Mixlr

Featured Artist: Zia Hassan, singer-songwriter

laura — Wed, 15 May 2013 16:04:20 +0000

Zia Hassan is an East Coast based singer-songwriter from Washington DC. He first got into music at the age of 2 when checking out his Dad’s extensive vinyl collection, listening and watching the records spin for hours on end is where his passion for music began. The first album he fell in love with was the Michael Jackson epic – ‘Bad’, he would listen to this album constantly, learning all the dance moves that went along with it. At the age of 14 Zia got his first guitar and has been songwriting, recording and performing ever since.

Zia’s musical style is best broken down into two categories; acoustic and experimental. His acoustic guitar tracks have an emphasis on meaningful lyrics, which are inspired by stories people have shared with him about their lives. His acoustic music has been compared to artists like Bon Iver and David Wilcox. Zia released debut album Grow Slow in 2009, showcasing this acoustic talent.
The experimental and ambient side to Zia’s music is heavily influenced by the likes of Brian Eno and Miles Davis. His album The Flop, The Turn, The River uses field recordings from the smokey mountains in Tennessee. He’s also recently completed a project where he and local songwriter Scott Coleman have made field recordings on the metro in Washington DC.

Writing, recording and performing are all passions of Zia’s, but having a live audience connect with his stories and music is what he describes as “the best feeling ever”.

His creativity doesn’t stop there, Zia has also written and produced a stage play with friends and created a short film about a 9 year old philosopher which went viral.

So what’s next for Zia Hassan? He going to be releasing ‘Sports, Weather, Time & Space’, a four-part multimedia project containing music, video, short stories, poetry and more. It’s safe to say Zia’s creativity knows no bounds, and we’re looking forward to this upcoming release.

Zia will be performing live on Mixlr tonight at 21.00 EST – tune in here to listen

Marketing internship opportunity

laura — Thu, 09 May 2013 15:04:43 +0000

Marketing Internship
London

Mixlr is a rapidly growing music-tech startup based in London. We’re looking for an intern to join our Marketing team. If you’re passionate, adaptable to a fast-paced environment and want to gain loads of experience, then this internship could be for you.

Responsibilities

* Monitor our social media channels including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
* Assist with social media strategy from developing ideas, to analysing the results.
* Assist with community enquiries, queries, questions and feedback.
* Identify frequently asked questions within the community and create relevant support articles, tutorials and videos.
* Propose and write compelling content for our blog.
* Assist with weekly, monthly and quarterly business and marketing analytics.
* Assist with organising industry, community and company events.

Requirements

* Educated to degree level or equivalent
* Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
* Extensive knowledge and usage of social networks.
* Attention to analytical detail.
* Motivated with the ability to work independently and effectively manage workload.
* A strong understanding of Mixlr, our community and the startup world is desired but not a necessity.

The internship is full-time for 3 months and will be based at our office in London. The internship is on a voluntary basis and unpaid. For the right person, this internship has the ability to put your career into hyperdrive working for a leading startup and the opportunity to work with an extremely cool team!

How to apply: Please send an email to our Marketing Manager - Laura Lloyd, include your C.V and detail why you would like to work with Mixlr and what you want to gain from this experience.

iPhone App v1.2 includes edit profile, one-tap Facebook sharing and more

laura — Thu, 02 May 2013 14:50:23 +0000

Version 1.2 of our iPhone app is out now, download it on the App Store here.

1. Edit profile

You can now customise your profile directly from our iPhone app. Make your profile look super slick by adding profile and stage images. You can also tell everyone about yourself and what they can expect to hear on your broadcasts by adding information to your ‘about me’ section.
Need to change your username, email or password… all this can now be done form within the app.

2. One-tap Facebook share

It’s now even easier to tell your Facebook friends when you’re listening to something great on Mixlr. You can now share to Facebook with one-tap from any live broadcast. Listening is always better with friends, so ask them to join you!

3. New heart

We’ve also introduced a cool new hearting feature, click the heart icon during a broadcast and you’ll see the screen transform into a giant heart…sweet huh!

Alongside the changes mentioned, we’ve been working hard to improve stability and implement bug fixes within the app. We’ve received great feedback and suggestions, as always the team are keen to hear your thoughts so please keep them coming by emailing us

How to: Broadcast on Mixlr using Traktor and a MIDI controller (Windows)

laura — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 15:46:55 +0000

This post explains how to broadcast on Mixlr using DJ software – Traktor and an external controller – Hercules DJ Console Mk4. You’ll be using Traktor to mix tracks from your PC, and your external MIDI controller to control your levels, crossfader etc. Your entire set will be broadcast live and direct on Mixlr. Sweet!

Tip – These instructions can be translated to almost any external controller or audio interface.

Step 1 – Open Traktor Preferences

You will find the audio preferences in Traktor’s settings:

Step 2 – Traktor Audio Setup

Ensure the Audio Setup settings in Traktor are as follows:

Step 3: Traktor Output Routing

In the Output Routing settings in Traktor, ensure the Output Monitor and Output Master are as follows:

Step 4: Map Controller to Traktor

You need to ensure your external controller is mapped to Traktor. Go into Controller Manager and map the controller to Device, In-Port and Out-Port to your external controller. You can find further information on mapping here.

Step 5: Mixlr Audio Source

Select Hercules as your audio source

Step 6: Connect output to input on Hercules

Traktor is sending audio to Output 1-2, whilst Mixlr is trying to receive audio from Input 1-2. Simply physically route Output 1-2 to Input 1-2 on the Hercules using a phono to phono cable:

Step 7: Go-live and enjoy!

How to: Broadcast on Mixlr using Virtual DJ and a MIDI controller (Windows)

laura — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 13:34:17 +0000

This post explains how to broadcast on Mixlr using Dj software – Virtual DJ and an external MIDI controller – Hercules DJ Console MK 4.

Tip – These instructions can be translated to almost any external controller or audio interface.

Step 1 – Open Virtual DJ’s configurations

Step 2 – Select Sound Set-up

In the first window, select the Laptop (with USB soundcard) option, then select more at the bottom of the window:

Make the following output and sound card selections in the next window:

Step 3 – Mixlr Audio Source

Select the Hercules as your audio source:

Step 4 – Connect output to input on Hercules

Simply physically route Output 1-2 to Input 1-2 on the Hercules using a phono to phono cable:

Step 5 – Go live and enjoy!

Top tips on how to grow your Mixlr audience

laura — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 09:29:18 +0000

Here are 4 quick tips which will help get your broadcast noticed on Mixlr…

Broadcast regularly

Broadcasting on a regular basis can be really handy for your listeners, it means they know exactly when to head to your Mixlr crowd to enjoy your sounds. Use our schedule broadcast feature to let listeners know when you’ll next be going live. The more you broadcast, the more your content is out there, and the greater chance you have of listeners finding you and following your show.

Customise your profile

This is a chance to tell everyone all about you, your show, when you broadcast and which other networks you hang out on. You can store all this info in the ‘About’ section on your Mixlr profile page.
Make your Mixlr page a place where people want to hang out by including a profile and stage image.

Make it easy for people to find your show

Listeners often use categories as a search method, ensure you’re broadcast is categorised correctly so they can easily find you. Also, include a snappy broadcast title, titles like ‘19th April Mixlr’ give no clue of what your show is about, and it don’t sound very fun!
Friends and followers on Facebook and Twitter probably would love to listen to your broadcast, so use your social networks to tell people when you’re live. Use our social feature within the desktop app to automatically push notifications to your social networks…easy peasy.

Encourage engagement

The more fun people are having in your crowd the more chance you have of being featured on our homepage or at the top of our category lists. When you’re live, chat to your listeners! We make it super easy for everyone to interact so take full advantage, get to know your listeners by engaging with them.
Encourage your listeners to share the broadcast, this will open you up to a lots of new potential listeners.
The more people you follow, the more people will follow you back and the more listeners you’ll attract to your broadcasts, simple.

TEDx Monterey broadcast event in 6 languages on Mixlr

laura — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 17:02:10 +0000

TEDx are independently organised TED events, which encourage people to spread innovative ideas, share knowledge and inspire.

TEDx Monterey understand the importance of sharing knowledge to as wide an audience as possible and because of the global relevance of the talks they are using Mixlr to broadcast their “Leading Out” event LIVE in 6 different languages today.

There will be 4 translation booths, each with their own translator and Mixlr channel. The translators will interpret the talks from the booth into one of the following languages: Spanish, German, French, Chinese, Korean or Japanese.

The event takes place toady on (13th April from 10:00 PDT). A full schedule of sessions, channels and languages can be found below:

Session	Channel 1	Channel 2	Channel 3	Channel 4
10:00 – 11:45	German	Chinese	French	Korean
13:00 – 14:30	-	Spanish	French	Chinese
15:00 – 16:30	Spanish	Japanese	-	Chinese

Information on this years speakers can be found here.

This is another great example of how Mixlr can be used to bring local content to a worldwide audience and we love it!

Heart Top 10 for March 2013

laura — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 12:07:49 +0000

Congratulations Vitieubao, who’s number 1 in our most hearted broadcasters for March!

How to: Avoid bandwidth problems when broadcasting live on Mixlr

laura — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 15:23:45 +0000

Broadcasting live audio requires a fairly good internet connection. If you’re broadcasting live, and the Mixlr broadcasting application detects that your internet connection is not good enough to broadcast, it will warn you so you can take action.

This post explains what bandwidth problems are, what causes them, and what you can do to avoid them.

What is bandwidth?
What problems does low bandwidth cause Mixlr?
What causes low bandwidth?
How can I fix a bandwidth problem?

What is bandwidth?

Bandwidth is the capacity of an internet connection. You can more-or-less think of it as the speed of an internet connection.If you have high bandwidth, then you will be able to upload and download files faster. You will also notice that web browsing is more responsive.

On the other hand, low bandwidth means that uploading and downloading files slows to a crawl, and sometimes stops altogether.

What problems does low bandwidth cause Mixlr?

Mixlr broadcasts audio and therefore requires a relatively low level of bandwidth.

However, we frequently receive questions about low bandwidth. If you’re broadcasting and your bandwidth is too low, then mixlr won’t be able to send your data to our servers fast enough, resulting in broadcast issues.

If the majority of your listeners are reporting issues such as gaps and silences in the broadcast, it’s most likely to be a bandwidth problem. If this is the case, you will also receive a warning within the Mixlr broadcasting app.

What causes low bandwidth?

The two most common causes of low bandwidth are:
1. Uploading files, or running file-sharing or torrent software, while broadcasting live.
2. A slow internet connection provided by your ISP.

How can I fix bandwidth problems?

Firstly, quit other applications that may be hogging your bandwidth. This will free up bandwidth for Mixlr and often immediately resolve the problem.

We find common causes are file-sharing or torrent software, so ensure you disable these. Also, avoid uploading MP3s to services while you’re broadcasting live.

If you’re sure you’re not running software which is hogging your bandwidth, then you may have a slow internet connection. You can test the internet connection using a connection checker like this one. We recommend an available upload bandwidth of not less than 30kb/s.

If your upload bandwidth is less than 30kb/s, and you are having problems broadcasting, we can reduce the bandwidth you require on our side. Get in touch and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

How to: Use Soundflower with Mixlr

laura — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 13:49:46 +0000

What is Soundflower?

Soundflower is a free Mac utility which passes audio between different applications. It allows you, for example, to send live audio from applications such as Traktor or Ableton Live into the Mixlr app.

When would you need to use Soundflower?

Use Soundflower to route audio between applications, without using physical cables. In particular, use it to send audio from mixing applications into the Mixlr app, to broadcast live.

Follow the steps below when using Soundflower:

1. Install Soundflower
Download and install Soundflower. You may need to restart your computer if the installer asks you to.

2. Configure your audio app
Set up your audio app to use Soundflower as audio output. This is usually accomplished in the audio preferences or settings. Just select Soundflower (2ch) as your audio output.

3. Setup Mixlr app
Within the Mixlr app, select Soundflower (2ch) as your audio source.

4. Optionally set up monitoring
If you now can’t hear anything, try monitoring through the Mixlr app. Open the preferences, and select Built-in Output.

5. Go live and enjoy!