Building a Video Studio for live streaming and recording

I never thought I would become a serious Pinterest user but for saving ideas from a designer perspective the platform is perfect! Everyone has a different creative process. We decided to use Pinterest and share a “board” to pin ideas during the design process. As you can see we had a couple of different ideas for background colors, decor and knick-knacks to give the space a finished look. Here are a couple of ideas to think about:

1. Background - You want your background to make your talent pop!

1. Vinyl Prints - Vinyl printing is becoming easier and more affordable than ever before. We had our 10’x8’ foot wall space printed and installed for less than $300!

2. Shelves - Shelves are obviously great for placing different items on. There is no easier way to change up your live show background than placing different objects on a shelf. Check out the pictures below for a couple ideas:

1. Foreground- A foreground can be a nice place to put products and other items on display

1. Simple Desk - A simple bar height desk is always a good option. For us it provides storage and a place to hold a computer screen which we use as a Confidence Monitor (more on that later)

2. A Bar Stool - For lower budget sets you can use a barstool without any desk. You can simply deliver you video in front of a nice background as many professionals do.

1. Extras- This is your chance to have fun!

1. Functional - Functional pieces are always ideal for a live show set if you can get away with it. A clock is great for live shows because it re-affirms the live time.

Promotional - If you sell a physical product like we do that is a perfect place to start. We also suggest “Subscribe” Pillows and physical “like” buttons… We have even created a rotating light…

Your on-set talent is perhaps the most important part of the set. Our job is to make sure our set does the talent justice and highlights their performance. When planning for your talent the best thing to start with is your main camera frame. Once you have determined which camera you will be using for your main camera shot, use it to frame out your subject.

Also, consider if your talent will be center in most cases or off center with an additional interviewee. Taking a few pictures from your main camera location in the design phase can help a lot as you layout shelves and other placements.

So, without digging into the weeds I will explain our setup and why it works for our live show and video recordings. I prefer headset microphones because they are almost always guaranteed to pick up the speakers voice without obstruction. Years ago we used wireless lapel microphones and as a power user we had inconsistent results due to the lapel placement. Lapel microphones are directional and many times we had to re-shoot video footage because a lapel microphone was attached to shirt in-correctly. Lapel microphones also pick up unwanted noise from shirts when your talent is not being mindful about what they are wearing. So the headset microphone has worked wonders for us.

We also stopped using a wireless microphone system mainly because a batteries. Our wireless Shure lapel microphone system is great for mobility but 99% of video are recorded with the talent in a single place. Again we found that forgetting to replace batteries would cause us to have to re-shoot video footage. When we started live streaming more often we also had times when the batteries died half way during the broadcast.

Ask anyone with experience live streaming and they will tell you a story about the time the audio stopped working. Audio is hands down the most important part of your video production and special attention needs to paid to your product selection and layout. On our show we use D:fine headset microphones which connect to our 18i8 USB audio interface via XLR.

When it comes to microphones, it seems like everyone has their own preference choosing between: handheld, headset and lapel. Some studios also prefer “shot-gun” microphones mounted on tripods just outside the camera view. Permanently mounted microphones are the easiest to maintain and allow the talent to walk right in without special audio setup.

So, let’s assume you have your audio sounding great. If you're like me you may be having guests on your live show. We have had guests join our live show with great quality audio and others that sound absolutely horrible. We recorded a YouTube videos series comparing microphone quality we use to prep our live show guests. It’s an interesting group of audio recordings that show: a laptop microphone, a lapel microphone, a shotgun microphone and headset.

Finally, almost everyone is using some type of USB Audio Interface these days and the good news is these devices are very affordable. We did a review of three top USB audio Interface manufacturers: Behringer, Focusrite and Presonos here: . Look for a USB interface with enough XLR inputs to fit your studio and provide phantom power when needed. You may want to consider an audio output for checking levels with a headphone set as well.

If you are bringing audio from a remote participant via Skype or Zoom… Consider using a noise gate and the audio compressor. These tools in your software can help improve the audio quality coming over the public internet. Often times I find the compressed audio coming in from a video conferencing software is usually much louder than it needs to be in a normal live stream mix.

Let’s start with a simple concept. Who is going to be your camera operator? If you are like me you might be running the entire video production yourself. In that case, it’s very nice to have a system with built-in camera control like vMix or NewTek. If you have a dedicated camera operator, you may want to consider using a joystick controller with the ability to control multiple cameras. Finally, many users only need to setup a simple webcam or a few static cameras to capture the video angles they need.

Lighting is essential to good video. In our studio our main lights are from Brightline who specialize in video conferencing and broadcast lighting. The problem with traditional fluorescent lights is that they are meant for task lighting, meaning they are built to provide light on a given surface for work. In video production we are looking for lighting that is more directional towards our talent to complement the downward lighting. In my 8 years in the industry I have never seen a better video explaining lighting than this one by Brightline. They clearly explains the need for backlight, key, fill and backlight.

In our studio, we have regular fluorescent lighting providing the basic lighting in our retrofitted conference room. We then had installed 2’x2’ brightline fixtures with directional LED lights designed for our space. The Brightline fixtures allow the cameras to focus on the light shining on our faces rather than downward light shining on a table surface. Finally, we have additional lights to provide the ever important backlight. After playing around with lighting for countless hours, I can tell you the backlight is the trickiest to get set up in my opinion. But, done correctly this is the light that really sets your talent up for a hollywood level production feel.

Depending on your talent’s preference you may want to consider using a Teleprompter. TelePrompters can easily be setup on a tripod and to allow your talent to read a script while looking directly into the camera. We have a quick video on a teleprompter setup we did with a $120 teleprompter from CaddyBuddy. Teleprompters are great for video recordings when your talent wants to make sure they hit every word in a complex speech or sales pitch delivery. In live video, we usually suggest your talent prepares with notes and bullets points for use without a teleprompter.

Confidence monitors are a great way to help your talent understand what’s going on during a live show or video recording at a glance. A confidence monitor is essential a video monitor displaying exactly whatever is live or being recorded in real time. In our course, we review two different setups for confidence monitors including a HDMI monitor and a networked laptop using the NewTek NDI. Ideally a confidence monitor is large enough so that your talent can easily read 12 point font on the screen. Therefore your screen either needs to be fairly close to your talent or be fairly large depending on your placement. We have a chart for reference below.

Lets first talk software. You can tell when a live show has someone on the team with a Photoshop skills. The ability to create custom graphics is a huge advantage for video productions because Wirecast, vMix and the NewTek Tricasters can only go so far with custom titling. Eventually you will outgrow the features built into the software you are using (I hope) and you will start looking for more interesting ways to add customized media into your vide

Photoshop is your goto software for static images. Take for example the sidebar I use for our weekly live show. This was originally designed in Photoshop and then each week I only need to update the agenda topics and import them into our live streaming software. Photoshop is a great place to start designing the look and feel for your show. Once you have piece made that you like, you can customize and change them whenever you need to.

Adobe After Effects is your goto software for moving images. Take for example our intro videos. These have been made from purchased template in Adobe after effects. A basic understanding of after effects can go a long way for video producer. Everything from simple animated lower thirds to intros and outros are made in Adobe after effects. If you are looking to add some jazz to your live show… Adobe after effects can make it happen

TIP: Don’t use huge .AVI files… Compress your files into MP4 to save processing and hard drive space. Want your files to have a transparent background? Consider using a green background and using the chroma key feature.

Hardware:

Frame grabbers are some of the most useful tools for video production studios. They can be used to troubleshoot video issues but more importantly they can capture any digital video source and convert it into USB. Once you have a Frame Grabber in your tool bad, you will be surprised how often you find different uses for it. One day I am using it capture a camera via HD-SDI and another day I am using it to capture a presenters laptop. 

Another invaluable piece of hardware we use is a document camera. Sometime we use a document camera during our live show to demonstrate detailed views of products. But more often we use the document camera to record a short video clip for opening of the box videos. Preparing short video clips before a live stream is a great way to have goto content during the show.

Finally, joystick controllers are a great goto item for camera operators. With the latest joystick controllers, users can now operate multiple camera from a single controller. There is something about a joystick that allows pretty much anybody to understand how to use the controls. Simple joysticks are now paired with keyboards which can call camera presets and switch cameras easily.

Starting off 2017 right, YouTube has just added an all new feature for their successful live streaming offering called “Super Chat”. In a recent blog post, Google describes the new feature as “a highlighted message in the chat stream that stands out from the crowd to get even more of your favorite creator’s attention.” These messages will replace the “Fan Funding” feature helping content creators monetize their channels and live broadcasts. If successful, live streaming will become the dominant avenue for content creators to monetize their content through user donations.

While YouTube itself still isn’t profitable according to Google, YouTube and Google Play still only account for 15% of total revenue for the company. This number is expected to grow to 22% of all Google revenue by 2020 partially due to increased demand for live streaming.YouTube Live is already changing the way the world thinks about live streaming. One massive feature at a time Google has been quietly creating another game changing marketplace in the backend of YouTube. Video on Demand is a $25.30 Billion dollar market which is expected to grow to $61 Billion by 2020 

Maybe, YouTube should take a hint from Facebook and add live reaction polling which has been a huge hit over on the Facebook Live platform.

In episode 18 of StreamGeeks, we go over our entire budget of $10,000 and how we spent it to build our live streaming studio. $10,000 was just enough money to build out our entire office with new IP-based networking infrastructure that we can use for live streaming in our offices and our studio. We are also able to use the NewTek NDI inside our cameras and with compatible software (Such as vMix, Wirecast and Livestream Studio) to connect all of our devices over a gigabit ethernet switch.

Budgeting for a Video Production Studio

Budgeting for Video Production Studio

So this episode we take you on a behind-the-scenes tour of how we set up our live streaming studio with a custom PC, multiple live streaming cameras and all of the hardware switchers which includes the PTZOptics IP Joystick. Paul and Tess review everything from standup desks to wall painting and budgeting for the technical equipment used in the entire office. As you can see from the picture above we spent a good amount of our budget (roughly 20%) on the gigabit networking infrastructure which includes our 5 GHz WiFi system from Ubiquiti. The television and set decor took up another 40% leaving just $4,000 for office furniture and painting. Luckily we got our entire office space for a steal (Just $13/sq/ft) and only have to pay $2,500 per month in a downtown West Chester, PA location.

Items Purchased for our Live Streaming Studio

Items for Live Streaming Studio

To build out and design our live streaming studio from scratch we use Pinterest to visualize our plan. As you can see, we purchased various items for our live streaming studio that are both functional and appealing to our target audience. We know our audience is technically inclined and perhaps a little “geeky”. So we chose furniture and shelving to help support various items that will enhance our live streaming environment. We also used our budget to build out areas of our office that are used for live streaming and spontaneous videos.

Live Streaming Budget Planning

Tess Close Up

Paul Close Up

Our Super Tech Tool!

Klein Tools Lan Scout Jr

Our super tech tool of the week has to do with setting up a managed ethernet gigabit switch for QoS quality of service. In order to do this, we had to label each one of our 24 ports and use our ubiquity management software to identify which devices require priority for live streaming video production. Since many of our ethernet cables were installed inside walls we had to use our ethernet cable checker to identify which port is connected to which device. Once we had each port on our switch labeled with the correct device we are able to prioritize our live streaming IP-based network.

Our Secondary Studio Connected over IP

Secondary Studio Connected over IP

We also demonstrate our secondary live streaming studio which is also connected to our gigabit ethernet switch. Our secondary studio allows our primary producer int he main studio to switch to a second studio seamlessly without having to leave his location or run any traditional A/V cables like HDMI or HD-SDI long distances. Since everything is connected to the network our producer only has search for the NewTek NDI sources from our secondary studio on the network and the come up automatically.

Our IP based gigabit ethernet network includes everything from IP phones to computers to printers and much more general office equipment. In order to streamline our managed gigabit ethernet network, we have to prioritize computers that are for video production and devices that are essential to low latency video streaming.

The StreamGeeks go over everything from QoS (quality of service) on their live streaming network to the importance of painting walls energizing colors in this episode. We hope you enjoy some of our live streaming in video production tips and hope to see you next week I’m stream six live broadcast Mondays at 11 AM Pacific 2 PM Eastern.

Episode 17 of stream geeks live we look at our ubiquity network set up for live streaming. At the heart of every Modred live streaming facility is an IP-based network. Paul and Tess show you thier brand new Gigabit network setup for live streaming and video production which includes a power over ethernet managed network switch, a firewall, wireless access points and much more.

Episode 17 is our very first live stream in the new studio located in downtown West Chester Pennsylvania. The stream geeks share video footage from the IP network installation which includes running ethernet cable laying through the drop ceilings and installing wireless access points throughout the building. If you’re considering setting up and IP-based live streaming system this is a great episode for you.

So we start off with our Comcast Internet service which costs $250 above and provides 150 Mb of download speed and 20 Mb of upload speed. Comcast provides an Internet router which we connect to our UGM firewall and 24 port managed ethernet switch. This ethernet switch is then connected to all of our computers, cameras, and other IP devices used for live streaming and video production.

The IT department at stream geeks chose to go with the ubiquity 24 port POE managed gigabit switch because it provide gigabit speeds ideal for video over IP. This switch can be remotely managed using the ubiquity cloud key simplifying life for our IT department.

The goal of the new office for stream gigs this to have a completely interconnected working varmint where live streaming can be spontaneously available to any employee. From our public facing YouTube and Facebook live shows to our internal spontaneous Livestreams on Facebook work place we want to have the technology available to quickly Livestream professional video content. There are for our ubiquity wireless Unifi access points have been installed throughout the building to provide high-quality band with to any device wirelessly. How 24 port managed ethernet switch provides power over ethernet to power each wireless access point. These wireless access points are fast enough to live stream low latency video directly into our video production software such as vMix wirecast or even a Newtek tri-caster. We demonstrated this today on our live stream by using an iPhone 6 to wirelessly broadcast video and audio directly into our video production.