Live Listen

Live Listen is a link. Whoever has it can listen to the recording in their browser while it's happening, without joining the session and without an account. That could be a producer following along, a co-host who's only listening today, or the whole audience of a live show.

Turning it on and sharing the link¶

Only the host can switch Live Listen on, from the session menu. That's also where you copy the listener link and send it to whoever you like. Anyone who opens it gets a page with a play button and nothing else to worry about. The link only works for this one session and stops working once the session ends.

While people are listening, the REC pill in the session shows you how many. If you switch Live Listen off, every listener gets cut off at once. And if you switch it back on, you get a new link, while the old one stops working.

What a listener hears¶

Listeners hear the audio you all send each other in the session. The server mixes it into one MP3 stream that runs a few seconds behind real time. So it's the live audio of your conversation, compressed for streaming, and not the recording. The recording still happens at full quality on each participant's device and isn't touched by any of this. Listeners can't talk, can't see video, and can't tell who else is listening.

The listener page has three states. Before the first take it says it's waiting for the recording, and while a take runs it plays it. Between takes it waits again, and one press of play is enough, because the stream reconnects on its own when the next take starts. When the session ends, the page says so and then goes quiet.

How many can listen¶

Each plan has a ceiling on how many people can listen at once. It's 300 on Free and Max, 150 on Pro, and whatever was agreed on Business. If someone opens the link while the ceiling is reached, they wait at first, and their page keeps trying on its own until a spot opens up.

What it costs the recording¶

It doesn't cost the recording a thing. Live Listen runs off the live call and completely separate from the recording. If it fails, only the stream fails, and not a single sample goes missing from anyone's track. It doesn't count against your recording hours either.

It doesn't work the other way round, though. Your recording happens on your device and doesn't notice a shaky network, but the stream does. It's mixed from the live call, so listeners hear what you hear from each other. If someone's connection stutters, it stutters in the stream too, and anyone who drops out is missing from it until they're back.

Privacy¶

Listeners stay anonymous, with no account, no cookies and no identifiers beyond the connection itself. The stream isn't stored anywhere. What a listener hears is what you all say in the session, so it's only fair to let everyone know there's an audience. The details are in the privacy notice.