MakingWaves is an all-in-one platform for working DJs and internet radio stations. For DJs, it provides auto-tracklists, live OBS overlays, mix mastering, and one-click publishing to Mixcloud, Hearthis, and YouTube. For stations, it provides hosted websites, DJ portals, branded listener apps, and show scheduling.

MakingWaves uses ACRCloud audio fingerprinting to identify tracks in real time. The desktop client captures a short audio sample at regular intervals (30–60 seconds depending on your tier) and sends it to the server for identification. It works even when tracks are pitched, time-stretched, or layered — accuracy is typically above 80% for commercially released music.

A Windows or Mac computer running the MakingWaves desktop client. The client listens to your system audio output, so it works with any DJ software (Serato, Rekordbox) or hardware (CDJs, turntables, controllers). For OBS overlays, you need OBS Studio installed on the same machine.

Yes. The Free plan is free forever: Go Live, the OBS overlay, tracklists built from Rekordbox, Serato or Engine DJ, your set history and 1 hour a month of Collab. What it doesn't include is live audio fingerprinting (track ID for CDJs, vinyl or any other source).

To try that, every new account gets a 14-day trial with real live track ID (up to 3 hours) plus 1 mastered mix. No credit card required. When the trial ends you move to the Free plan — nothing is deleted. Paid DJ plans start at £9.99/mo, and station plans start at £49/mo with no setup fee.

Go Live is a free desktop app that streams your DJ set to a radio station (sound only) or as video with your webcam. It finds your mixer, checks your camera, measures your internet, picks the right quality and runs a real test stream with the station before you go on air — so you never touch OBS, bitrates or stream keys. See how it works.

Today: 4TheMusic, for both radio and video. If your confirmed MakingWaves email matches your 4TheMusic login, your account links automatically and there's nothing to type. Twitch, YouTube, Mixcloud Live, Kick, any Icecast or Shoutcast radio station, streaming to several at once, and automatic start and finish for booked slots are on the way.

A Windows 10 or 11 computer (Mac is coming), your controller or mixer connected by USB or into line-in, and a webcam if you want video. An upload speed of about 6 Mbps gets you HD video; slower connections automatically stream at a lower quality, and radio needs under 1 Mbps.

Yes — setup, testing and going live are free for every DJ with a MakingWaves account, no trial clock. Go Live Plus, with streaming to several places at once and scheduled slots, is coming soon at £3.99/mo, or included with every paid Now Playing plan.

Essential (£9.99/mo) adds live track ID to everything in Free: 20 hours/month of fingerprinting at 60-second intervals, 1 mastered mix a month, 1 hour of Collab, and publishing to all three platforms.

Pro (£19.99/mo) doubles your fingerprinting to 40 hrs/mo with faster 30-second polling, 3 mastered mixes a month, 10 hours of Collab, smart next-track recommendations and PDF set exports.

Touring (£44.99/mo) unlocks unlimited fingerprinting (100 hrs/mo fair use), 10 mastered mixes a month, unlimited Collab (fair use), priority identification and advanced analytics. Designed for DJs who play multiple gigs per week.

Every paid plan is also available annually for the price of 10 months (2 months free): Essential £99.90, Pro £199.90, Touring £449.90 a year.

Each time MakingWaves listens to your audio to identify a track, it uses a small amount of your monthly fingerprinting budget. A typical 2-hour DJ set uses around 2 hours of fingerprinting time. If you run out, you can buy top-up packs (5 hours for £4.99 or 15 hours for £11.99) or upgrade your plan.

Fingerprinting hours are separate from mix credits. A mix credit covers analysing and mastering one recorded mix; extra credits are 1 for £2.99, 5 for £12.99 or 12 for £24.99.

All of them. Every plan, Free included, gets 1 hour of Collab a month to try it. Pro includes 10 hours a month and Touring is unlimited (fair use). On Free or Essential you can add the Collab add-on: £9.99/mo for 15 hours. See how Collab works.

Yes, all three platforms are supported on every DJ plan. You connect your accounts via OAuth in your MakingWaves account settings, then choose which platforms to publish to when you finish a mix. Tracklists, descriptions, and YouTube chapter markers are auto-filled.

MakingWaves mastering levels your mix to broadcast loudness (−14 LUFS) using a two-pass loudnorm process. It's designed for quick turnaround — drop in a recording, get a broadcast-ready file back. If you have a more involved mastering workflow, you can skip this step and publish your own master.

Starter has no setup fee. On Pro (£199) and Studio (£499) the one-time setup fee covers the real build work: your station site, DNS configuration, initial branding (logo, colours, layout), a guided onboarding session, and submitting your branded listener app to the App Store and Google Play.

Each station gets a unique station code. Share the code with your DJs — when they sign up for MakingWaves (or enter it in their account settings), they're linked to your station. They get a discounted DJ subscription and can publish to your station's channels alongside their own.

Pro and Studio plans include custom domain support. Point your domain's DNS to MakingWaves and we handle SSL certificates automatically. Starter plans use a makingwaves.live subdomain (e.g., yourstationname.makingwaves.live).

Starter (£49/mo, no setup fee) supports up to 5 DJs with a hosted site, OBS widgets, and show scheduling. Great for small community stations.

Pro (£199 setup + £99/mo) adds up to 20 DJs, a custom domain, branded listener apps, analytics, and DJ show management. Right for growing stations.

Studio (£499 setup + £179/mo) is fully white-label with unlimited DJs, custom app branding, API access, priority support, and a dedicated onboarding session. Built for established stations.

Paying annually gets you 2 months free: Starter £490, Pro £990, Studio £1,790 a year.

Yes — DJs have their own MakingWaves accounts with their own DJ tools subscription. Station DJs get 20% off Now Playing. Your station fee covers the station-level features (site, apps, scheduling, admin portal); DJ tools like track ID, mastering, and publishing are covered by the DJ's own subscription.

The MakingWaves desktop client runs on Windows 10+ and macOS 12+. It's a lightweight Electron app that sits in your system tray. Audio capture requires a standard audio output device — it works with built-in speakers, external audio interfaces, and virtual audio cables.

Audio fingerprint samples are deleted immediately after identification — we never store raw audio from live monitoring. Uploaded mix files are retained for 48 hours after mastering to allow re-downloads, then permanently deleted. Published mixes go directly to the platform (Mixcloud, Hearthis, YouTube) and are not stored on MakingWaves servers.

Yes. Every account has a GDPR-compliant data export option in account settings. You can download all your set data, tracklists, and account information as a ZIP file at any time. Set tracklists can also be exported individually as text, CSV, or PDF.