Twelve Technical and Non-Technical Tips for Live Streaming Musical Performances –
Tip 10 ‘Start Your Live Stream BEFORE the Start of Your Actual Performance’
Author: Chris Thompson P. Eng.
[email protected]
613-692-5380
Date: November 18, 2020
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and are not necessarily those of Ottawa Jazz Happenings or of JazzWorks Canada.
Note: Since the beginning of April I've acquired a fair depth and breadth of practical knowledge regarding live streaming musical performances, due to a) my two week technical investigation of Facebook Live and YouTube Live at the beginning of April (see 'Background' below), and b) my organizing the ZOLAS stay-at-home live stream jazz performance series including, as required, mentoring series performers using a range of physical setups on doing live streams (see 'Background' below). Please feel free to phone me (613-692-5380) or email me ([email protected]) if you would like any advice on/assistance with live streaming your musical performance(s). My fee is a donation of whatever you feel is appropriate to the GoFundMe campaign for the ZOLAS series, every penny of which (after advertising expenses and GoFundMe's service charge) will go to covering performers' fees.
Introduction
This is the tenth in a series of twelve articles. Each article discusses in detail a technical or non-technical tip for doing live streamed musical performances. This article discusses Tip 10 ‘Start your live stream BEFORE the start of your actual performance’.
Note: Since the beginning of April I've acquired a fair depth and breadth of practical knowledge regarding live streaming musical performances, due to a) my two week technical investigation of Facebook Live and YouTube Live at the beginning of April (see 'Background' below), and b) my organizing the ZOLAS stay-at-home live stream jazz performance series including, as required, mentoring series performers using a range of physical setups on doing live streams (see 'Background' below). Please feel free to phone me (613-692-5380) or email me ([email protected]) if you would like any advice on/assistance with live streaming your musical performance(s). My fee is a donation of whatever you feel is appropriate to the GoFundMe campaign for the ZOLAS series, every penny of which (after advertising expenses and GoFundMe's service charge) will go to covering performers' fees.
Introduction
This is the tenth in a series of twelve articles. Each article discusses in detail a technical or non-technical tip for doing live streamed musical performances. This article discusses Tip 10 ‘Start your live stream BEFORE the start of your actual performance’.
Tip 10 – Start Your Live Stream BEFORE the Start of Your Actual Performance
This article assumes that the live stream is initiated using Facebook Live. My June 24th, 2020, article ‘Twelve Technical and non-Technical Tips for Live Streaming Musical Performances – Tip 3 ‘Use Facebook Live If Viewers Will Access Your Live Stream On Facebook’’ recommends using Facebook Live instead of YouTube Live for what I refer to as ‘live live streams’ which use Facebook for promoting and providing access to the live streams. My June 24th article also discusses the differences between Facebook Live (‘live live streams’) and Facebook Premiere (what I refer to as ‘pre-recorded live streams’) for live streamed musical performances. Most ZOLAS live stream performers to date (sixteen out of nineteen) have used Facebook Live (as opposed to Facebook Premiere) for their live streams. This was the performers’ choice.
ZOLAS live stream performances start at 7 pm. I ask all ZOLAS live stream performers using Facebook Live to start their live streams twenty minutes earlier – at 6:40 pm, and from 6:40 pm to 7 pm to have a sign for the video just to reassure people what’s going on. The sign doesn’t have to be anything fancy – a hand-written sign on a music stand like the one in Image 1 is fine.
This article assumes that the live stream is initiated using Facebook Live. My June 24th, 2020, article ‘Twelve Technical and non-Technical Tips for Live Streaming Musical Performances – Tip 3 ‘Use Facebook Live If Viewers Will Access Your Live Stream On Facebook’’ recommends using Facebook Live instead of YouTube Live for what I refer to as ‘live live streams’ which use Facebook for promoting and providing access to the live streams. My June 24th article also discusses the differences between Facebook Live (‘live live streams’) and Facebook Premiere (what I refer to as ‘pre-recorded live streams’) for live streamed musical performances. Most ZOLAS live stream performers to date (sixteen out of nineteen) have used Facebook Live (as opposed to Facebook Premiere) for their live streams. This was the performers’ choice.
ZOLAS live stream performances start at 7 pm. I ask all ZOLAS live stream performers using Facebook Live to start their live streams twenty minutes earlier – at 6:40 pm, and from 6:40 pm to 7 pm to have a sign for the video just to reassure people what’s going on. The sign doesn’t have to be anything fancy – a hand-written sign on a music stand like the one in Image 1 is fine.
Image 1
I also ask ZOLAS live stream performers to have some background music playing from 6:40 pm until 7 pm. This could be a stereo system in the same room playing and being picked up by the vocal microphone – I suggest that the microphone level not be changed for the background music, in case the performer forgets to change the level back for their live stream (this has happened in at least one case). Alternatively, if the performer is using a mixer as the audio source for their live stream, this could be background music from a separate device – i.e. not the device used to initiate the live stream – such as an iPod, plugged into the mixer using, for example, a stereo mini plug to RCA phono plug cable. See my July 29th, 2020, article ‘Twelve Technical and non-Technical Tips for Live Streaming Musical Performances – Tip 7 ‘Use an External Audio Source For Your Live Stream’’ and my September 9th, 2020, article ‘Twelve Technical and non-Technical Tips for Live Streaming Musical Performances – Tip 9 ‘Mic Your Performance for Recording – NOT a Live Performance – When Using a Mixer as Your External Audio Source’’.
There are three reasons for these requests:
1. When the performer initiates their live stream, Facebook Live creates a public ‘live stream post’ on the Facebook page on which the live stream has been initiated. This can be either a personal Facebook page (i.e. has Facebook ‘friends’) or a professional Facebook page (i.e. has Facebook ‘followers’). The twenty minutes from 6:40 pm to 7 pm (when the actual performance starts) gives me time to a) find the live stream post, and b) share it to ZOLAS' and JazzWorks’ Facebook pages, with a different introduction for each. This also gives the performer time to share the the live stream post on their personal Facebook page, if they initiated the live stream on their professional Facebook page, or vice versa. In addition, where there are two or more performers (e.g. a vocalist and an accompanist), it gives the other performer(s) time to share the the live stream post on their personal and/or professional Facebook pages.
Note: ZOLAS live stream performances are promoted on ZOLAS' and JazzWorks’ Facebook pages, and I encourage performers to promote their live streams on their own Facebook pages. My approach is that a viewer should be able to access a given live stream on whichever Facebook page they saw it promoted. This allows promotional posts to say “You can access the live stream right here on this Facebook page”, which makes it easier for viewers to find the live stream posts, since they don’t have to go to unfamiliar Facebook pages.
2. This lets viewers a) find the live stream post, and b) make sure that their audio and video are working before the actual performance starts. Viewers have told me that they really appreciate this (I’m one of them) and that, with live stream performances that don’t do this, they’re often several minutes into the performance before they’ve found the live stream post and gotten their video and audio working properly.
Note: I watch ZOLAS (and other) live stream performances on our home theatre system using a lightning-to-HDMI dongle (example) and a 12’ HDMI cable (example) which plugs into our TV. I much prefer this solution to a) trying to access the live stream on our smart TV (the web browser user interface is hopeless), or b) a wireless connection between my iPad and our smart TV, because it’s ‘plug-and-play’ with no setup on the iPad or TV required (except selecting the appropriate HDMI input on the TV). I connect my iPad to our TV using the dongle and HDMI cable, select the appropriate HDMI input on the TV, and the iPad screen is automatically ‘mirrored’ on the TV screen, and the iPad audio automatically plays through our home theatre sound system. How cool is that! I need a few minutes to physically set this up, find the live stream post, and ensure that the video and audio are working properly before the performance starts.
3. This lets the performer make sure their audio and video are working before the actual performance starts, through viewers’ comments or, in the case of the ZOLAS live streams, my noticing that something is wrong. As discussed in my September 23rd, 2020, article ‘Twelve Technical and non-Technical Tips for Live Streaming Musical Performances – Tip 5 UPDATED ‘Do NOT Use a Computer For Your Live Stream’’, in the case of Roddy Ellias’s September 15th, 2020 ZOLAS live stream I noticed that there was no background music and phoned Roddy. During the first few minutes of the video of the live stream you can hear Roddy and me on the phone discussing the issue. If there had been no background music, the viewers and I wouldn’t have known that there was no audio until Roddy started his actual performance, which would have been much more disruptive to his performance.
IMPORTANT: For Rachelle Behrens’ and Alex Moxon’s November 17th, 2020 ZOLAS live stream, the background music that was being streamed before 7 pm was an American commercial jazz radio station. A few minutes before 7 pm, Facebook terminated the live stream and sent Rachelle the Matching Content Notice in Image 2 below.
There are three reasons for these requests:
1. When the performer initiates their live stream, Facebook Live creates a public ‘live stream post’ on the Facebook page on which the live stream has been initiated. This can be either a personal Facebook page (i.e. has Facebook ‘friends’) or a professional Facebook page (i.e. has Facebook ‘followers’). The twenty minutes from 6:40 pm to 7 pm (when the actual performance starts) gives me time to a) find the live stream post, and b) share it to ZOLAS' and JazzWorks’ Facebook pages, with a different introduction for each. This also gives the performer time to share the the live stream post on their personal Facebook page, if they initiated the live stream on their professional Facebook page, or vice versa. In addition, where there are two or more performers (e.g. a vocalist and an accompanist), it gives the other performer(s) time to share the the live stream post on their personal and/or professional Facebook pages.
Note: ZOLAS live stream performances are promoted on ZOLAS' and JazzWorks’ Facebook pages, and I encourage performers to promote their live streams on their own Facebook pages. My approach is that a viewer should be able to access a given live stream on whichever Facebook page they saw it promoted. This allows promotional posts to say “You can access the live stream right here on this Facebook page”, which makes it easier for viewers to find the live stream posts, since they don’t have to go to unfamiliar Facebook pages.
2. This lets viewers a) find the live stream post, and b) make sure that their audio and video are working before the actual performance starts. Viewers have told me that they really appreciate this (I’m one of them) and that, with live stream performances that don’t do this, they’re often several minutes into the performance before they’ve found the live stream post and gotten their video and audio working properly.
Note: I watch ZOLAS (and other) live stream performances on our home theatre system using a lightning-to-HDMI dongle (example) and a 12’ HDMI cable (example) which plugs into our TV. I much prefer this solution to a) trying to access the live stream on our smart TV (the web browser user interface is hopeless), or b) a wireless connection between my iPad and our smart TV, because it’s ‘plug-and-play’ with no setup on the iPad or TV required (except selecting the appropriate HDMI input on the TV). I connect my iPad to our TV using the dongle and HDMI cable, select the appropriate HDMI input on the TV, and the iPad screen is automatically ‘mirrored’ on the TV screen, and the iPad audio automatically plays through our home theatre sound system. How cool is that! I need a few minutes to physically set this up, find the live stream post, and ensure that the video and audio are working properly before the performance starts.
3. This lets the performer make sure their audio and video are working before the actual performance starts, through viewers’ comments or, in the case of the ZOLAS live streams, my noticing that something is wrong. As discussed in my September 23rd, 2020, article ‘Twelve Technical and non-Technical Tips for Live Streaming Musical Performances – Tip 5 UPDATED ‘Do NOT Use a Computer For Your Live Stream’’, in the case of Roddy Ellias’s September 15th, 2020 ZOLAS live stream I noticed that there was no background music and phoned Roddy. During the first few minutes of the video of the live stream you can hear Roddy and me on the phone discussing the issue. If there had been no background music, the viewers and I wouldn’t have known that there was no audio until Roddy started his actual performance, which would have been much more disruptive to his performance.
IMPORTANT: For Rachelle Behrens’ and Alex Moxon’s November 17th, 2020 ZOLAS live stream, the background music that was being streamed before 7 pm was an American commercial jazz radio station. A few minutes before 7 pm, Facebook terminated the live stream and sent Rachelle the Matching Content Notice in Image 2 below.
Image 2
My understanding from the above Matching Content Notice is that the issue wasn’t that a radio station was being streamed, but rather the content that the radio station was streaming. Therefore, going forward I’ll suggest that ZOLAS live stream performers use as background music their own music, or at least music that is less likely to be flagged by Facebook. That said, this is the first time in nineteen ZOLAS live streams that this has been an issue. Note that Rachelle’s and Alex’s live stream was re-initiated and they started their performance which was a great show and had no further issues.
I’ve had some ‘push-back’ from at least one ZOLAS performer to this twenty minutes, since the twenty minutes becomes the first part of the recorded video of the live stream performance. However, I feel that the disadvantage of having to ‘shuttle’ through the first twenty minutes of the video of a live stream by moving the slider to the right in order to get to where the actual performance starts is greatly outweighed by the reasons above. In fact, if you think of this as ‘doors open at 6:40 pm’, then starting the live stream before the performance seems obvious. Imagine a live performance starting at 7 pm where the doors open at 7 pm – the performers have already started playing while audience members are coming in, finding their seats, taking off their coats, and getting ready.
If you don’t need to share your (non ZOLAS) live stream post on any other Facebook pages, then you don’t need to start your live stream twenty minutes before the start of your actual performance. I suggest that, in this case, you start your live stream five or ten minutes before the start of your actual performance to let viewers a) find your live stream post, and b) make sure that their audio and video are working before the actual performance starts.
I’ve had some ‘push-back’ from at least one ZOLAS performer to this twenty minutes, since the twenty minutes becomes the first part of the recorded video of the live stream performance. However, I feel that the disadvantage of having to ‘shuttle’ through the first twenty minutes of the video of a live stream by moving the slider to the right in order to get to where the actual performance starts is greatly outweighed by the reasons above. In fact, if you think of this as ‘doors open at 6:40 pm’, then starting the live stream before the performance seems obvious. Imagine a live performance starting at 7 pm where the doors open at 7 pm – the performers have already started playing while audience members are coming in, finding their seats, taking off their coats, and getting ready.
If you don’t need to share your (non ZOLAS) live stream post on any other Facebook pages, then you don’t need to start your live stream twenty minutes before the start of your actual performance. I suggest that, in this case, you start your live stream five or ten minutes before the start of your actual performance to let viewers a) find your live stream post, and b) make sure that their audio and video are working before the actual performance starts.
Background
I got involved with live streaming at the end of March 2020 when ZOLAS restaurant and pasta shop in Ottawa’s West End asked me to help them with live streaming performances by their jazz performers in order to help support their takeout and delivery business during this very difficult time for restaurants. I had been booking the performers for their ‘Live Jazz Saturday Nights’ program for the previous two years. Being an engineer (and borderline OCD – not a job requirement, but definitely an asset), I spent a couple of weeks investigating Facebook Live and YouTube Live from a technical perspective. I set up numerous end-to-end test live streams in order to understand how the two services work, understand the differences, and identify serious and less serious issues. These tests included (successfully) using as the audio source a USB microphone, a sound system (USB and non-USB mixers), and a high quality digital audio recorder.
I’m a retired Professional Engineer (degree in Electrical Engineering). I worked for 23 years at Bell-Northern Research/Nortel in Ottawa, Canada, designing telecommunications services. I’ve been playing drums and electric bass in gigging big bands and small jazz ensembles since 1970 (fifty years!). Playing in bands kept me sane when I was in school and working, and is now (or at least it has been until this year) my major retirement activity. I’m currently the drummer in the big band Standing Room Only and was the bass player in the bossa nova trio Wave until it disbanded (pun intended) in December 2019. Having a technical background and being a gigging musician is proving very valuable for my involvement with live streaming musical performances, since I can bridge the two areas.
I got involved with live streaming at the end of March 2020 when ZOLAS restaurant and pasta shop in Ottawa’s West End asked me to help them with live streaming performances by their jazz performers in order to help support their takeout and delivery business during this very difficult time for restaurants. I had been booking the performers for their ‘Live Jazz Saturday Nights’ program for the previous two years. Being an engineer (and borderline OCD – not a job requirement, but definitely an asset), I spent a couple of weeks investigating Facebook Live and YouTube Live from a technical perspective. I set up numerous end-to-end test live streams in order to understand how the two services work, understand the differences, and identify serious and less serious issues. These tests included (successfully) using as the audio source a USB microphone, a sound system (USB and non-USB mixers), and a high quality digital audio recorder.
I’m a retired Professional Engineer (degree in Electrical Engineering). I worked for 23 years at Bell-Northern Research/Nortel in Ottawa, Canada, designing telecommunications services. I’ve been playing drums and electric bass in gigging big bands and small jazz ensembles since 1970 (fifty years!). Playing in bands kept me sane when I was in school and working, and is now (or at least it has been until this year) my major retirement activity. I’m currently the drummer in the big band Standing Room Only and was the bass player in the bossa nova trio Wave until it disbanded (pun intended) in December 2019. Having a technical background and being a gigging musician is proving very valuable for my involvement with live streaming musical performances, since I can bridge the two areas.
I’m currently organizing the ZOLAS stay-at-home live stream jazz performance series. There have been nineteen live stream performances in the series so far:
- Lucas Haneman and Megan Laurence on May 9th, 2020
- Laura Anglade on May 16th, 2020
- Roddy Ellias on May 23rd, 2020
- Elise Letourneau & Tim Bedner on May 30th, 2020 *
- Mark Ferguson on June 6th, 2020 (see Image 3 below)
- Diane Nalini and Adrian Cho on June 13th, 2020
- Suzie Q and Sean Duhaime on June 20th, 2020
- Spencer Scharf on June 27th, 2020
- Kate Wyatt and Adrian Vedady on July 4th, 2020
- David Renaud on July 11th, 2020 *
- Roddy Ellias on September 15th, 2020
- Lucas Haneman and Megan Laurence on September 22nd, 2020
- Diane Nalini and Adrian Cho on September 29th, 2020
- David Renaud and Justin Duhaime on October 6th, 2020 *
- Suzie Q and Sean Duhaime on October 13th, 2020
- Betty Ann Bryanton and David Miller on October 20th, 2020
- Pete Woods and Tim Jackson on October 27th, 2020
- Caroline Cook on November 10th, 2020
- Rachelle Behrens and Alex Moxon on November 17th, 2020
Image 3
These nineteen live stream performances have all been successful – no technical show-stoppers that resulted in cancellation of the live stream. Sixteen of these live stream performances were done using Facebook Live (‘live live streams’), while the three live stream performances above with an asterisk (‘*’) were done using Facebook Premiere (‘pre-recorded live streams’). My June 24th, 2020, article ‘Twelve Technical and non-Technical Tips for Live Streaming Musical Performances – Tip 3 ‘Use Facebook Live If Viewers Will Access Your Live Stream On Facebook’’ discusses the differences between Facebook Live and Facebook Premiere for live streamed musical performances.
Organizing the series includes having Zoom meetings with the performers in the series as required (some of them are self-admitted ‘luddites’, so our Zoom meetings are looong and painful, although by the end I get them ‘from zero to sixty’) to a) determine the best technical setup for their live stream performance, b) do a step-by-step walk-through of how to set up and initiate a live stream, and c) do a test end-to-end live stream. I’ve authored a detailed technical user guide ‘Live Streaming Stay-at-Home Musical Performances – Technical User Guide’ for the performers to use as a reference document after our Zoom meeting, and which you can access (read only) at this URL. Appendix B of the reference document provides twelve technical and non-technical tips on live streaming musical performances based on my technical investigation and on the experiences from the ZOLAS live stream performances so far:
Technical Tips
Non-Technical Tips
10. Start your live stream BEFORE the start of your actual performance
11. Use a computer (PC or Mac), tablet (e.g. iPad), or smartphone (e.g. iPhone) as a ‘viewer’
12. Don’t erase your recorded live stream
Organizing the series includes having Zoom meetings with the performers in the series as required (some of them are self-admitted ‘luddites’, so our Zoom meetings are looong and painful, although by the end I get them ‘from zero to sixty’) to a) determine the best technical setup for their live stream performance, b) do a step-by-step walk-through of how to set up and initiate a live stream, and c) do a test end-to-end live stream. I’ve authored a detailed technical user guide ‘Live Streaming Stay-at-Home Musical Performances – Technical User Guide’ for the performers to use as a reference document after our Zoom meeting, and which you can access (read only) at this URL. Appendix B of the reference document provides twelve technical and non-technical tips on live streaming musical performances based on my technical investigation and on the experiences from the ZOLAS live stream performances so far:
Technical Tips
- Do a TEST end-to-end live stream
- Use an Internet connection with the highest upload speed possible
- Use Facebook Live if viewers will access your live stream on Facebook
- Use Immediate (Facebook Live ‘Go Live Now’) NOT Scheduled (Facebook Live ‘Schedule a Live Video’) – Live Streams
- Use a computer for your live stream
- Use a wired Ethernet connection between your computer and your router
- Use an external audio source for your live stream
- Use a ‘VHS to DVD converter’ to connect a non-USB mixer to your computer
- Mic your performance for recording – not a live performance – when using a mixer as your external audio source
Non-Technical Tips
10. Start your live stream BEFORE the start of your actual performance
11. Use a computer (PC or Mac), tablet (e.g. iPad), or smartphone (e.g. iPhone) as a ‘viewer’
12. Don’t erase your recorded live stream
Comments
Bob Nesbitt, 4-November-2020 - "Wow, what a resource Chris Thompson is for technical matters! I read a number of his articles and they were truly excellent."
Davina Pearl, 16-August-2020 - "I very much appreciate all the careful thought that you put into your articles. It’s an amazing way of supporting our little community during these times. It’s heartening to read them, and to build hope that we will find some excellent ways to overcome the challenges of our new reality.”
Devon Woods, 17-June-2020 - "Very interesting and relevant series of articles by Chris Thompson."
Bob Nesbitt, 4-November-2020 - "Wow, what a resource Chris Thompson is for technical matters! I read a number of his articles and they were truly excellent."
Davina Pearl, 16-August-2020 - "I very much appreciate all the careful thought that you put into your articles. It’s an amazing way of supporting our little community during these times. It’s heartening to read them, and to build hope that we will find some excellent ways to overcome the challenges of our new reality.”
Devon Woods, 17-June-2020 - "Very interesting and relevant series of articles by Chris Thompson."