Inserting and playing music on the WXVU Studio Computer

For the Spring 2023 semester, we will be directing shows to play music through our StationPlaylist Studio automation software.  Shows are no longer permitted to play music on their own device via the studio Aux cable.  Benefits of this include our listeners being able to hear music at consistent audio levels with the rest of our programming and the names of songs and artists being shown on WXVU’s RDS and stream.  Your name and your show name, when music is not playing, will also be shown on our RDS and stream.

We will permit use of the Aux Cable for sound effects and music beds (i.e. for trivia or games during shows), but it cannot be used to play for the primary music for your show.  We appreciate the full observation of this policy.

Our Music Library

We have loaded in a limited number of songs onto the WXVU studio computer, based on the artists show applicants provided us on their Spring 2023 application.  These songs are categorized by genre, and are located in the D:\!WXVU Music Library folder on the studio computer.

You are free to play any of these songs during your shows.  We are also offering two additional ways to supply music for your show:

1. Send a set list of up to 20 songs that you would like us to acquire for your show, AT LEAST 24 hours prior to the start of your show in a particular week.  Please use the following form: https://forms.office.com/r/gZgAMHEss2  WXVU cannot guarantee we will be able to acquire your songs, as we will be using specific vetted sources for music.
2. We will permit you, AT LEAST 24 hours prior to the start of your show in a particular week, to send us song files (must be in MP3, WAV, or M4A format) that you would like to play.  You must acknowledge that the songs were legally acquired (i.e. no YouTube or Spotify rips allowed).  Please use a file sharing solution (OneDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive, etc.) and share to wxvumusic@gmail.com.  You must indicate the name of your show and the date of the show that the music is intended for, either in the subject of the email you send us or somewhere with the files that you are sharing, to use this solution.

Loading and Playing Music on the Studio Computer

Please reference the following five minute video on how to play music elements through our StationPlaylist Studio Pro software: https://youtu.be/OQ9p-a6zxNw

A step-by-step how to for loading and playing music in StationPlaylist:

• To load in music for your show, in StationPlaylist, scroll down to the bottom of the hour, where there will be a “Break Note” element indicating the name of your show:

• Right-click anywhere below the break note, and select “Insert Tracks”.
• On the next Insert Tracks screen, make sure General Track is selected, and then click “Select Files”.  This will take you to File Explorer.  All WXVU Music can be accessed using the !WXVU Music Library shortcut in the Quick Access area.

  

  

  
  
• Add the songs you’d like to play into StationPlaylist.  We’d recommend doing as many as you can just prior to going on the air with your show, but how you do this is up to you.
• To start your show, turn off automation as you normally would, and you can open up the mic anytime.  When you are ready to start playing your music, select the first song in your set list and then click the Play button in StationPlaylist.  Do not turn on automation.
• If you’d like for a few songs in a row to be segued automatically, after you start playing music, click the checkbox next to the songs you’d like to play in a row, and StationPlaylist will play them automatically.  It will stop once there are no more songs checkboxed.

• You can play promos, PSAs, and station IDs through StationPlaylist as well (they are also saved to the Quick Access toolbar in File Explorer), or, you can just play them as you have been through Sports Sounds Pro, which we will keep open on the station computer.

With any change this drastic, we know everything will not go according to plan and there will be speedbumps.  We are here to help!  Please reach out in the GroupMe, Discord on the studio computer, or reach out to Nick or Allison, and we will assist.