[Icecast] Change fallback mount file automatically?

Jack Elliott 541 848 7021
2015-06-24T13:01:28Z

Icecast allows using a fallback mount file which the listener will hear
if the main mount stops. It is specified in icecast.xml as this example:

<fallback-mount>/example2.ogg</fallback-mount>

It is necessary that the file have the same bitrate and same format
(single or two-channels) as the main mount.

We were at a music festival last weekend and used butt (Broadcast Using
This Tool) to send a live music stream to Icecast at the radio station,
which was then played by iTunes in the Broadcast Studio, and then to the
broadcast FM signal. It all worked perfectly.

We were streaming from the festival using mp3 format at 192kbps/stereo
and I prepared a fallback-mount file ahead of time in the same format.
It was never played because the operation went perfectly, the remote
stream was stable for the entire 12 hours of the broadcast.

But I was not confident that the remote Internet connection could
guarantee 192kbps bandwidth so I also prepared a second fallback-mount,
this one at 96kbps in case we needed to go to a lower bitrate.

If that was necessary, I was prepared to connect to the computer running
Icecast remotely (using Teamviewer) and replace the 192kbps
fallback-mount file with the 96kbps fallback-mount.

Fortunately, this was not required.

It would be very useful if this could be automated. Such as: if the
incoming stream is 192kbps and it stops, then fallback to the 192kbps
file; if the incoming stream is 96kbps, then fallback to the 96kbps
file. Or some method in Icecast to run a script or batch file to swap or
rename the fallback files as the incoming stream changes bitrate.

--
that Jack Elliott
541 848 7021
Producer Wednesday Point, Host, The Sunday Classics
KPOV 88.9, High Desert Radio
Audio geek