, and some music, and DJ talking. Test with headphones if you can. Give us your thoughts, especially if the 96k and 64K ones sound good enough for weekly listening. The file size is smaller, we may be moving in that direction if people are cool with it.

128K-stereo.mp3 (NORMAL Feens encoding. File size: 1.2 megs.)

96K-stereo.mp3 (File size: 920 K, 2/3 of NORMAL Feens encoding.)

64K-stereo.mp3 (File size: 615 K, 1/2 of NORMAL Feens encoding.)

I tried mono encoding, but for some reason, in both
programs I tried, it was the same size of stereo
encoding at the same sample rate.

We’ve been thinking about a change for a while, but got this note today from Jimmald : “Michael & Neema: Your podcasts are great, but if I may offer some unbidden advice: stop worrying so much about ultra-high sound quality. Anybody who listens to FreedomFeens listens for the content, not for high-bandwidth sound. As long as I can hear what you’re saying, that’s great. Huge files take longer to download, are more pain to copy & store etc. It’s about the ideas, as well as the entertainment value, but c’mon, your voices are not such beautiful music that we need mega-fat bandwidth high quality audio.”
-=-=-=-
I wrote Neema,

I’ve been thinking about this. Our file sizes ARE huge. NO other podcasts use 128 k stereo files (except Garrett because I trained him.) I found our archived Sunday live show VERY listenable, and it was 128 k mono.

I’m thinking with all the care we use with mikeing and recording, maybe we don’t need to put out 100 meg files, and maybe we’d have even more listeners if the files were smaller. Also, if we started doing that now, if our audience doubled, we wouldn’t have to spend more on bandwidth. We’re spending like 70 bucks a month now.

I think I’d rather put up 128 k mono files than 64 k stereo files, which would both be the same size, half the size we’re doing now. Or maybe 96 k stereo files, which would be 2/3 the file size we’re using now.

What are your thoughts? I’ll feen source it too.
Maybe I’ll do some encoding and listening tests on my end.
MWD

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How to take phone calls on a live Internet or radio show

Screaming Into Phone

Neema Vedadi and I do the Freedom Feens Live show. It streams live over the Internet, is on Ku-band free-to-air satellite radio throughout North America, and is on a couple of FM stations in New Hampshire. We have been doing a non-live podcast weekly for a year, but added the live show last week. It’s Sunday from 5-7 PM East Coast Time, and you can listen live, HERE.

Neema and I talk to each other and also wire into the New Hampshire servers with the program Mumble. Info on how to use and configure Mumble is HERE. We also record the show for our archives via Mumble. Mumble has a red button on it to bring up the recording interface:

Mumble puts the WAV files of the recording in your MyDocuments folder by default.

I talked to a friend who works at a radio station that has people call in. He told me the model number of the rack mount unit they use for callers. I looked it up, the units start at 900 dollars, and quickly go up in price from there.

Neema and I came up with a last ditch effort, and it WORKED. It not only worked, but worked well. Here’s a short MP3 if you wanna listen to our test. It’s Neema and I talking via Mumble, with my wife calling in on her cell phone from another room, and the whole thing was recorded by Mumble’s record feature.

Here’s how we did it: We got a Skype-To-Go phone number (a paid Skype number, 18 dollars for three months). A Skype-To-Go number is an actual ten-digit phone number that people can call in to from a cell phone or land line, but you receive it on your computer with Skype. You can even get a custom number in any state and almost any country for no extra charge, if you can find a number that’s not taken for the area code you want. I couldn’t find one that spells anything, so I simply got one in my area code that’s easy to remember.

I set up Skype on a second computer (not the one we’re using Mumble on, we tried that and it didn’t work). I used a small inexpensive netbook that doesn’t have a whole lot of processing power and it worked fine. I plugged both computers into my mixer. The Mumble computer connects via USB, and the Skype netbook connects via audio outputs. We use Skype with audio only, no video, for better bandwidth and audio quality.

Here are closeups of how I hooked the Skype computer up to the mixer (click image to enlarge):

Here’s a pulled-back photo showing my mixer settings:

One thing that’s hard to see is the buttons above the bottom right master volumes. The “2 Track To Mix” button is off (not pressed in). The “2 Track to Control Room” and “Mix Track to Control Room” are both on (pressed in).

IMPORTANT: If you don’t have an output on your mixer called “Control Room Out” (Or “Ctrl Room Out”), make sure that wherever you plug that plug is a LINE output, not a speaker or headphone output. Otherwise, at best, you’ll get horrible audio. And at worst, you’ll fry your Skype computer’s sound card.

My condenser microphone is going into channel 2 via XLR. The Skype computer’s audio out is going into channel 7 via a 1/8″ mono male jack with an adapter to a short 1/4″ mono male cable. Control Room Out is going back into the audio input of the Skype computer via a short 1/4″ mono male cable connected to a 1/8″ mono male jack. I’m listening to everything on headphones.

Here’s a sort of blurry photo of the whole setup:

The full-size laptop on the far left is running Mumble. The smaller netbook laptop to the right of that is running Skype. The mixer is just below the netbook. The large desktop computer on the far right is not connected to the mixer and is not doing any audio function, it’s on for Internet research during the show. (You could do this whole setup without the third computer if you didn’t need to do Internet research live.)

Neema, the other host on the podcast, is in a different state, using one computer to connect to me and New Hampshire via Mumble.

The people calling in only need a phone, not a computer. Though they could also call in via free Skype anywhere in the world, without a phone and without it costing them anything.

I have to accept the call via Skype when the person calls in, and disconnect when they’re done, using the mouse on the Netbook.

Please also see my related post, Mumble for encrypted Skype-like conversations. Also, read this article on how we do our uber-high-fidelity Wednesday non-live double-ender podcasts.
–Michael W. Dean

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Mumble for encrypted Skype-like conversations

I’ve recently discovered a program called “Mumble” that’s great for chatting with friends. It’s like Skype, but more secure (according to everything I’ve read), and has much higher audio quality than Skype. It was invented by computer gamers so they can talk in groups while gaming across the miles.

Neema and I use Mumble for doing our live call-in radio show, since we’re in different states, and the satellite transmitter/streaming system is in a third state.

Download Mumble, HERE. (Click on the blue thing that says “Mumble Client”, not the red thing that says “SOFTWARE UPDATE REQUIRED”). Pick your operating system.

Install Mumble. Plug your microphone/headset into the computer, then go through the audio setup wizard.

Then open up Configure/Settings, and change things to these settings:

The only thing I’d recommend maybe doing differently is in the first screenshot, under Compression, where I have a Quality setting of 91 kb/sec….That’s because I live in Wyoming and my DSL is not the fastest. If you live in a big city with really fast DSL, set it all the way over to the right. If you have DSL that’s even slower than in Wyoming, set it a little lower than 91 kb/sec.

When click Server/Connect, you’ll get a list of servers, by country. Pick an empty server in your country (you can tell it’s empty if there are no numbers under “Users”). When you log on a server, you may get a a notification that says “this server certificate has expired, do you want to connect anyway?” Go ahead and connect.

You can log in and jump on to an empty server to test it out with a friend, but if the person who owns the server comes on, be polite and leave. What I did is set up my own server by clicking on the green “create a mumble server” link on the main Mumble page. It’s 4 dollars a month for up to ten users at a time (great for people who work in teams across the miles), and you can password protect it.

You can even record from within Mumble. Mumble has a red button on it to bring up the recording interface:

Mumble puts the WAV files of the recording in your MyDocuments folder by default.

Please read my related article, How to take phone calls on a live Internet or radio show.

Enjoy!

–Michael W. Dean

Freedom Feens Live Show debut

New Live call-in show, starting this Sunday, March 18

In addition to the usual weekly podcast, which comes out sometime between Tuesday and Thursday, the Feens are now doing a second weekly show on the Liberty Radio Network, and it’s LIVE! You can call in with your questions or comments.

Freedom Feens LIVE! expands on the Feens’ weekly Wednesday podcasts, but now they’re kicking the hornets’ nest live. Talk back to the back talkers every Sunday from 5-7 PM Eastern. Call in soon, before they get droned!

Live studio number: 765-27-FEENS.
(765-273-3367)

Calling is free from most phones, as most plans now include free long distance in the US. We’ll eventually be adding a Skype line for non-US listeners. Though if you have a paid Skype account, you can call our phone number on that in the meantime.

Live listen link is HERE.

Other internet and phone listening options are here.

Show Times in different US time zones:

5-7 PM Sunday Eastern time
4-6 PM Sunday Central time
3-5 PM Sunday Mountain time
2-5 PM Sunday West Coast time

Satellite (Free-to-Air)

You can also listen anywhere in North America via KU Satellite Radio. Galaxy 19, Transponder 11, 11929 MHz, Vertical Polarization, Symbol Rate: 22000 , SID: 16, ONID-TID: 3016.

Here’s our current coverage map.

KU radio north america map

Why pay monthly for satellite radio, when you can get Freedom Feens LIVE! and the rest of LRN.FM (and many other great and interesting shows and stations) on satellite for free? Audio quality is better than with Internet streaming. LRN.fm has launched 24-7 broadcast on Free-to-Air Ku-Band Satellite.

If you have a view of 97 degrees West in the southern sky in North America, you only need to get a Ku-band dish and Free-to-Air receiver, hook it up, and you’ve got LRN.FM (and a bunch of other channels) 24/7 with no subscription fees! (It also makes for a good audio source with which you can rebroadcast LRN on FM or AM!)

You can buy inexpensive KU Sattelite recievers and dishes HERE. Go here for a detailed signal map with minimum dish width for your location.