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Do a live show

By the end of this page you have presented a show yourself. The station steps aside at the time you booked, counts you in, records you while you are on, and carries on from its next record when you hand back. Afterwards the show is an MP3 you can listen back to and download.

Going live and Recordings explain each part in full.

You need a station on air, a microphone, and an encoder on the computer you will talk from: BUTT is free and simple, and Mixxx works if you want to play records yourself. The computer has to reach the station's port 8006.

1. Check the live input is reachable​

The live input is its own port. On Unraid, the template's Live input port is 8006; with Docker Compose it is LIVE_PORT in .env. If you installed before live shows existed, add the port to the container so it is published.

Open the Desk. Under On air now there is a Live card. No card means the station's audio chain is older than live shows: update the station.

2. Keep a recording​

Open Settings → Stream and set Record what airs to Live shows only. Leave Keep recordings for (days) at 14, or set 0 to keep every show until you delete it. Save.

Saving restarts the audio engine, a few seconds of silence for anybody listening, so do it before the show rather than during one.

3. Connect the encoder​

On the Live card, open Connection details for your encoder. Copy each field into the encoder. In BUTT, open Settings, and under Main → Server press Add:

BUTT asks forPut in
TypeIcecast
Addressthe Server from the card
Port8006, or the host port you mapped it to
Passwordthe Password from the card
IceCast mountpointlive
IceCast usersource

Under Audio, pick your microphone, and choose MP3 at 192 kbps.

Press BUTT's play button to connect. Nothing airs: an input nobody has armed ignores whatever it is sent. Disconnect again for now.

4. Book the show​

Open Programme → Specials and press New special.

  1. Name it Friday Night Live. Listeners see this as the title while you are on.
  2. Set the date, and the start and end times, such as 21:00 to 22:00. For a weekly show, give a range of dates and the day it runs on.
  3. Switch on A live show. The programme fields go away, because nothing of the special's own plays.
  4. Save.

The show is on the timetable marked (live) and on the Specials list with a Live badge. On the day and the day before, the Desk's Live card names it and its time.

Before the show, check Settings → Playout → While somebody is live, the station's own programme. The default, Stops, and picks up at the next record afterwards, is the usual choice: nothing of the station's plays underneath you, and it carries on afterwards as if you had never interrupted.

5. Go on air​

A few minutes before nine, connect BUTT again. At nine the station arms the input by itself, but the weekly show keeps playing until it hears you.

Start talking, or play your opening record. As soon as the station hears real sound the Live card counts 3, 2, 1. What you send during the count is not aired, so wait for it and start on the cut. Then you are on, and the card shows the red tally and how long you have been on air.

Listeners hear you about two seconds after you speak, so listen on headphones to the encoder, not to the stream.

Not booked? Type a show name on the Live card and press Go live at any time. Everything after that is the same.

6. Hand back​

When you are done, press Hand back on the Live card, twice: it asks a second time, because it cuts you off for everybody listening. Or simply stop sending: eight seconds of silence or a disconnect hands back too.

The station picks up at the next record of its running order, after a second or two of quiet while that record starts. Your booking's end time never cuts you off, so a show that runs long is fine.

7. Listen back​

Open Check-up → Recordings. Tonight's show is at the top with its name and a Live badge. Play opens a player you can skip around in, and Download saves the MP3 named after the date and the show, ready for an editor.

With Claude​

Claude cannot hear your encoder or press BUTT's button, but it can do the rest. With Claude connected and allowed to Read and manage (how):

Book a live show called Friday Night Live every Friday in November from nine until ten, and tell me what plays before and after it.

I'm about to go live. Arm the live input as "Late Session", and tell me when the station hears me.

List last week's recordings and tell me how long each live show ran.

Handing back cuts you off for everybody listening, so Claude asks before it does. Whether live shows are recorded is a setting, which Claude can read but not change; it tells you where to switch it on.

If it goes wrong​

  • The countdown never starts. The station is not hearing sound: check the encoder is connected (BUTT says so), the microphone is the one chosen under Audio, and its level moves. An encoder sending silence never takes the air.
  • The encoder cannot connect. Check the address, the port and the mount (live, or /live for encoders that want the slash), and that port 8006 is published and reachable from your computer. A wrong password is refused.
  • Nine o'clock came and the card never armed. Check the special has A live show on and is on today's date. If the audio engine restarted after the station armed it, the booking does not arm again that night: press Go live yourself.
  • Nobody came. If the input is still waiting at the end time, the station disarms it and carries on. Cancel on the card does the same earlier.
  • No recording. Record what airs was off while the show was on. Set it to Live shows only before the next one.

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