Using Djay Pro on Mac with VoiceOver for Radio

By White Stick Bloke, 7 March, 2024

Forum
macOS and Mac Apps

Hi folks,

So I am working with Djay using VoiceOver on the Mac and it seems really accessible. However I was wondering if someone could help with workflow suggestions for using it for radio presentation.

I'll be creating playlists in the Music app and can see these in Djay, however loading each track into a deck, then monitoring it isn't as smooth, ie sometimes I want to know which deck is playing out and also how much time is remaining. How do you do this with VoiceOver?
Also, what is the best way to put ads or station spots / IDs into the mix? I imagine I should import these into a central library and then load them?
For anyone using it for radio type stuff I'd be very interested in hearing your workflow.

are decks the best solution, ie, can you just have a cue list and sequentially go through that?

Thanks for any help you can provide.

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Comments

By Aymeric on Tuesday, March 5, 2024 - 06:45

Hi, I use DJay pro AI to produce a radio show. However, I'm not doing it live. However, I strongly suggest using it with a controller. Set the sound output on your controller and hook your controller on the radio's mixer, so that you keep VoiceOver's sounds on the Mac while broadcasting the music on the radio without being bothered by VoiceOver. Then, to know the time remaining and so on, go to the far left of the app (near the toolbar) and you'll see the "decks" section, that will indicate which deck is playing, the time elapsed, time remaining and so on. That's what I do and it's pretty efficient. I won't use a mic with DJay pro though as the delay is significant and you can't use plugins and other effects to boost ythe sound of your voice. Your station's mic will definitely remain the best option there. I hope it helps.

By Stoo on Tuesday, March 5, 2024 - 06:45

Hi, I have used DJay Pro extensively over the last 10 years as a DJ, but not for radio.

There are better solutions for radio broadcast than DJay, although to be fair, they seem mostly to be available for Windows more than Mac.

Further to the post above, where it mentions you can find within the "decks" area the info on each track playing.
Once you've found the section you want to monitor, such as time or the track title, you can set a hotspot when on the specific area.

I can't off the top of my head remember how to set a hotspot by default, as I've remapped my keyboard commander with different keystrokes.

In essence, once you've set a hotspot on each area, you can just tap the corresponding key on the keyboard and Voiceover will read out the current status.
Or, you can set the hotspot to be monitored, in which case Voiceover will read out the status every few seconds.

Also as mentioned above, it's best to get a separate controller or sound card, that way you can set in DJay preferences to route Voiceover through a different channel than DJay's output, so you always have the right mix in your headphones.
If the controller or soundcard also has a microphone input then you avoid any lag or delay, as the final mix is done at that point before being output to your broadcast solution.

Worth looking at are Audio Hijack and LoopBack Audio, available in a bundle.
These allow internal recording of different sound sources and can create a virtual pipeline of audio using just software on the Mac, which might help if you don't want to invest in an external mixer etc.

Feel free to drop me a message if you've got any more specific questions on the DJay software. Stu.

By Glen Morrow on Tuesday, March 12, 2024 - 06:45

hi folks
thanks for the suggestions, these are great. But I still have more questions - so if you can help it'd be greatly appreciated.

- what controllers do you recommend and do these have audio interfaces or just controllers?
- for a radio show with carts/spots, do you use 1, 2, or 4 decks or the cue list and what is a good strategy for doing this, ie, putting everything in the cue list and then just working your way through that for each show?
- any tips for easy navigating the interface with VoiceOver just in terms of jumping between sections whilst on-air, as I want to make this as easy as possible because there's a bit of stuff going on during a live show.

I love the hot spot idea for the deck counters and willl definitely look at doing this.

thanks for any help!