Sunday, August 24, 2008

Logging Radio Station Audio

This script looks complicated. But it basically records 30 min (or 29 mins 56 seconds) chunks of our radio station program which is required for legal reasons.
Because each sound recorder process getting killed takes a few seconds to complete, I found it necessary to be 4 seconds short of 30 mins. I don't think 4 seconds being lost every 30 mins is too much of a problem. I heard of a professional solution loosing 10 seconds every 15 minutes.

One way to cure this would be 2 sound cards and alternate between the 2 cards.


Sound recording script
Need one of these for every 30 mins you are recording.

#!/bin/bash
killall sound-recorder

sound-recorder -s44100 -b16 -k -A/dev/dsp -S29:56 -fwav /mnt/250gig/share/wav/0600.wav

sleep 10

lame -b 64 -m m /mnt/250gig/share/wav/0600.wav /mnt/250gig/share/mp3/`date +%y%m%d`-0600.mp3


Crontab entries
New line for every 30 mins you are recording.

crontab -l

00 6 * * * /home/username/scripts/0600.sh > /dev/null 2>&1

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Using rdimport to import mp3 files

rdimport is a great tool to import large numbers of mp3s into your music database.

To find out how to use rdimport functions type

rdimport --help





How I used rdimport

So this is how I added a hole lot of songs to my RD database...

rdimport --verbose --segue-level=-10 Examplegroupname *.mp3

This imports everything with an MP3 file extension in a particular directory to the RD database, and places a SEQUE LEVEL fade point at the end of the track at such a point where the volume drops to -10dB. A new CART number is created for each file.

You are limited to approx 2000 songs in a directory for conversion using rdimport. If you have a larger number you would be best to split into 2 directories of say 1500 if you had 3000 songs in a directory.

The only songs that don't get converted with more than one DOT or comma in the file name. eg Artist Name - Song Name..mp3

or Artist Name - Song Name, Middle Name.mp3

Another thing you can do is make all the tracks CUTs inside the one cart.

rdimport --verbose --segue-level=-10 --single-cart Examplegroupname *.mp3

or if the CART already exists you can add CUTs to it.

rdimport --verbose --segue-level=-10 --to-cart=400 Examplegroupname *.mp3

Other things to consider with Linux and Unix based systems is all file names directory paths are case sensitive. eg Song Name.mp3 is different from song name.mp3 And when converting files using RDIMPORT... the group name is case sensitive.

Configuring Tascam CD-X1500 to Auto Cue play etc



1. Reset the CD players to factory defaults in case you have already muddled them up.
-Put your finger on SHIFT key and turn JOG wheel.
-Take finger off SHIFT and then turn JOG wheel to 06 Factory Preset
(06 F_PrE)
-Push SHIFT momentarily to get SUrE prompt hit SHIFT to confirm.
2. Display will return to normal. Now hit SHIFT to show remaining time on cd (The countdown timer)
3. Hit FLASH button to turn off the word flash on display.
4. Hold finger on SHIFT & push BEND - key to put onto ACue mode.
5. Hold finger on SHIFT & push BEND + key to put onto ARdy mode.
6. Cycle through TEMPO functions to show 0.0 in display. Hold TAP key in for about 2 seconds. Tempo display will change to - - -
7. Take any CDs out of player. Hold Finger on SHIFT and hit the CUE button once... display shows PLY... hit CUE button once more to go to CUE mode.
8. Put cd on tray... close draw and cue button will flash for a few seconds... once its cued....CUE button will stay on and play will flash, till you hit the play button or your fader start.

Note. You'll have to do this for each side of cd player.

Triggering the player to start
Briefly touch the tip of a mono 3.5 mm phone plug on the case of the cd player and it will start going.