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Buffett Show Recording Primer
Ok, I have been meaning to post this for a awhile now and finally have the time to do so.

First of all you need to know a little about Radio Margaritaville and how the shows are streamed over the net.

Radio Margaritaville is located along the Gulf Coast of Florida . The RadioMargaritville.com website is a branch of Margaritaville.com.

When A live show is scheduled for broadcast a couple of techs from RM are backstage while Steve Hunnington remains located at the RM Headquaters in FLA. The connection from show site to FLA is accomplished via modem and dial-up connection. It this connection method that causes feed qaulity problems on a semi-frequent basis.

The backstage interviews between Jimmy and Steve that occur before the shows are accomplished by Jimmy using a headset microphone. The Microphone is plugged into the RM computer backstage and the interview is basically an online phone conversation.

Now a word about the RM feeds and quality of them. At the start of live broadcasts over RM a few years ago there was only the Real Audio feed. This feed was available in both mono and stereo for those with slow or fast connections. That was then and this now. Now the feed is still available in mono and stereo for fast or slow connection but it can be heard in three different format types. The formats are Real Audio, Windows Media Audio, and MP3.

The orginal Real Audio feed is/was good but not great espcially if you had/have a slow connection and could not use the high speed feed. The speed of the feeds is 32k for high and 16k for low (slow connection). There is a definate sound quality difference between the two and the 16k is not worth recording from if you intend to burn CD's of the shows.

Recording the shows--

For recording the shows you need an internet connection, audio playing software, and audio recording software. I won't get into a discussion about internet connections at this time. For audio playing software you can use one of the following: Real Player/Real One, Windows Media Player or Winamp. Winamp will play both the MP3 feed and the WMA feed with good to decent sound. Real One Player is a vast improvement over the earlier Real Players. The most notable improvement is that Real One can play all three RM formats; RA,WMA and MP3. Windows Media Player (which comes as part of windows) can only play the WMA and MP3 feeds but not the RA Feed. There are a few other players that will work with RM's feed one that I have used is called Ultra Player it can play all three feed formats but is weak in the audio quality department.

For recording the shows I have tried several different recording programs with my favorite being Total Recorder from High Criteria. This program can record either by being progammed for scheduled start like an old VCR or by clicking the red record button if you plan to record and listen at the same time. Before you actually record there are a couple of things you need to know about Total Recorder and how it actually works. When you install Total Recorder on your computer system two things happen. One, the program is installed on your hard drive in your program files folder. Two, The Total Recorder Driver is also installed on your system. This driver is used by Total Recorder instead of your windows audio driver. Don't fret about this however as you can switch between drivers in the audio control in the Windows control panel.

Before using Total Recorder you must set a few parameters within the program these options can be found by clicking the "Recording Source and Parameters button. Once you click this button you can select to one of two recording source. The first option is called "From Software" this means your audio player and has 6 sub-options. if you select "From Software" the first sub-option called "Convert using recording parameters speciafied below" must be checked. The remaining five sub-options can be used but are not required to record from RM.

The second recording source option is called "Sound Board" and uses the sound directly from the sound card in your computer. If you select this as your recording option you must select an input source for the sound. For recording from RM you need to check the box next to "Stereo Mix". This will allow Total Recorder to record in Stereo.

The final thing to set are the recording parameters which is means what type of file and what quality you want your recording to have. Total Recorder can record in a variety of file formats and quality levels. The best formats for music audio are MP3 or PCM these are the most commonly used and produce the best results. MP3 creates compressed files that take far less space on your harddrive. PCM creates .wav files and that are quite large (more than 1GB). MP3 format allows for many different quality levels called bit rates. The higher the bit rate you select the better the quality of the recording but the size of the MP3 file will be larger as well. As an example I recorded a recent show with a bit rate of 160 in stereo and the result was a file just over 170 megabytes. Althought that might seem like a large file size it's roughly 1/10th the size it would be if recorded in PCM format.

Once you have done the above steps your ready to record Jimmy's show.

Note: If you are using Windows Media Player as your listening source and you noticed little gaps in the feed this is a conflict between TR and WMP. The easiest fix is to select "Sound Board" as the recording source in Total Recorder instead of "Record from Software". Alternatively you can use a different recording tool. Two that I have used are "Advanced WMA/MP3 Recorder" and "1st Sound Recorder" Both of these will record from WMP without any little gaps.

A quick word about the two programs mention above they are both good but setting up thier options is requires a step or two more then setting the options in TR. Also TR will retain what ever settings you set. The other two have to have the options set each time and if you forget it can cause some aggrivation.

Another Difference between TR and the other two recording programs is in how you save your files. With TR you name and save your file after your finish recording. With the other two programs you have to name the file before you record.

Now let me tell you about something else I use when I record Jimmy's shows. When I first started recording the shows I was less then satisfied with the audio quality. Even after RM added the additional feed formats I was still not satisified. My first step was to upgrade from Dial-up to Cable Internet, better qaulity but still not great. So I wen't looking for a plugin for my audio player that would enhance the sound qaulity. After a bit of searching I found a plugin called DFX which is made a company called SoundFX. This little plugin is a gem the enhancement to the audio, even live audio is incredible.

After you have the show recorded and you want to cut it into tracks I recommend using a program called Goldwave. You can also do any cleaning or "fixing" of the show with Goldwave. Goldwave features a large number of editing options and effects that can be used to enchance the recordings.

My method for cutting the show into tracks is pretty simple and is listed below:

Make Sure your speakers are on
1. Start GoldWave
2. Select the File Menu
3. From the File Menu click Open
4. From the Open Window find location where you saved the recorded show
5. Click the show file to open it in GoldWave.
6. A box wll appear on the screen that say "Decompressing Audio" and a percentage complete slider will show how much of the file has been decompressed. Depending on the total size of the file this will take a few minutes.
7. Once the file is fully decompressed Goldwave will display a graphed image of the file. Along the bottom of the graph window will be time intervals set ten minutes apart. These intervals start at 0 and run till the end of the files running time.
8. Select the view menu from the menu bar and click specify. A small box called "Specify View" will apear. In this box change the setting in the option marked "length" from 10 minutes to 1 minute. Then click OK. This will change the time intervals on the bottom of the graph. The file image will now be zoomed in on and it will be easy to find the start and end of each song.
9. The file image is made up of vertical lines that correspond to the volume level of the file. Long lines are the loud parts and short line are the soft parts. As you look at the graph you will see long sections of long lines with small sections of small lines between them. The longer sections are the songs the short sections are where Jimmy is talking.
10. Move the cursor to the left edge of the graph and right click. A small menu will apear with several options click "Set Start Marker" a line will appear in the graph indicating the start of the track.
11. Move the cursor to the right until you are at the end of the first long section of long lines. Right click to bring up the small menu again, click "Set Finish Marker". A second line will appear indicating the end of the track.
12. Move the cursor to the left so it is to the left of the end of the track and right click to bring up the small menu again. click "Play from Here". Goldwave will play from that point to the "Finish Marker" and then stop. The reason for this step is to make sure the you have the entire track within the two lines. If the playback stops before the actual end of the song you will need to drag the "Finish Marker" more to the right until you have the track the way you want it. If the playback goes to far beyond the end of the song then you need to drag the "Finish Marker" to the right.
13. With the "Start and "Finish" where you want them, Select the File menu from the menu bar and then click "Save Selection as"and save the track where ever you wan't the tracks to be. To save space you will probably wan't to save the tracks as MP3's. You can select the file format from the save window.
14 Repeat steps 10-13 using the end of one track as the start of the next until you have broken the entire show in to tracks.

After you have all the tracks you can burn them on to CD's (Buffett shows are 2 CD shows.)

THANKS!!!!!

I only have 1 thing...I don't see a "stereo mix" option. I see "mixer" and "analog stereo"....

WOW!!! Thanks for taking the time to key all that into the post.

I'm saving it.

Thanks urlcenter for mentioning goldwave. I thought I was the only one using that program. Have you found any uselfull algrorhytms for cleaning up the show?? From my understanidng and experimention with goldwave you can add all of the effects of the plugin you mentioned and more. Check out expend, compress, fade, filters etc. under the effects tab. You can also save as MP3 with goldwave as well as several other audio formats.

Is anybody familiar with Audio Xtract pro? I can't seem to get RM with it???

wow.. i see long posts and i usually skip them.. this was the most informative and useful threads ever..

Ok using the DFX plugin does make a great difference. I had that plugin for winamp a while back but had forgotten about it since it only worked with digital audio at the time. Hmm it was well worth the investment... I think.

Thanks for the tips ASU. Goldwave worked great for me, I can finally get a show off my hard drive and into my car!!! Now if I could only get rid of that hiss! Any thoughts?

urlcenter wrote:As an example I recorded a recent show with a bit rate of 160 in stereo and the result was a file just over 170 megabytes.

Thanks for the primer. I've been recording shows from RM for a couple of years now and the worst part of the whole process (to me) is splitting the recording into individual tracks. Talk about time-consuming!

Couple of things:

1) Do you recommend using 160 kbps for recording, then?

2) Also, regarding DFX. Is the free version sufficient, or do you need the enhanced version?

When it comes to live broadcasts (i.e., shows broadcast as they're performed) I usually find it's better to wait until they're re-broadcast at a later date -- usually because the live broadcast sometimes has transmission problems that seem to be cleaned up and/or removed for re-broadcast.

Considering that there aren't that many soundboard bootlegs floating around, RM's broadcasts are a godsend. People joke about Jimmy and his business empire, "cashing in at every opportunity", but I can't think of too many artists who offer free broadcasts of every live show!

nicely done - thank you.

if you want to check out the quality of my recording editing method just let me now I will send a sample track from one of the shows I have recorded.

TJ

urlcenter wrote:if you want to check out the quality of my recording editing method just let me now I will send a sample track from one of the shows I have recorded.

TJ

definitely would be interested to hear... thanks!

I REALLY need to thank URL. What a great help. Thanks for the private tutoring and such a great public post!!!!!

Just my two cents on breaking the song into tracks - I personally take advantage of total recorder's 30 second pre-recording feature to break the show into tracks WHILE recording. It is a little bit more work during the show, which can slightly decrease enjoyment. But if you have a default folder setup, you can just name the tracks 1,2,3, etc during the show and go back and give them track names as well. You end up with a show in full .wav format that is almost ready to burn the second the show is over.

Demerara wrote: People joke about Jimmy and his business empire, "cashing in at every opportunity", but I can't think of too many artists who offer free broadcasts of every live show!

A big + 1 to this statement!!! I completely agree.

NJfinz76 wrote:Just my two cents on breaking the song into tracks - I personally take advantage of total recorder's 30 second pre-recording feature to break the show into tracks WHILE recording. It is a little bit more work during the show, which can slightly decrease enjoyment. But if you have a default folder setup, you can just name the tracks 1,2,3, etc during the show and go back and give them track names as well. You end up with a show in full .wav format that is almost ready to burn the second the show is over.

What exactly is the 30 second pre-recording feature? I have total recorder, but have never used this feature before.

Has anyone actually tried to record a show yet? What were your experiences.

What is the best format to download the stream? There are three stream types; mp3, windows media and real. Which one will yield the best recording?

Cheers,

Chris

How about actually taping the show at the concert itself? Soundboard/audience recordings sound so much better than anything I've ever heard taped off of Radio Margaritaville. It seems like with such a rabid audience for concert recordings that Buffett fans would be similar to fans of the Dead, Widespread Panic, Phish, etc. that tape all of their shows. Instead, there are thousands of subpar recordings out there in circulation that don't even come close to doing a Buffett show justice.

Vanjay, I have been recording since 2000. I started with the Real Player stream and recorded off my soundcard via the EZ CDCreator 4 software. Then I upgraded to Total Recorder to record off the software player. I currently use the Windows Media playback, to me, it sounds fuller (in terms of streaming) then the Real Player streaming. However, I haven't checked Real Player this tour to see if the "stereo" feed improved. It turned for the worse sometime early 2004.

So, after this little background, I record the WMP feed as a wave so I can burn directly to CDA or convert to a smaller file. Plus I can take the file into a sound editor and sweeting the audio. But I rarely do that anymore. The feed is good enough. Since the feeds are compressed, the audio will not be the best, but will sound as you heard it on the feed. Once in a while I hear the artifacts from the stream, but after 100 shows I'm satisfied.

.

Can you play recordings from Total Recorder on the iTunes player?