Lesson Description
How to set up a mix for broadcasting: Part 1
12m 41s
Learn how to set up an aux output and discover some best practices when creating a discreet mix for broadcasting your service online!
Video Transcript
How to set up a mix for broadcasting: Part 1
12m 41s
00:16
For some, broadcast streaming a service might have been an afterthought
00:20
just to have something available for those who couldn’t make it into church that day.
00:25
But, streaming offers more visibility to the outside world than most people are aware of.
00:32
So, let’s put ourselves in the position of an online viewer who has just run across your church service for the first time.
00:39
Their first impression of your church will be based on what they see and hear.
00:45
This is why it’s so important that we learn how to create a broadcast stream that will keep your viewers’ attention.
00:52
To make this happen, we need to ask ourselves:
00:55
what is the main production goal that we are trying to accomplish with our live stream?
01:01
And here it is folks, the main production goal of your streaming broadcast mix
01:07
is to recreate the live worship experience as much as possible for the online viewer.
01:14
Imagine this- You can see the drummer, you can see the bass player and you can see the electric guitar player
01:22
all playing their instruments but you can’t hear them in the live stream.
01:27
You may be seeing all these people worshiping but only hearing the worship leader, a guitar and perhaps a few vocals.
01:35
Your experience as a viewer and listener is going to be underwhelming.
01:41
So, let’s dive into some best practices in broadcast mixing.
01:45
Number 1.
01:47
When it comes to capturing everything in your broadcast mix, if you want it to be heard, it needs to be miked or plugged in.
01:55
Yes, that’s right. Mic each drum, Mic your electric guitar amps.
02:01
Anything that can be plugged in through a direct box, like acoustic guitars and keys, etc.
02:07
Mic your acoustic piano. Mic your percussions if you have some.
02:12
Microphones are like ears for your broadcast mix.
02:16
Just because something is loud to your ears in the house, doesn’t mean that the broadcast mix can hear it.
02:23
Something else to consider is setting up some audience mics in the room,
02:27
preferably facing away from the main loudspeakers.
02:31
The audience involvement in worship and reactions to the pastor’s teaching are absolutely necessary in recreating the live worship experience for the online viewer.
02:42
Ok, I can hear some of you thinking, but drums, electric guitar and bass are already too loud in the house.
02:50
I can’t possible mic those.
02:53
And now we’re miking the audience too?! We can’t do that!
02:57
Well, just because it’s miked doesn’t mean it has to be in the main house mix.
03:04
Which brings us to number 2.
03:06
Create a dedicated broadcast mix for your live stream. Do not send your main house mix to your live stream.
03:14
Your main mix should be dedicated to the house only.
03:18
Remember, When you’re mixing the house, you’re accounting for acoustic noise in the room
03:23
so you may not choose to reinforce every instrument at the same volume
03:27
which, if you were sending the main mix to your live stream,
03:31
would result in a very unbalanced sounding mix for the online listeners.
03:37
So, it is super important to create a dedicated broadcast mix for your live stream.
03:43
Here’s how we’ll set that up.
03:45
I’ll be demonstrating on a QSC TouchMix 30 Pro mixer, but the concepts I’ll show you, can be applied on any console.
03:53
Your dedicated broadcast mix should be set up in stereo,
03:57
even if you’re running your house system in mono.
04:00
So, to begin, choose 2 output channels. I choose auxes 7 and 8.
04:09
Step 2, Link your aux or bus outputs to create a stereo mix.
04:15
The TouchMix allows you link channels in “obvious pairs”,
04:18
always starting with odd numbers. This is why I’m starting on Aux 7.
04:24
So, on my mixer I will choose aux 7. Then click in the grey area above the master fader of aux 7.
04:32
This brings up my output channel parameters. Then I will choose set up.
04:37
Right here is the link button.
04:40
It asks me to confirm that I want to link channels. And Voila!
04:45
I know my channels are linked because aux 7 and 8 have been combined into one box over here on the left.
04:52
Another indication that they are linked, is that the master faders for aux 7 and 8 now move together.
05:00
Now, we need to hook up our dedicated stereo mix to whatever video capture device is being used.
05:06
That could be a smart device via an audio interface, video camera, or a video switcher.
05:14
Take the broadcast outputs from your mixer, in this case 7 and 8
05:18
and plug them into your video capture device.
05:21
7 would be plugged in to the left channel of your video
05:25
and 8 will be plugged into the right channel of your video.
05:29
Ok, so now on to number 3 of our best practices for broadcast mixing.
05:34
Make use of your stereo field.
05:37
We are going to pan instruments to the left and right of our stereo field.
05:43
This helps create delineation between instruments resulting in a wider, fuller sounding mix.
05:49
Generally, when applying panning for a broadcast mix,
05:54
you’ll want to place instruments in your sonic landscape according to where the musicians are positioned on stage.
06:01
I remember mixing broadcast for my church several years ago
06:05
and the tech director came in, looked at my TV monitor and listened to my mix and said,
06:11
“Why is your electric guitar mixed to the right and he’s standing on the left. Fix it!”
06:18
Ok, so let’s take a look at our TouchMix 30 Pro and set the panning for the instruments in our mix.
06:26
Kick and snare will remain in the center in the mix.
06:29
Hi-hat I will panned 70-80% to the right because that’s where it is located on the drum kit.
06:36
Your first rack tom might be panned 50% to the right.
06:40
Middle tom up the center and your floor tom 60 to 70% to the left.
06:47
Your overheads should be panned about 80 to 90% left and right.
06:53
Keyboards are generally panned hard left and hard right if they are playing ambient pads or rhythm parts.
06:59
If you have a second keyboard you could pan it 50% to the left and right.
07:05
If a keyboard is generally playing lead lines you might consider panning it according to their position on stage.
07:12
Acoustic guitar, which is in many cases what a worship leader might be playing,
07:16
can be mixed slightly to either the left or right depending on where your other instruments are in your stereo field.
07:24
If you have 2 acoustic guitars, panned them slightly opposite of each other.
07:30
Electric guitars will normally be panned according to where they’re standing.
07:34
If there are 2 electric guitars on stage pan them opposite of each other to create delineation between the 2.
07:41
Components of your mix that will generally be mixed up the center would be, Bass guitar, vocals and worship tracks if you are using those.
07:50
All spoken word should remain mixed in the center.
07:55
And number 4 in our best practices for broadcast mixing:
08:01
Pay close attention to the amount of effects in your broadcast mix during your worship time.
08:07
When used in the proper amount, one thing FX will do for the musical portion of your broadcast mix,
08:14
is to help the feeling of being in the room with the audience.
08:19
If you've listened to your mics in the broadcast mix without FX, you’ll find they’re very, very dry and in your face.
08:27
Our goal is to re-create the live worship experience. That means re-creating the room sound as well.
08:35
As you’re listening to your mix, use your ear when adjusting the FX masters for your broadcast.
08:42
You don’t want your band to feel like it’s swimming in effects
08:45
but you do want the feeling of space. Effects like reverb and or delay will do that for you.
08:52
So, some of you are probably wondering, “You talked about audience mics, why can’t I just use those to re-create the room sound.”
09:01
Good thinking. And yes, you can totally do that.
09:05
Some amount of audience mics definitely helps with that. But, here’s some things to watch out for.
09:12
If you use too much of your audience mics, you’ll hear your mix start to hollow out and loose clarity.
09:20
Much of this has to do with the time delay of the sound from the main loudspeakers reaching those audience mics.
09:27
The best way to use those audience mics is to ride them throughout the worship time.
09:33
When the band is playing you can set them low enough so that your mix doesn’t sound hollow,
09:39
but when there are acapella sections, push them out there so you can really here the audience voices.
09:47
Push those audience mics out at those times when the audience is responding or clapping.
09:53
Whatever, the case may be.
09:55
Now, during the teaching I usually keep the audience mics at an amount where you can hear audience response,
10:02
but not too high so that the speaker does not lose clarity.
10:06
Ok, on to number 5 in our best practices for broadcast mixing.
10:11
Monitor your broadcast meters so that they’re hitting near the same level throughout your service.
10:19
When sitting inside your church’s meeting place,
10:22
it’s expected that the dynamics of the worship music will often be louder than the spoken word.
10:28
However, for those participating online,
10:31
it’s expected that the level will remain somewhat constant between the music and the spoken word.
10:37
And here’s the truth of the matter:
10:40
The online listener should never have to adjust their volume.
10:44
It’s the job of the person running the broadcast mix to monitor the broadcast meters and make the proper adjustments during the service
10:53
so that those meters are hitting at about the same level all the time.
10:57
If this is not done properly, the viewers at home will constantly have to adjust their TV, laptops,
11:04
or smartphone volumes up and down throughout the service and that can be frustrating and take away from the experience.
11:13
Here are a few tips to help you manage your broadcast meters.
11:17
First: The output meter for your broadcast mix needs to be in front of you at all times.
11:24
Whether that means customizing your fader banks on your console to include the broadcast meter
11:29
or using an iPad or tablet to display it in front of you,
11:33
that meter and access to the broadcast master fader needs to be in your line of sight always.
11:41
Second: You’ll notice that you need to push the level on the spoken word in your broadcast mix
11:46
quite a bit in order to keep your broadcast master meter near the same level as the worship music.
11:52
Third: Don’t over compress your master broadcast signal as a means to control levels.
11:59
Over compressing a signal really affects the quality of the audio in an adverse way.
12:05
It’s a good idea to use a limiter on your broadcast signal, but only to help prevent clipping of the audio signal going into the video.
12:11
For example if there’s a sudden change in level or if say someone drops a mic, God forbid,
12:18
that limiter will catch it and keep the audio from clipping in the video.
12:23
So, you have it, everyone. Best practices for creating your broadcast mix.
12:29
In Part 2 we’ll look at three different ways you an actively manage your broadcast mix while broadcasting live.
12:36
Move on whenever you’re ready.
Downloads and Links
How to set up a mix for broadcasting: Part 1
12m 41s