The Best Live Streaming Guide for Musicians in 2020
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...
Let's Do This!