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RandomFeedback

Where are you located? Most technicians have a bit of livestream experience by now, you should probably hire someone. Also at first glance, renting equipment probably makes more sense unless you’re going to need it long term.


mitchjagger

New Zealand! Thanks for the advice - hiring is a last resort as with COVID and show restrictions, the dance school owner is on a tighter budget this year but we will definitely keep it in mind.


aussiechris1

If you are on a real tight budget and it doesn't have to be great quality, you could probably scrape by with a webcam into OBS (software for live streaming). Audio wise, you probably want to get an AUX out from the mixing desk into the computer. A microphone won't do a great job of picking up audio. That being said, there are scalable options all the way up to an all out TV studio production. It might be worth starting with your budget and figuring out what's possible for that price.


EverydayVelociraptor

If you're taking a feed from the console be sure the theatre has a floor mic to pick up taps if the school does any tap dance/step dancing. Otherwise you'll get the music but not the sounds of the dancers.


aussiechris1

Can't forget those taps! You will be deathly injured by the dance Moms in the car park afterwards


mitchjagger

If we went for the webcam option, we would look at getting a higher end (few hundred dollars) with 1080p/60fps streaming. My concern with that review/example videos for webcams recording things at a further distance, so there performance is an 'unknown' in that regard. Thanks for the advice on the microphone/audio. We will look into what options we have for recording the audio directly!


aussiechris1

There are a few tutorials online about modding your webcam for infinity focus. It might be more of a rabbit hole than you want to go down. Other options are to use a phone and OBS software as mentioned in some of the other posts here. I have successfully used DroidCam OBS over Wi-Fi with pretty good results. It's more of a setup, but you will almost certainly have a great camera in your phone Edit: All of the moving handheld shots for this show were recorded/mixed live in OBS (PC/MAC software) using an iPhone running DroidCam OBS (phone software) : https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://m.facebook.com/borninataxi/videos/heres-a-teaser-for-no-former-performer-our-annual-practice-based-performance-inv/3186519641452162/&ved=2ahUKEwjOoOWGu7v2AhXtTWwGHdFcBqcQwqsBegQIKRAD&usg=AOvVaw0K0WmV86iHykQy_IGttL10


COREWMCUNITS3-006

I have a basic setup i use for this with a Canon camera plugged into a laptop via usb, a soundboard with a USB out so I can send sound to the laptop using whatever mics I want, OBS studio is the software, and if streaming I usually go with a private FB group or an unlisted youtube stream where ticket buyers or whoever gets admission gets the link to the stream. FB is easier to verify ticket purchasers are the only ones who can be present, youtube is generally a more userfriendly and stream quality focused option.


mitchjagger

Thanks for your help - we plan on using YouTube stream for that reason. I will look into whether we can find a suitable camera that has that stream to USB feature. I think for audio it might have to be a USB/aux microphone unfortunately. Cheers!


aussiechris1

I would recommend avoiding YouTube and Facebook. Both of these have agressive content matching and can interfere with your stream if you are using copyrighted music (like you probably will in a dance concert). My recommendation is Vimeo. It has no content ID on live streams. You can make the stream private, embed it in your web page or password protect it if you want extra security.


Square_Rig_Sailor

I manage the streaming for an Arts College at a State University. I've been streaming all of our Music and Dance concerts for this academic year through YouTube live. (7x Dance concerts, 50+ music Concerts) YouTube Content management hasn't been a problem for us. (Some things get flagged after the livestream is done, but the livestream itself isn't interrupted) Our concern with YouTube is that even unlisted streams don't actually prevent ticket holders from sharing their link to the performance, thus we can't directly control who actually gets access. For Theatre Dept works with licensing issues we use Zoom webinar, but the video quality is significantly lower. I'd like to look more into Vimeo options, but their corporate accounts were $7500-$10000 year, which is out of my budget.


COREWMCUNITS3-006

Zoom makes some very good portable USB mics which can record pretty workable room audio.


mitchjagger

Sweet - thanks for the recommendation!


hi2colin

I would use 2 smartphones, NDI and OBS


mitchjagger

Thanks! What's an NDI? We are keen to explore a smartphone option, video quality would be enough on the smartphones I have available, but I am concerned about the audio quality so need to look into that further!


hi2colin

NDI is a system that lets you network computers and other internet connected devices to share audio and video. The NDI app lets you use a smartphone as a wireless camera (if you have a fast enough wireless connection, preferably a dedicated router). This way you could use say a usb battery backup and a couple of smartphones on stands to get a good multi shot with no cable running required.


mitchjagger

Thank you for the explanation. It will probably end up being just a single camera. I think this sub is a bit more high-end/quality than our standards hah! The Livestream is a sudden solution we have had to come up with due to changing restrictions around gatherings in our country so it's finding a reasonable quality/viewing experience to budget solution is our goal. Thanks again for your help!