DocsSessions and recording

Recording

How recording starts, the shared clock, the recording format, where files are saved, muting, and what happens when the connection drops.

Starting the recording#

When the host presses Start recording:

1. A 3, 2, 1 countdown appears on everyone’s screen, each number growing and fading away.
2. Mixapod tells everyone the same start moment, based on the shared clock on the server.
3. When the countdown ends, every computer starts recording at the same moment; the recording starts at exactly that sample on the sound card’s own clock.

While recording, the timer at the top right shows hours, minutes, seconds and hundredths of a second. A Recording label lights up on everyone’s card.

Recording format#

The recording is the raw sound of the microphone: the echo cancellation, noise reduction and automatic gain control of the live call are not applied to it. If the preamp is on, the sound after the preamp is written to the recording.

Where files are saved#

Everyone’s recording is first written to their own computer:

Documents\Mixapod\<date> <episode title>\Take 1\<name>.wav

• The date is in YYYY-MM-DD format. If the episode title is empty, the folder is named after the session code.
• The take folder is named Take N in the English interface and Çekim N in the Turkish interface.
• Next to each WAV file there is a .json file with the same name: information the merge needs, such as the recording’s start frame, sample rate and status.
• If someone’s recording was split because of a dropped connection, the next part is named <name> (2).wav.

On the host’s computer, the files sent by the guests arrive in the same take folder. My recordings in the sidebar opens the Documents\Mixapod folder.

Muting#

Mute turns off your microphone both in the live call and in the recording; the button changes to Unmute. The recording doesn’t stop while you are muted: that part is kept in the file as silence, so the timeline doesn’t shift.

Stopping the recording#

The host stops the recording with Stop recording. The stop moment is also sent to everyone on the shared clock; all files end at the same moment.

A guest whose connection has dropped sees a Stop recording here button: if the host can’t be reached, they can end their recording themselves.

When the recording stops, the guests start sending their files to the host. See Transfer and merge.

If the connection drops#

Mixapod doesn’t make the recording depend on the internet. When a connection drops:

• The recording continues. The computer of the person who lost internet keeps recording.
• The seat is kept. The server holds that person’s seat in the session for 10 minutes; when the connection returns, they rejoin the same session automatically.
• Even if the app closes. If Mixapod is closed and reopened, it remembers the unfinished session and rejoins. If the recording is still running, it joins the recording midway; that person’s take then consists of more than one file, and the merge puts each one in its right place.
• If the host stops the recording while offline, the stop moment is saved and passed on to the others when the connection returns.

Why headphones are required#

When the other voices coming out of your speakers get into your microphone, the recording is ruined in two ways: the other person’s voice is also heard in your file, and in the merge the same sentence plays twice, a few milliseconds apart. Headphones prevent this completely.