Hanging Out On Google+

Last week we organised a Hangout on Google+ to see if it could be a viable platform for streaming our hypnotic audio-visual experience!

Google+ hangouts are like video chats but they can host up to 10 participants and there are some advanced features such as screencasting and document sharing.

We set it up in the following way.

Renaud (our illustrator) shared his screen (where he was sketching on photoshop) in one window.

Olivier (drums, keyboards) and I (guitar, vocals) shared our webcam and audio. We used two static microphones and a mixing desk in order to improve the sound quality and just used the built-in webcam on Olivier’s Mac. 

We muted the sound output when we played to avoid feedback. Most people figured out fairly quickly that they could mute their own microphones but we could still see everyone on the screen. Silent clapping is kind of cute!

We made the hangout public so anyone could join in but you can do it by invite only. 

Each participant can choose which screen they want to display as the main screen so you can switch between the drawings and the musicians, and the other viewers.

People can use the chat window to interact with us while we play. 

At the end of the gig, we stayed and chatted with everyone for a while to ask them what they thought of the platform and the mini-concert concept. 

Everyone agreed that it was a really cool concept and that we should do more, which we will!

Someone made a video of one of the songs which will give you an idea of what the experience is like from a viewer’s perspective. The sound and video quality aren’t great. We’ll try and do a screen capture and record the audio straight out of the mixing desk next time!