HOWTO: Broadcasting to a SHOUTcast Server using the SHOUTcast DSP plugin for Winamp
SHOUTcast is Nullsoft's Free Winamp-based distributed streaming audio system. Before continuing with this HOWTO, you need to have both Winamp and the "SHOUTcast DSP Plug-In for Winamp 2.x". Please take a moment to download and install those programs at this time if you have not already done so.
Step 1 - Accessing the SHOUTcast DSP Plugin Preferences:
In order to broadcast audio to a shoutcast server, you will need the hostname, port, and password information for the shoutcast server. Once you have that information, you need to open Winamp and press control P. This will open the Winamp preferences dialog window. In this dialog, under "Plugins" you will find "DSP/Effect". Click there to access the plugins preferences section.
Now select the "Nullsoft SHOUTcast Source DSP" plugin in the list of available plugins.
Step 2 - Configuring the SHOUTcast DSP Plugin:
The "Main" section of the SHOUTcast DSP Plugin's preferences dialog is great to look at once you have your stream up and running, so you can monitor the audio outputs and your levels, but you will notice right now there isn't much going on. Click on the "Output" tab to begin configuring the stream.
In the output section of the DSP Plugin's preferences, you will see a "Connection" tab and a "Yellowpages" tab. In the "Connection" tab, you will need to fill out the hostname or IP address of the shoutcast server you plan to use where it asks for "Address". You will need to add the "Port" and "Password" information as well, and assign an "Encoder" to it. If you want to stream to more then one server at once, or to more then one port on the same server at once, you will need to configure two Outputs, assigning each one a different "Encoder" number. This is useful for instance if you want to have Output 1 assigned to Encoder 1 which is then set to 96 Kbps, while also having Output 2 assigned to Encoder 2 which is then set to 24 Kbps. Why you ask? So that dialup users can listen to the stream without having to download more then their connection can handle, while hi-speed users can enjoy the better sound quality of a 96K stream (24K sounds kind of like listening to an mp3 inside of a tin can).
On the Yellowpages section you can set what the listeners will see as your stream's "name" is as well as your AIM screenname, your irc channel and your website. If you want to, you can also make your stream available to the public by using shoutcast's servers to rebroadcast that information on thier website's "Yellowpages". Most users will want to uncheck "Make this server public [Reccomended]" to ensure that they are not listed on these yellowpages.
Next you need to go to the "Encoder" tab, and set your encoding settings. For each encoder which you will be using, you will need to set the sound quality. For instance, if you want to encode at 24 Killabits per second, 22.5 KillaHertz, Mono audio you would assign "24Kpbs, 22,050KHz, Mono" from the dropdown menu.
Now you will want to go to the "Input" tab and choose how you would like to get audio to send to the stream. If you're planning to just play mp3s or other files in Winamp, you can choose "Winamp [Reccomended]" from the dropdown list, otherwise you will want to choose "Soundcard" from the dropdown list. You will need plug in an audio source (a line out from your mixer for instance) into your soundcard, and then to go to your sound card's volume controls and adjust the levels to make sure you aren't going into the red on the level meters in the DSP Plugin's preferences.
That should be it!