DocsSessions and recording

Sessions and invites

Starting a session, the invite code and link, sharing, joining a session, roles, the lobby and leaving a session.

Roles#

Every session has one host and up to four guests.

The person who starts the session is the host. On screen, the host appears at the top in a large card, with the guests below.

Starting a session#

Type an Episode title in the New session card on the home screen and press Start session. File › New session in the menu or Ctrl+N opens the session straight away and takes you to the lobby, where you can type the title. If you leave the episode title empty, the recording folder is named after the session code and the merged file becomes “Untitled episode”.

When the session starts, Mixapod creates two things:

• Invite code: six characters with a hyphen in the middle: K7Q-4MX. Characters that are easy to mix up are never used: 0, O, 1, I and L never appear in a code.
• Invite link: https://mixapod.heworx.com/davet/K7Q-4MX

Sending invites#

In the invite box at the top right of the lobby:

• Copy link: copies the link to the clipboard. Edit › Copy invite link (Ctrl+Shift+L) in the menu does the same.
• The Share menu:
• Send with WhatsApp, Send by e-mail, Send with Telegram: sends the code and link in a ready-made message.
• Copy the code only
• Call a contact: calls one of your contacts directly.

There are two more ways to invite someone:

• Contacts: someone you have recorded with before can be called like on a phone. See Contacts and calls.
• Mixapod number: everyone has a permanent number; when you dial it, a call window opens on the other side. See Mixapod number.

Joining a session#

As a guest, you can join in three ways:

1. Click the link. The invite page opens in your browser and launches Mixapod; Mixapod goes straight into the session.
2. Type the code. In Mixapod, type the code into the Invite code field of the Join a session card on the home screen and press Join or Enter. You don’t need to type the hyphen. File › Join session (Ctrl+J) opens a small window in the middle, where you can type the code or paste the whole invite link.
3. Accept an incoming call. In the window of the person calling you, press Join.

Your name must be filled in before you join; if it isn’t, Mixapod asks for it first.

Joining from a phone or a browser#

Someone without Mixapod can join with the invite link too. Opened on a phone, the invite page puts Join in this browser first; the same button is there on a computer.

• They type their name and press Allow the microphone and join. Safari on iPhone and Chrome on Android are enough; nothing is installed.
• A browser guest hears everyone, talks, can mute and can write in the session chat. Files can only be downloaded in the Mixapod app.
• The host’s computer records them: the browser guest’s voice is recorded from the call as a separate track. Since it comes over the internet it is a little lower in quality than a guest recording on their own computer, and a stutter in the connection shows in the recording. On the host’s screen this person’s card has a Browser label.
• During the recording the phone’s screen should stay on and the browser in front; headphones prevent echo.

Lobby#

Everyone who enters the session lands in the lobby. In the lobby:

• Everyone hears each other. This is a live call; nothing is recorded yet.
• Each person’s card shows their name, profile photo, role and a level bar that moves as they speak.
• The host presses Start recording, which becomes active once everyone is connected.

The live call uses echo cancellation, noise reduction and automatic gain control. By default the recording takes this cleaned call sound; if you work with headphones you can choose the raw microphone instead. See Recording.

Safety code#

Every connected person’s card shows a small lock. Click it to see the 20-digit safety code of the connection between the two of you, for example 4829 1374 5510 2268 9043.

Read the code out loud and compare. If you both see the same code, your conversation is end-to-end encrypted and nobody is in between; if they differ, someone may be in the middle. The code changes when the connection is rebuilt. How it works: Privacy and technical details.

Session chat and sending files#

The Chat button at the bottom of the lobby and the recording screen opens the session chat at the side. While it is closed, the number of new messages shows on the button.

• What you write goes to everyone in the session. The host can pick one person at the top and write to them privately; private messages carry a lock label.
• To send a file, press the paper clip or drag the file onto the panel. Up to 2 GB per file.
• Files don’t download by themselves: press Download and the file goes to Downloads\Mixapod, checked to have arrived complete. Program files (such as .exe) show a warning.
• If the connection drops, a download pauses and continues from where it stopped once the sender is back. Someone who joins later or comes back sees the messages they missed.
• While recording, chat makes no sound, and files over 5 MB wait until the take ends so they don’t crowd the voices’ connection.
• Chat and files go directly between the computers, encrypted, never through the server. In sessions with a recording, the chat is also written to the session’s recording folder as chat.txt.

Leaving a session#

• A guest leaves by pressing Leave session in the lobby; the session continues for the others.
• The host ends the session with End session in the lobby.
• If you try to close the window while recording, file transfer or merging is in progress, Mixapod warns you: Don’t close or Close anyway. With the default setting, closing with X keeps Mixapod running in the system tray anyway.
• If your internet goes down, you are not considered to have left: your seat is kept for 10 minutes, and when the connection returns you rejoin the same session.

Multiple takes#

When merging finishes, you can start a new recording with the same guests using Back to lobby. Each recording becomes a separate take (Take 1, Take 2…) and is saved in its own folder.