Usually, authors can broadcast live audio when he/she receives a “beckon” notification from an audience member. However, an author is actually free to broadcast live audio whenever needed. The current audience viewing that Geminar page would be able to hear the author.

Any viewer of the Geminar can click on the “Beckon Author” button at the top of the chat area. This will result in a notification being sent specifically to the author. If that author had setup the notification app (ntfy.sh) he/she would get the notification inside his/her own phone.

Broadcasts are done using a simple broadcasting software. We recommend BUTT – it is available for Windows, Macs and Linux https://danielnoethen.de/butt/ You can also broadcast audio from your mobile phone. Use the CoolMic app to broadcast from an Android phone. The author of BUTT also has an app for iPhones that can be used for broadcasting.

For a complete list, see the section on source clients here: https://icecast.org/apps/

A source client is named thus due to the fact that the audio source originates from that software. Any such “source client” software; i.e. one that would transport your live audio to your audience, would need the following data:

1. The type of broadcasting to be done. Choose ICECAST (or ICECAST2 if that's available.) Do not choose “SHOUTCAST” or “WEBRTC” as those are different technolgies.
2. The address of our icecast2 server setup for Geminars. This would be radio.Geminars.com And its port is 8199
3. The “mount point” used for that Geminar you are broadcasting into – it will look something like this /GEM_xxxx That means the first 5 characters are /GEM_ Some broadcasting software omits the first slash.
4. The mount points are shown for each Geminar in the author's own dashboard – and nowhere else. Please keep these mount points private. Use the correct mount point for the Geminar you want to broadcast into!
5. The codec to be used. This MUST be OPUS
6. The bitrate to be used. This MUST be 96kbps or less. If your Internet connection is slow, choose 64kbps.
7. The username to be used – this is always the author's own username at Geminars.
8. The password to be used. This is used only for that author. It is NOT the same as the regular account password. You can read this password in the Profile dialog.

All “source client” would surely need the above information. Each software has its own way to configure. We'll explain how to do that with BUTT – you can search for the same settings in any other software that you use. Here are the details for BUTT

Not necessarily, though it helps to keep the Geminar page open when broadcasting. Why? There can be comments appearing in the chat there; and the author can modify his/her the live audio broadcast accordingly.

However broadcasting can be done directly from the “source client” software. For example; an author may be out for a walk outside and then may end up getting several “Beckon” notifications on his/her mobile phone (See How to configure Notifications ) It may not be possible to go to the Geminar page and see what is going on. Instead, the author may choose to broadcast using an audio “source client” app on his/her own phone.

Listening is quite easy. When an author starts broadcasting using any of the mentioned source clients with the correct settings, then the current viewers of that Geminar will get a system sent message in the chat; telling them what to do.

Those who had sent group chat message on the geminar (but are currently absent) would get a notification on their notification app. So they too can join in and listen to the live broadcast of the author.

Typically, an extra “Hear!” button will be seen just below the video area. Click on that to listen to the author speaking. If the Geminar video was currently playing, it would get paused. Viewers do NOT need any extra software. It works within the browser itself. Do not leave the page, though.

Audio Broadcasts are always paid by the author and never by the audience. Our home page has the current pricing: A tiny amount of credits are deducted for each minute of audio broadcast. The deduction is done at the end of the broadcast.

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