How to Live Stream a jam?

The Lounge General Discussion
#1

Hey All

Myself and my bandmate naively thought we could just connect our interface to Facebook live and use our laptop camera to live stream us jamming away … unfortunately we hadn’t a clue we’d spend 2 hours trying to figure this out and still failing

So i have really only learnt that a) its not straight forward and b) I will likely need to use OBS together with some type of bridging software via my DAW

I am using Reason 10 , have OBS, focusrite interface and am using a PC

If Reason 10 makes your proven solution not work I also have a cubase 9 basic licence I can dig up

Appreciate any guidance here! thanks!

#2

We’re going to do a stream gig with our band PihkaSound next Tuesday. We will set it up and test it over this weekend. If we are succesful, I will come back to this discussion and let you know how we did it. Or if we screw up, I’ll let you know how that happened too :slight_smile: Never done anything like this before, should be fun to learn.

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#3

I’m guessing that since you mention Reason, you want to stream using Reason’s internal audio.

I’ve done a bit of streaming this way. You’re right, it’s not as straightforward as it seems, but it’s not too tricky to get up and running with the right software.

OBS is a good first step, but then you’ll also need software to turn the internal audio into a “device” that can be seen by OBS. Here are some options for Windows.

The setup of OBS can be a bit fiddly, but it can do some great things combining screen recording and camera, and also handle multiple audio inputs so you can connect external gear as well. I learned how to use it by just messing around with it until things worked, so I’m probably not the best person to give instructions on how to set it up :slight_smile:

After that, it’s just a matter of getting your stream key from Facebook / Youtube / Restream etc and pasting it into the stream settings of OBS, then you’re ready to go!

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#4

Looking forward to the feedback!

#5

hey there! OK cool I will check those out re Reason … I also was wondering if one other option would be to cut out FB and OBS and pay for a professional conferencing software like Zoom or WebEx? So we could potentially not even use Reason and just run audio mics in via the focusrite interface and then onwards to the PC via usb … or if bandwidth via USB is an issue …maybe explore COAX to PC?

#6

Hmm, I think i may have misunderstood your original post.

I thought you meant that a friend would come over and you’d stream from your computer on facebook, but now you mention conference software, do you mean a two-way stream jam, with both of you in your own houses, streaming and syncing to each other? I don’t think audio latency over the internet is good enough for that yet, but I’m happy to be proven wrong. There may be a way to do it with MIDI though, if you both have the same plugins/hardware.

#7

hey ! Yeah I kinda was thinking of both options … but starting off streaming just in one location. But I am moving to Barcelona (once this virus saga dies down) and yeah …I am figuring out that the latency will make that impossible to live jam between ireland / Spain and for an international audience. Maybe latency will make that possible once Starlink is up and running!

#8

Well, tonight we did the live stream and it worked perfectly! I’m super happy right now, gonna do a lot more of those :slight_smile:

I had the Octatrack as a hub to all the instruments. I did the mix right there, and a lot of efx too. We used the Elgato HD60 S for capturing our camera, which in this case was just an iPhone.

From OT’s main out we went to HD60’s analog input. The camera went to its HDMI in obviously. From its Usb-c we went to a Macbook Pro, in which we did the config and the actual streaming inside the Elgato Game Capture software.

The Elgato thing costs something like 150€, but the software they give away for free. We borrowed the device from a friend, but maybe I should invest in one myself. The whole thing was so easy with it. No need for OBS even.

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#9

Looking for advice on a multicam setup (2cams to start probably 3 after). My partner would use it for creating teaching material, streaming/recording.

I will do tech, pre & post production, … and spending :blush:. Maybe record a jam a few times a year, who knows.

What I don’t get atm is: do I still need a (or more) capture device(s) when I get an ATEM Mini broadcast switch?

#10

OBS.

Can do multiple cameras and sound.

Then can stream to most sites like youtube etc

Youll need however many cameras that can connnect to pc and an audio interface.

I just use USB webcams. Also my system needed to have a better GPU to run with the cameras etc. Nothing top of range needed but the on board graphics werent handling it to great.

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#11

Any examples? I only have build in webcams on laptops. I have a security cam I thought on integrating but it’s more hassle than I thought so I will skip that if I can make it work with 2 webcams for sure!

#12

Never done it but from what I read/listen online it is best to have a dedicated computer with OBS that only does the video streaming. That may add a bit of latency but likely much less than having all running on the same computer. We are thus likely talking about 2 audio interfaces.

If you have a gopro or similar action camera, it is likely to be usable as a webcam too as some compact cameras and DSLRs. You may have to test them all and make sure the white balance and brightness is close.

#13

I use logitech C920. Not bad for a webcam.

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#14

2 Pcs always is going to be better but I manage totally fine with low load on my desktop without any issues(after getting a GPU).

@Tomi-0_o
I have my audio from traktor/abeton outputting on my external soundcard(motu) > djmixer then the master output from dj mixer connected to the on board line in on motherboard for going to OBS.

Any decent GPU nowadays will be fine. Mines is an older XFX AMD Radeon R9 280X (3GB) and its fine for my 2-3 cameras.

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