You may be asking why everyone is live streaming. Businesses are doing it, individuals are doing it, and now a lot of non-profits and even schools are doing it, but what's the big deal?

The Benefit of Live Streaming

Social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube have become the hub for communities in the past decade. People of all ages flock to these platforms to join their communities in conversation and to enjoy sharing content. Covid-19 has also forced most communities online and now social media platforms are one of the only ways people can continue to stay together. As a non-profit or a school, you probably have a Facebook Page and maybe even some Facebook Groups. People can share information and have conversations in the comment section, but it still doesn't seem like a real conversation. This is because it's not an active conversation. When people post and comment it's intermittent; there’s no instant shared dialogue. Live streaming solves this issue by allowing people to have an active conversation, and also allows the presenter to interact with their audience in real-time. Being able to interact with each other via live streaming leads to a more active community.

Another important aspect of live streaming is the ability to rewatch the stream on YouTube and Facebook. If someone in your community missed the stream they can always rewatch it. Not only can people have an active conversation, but they can also rewatch the stream to check back on the conversation and revisit parts of the stream. This is even better than having a physical class or even a meeting.

Why Non-Profits and Schools Should Live Stream

Since live streaming allows your community to connect in real-time, there’s a multitude of events you can host via live streams. Answer questions in real-time while broadcasting a class. Get feedback from your partners and community during a non-profit weekly update. Host staff or employee training and interact with them during your training to increase involvement. That’s only a few different ways live streaming can help benefit your non-profit or school.

How to Live Stream

Of course, you could use an iPhone as a camera but according to live streaming company Livestream, “67% of viewers say the quality is an important factor when watching a live stream.” Smartphones don’t produce the best quality footage. We suggest using a 4K camera like the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K (BMPCC) for better detail and clarity in your live streams. Even though your live streams will be delivered in 1080p HD, shooting in 4K enhances the amount of detail in your footage leading to a visibly better quality live stream.

You’ll also need good quality audio. Using a lavaliere mic looks the most natural since they can clip on your shirt. A good shotgun mic like the Sennheiser MKH 416 is a step up in price but can be off-camera to look even more natural than a lavalier. Matt Valentin has many different audio solutions for high-quality audio.

If you plan on using more than one camera, you’ll need a video switcher like the Blackmagic Atem Mini Pro. With this device, you can choose which angle looks the best and show that angle with the press of a button. You can also use this device to broadcast to Facebook and YouTube Live.

You’ll also need good lighting. Cameras need a good amount of light to have a clear image. If you’ve ever tried using your smartphone in low light, oftentimes when there’s no sunlight, you can get a grainy image. The same thing happens to other cameras. Using a couple Aputure MC’s can help brighten up your scene and give your camera enough light to produce clear footage. You can set one camera towards your face as a key light and set the other in the background as a fill light. This often sets a halo-like effect around the head showing the contours and gives more depth to your footage. Just having these two lights can greatly improve your footage.

After you have all your equipment, you’re ready to start live streaming. Using software like OBS will take your footage and audio and send it to a live stream distribution service like Restream. Restream sends your broadcast to Facebook Live, YouTube Live, and other platforms simultaneously. You’ll need to ensure all your camera, audio, and stream settings are chosen carefully to successfully broadcast your live stream.

Summary

There’s no doubt that live streaming brings communities together online. No other digital experience brings you real-time conversations and interaction with the added benefit of re-watching the event.

It’s also incredibly easy to get started with live streaming and as long as you have the right equipment you can produce high-quality live streams for your community to enjoy.

We understand it can be overwhelming to start live streaming with the amount of equipment and having to choose the right settings, that’s why people trust Matt Valentin to produce their live streams. Matt Valentin has high-end professional live streaming equipment with multiple cinematic 4K cameras, professional video switching, various LED video lighting options, and the personnel to produce an extremely high-quality live stream event.

If you want to reduce stress and simply produce a high-quality live stream for your community whether you’re an educator or a non-profit looking to inform your community, hire Matt Valentin.

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Live streaming has quickly become the most consumed form of streaming media. According to the live streaming o.g. Livestream, "80% of consumers prefer to watch live videos from a brand than read a blog". Live streaming technology continues to advance, putting cinematic quality streams in the hands of prosumers. Now you can bring cinema level quality to your own online live music performances more affordably than ever before. It's exciting knowing you'll be interacting with a live audience, potentially from more than your home city or state. Live streaming allows you to garner broad exposure across a multitude of demographics and reach people you never thought was possible.

Preparing for a Live Stream Performance

It's important to remember the 6 P's: prior preparation and planning prevents poor performance. Being prepared will ensure your performance goes smoothly, and your audience stays engaged. Keeping your audience interested makes your view count remain high. The more people watching and active in the chat brings you more exposure and views on any platform, whether you're going live on Facebook, YouTube, or Instagram.

Choosing a Live Streaming Location
Live Streaming Cameras
Live Streaming Video Switcher
Live Stream Video Lighting Equipment
High-Quality Live Streaming Audio Equipment

Choosing a Live Streaming Location

One of the most important first steps is choosing a location. Make sure your location will have an ample amount of space for your performance to look natural and comfortable. If you're comfortable, your audience will be too. Make sure you'll have enough space for your entire band and production crew to maneuver freely. Take into consideration the amount of equipment that will be on set. Your location should match the mood of your performance. Pay close attention to the materials used in the space you choose. For instance, brick walls, and dark rustic wood floors suggest a more raw and intense vibe whereas clean white walls with pristine marble floors present a gentler mood. Wide-open space with high ceilings and smooth one-color walls versus a smaller room with eclectic wallpaper and low ceilings establish vastly different moods. Carefully consider these things. You'll find the perfect location will captivate your audience, but that's only one aspect to the many necessary for a successful live stream.

Building the Perfect Live Streaming Set

You'll have to pay close attention to how you position your band and equipment on set. Do you want them to be facing one direction? Maybe you favor a circle or even half circle setup. It's important to solidify the positioning of your band on set to make sure you get the best camera angles while live streaming. You also want to make sure your film crew can move about freely. No one wants to see a camera go down from tripping on a mic stand or some wires. Know exactly what camera angles you want to present. This will help establish the best positioning for your band and will give better direction to your film crew. You'll also want to minimize the amount of equipment on set. If an amp or stands don't need to be there, they should be removed off set. There shouldn't be a lot to take in besides you and your performance. Keep other items like plants or random furniture to a minimum as well. If a stool is on set but doesn't need to be used, remove it. On the other hand, don't be afraid to use plants or other objects like home furnishings to spruce up your set. Keep it to a minimum but if an item will bring some extra interest to your set without being too distracting and it can be out of the way of your band and film crew, use it. Be creative, but keep things clean. Keep your wires and equipment tidy and out of sight if possible. This will ensure a distraction-free live streaming set.

Live Streaming Cameras

Using the right cameras, like the Blackmagic 4K Pocket Cinema Cameras, will ensure your live stream will look professional. People won't stay long if your live stream looks low-budget and low-quality. The human eye is drawn to clear, detailed footage. That's why people are so adamant about buying and viewing on devices that have higher and higher resolution. We're at 8K now, which is extremely high resolution, even greater than what the human eye can perceive to be good quality versus 4K. The greater the resolution the more detail can fit on a screen. People can definitely tell a difference between a 720p video and a 1080p HD video. With our devices now having such high resolutions, it's clear when people upload in lower resolutions. The best resolution for live streams is 1080p. This is a great middle-ground for both quality and deliverability for your live stream video. However, even though you may be streaming in full 1080p HD the quality is handicapped by data speed and streaming platforms. Less video information means less wifi or cellular data consumed by your device. That's really important to the internet provides so their customers don't complain about slow internet, thus why Facebook and Youtube have compression. Facebook and YouTube compress your live stream video causing some of the information to be removed to improve the delivery of the content. When everyone uses less data, everyone gets faster internet. Make sense? There's one issue though. The compression causes your live stream video to lose some quality, but it's more obvious when your footage is already at a lower quality or resolution like 720p. Usually, Full HD video cameras are the standard for live streaming, but 4K cameras are even better. Cameras capable of capturing 4K when scaled down to 1080p HD will look more detailed than a camera that can only shoot in full HD. This is because their sensors capture more information, but serve the footage in a 1080p format. Luckily, Matt Valentin uses 4K cinema cameras for high-end visual clarity. This ensures your live stream video looks clear and detailed.

Live Streaming Video Switcher

Another essential piece of equipment is a video switcher, like the Blackmagic Atem Mini Pro. This takes the feed from multiple cameras and broadcasts the one you choose. Using multiple camera angles makes your event more interesting to your audience and using a video switcher makes showing the best angle a breeze. Matt Valentin uses a professional-grade full HD video switcher that can easily show the best shot at the proper time.

Live Stream Video Lighting Equipment

It's extremely important to use film lighting to achieve a well-lit video set. Cameras need plenty of light to produce a clear image. Without proper lighting, you'll need to increase your camera's ISO setting which causes digital noise, distorting your footage. You'll also want to use lights to adjust the mood of the set's atmosphere. Your performance has a deeper impact when every aspect including lights sets the tone. Color changing LED lighting systems are incredibly important for this reason and Matt Valentin uses a variety of LED lighting equipment to achieve the perfect atmosphere for any performance.

High-Quality Live Streaming Audio Equipment

For the best representation of your music, you'll need to use high-quality audio gear, including microphones, monitors, and a soundboard. You may need to use house speakers if you're playing for a live audience, but for a dedicated live stream performance, house speakers are not necessary and can complicate things for the mixing engineer. Matt Valentin offers a light PA system for simple speaking live streams. It's best to provide audio gear for your live streaming performances since you'll know exactly what equipment you need for your whole band.

Putting Everything Together

Now that you've got your location, your set, and all your equipment, you're ready to bring the best performance to live stream platforms and reach a broader audience than a single location could.

But what if you don't have access to cinema-grade cameras or a full RGB LED lighting system, or have the money to purchase a video switcher and all the other gear mentioned in this article. Matt Valentin has you covered starting only at $500. Matt works from the ground up and can help you plan your entire live stream performance from start to finish. Matt Valentin makes the process simple and easy. He can work with you to find the perfect location, design the best set for you and your crew, and provide all the video equipment and crew necessary to produce a high-quality, full HD live stream that will make a huge impact on streaming platforms. If you're ready to perform live and want to get started, reach out to Matt Valentin and...

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Use the form below to get started on your next live stream project.