In the course of my work, I visit a lot of artists' Web sites. Not long ago, I came across a visually appealing one that paradoxically illustrated one of the worst defects a music site can have: it had no sound files.
On the surface, the site looked great — it was attractively designed with excellent graphics and plenty of information. A link took you directly to an online store where you could buy the band's CD without hassle. The site looked so good, it actually made me want to hear what the band sounded like (maybe I'd buy one of their CDs; stranger things have happened). But though it set me up nicely with fancy visuals and smooth navigation, it couldn't deliver the knockout punch.
The site was silent. The band was happy to sell me their CD, but apparently unwilling to provide a sample of how they sound. If I wanted to buy it, I'd have to do so on faith, and I'm an extremely secular guy.
These days, with so many people interested in music using the Net as a tool for acquiring it, your site must be wired for sound. People expect sound files when visiting a music site. If they don't get them from yours, they'll get them from someone else's. Sound files don't just entertain; they aid people in deciding which music to purchase. You want to entice people to buy your stuff; give them a taste before asking them to lay down their hard-earned cash.
Consider this: the vast majority of netizens are still modem jockeys yet are conditioned by the Web to expect instant gratification. Someone checking out a new band for the first time wants to hear what they sound like immediately — not 15 minutes from now. MP3 sounds great but takes forever to download over a dial-up connection. Something quicker is required. That something is called streamed audio.
With streamed audio, you don't need to download a file before you play it; you listen to it in real time, as the data flows over your Internet connection. Although MP3 can be streamed, it still takes several minutes to begin playing over a dial-up modem. Better options for streaming are provided by lower fidelity but faster formats — principally, Real-Networks' RealSystem and Microsoft's Windows Media. There are other options (Apple's cross-platform QuickTime, for example), but for the part-time Webmaster and full-time musician, RealSystem and Windows Media are the best bets. These formats differ enough to merit individual consideration, so this month I'll cover the ins and outs of just one — the granddaddy of Web streaming, RealSystem. (I'll cover Windows Media down the road.)
THE REAL THING
RealSystem has been around in some form since the beginning of the Web. Once called RealAudio, it quickly expanded its capabilities to include video and renamed itself accordingly. For a long time, RealSystem was virtually the only game in town. Its sound quality has greatly improved since its early days as a glorified crystal radio set. Today RealMedia (as the encoded files are called) streamed over a 56K modem can sound approximately as good as FM radio. That's plenty good enough to give visitors to your site an idea of your sound.
Encoding and posting RealMedia files is simple and economical. Indeed, the essential software for encoding RealMedia files — RealSystem Producer Basic, now at version 8.5 — is a free download from the RealNetworks site (see the sidebar “Just the Basics,” for directions on how to find it). Once you install the software on your system, encoding files and posting them on your site is pretty straightforward.
For these purposes, the most important elements of RealSystem are RealSystem Producer Basic (the software that encodes the files) and RealPlayer (the software that plays them back). If you don't already have it, RealPlayer can be downloaded for free from the Real site (www.real.com). After you install the software, you're ready to encode an audio file — the most common formats are AIFF for Mac and WAV for Windows.
When you open Producer, you're asked to choose an encoding, or recording, wizard (you can bypass that feature, but it simplifies things nicely without compromising the end result). Besides being able to encode a preexisting file, Producer can also record directly from a media device such as a microphone, VCR, camera, or CD player connected to your computer. It also has a Broadcast mode. Because you aim to post prerecorded music samples on your site, I'll concentrate on recording from a file.
The wizard asks you to specify a file. Browse your hard drive until you find one to encode. Next, fill in information about the track — title, author, copyright, description, and keywords. From there you're asked if you want to create a single-rate or SureStream multirate file. The latter is good if you're streaming from a dedicated RealSystem server, because it makes allowances for all kinds of connections, from the lowest to the highest bandwidth. Single rate, on the other hand, requires you to choose just one rate that applies across the board, regardless of the listener's connection speed. If you don't know whether you're streaming from a RealSystem server, you probably aren't and should stick to single rate.
You're now asked to define your target audience. In this case, that means defining the type of Internet connection people will use to access your music. If you know that only the lucky few with DSLs and cable modems visit your site, choose a high rate. If, on the other hand, you want to reach everyone (including those of us unfortunate enough to still be using dial-up modems) choose the lowest rate, 28K.
Next, choose the type of audio content. Pick Music rather than Stereo Music, for the simple reason that encoding in stereo further degrades what will already be a fairly degraded signal. The monophonic Music format gives you a much better overall sound.
From there, just follow the wizard's instructions. Depending on its size, the file will probably take a minute or two to encode.
UPLOAD IT
After encoding your file, the next step is to get it onto your site. There are two ways of doing that. The idiot-proof way is to use RealSystem Producer Basic's Web page wizard. That takes you through the uploading process step-by-step and creates a new page for your file on your site. Unfortunately, the page it creates is nothing but an expanse of white with the name of your file and the software's logo — not “real” attractive.
A better way is to use your own FTP software (assuming you already have a Web site and are familiar with FTP). That way you can put a link to the file from anywhere on your site and pretty it up as you see fit.
Here's an example using a sample site called www.dabeaglescheeks.com. First, upload the RealMedia file through your FTP client. Call the file realonstage.rm (that RM extension tells the receiving computer that your file is in RealMedia format and that it should be opened by RealPlayer). The upload can take several minutes.
Next, create a metafile. That is simply a text file, which can be created in any word-processing program — the simpler the better (on Mac it can be done in SimpleText; on PC, WordPad). It should contain only the URL of the RealMedia file. In this case, the text of the file would read:
http://www.dabeaglescheeks.com/realonstage.rm
Name the metafile realonstage.ram. Upload it and then create a link to it (rather than to the sound file itself) somewhere on your site. Through the magic of computing, the metafile triggers the streaming of the RealMedia file. That's all there is to it. When you bring up your site and click on the link, your computer should open RealPlayer and, within a few seconds, begin streaming your music.
I've never bought anything sight unseen (except for some monogrammed bikini briefs allegedly autographed by former President Lyndon Johnson — I think I was ripped off). As a musician and a realist, I can't expect people to buy my product if they haven't the slightest idea what they're getting. RealMedia has its drawbacks — imperfect fidelity is the most apparent. For the indie musician with a Web site, however, it does something of critical importance: it gets the music out there. No one's going to pay for a RealMedia audio stream, but it might convince someone to buy your CD or attend your gigs. If you don't have streamed audio on your site, you're missing out. This is one case where silence is definitely not golden.
