Okay, so everyone is suddenly live streaming. But the thought of setting this up hurts your brain. Fortunately, two of our friends have put together concise videos to get you started.
Live streaming music performances hardly started with this pandemic era – and to be fair, a lot of us have been putting off working out how to do it anyway. So let’s do it properly. Live streaming can be a good way to connect with people and to try out material. Its main enemy is often technical trouble. Michael and Tom to our rescue!
Note: these tips aren’t exclusive to “live streaming!” OBS, the free software mentioned, can record as well as stream. And most of the tips here regarding equipment and lighting are just as useful to recording – some of them to creative mobile video production, too. Live streams work well with interaction (like chat), but other options are possible, too.
Tom Cosm has a desktop guide that takes just two minutes – he captures both from his screen and a webcam, which could also work for tutorials, live coding, and more creative ideas.
Tools:
Streaming platform (Twitch, Facebook Live, etc.)
Desktop platforms (mobile and custom options coming soon)
Michael Forrest has a live streaming how-to – from August 2019, and a reminder that this can be a good idea that you genuinely enjoy rather than an endtimes substitute for live performance as civilization collapses and you abandon hope of ever playing for a crowd of more than two people or within 2 meters of a human. (I mean – let’s definitely not think about it that way.)
And there is a ton of useful gear here. From his list (and his affiliate links). Crucially, since the OBS part is pretty straightforward, having a good stand and lighting is essential – and based on my cursory research, you can ship from a lot of electronics providers at the moment even given lockdowns (and not only Amazon, in case you want to protest that company).
Best of all, he’s got a terrifically useful scene switcher script:
https://github.com/michaelforrest/obs-scripts
Rest of the gear:
Streaming software - https://obsproject.com/
Audio Mixer with USB out - http://amzn.to/2eu59iW
Audio limiter / compressor - http://www.fmraudio.com/rnla.html
Wirelessly receive video to computer from phone - http://bit.ly/2f6ti0A
iPhone app for clean camera feed - http://apple.co/2f6t21J
Tripod - http://amzn.to/2dVuhON
Tripod phone mount - http://amzn.to/2eKAGeV
Lighting LED lighting - http://amzn.to/2ePZxMw
Lighting stand - http://amzn.to/2feGJe8
Video from DSLR
Thunderbolt video capture - http://amzn.to/2eu3iKP
Connect camera to video capture - http://amzn.to/2eKDHfl
Connect video capture to computer - http://amzn.to/2f6vBB5
My DSLR Camera Body - http://amzn.to/2dJ0GF3
Prevent camera from sleeping after 30 mins - http://www.magiclantern.fm/
Wide angle lens if you’re in a tight space - http://amzn.to/2ePXh8e
50mm lens for portraits-style shots - http://amzn.to/2eu37PD
Macro lens for close ups - http://amzn.to/2eu3iKP
Lots of little relevant tips in this video, as well.
And some more gear…
A few more bits of kit I’ve had an eye on. IK Multimedia have started daily livestreams:
https://www.ikmultimedia.com/news/?item_id=9290
But it’s also worth noting they have some rather useful looking kit for podcasting and streaming, particularly solving this on mobile:
iRig Stream is a useful interface, and
iRic Mic Video bundle (and the associated grip and mics in their Creator Series)
…all look useful.
Roland have their GO:LIVECAST which I’ve mentioned, though it seems to lack stereo line input (still trying to get hold of one of these). See also their GO:MIXER.
Sometimes it’s the stuff not specifically directed at streaming that looks most useful for audiovisual use cases. In particular, one friend clued me into the ZOOM U-24 – 2-in, 4-out interface, with preamps:
https://www.zoom.co.jp/products/production-recording/audio-interfaces/u-24-handy-audio-interface
I’m still not entirely seeing the perfect solution I’d imagine here, so I’m keen to hear what you’re thinking.
And this being CDM, absolutely taking your ideas – and intend to discuss some different approaches to online performance, not only the traditional video Web stream. Watch this space.