Live is a cross-platform, easy-to-use application that is able to broadcast live audio in high quality at low cost. While most other streaming and re-streaming solutions target video, the German company specialized in performance tools to enhance audio production, composition, and music-making, decided to create an audio-centric solution. From within The Dialog Audio Laboratory, a creative space occupied by a group of people passionate about music and research, sharing their knowledge in different areas of science, Dialog Audio has been busy developing a professional live streaming audio application since 2017.
And now, the live streaming service — simply called Live — is open for public beta testing. The developer’s goal was to provide audio content producers with a professional service that would offer the freedom to easily live stream audio without the need to also try to provide a professional video stream. Bands, DJs, and musicians plus podcasters and spoken-word artists — not forgetting, of course, concert halls, festivals, and other venues — alike can quickly use this service to increase visibility on social media platforms and add value to fans by providing professional audio streams.
For Dialog Audio, their streaming service’s setup needed to be straightforward, so users can focus on the task at hand — to professionally perform their art or profession without worrying about the technical aspects of streaming. And Live is comprised of only three key components, starting with a live user server, where users manage their streaming licenses and check stream reports, etc. Next is the Live Processor, a cross-platform desktop application available for macOS and Windows to allow stereo configuration audio sources to be streamed in all common streaming formats to the live stream server - the software automatically detects the closest endpoint (that is fastest to reach) out of 21 available worldwide, in order to keep latency low. Last, the live stream server transcodes the incoming stream into the selected stream formats, and simultaneously distributes the stream to several user-selectable destinations, including RTMP (Real Time Messaging Protocol) servers to stream to the likes of Facebook, Twitch, and YouTube, or HLS (HTTP Live Streaming) via Dialog Audio web servers, backed by AWS (Amazon Web Services).
Knowing how a live ecosystem is inevitably "a complex beast below the hood," Dialog Audio founder Julian McDole took the decision to release a public beta version to thoroughly test the service worldwide and allow feature requests for further improvements. As an incentive to public beta testing, Dialog Audio is offering a 25-hour streaming license for free, valid until October 15, 2020, to the first 1,000 people that register.
Live will be available with two pricing models. ‘Pay-as-you-go’ (allowing any user to stream when needed without being bound to any subscription) starting from $1.00 USD per hour. And ‘monthly subscription’ (for users who want to stream on a regular basis at a low-cost rate) starting from $0.20 USD per hour. More information about the service is available via its dedicated webpage (https://dialogaudio.com/live).
Live Processor is available now to download for macOS (10.7 or higher) and Windows (7 or higher).
www.dialogaudio.com
