Ready to move beyond the basics? Our Advanced Configuration guide covers technical fine-tuning, security hardening, and professional broadcasting techniques used by the world's top online radio stations.
1. Audio Quality & Bitrate Optimization
Choosing the right bitrate is a balance between audio fidelity and listener accessibility. Use the following standards for your mount points:
- 64kbps (AAC+): The "Mobile Gold Standard." Provides near-CD quality while being extremely resilient on low-speed cellular networks.
- 128kbps (MP3): The industry standard. Offers a perfect balance of quality and bandwidth usage for most listeners.
- 320kbps (MP3): For audiophile-grade music stations. Recommended only if your listeners have high-speed home internet connections.
Tip: Use 44.1 kHz sample rate for music and 22.05 kHz for speech-only talk radio to save bandwidth without sacrificing clarity.
2. Fine-Tuning the "Radio Feel" (Crossfade)
Eliminating dead air is the hallmark of a professional station. Under Settings -> AutoDJ, you can master your transitions:
- Smart Crossfade: Our system analyzes the volume at the end of tracks to determine the best overlap point.
- Length: Set to 3-5 seconds for most music genres. For high-energy EDM or CHR formats, 2 seconds provides a "tight" professional mix.
3. Advanced Scheduling Logic
Don't just loop one playlist. Create a dynamic "Clock" for your station:
- Weighted Rotation: Set your "Current Hits" playlist to a higher weight (e.g., 5) and your "Classic Hits" to a lower weight (e.g., 1) to ensure new music plays more often.
- Specialty Segments: Schedule a 1-hour "Lunchtime Mix" that overrides your general rotation automatically every day at 12 PM.
4. Security & Access Management
As your station grows, protecting your assets becomes critical:
- Granular DJ Permissions: Don't give every DJ "Admin" access. Restrict them to only the "Streaming" permission so they cannot accidentally delete your music library.
- IP Whitelisting: If you always broadcast from the same studio, contact support to whitelist your IP for added security against brute-force attempts.
5. Taking Live Listener Calls
Integrating live callers into your broadcast adds a new level of engagement. You can achieve this via:
- VoIP Integration: Use Skype or Zoom on your broadcasting PC and route the audio through a "Virtual Audio Cable" into your encoder (BUTT/Mixxx).
- Broadcast Hybrids: For professional studios, use a hardware hybrid to connect a physical phone line to your mixing console before the audio reaches the CastHost encoder.
