Voice Channel Audio: Building a Music Bot That Actually Works

After major music bots (Rythm, Groovy) were shut down by Google, self-hosted music bots became the standard. Here's how to build one that works reliably.

Why Self-Hosted

Technical Setup

Dependencies

For Node.js (discord.js):

npm install discord.js @discordjs/voice @discordjs/opus sodium-native play-dl

For Python (discord.py):

pip install discord.py[voice] yt-dlp

Both require FFmpeg installed on the system:

apt install ffmpeg

Basic Music Bot (Node.js)

const { Client, GatewayIntentBits } = require('discord.js');
const { joinVoiceChannel, createAudioPlayer, createAudioResource } = require('@discordjs/voice');
const play = require('play-dl');

const client = new Client({
    intents: [
        GatewayIntentBits.Guilds,
        GatewayIntentBits.GuildVoiceStates,
        GatewayIntentBits.GuildMessages,
        GatewayIntentBits.MessageContent
    ]
});

const queue = new Map();

client.on('messageCreate', async (message) => {
    if (message.content.startsWith('!play')) {
        const query = message.content.slice(6);
        const voiceChannel = message.member.voice.channel;
        
        if (!voiceChannel) {
            return message.reply('Join a voice channel first!');
        }
        
        const connection = joinVoiceChannel({
            channelId: voiceChannel.id,
            guildId: message.guild.id,
            adapterCreator: message.guild.voiceAdapterCreator
        });
        
        const stream = await play.stream(query);
        const resource = createAudioResource(stream.stream, {
            inputType: stream.type
        });
        
        const player = createAudioPlayer();
        player.play(resource);
        connection.subscribe(player);
        
        message.reply(`Now playing: ${query}`);
    }
});

Queue System

A proper music bot needs a queue:

class MusicQueue {
    constructor() {
        this.songs = [];
        this.playing = false;
    }
    
    add(song) {
        this.songs.push(song);
    }
    
    next() {
        return this.songs.shift();
    }
    
    clear() {
        this.songs = [];
    }
    
    get length() {
        return this.songs.length;
    }
}

Essential Commands

Audio Quality

Bitrate Settings

Discord voice channels support different bitrates:

Your bot should encode audio at the channel's maximum supported bitrate for best quality.

Audio Processing

Add equalizer and volume normalization:

# FFmpeg filter for loudness normalization
-af "loudnorm=I=-14:TP=-1:LRA=11,equalizer=f=100:width_type=h:width=200:g=3"

This normalizes volume between tracks (no jarring volume changes) and adds a subtle bass boost.

Hosting Requirements

Music bots are surprisingly lightweight. The FFmpeg encoding uses some CPU, but a single voice connection barely registers on modern hardware.

Space-Node's Discord bot hosting handles music bot workloads easily, even on the free Small plan for single-server bots. For bots serving multiple servers simultaneously, the Middle or Large plan provides the resources for concurrent voice connections.

Self-hosted music bots give you control over your audio experience. No arbitrary shutdowns, no quality limitations, and no dependence on a service that might disappear tomorrow.