A short post tonight, because I actually managed to spend much of the day learning and using some much-needed mastering skills, and time is at a premium.

First item: take a look at the first comment on the previous post — I managed to create a self-contained iPad setup that will stream out whatever you play on it to a Shoutcast or Icecast- based Internet radio station like Radio Spiral or electro-music.com. It was a little bit of a struggle, and needs an app that’s more expensive than most (but also really well done, and very much worth it).

Second: I don’t like Facebook Live any more than I did yesterday, but if you’re going to do something like using your phone or iPad as a camera with it, or with Twitch or YouTube or any of the other things that let you stream video and audio from an i-Thing or Android device, let’s talk about how to get decent audio. Basically, you need either external miking or a feed from the board. I think it’s possible that a decent quality mic (like, say, a Blue Yeti or that new one they have out) could do a decent job, and I know that there are other high-quality mics out there. Here’s one review of a bunch of them. I haven’t used any myself.

Instead, back when I did such things, I used an iPad mini with a mic stand mount as the camera, and fed it audio from the sound board. It is possible that your mixer will have a USB audio out that is directly usable with the iThing or Android device, but I’m dubious. If you’re thinking about going that route, I’d ask somebody I trust, look at the manual, and ask very careful questions about whether the USB feed requires that the host (your iThing) run some kind of driver. I am not sure I’d believe anyone who says that the mixer or whatever puts out so-called “class-compliant USB audio”, but it would cause me to relax a little — and then ask around in a few forums to see if anyone made it work.

That said, you can *definitely* make a regular audio interface (like the Scarlett 2i2) work with an iThing. Some, like these, have Lightning connectors, but any interface that takes a standard A-male to B-male host cable — like your printer cable — will work. For example, any Focusrite Scarlett device will. You’ll need an adapter that has an A-female USB socket on it, and it’s wise to get one that allows you to simultaneously connect a USB type C cable to power the iThing. That’s because some interfaces want to draw their power through the host cable as well, and that will drain an iPad so fast it’ll make your head spin. You’ll want to start packing some Velcro strips or zip ties — lightning connectors like to fall out.

All for now. Tomorrow, mysteries of JamKazam revealed.