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Rawkous Radio TUNE IN TOGETHER
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SO YOU WANT TO BE A RAWKOUS DJ?
We’re always down to share the mic and let other voices be heard on Rawkous Radio! Do you think you have what it takes to be a Rawkous DJ? The following guide will cover how to produce your first radio set and share it with the world!
We have a combination of DJs who pre-produce their shows as well as those who go live. Both have some technical hurdles to overcome and we recommend that only somewhat technically savvy folks who are comfortable with managing Spotify playlists and have access to Dropbox apply. If you think you can hang, then let’s dive into the specifics and go!
• Make Sure You Have a Dropbox Account
You’ll need a Dropbox account and access to the web client or the Desktop or iOS client installed. We’re assuming you are familiar with Dropbox and syncing and sharing files, so if this is something you are not comfortable with you may need to rethink if this is the right gig for you.
If we approve your request to be a guest DJ, we’ll share a Dropbox folder for you to copy your breaks into.
• Sign Up for a Guest DJ Slot using Calendly
Our Guest DJ slots are Saturdays from 3-5pm.
Visit https://calendly.com/robtravis/rawkous-radio-guest-dj-slot and book a Saturday you’d like to take over!
• Build Your Set as a Spotify Playlist
Our DJ sets run two hours, so build a set just shy of two hours to leave room for DJ banter. Are you super excited about music and can go on and on about it? Maybe shoot for 1hr 45min and leave 15 minutes for talking. Do you think you’ll do a tight intro and get in and out of breaks quickly? Maybe shoot for 1hr 55min. You can always add or drop songs after you record your breaks to get your show to time.
• Plan Out Your Breaks
A good format to follow is to start off with one song as an opener, then record an intro, and then do a break every 4-8 songs and let people know what they’ve heard and what’s coming up. Your intro should introduce yourself, let folks know what you’ve got in store for them that evening, and close out with something like “Keep it tuned in to Rawkous Radio!” Our tag line is “Tune in Together” so that is always good to work in somehow. Record as many in-show breaks as you like, and then record a closer to finish out the set. Thanking our sponsors and listeners is always a good idea. Our sponsors are Magnolia Records, The Landing House, The Thought Bureau, The Frame Theory and Everything Mushrooms. Writing a short script to follow is always helpful and saves you from rambling too much.
• Record Your Breaks - Voice Memos on iOS
The lowest cost for entry to record breaks is to use the voice memos app on your phone. You’ll need to find a quiet room in the house away from screaming kids and barking dogs – believe it or not, a walk-in closet makes a great makeshift sound booth! Hold the phone about two inches from your mouth and speak loudly and clearly. If you have AirPods or earphones with a mic, these can work as well. Record each break separately and make sure you leave about 1 sec of air pad on the beginning and end. You can then email/Airdrop the breaks to a desktop for syncing or use the Dropbox iOS app to upload.
• Record Your Breaks - Desktop
If you have a USB mic or a dynamic mic and interface and are comfortable with recording breaks on your desktop, this will yield higher quality results. You can use software like GarageBand or Audacity to record and edit the breaks.
• Organize + Rename Breaks and Insert into the Spotify Playlist
Once you’ve recorded the breaks and deleted the duds, make sure your breaks are numbered and named correctly BEFORE you import them into Spotify. Naming the breaks after the fact will cause them to go offline. Once they are prepped and ready to go, copy or upload them into the Dropbox folder we shared with you. Once they are there – go to Spotify Preferences and add that Dropbox folder as a Local Files sources. The video below shows you how to do that.
• Drag breaks out of Local Files into your Spotify Playlist
Once you’ve got your breaks loaded into Spotify, now you just need to insert them into the proper place in your Playlist. Drag all of the breaks out of the Local Files into your playlist. Move them one by one before the track you are introducing. Tech check each break and make sure it is the right one! It’s easy to misname or number breaks while recording and one final pass will ensure everything is right!
• Copy a link to the playlist and email it in!
Right click on your playlist and go down to the Share sub menu and click “Copy Playlist Link.” Email this link along with your name and the date you picked for your show to radio@rawkous.com.
• Share + Tune In!
Be sure to promote your guest slot and let everyone know you’ll be a real live DJ that Saturday from 3-5pm on www.rawkous.com.
Thanks for sharing music and being a part of the Rawkous DJ Family! Tune In Together!