Live broadcast? Simple! Pick up your phone, turn on Instagram, and you can start the live broadcast. Excellent live streaming? It's harder, but not impossible.
Take my brother’s wedding as an example. He married his fiancée in Ireland early in the pandemic (from Alabama, we are all Irish if my signature is not obvious enough). Even in the best situations, many important relatives and friends will not be able to visit the scene in person. But due to travel and party restrictions in Ireland, as well as restrictions on international travel and other personal issues, the number of people ready to watch online is more than three times the number of people actually present. Live streaming is not an afterthought – for most people, it is the main event.
This is likely to happen to you. Whether it is a wedding, funeral, birthday celebration, holiday party or other activities, it is crucial to do a good job of live broadcast.
The most important part of live broadcast is not the video, but the sound. Think of all the blurry, low-resolution YouTube videos and TV series from unknown sources you've watched over the years. Hearing the bride and groom make a vow is much more important than watching in 4K HDR.
For best sound quality, you need a dedicated directional microphone placed close to the speaker. A computer, webcam, or a smartphone built-in microphone is not competent; it picks up too much ambient noise and there is no solution.
You can use a wireless lapel microphone or other more complex options, but it's hard to get over a quality USB microphone with long cables. I recommend Blue Snowball and Blue Yeti.
If you've ever heard a podcast, watched a live stream on Twitch, or learned from screen recording, you've probably heard one of these two microphones. Snowball is cheaper, about $70, while Yeti goes up to the next level at $130. Crucially, both have different "modes" that can control their pickup direction. Heart mode (a mode you should use) picks up only the source of sound from right in front of the microphone. In other words, place the microphone on the dining table in front of the speaker and you can still get decent audio even if the people around you cheer.
If you want to browse more, the review team of PopSci has compiled a list of the best live microphones if you want to leverage their expertise.
Video is also very importantNevertheless, you can also make things better without making a huge effort.
First: the camera you use to record. You can connect a modern SLR or mirrorless camera to your computer and use it as a webcam, but I don't recommend it. They are not designed to record long continuous videos, so they can overheat, run out of battery, or have many problems. It works if you know what you are doing, but for most people, the improvement in video quality is offset by the additional stress and malfunctions.
End of the day, the best camera will be your smartphone. As I mentioned earlier, you can connect the microphone directly, but it is better to use your phone as a webcam to connect to your computer. There are many applications that can do this:
No matter which option you choose, I recommend using a USB connection instead of a wireless connection. For real-time one-time activities, you need to set up as simple as possible – you won't want to deal with a WiFi router that struggles to cope with a large number of visitors. With a 3-foot or 6-foot cable, you will have many options to place your camera.
[Related: Equipment to make your smartphone better movies]
You can hold your own smartphone, but a stable tripod is better. If you already have one, you can buy a tripod mount for your phone. Otherwise, any mobile phone tripod will do – as long as you can keep your smartphone where you want it. The worst case scenario is to support it with a chair.
After the hardware is set up, it can be broadcast to the whole world. There are a lot of live streaming options, which one you choose depends on which features you need and where your audience is.
I chose Zoom's video webinar. It's over-functional and expensive, $40 a month and can accommodate up to 100 attendees, but Zoom's products have changed since then. Now you can host a 100-person event on the Zoom One Pro for $15 a month, or live streaming to 300 people for $20 a month. There is a free version, but you can't live for more than 40 minutes. Zoom webinars are now $80 a month with at least 500 attendees.
Overall, Zoom gives me a lot of control over how people watch live streams, most people are already familiar with it, and I need something reliable because my brother is only married once. As a bonus, I was able to record a local copy of the event and view everyone's live and Zoom chat responses.
If most of your audience or guests are on Facebook, YouTube, or Twitch, the live broadcast options on these platforms are great, but you may need to do some preparation to get started. Don't expect them to do it in a short time.
Also, please note that no matter where you host the live stream, you may violate copyright laws if you play any music. For private events, it is unlikely that copyright owners will notice or close everything midway through the event, but do not use the tips in this article to broadcast pirated concerts to thousands of people. They can still punish you afterwards.
Test everything (I mean everything) time is not the day of the event. Instead, make sure everything works at least a day or two in advance so you can fix any (almost inevitable) errors, issues, and other weird issues.
A incomplete drill list includes ensuring:
In other words, thorough troubleshooting and preparation should ensure things go smoothly.
When the event day comes, you should believe it will go well, online guests should know what will happen, and there shouldn't be a last-minute scramble.
That is, make sure you have enough time to set everything up (if you can't keep the settings from the test you did the previous day).
A few key things to pay attention to when you are about to start a live broadcast:
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