Broadcast Enhancements!

We are pleased to announce a number of broadcast enhancements and upcoming changes to our music streams.

We have recently upgraded our broadcast software allowing us to introduce a number of new technologies:



Professional Sound Processing is now being applied to our live stream. This includes Average Gain Control, Stereo Expander, Bass EQ, Dual band processing, Crossfading, Gap Killer and Clipper. Our music stream has never sounded better thanks to these commercial quality sound enhancements!



We now have a brand new AAC+ stream which is perfect for low bandwidth providers (modems included) - AAC technology is the combination of three MPEG technologies comprising Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), coupled with Coding Technologies' Spectral Band Replication (SBR), and Parametric Stereo (PS) technologies. This makes our 48kps modem stream sound like CD quality! Listen Now!



And finally we are making a drastic change to our Highlander Radio #2 stream at Live365. The purpose of this stream was to support modem listeners, but with our new AAC+ stream that is no longer needed. This stream will be converted to a closed stream featuring the best in Soft Celtic music. It will be down for a few days while we prepare the changes for this stream.

Thanks for your support and allowing us to continue to upgrade and enhance our broadcast!

In follow up to our announcement of changes to one of our broadcast streams, we have just reconfigured Highlander Radio #2 (on live365).

The new channel is now called "Celtic Moon" and features an exquisite mix of Celtic, Irish and Scottish music - typically softer and mellow music. This is a closed stream meaning that we are not piping Highlander Radio through this channel.

You can expect us to rotate in some of the best in soft Celtic music that you would hear on Highlander Radio. This stream is perfect for night time listening or when you need softer melodies to fill your room.

Because this is a closed stream and we are not relaying Highlander Radio through this channel, Live365 has allowed us to increase our free listener slots to 100 on this stream. So, we have a total listening capacity of 225 free listener slots through our channels.

Alot of good things are happening with our upgraded broadcast software! Again, our thanks for everyone that financially supports our site so we can continue to make these very cool enhancements. We have attached a picture of the updated software which is really the control center of Highlander Radio (see below)!

Included with our update broadcast software is AGC. This is a professional audio enhancement set of encoders. We have tested it out with Highlander Radio and the sound quality improvements are impressive. In fact, it will really help distinguish our broadcast from all of the rest.

The one problem with AGC is that it uses an incredible amount of CPU time and if there is not enough CPU time the broadcast can sound scratchy and the server can slow down alot. So, in steps the E-MU 1212M Master Level Recording System.

The E-MU 1212 system will add alot to our studio. While 99% of audio cards decode audio signals, E-MU 1212 will encode the audio signal. The major benefit at this time will be the hardware encoding; which will effectively render all music within the CPU of this audio system - thereby freeing up our server CPU for more important duties. It will also allow us to use the maximum settings of AGC. Here is a nice shot of the system that we just ordered:




We should have this new dandy piece of studio equipment running on Highlander Radio next week - so look for continued improvements to your listening pleasure!

Thanks again everyone for support our work!

Attached Image. (Click thumbnail to expand)

I'm still saying that's a pretty sweet looking sound card I'm really looking forward to seeing what you can do with it.

Well, it looks like the microphone (with stand) will be hooked up to it along with my Casio CTK-671 (yes I play the keyboard). Hopefully this year I will have more time to work on beefing up our online (broadcast) presence.

The first use will be for its audio hardware encoding capabilities. Will reduce the load on the CPU and hopefully help with sound quality.