Themes

Shoutcast's revamped design features a new genre on the front page called "Themes", and some people are already discovering Dynamic Range Radio because of it, but you may be wondering what the heck kind of genre is "themes" anyway.

I wondered the same thing when it first appeared, especially since there wasn't a single station using that genre, but I soon decided that "themes" refers to stations that build sets around themes, which is something Dynamic Range Radio does as often as possible.

The themes are sometimes based on lyrics or song titles, such as with the set that's playing as I type this:

Spandau Ballet - True
Mudhoney - Overblown
The Smithereens - Sick Of Seattle
Patty Griffin - Rain

I won't explain the connections betwen the songs because it's a poor comedian who has to explain his jokes, and part of the fun of listening to Dynamic Range Radio is spotting the themes on your own.

Sometimes the themes are based on other factors, like when I put together a set of songs that all feature the same unusual instrument, or singers who sound alike, or bands who all hail from the same country, and so on.

And at the very least, I make sure each set features songs that sound good together and create a nice flow from one track to the next.

Unlike the vast majority of stations which simply toss a bunch of mp3s into a folder then rely on a computer program to randomly shuffle the songs and a compressor to make everything sound the same, I put a great deal of time and effort into crafting my playlists by hand. You know, like actual DJs used to do.

I think it makes all the difference, and I hope you will too.