Live Streaming Tips when you're on a Shoestring Budget

This is a really useful article on how to prepare for some of the pitfalls of live streaming events. We've also put together bundles for making your live streaming productions a success while operating within a variety of budgets. Take a look at our DIY Guide to Setting Up Your Affordable Live Production and Streaming Studio.

Broadcast audio is a different animal from live audio, with ambient sound all around you being a key difference during service, versus listening at home.

From WorshipFacilities.com One seemingly calm Thursday morning, you receive an email from your pastor relaying to you that he would like to start live streaming your worship services. The technical gear-house that is your mind immediately starts thinking, “We need another console. We need an isolated split for all the inputs. We need a broadcast audio room. We need, we need, we need…” Then, all of a sudden, your daydream of the perfect broadcast audio setup is interrupted by a follow-up email from your pastor with two additional criteria: “We need to start this weekend. And there is no budget.” Immediately, the daydream of the ultimate broadcast suite turns into sheer mayhem and panic. Being the technical MacGyver that you are, you quickly pull together the string of 17 different adapters and random cables needed to make it happen by Sunday. Then, life moves on because Sunday is always coming, right? To start chiseling away at the difficulties plaguing your streaming mix, you must first understand a few principles about broadcast audio vs. live audio. A few weeks, maybe even months, down the road you get another email from your pastor. A friend of his was watching the live stream and commented on how hard it was to hear the pastor teaching, and the drums and acoustic were the only things he could hear during music. Your new charge: Fix the mix … still without any budget. Where do you go from here? To start chiseling away at the difficulties plaguing your streaming mix, you must first understand a few principles about broadcast audio vs. live audio. Broadcast audio (which is the term I most often use, because streaming is a broadcast) is an entirely different animal than live audio. In the worship center, during a service, you have the luxury of experiencing the energy (ambient sound) coming from the stage as well as the congregation singing around you. A person watching your broadcast only receives the energy coming through their earbuds or computer speakers...[continue reading]

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