If you’re a radio station, Cleanfeed is an excellent way to send live audio back to your studio from an outside broadcast at a remote location.
This sort of thing that would, in the past, need expensive ISDN lines or other specialist radio equipment. Now with Cleanfeed it’s easy and economical to get a full quality stereo link back to your studio from anywhere with an Internet connection, and even two-way when you need it.
Now you can focus on the show; it could be a music event broadcast live on the radio, or host a discussion at a local cafe or bar with listener interaction. Let your creativity drive you, just follow our guide.
Using the Google Chrome browser, sign up for a free Cleanfeed account. If you already have a Cleanfeed account, log in to the Cleanfeed studio with your login name and password.
If this is the first time you’ve logged in to Cleanfeed, you’ll be asked to give us permission to use your microphone. Cleanfeed won’t work without that, so you should Allow access.
Having trouble signing in? Your login name is the one you chose at sign up, not your email address.
From the main Cleanfeed studio screen, press the Gear icon at the right side of the grey row showing your name. From the drop-down menu listing available devices, select your microphone or audio interface. You can also tell Cleanfeed how to take audio from that device. Normally this should be set to Both to capture left and right stereo from the device, but you might want to explore the other options.
If you don’t see your hardware in the list, wait a moment and then try the menu again. If it’s a USB device, sometimes it will take a moment before the device is available to your browser.
We’re going to set up our remote audio specifically for the type of programme content.
Press the Audio button at the top of the main Cleanfeed screen. Then, from the Remote audio quality drop-down menu choose one of the following:
To the right of the green and white Microphone icon , and to the left of your name, is a small vertical audio meter.
This meter is a visual indication of the level of audio coming from your side of the link. Too high, and the meter will show red. Too low, and you will only see green on the meter. For best results, make sure your microphone level peaks in the yellow area of the meter, between green and red.
If the input level on the meter is not touching the yellow area, you can adjust the input level. For the best sound quality, and to avoid hissing or ‘noise’, turn up the dial on the microphone or audio interface before boosting the level using the computer. Consult the instructions from the device manufacturer for more details.
Now your audio is set up, you’ll need to create a web link for the studio to pick up your outside broadcast.
Press the large grey +CONNECT button in the middle of the main screen, which will open a pop-up window. Enter the contact name and email address of your studio, and then press the Invite button.
The studio should receive an invitation to their email address, looking like the example below. All that they need to do is press the green Connect button to open the link in Google Chrome and pick up your live feed.
Once connected, you’ll see a new row in the main Cleanfeed studio screen with a green and white Telephone icon and the name of your contact at the studio. The studio’s audio meter for the return channel, if they are using a two-way link, will be shown on this row of the studio screen, too. Each row also functions as means to mute, or unmute the remote when you press it.
You can repeat this process to invite additional studios to join the session.
The remote studios don’t need a Cleanfeed account. Their +CONNECT button has just one purpose — connecting them to your session.
You’ve just made a live outside broadcast with Cleanfeed! If a remote studio can’t hear you, or you can’t hear the return channel, check out our guide When someone can’t hear.