COLUMNS
An Intro to High-End Livestreaming from Home
By Chris McKhool
Back when we were all seriously selfisolating a year ago , when there were photos of wild animals walking down main streets , I pulled out my iPhone to try my first livestream . I roped in my wife and eight-year-old , named our outfit “ McKhool & the Gang ,” and had fun creating our first broadcast ; an Easter show for families stuck at home . Every show since then I have tried to bring in a new technique or piece of gear to make the broadcast a little better than the last . iPhones have exceptionally good cameras . This is a good livestreaming choice for a super simple setup , and you can stream directly to YouTube , Facebook , Twitch , Zoom , and other platforms . To get the camera far enough away to frame you means that your voice is also further away from the mic , which adds room sound . You can solve that using a clip-on wide-angle lens like BullyEyes , which allows you to have the phone very close . Or add a camera adapter so you can plug in a USB mic like the Blue Yeti , allowing you to push the camera back further and also gain a headphone jack .
If you feel limited with the iPhone , make the leap to your laptop or a desktop . That makes it easier to plug in an ethernet cable ( using a USB adapter if you don ’ t have an ethernet input like on newer MacBooks ). The base-level Mac Mini M1 is a beast for livestreaming . You can use an audio interface like a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 to be able to plug in regular dynamic or condenser mics and your instrument inputs into your system , or add an external USB mixer for more inputs , like the Mackie ProFX series , to be able to have friends over to play along with a little onboard reverb / EQ .
COVID safety is all about ventilation , so if you are playing with others , choose a space where you can have the doors and windows open . I was lucky to find a wall-sized window on Kijiji for $ 20 , and built a vocal booth with a couple hundred dollars of lumber and drywall . I ordered an inline grow-op fan and ran 8-in . conduit to suck the air out the vocal booth to the outside , and separate ventilation exhaust from the main room , where I could be at least two metres apart from my bandmates .
You can also mix in-the-box using a software / hardware combo like the UAD Apollo , using their Console app for better gain levels and no-latency effects , including reverb and compression . Oddly , Console doesn ’ t have a master fader , so the final piece in the puzzle for me was to route Console into a DAW , like Logic , Reaper , Ableton , or GarageBand ( free on a Mac ), to be able to add a limiter on the Master Fader . That made a huge difference , doubling our band volume and making our mix sound practically mastered . We route the sound internally from app to app using a program called Loopback .
The other important puzzle piece is finding the right encoding and camera setup . You may have a decent webcam already , or you can even use existing iPhones and iPads , with a few great software options including OBS , Wirecast , Streamyard , and for our band a Mac program called Ecamm Live . I discovered a great hack with Ecamm as I learned I could repurpose 10-year-old Canon DSLRs bought on Kijiji for $ 150 each and plug them directly by USB into my Mac . For the cost of one new camera , we now have a six-camera setup and use a MIDI controller to switch between cameras with my feet while performing . Airturn makes a great Bluetooth MIDI pedal with six buttons on it , or you can go wired up to 12 buttons with an ActitioN MIDI pedal .
The last thing to decide is where to stream . Facebook is great for organic discovery of your music . YouTube has excellent audio and video , and both platforms allow for a virtual tip jar to monetize your streams with PayPal . With Sultans of String we started livestreaming via Zoom once a month , adding a paywall through services such as Side Door , or by creating our own Eventbrite listing . Zoom gives us maximum engagement and is a great opportunity for the audience to interact directly with us . Audiences are craving that connection with artists that comes from a live and interactive show .
On this tech journey , in addition to watching biblical numbers of YouTube tutorials , I called on engineer friends , including Guillermo Subauste of Stream Tune-Up , who very cleverly connects remotely into my Mac through Zoom to set up our compressors and reverbs . Attend one of his online boot camps and you will learn a lot .
Even as in-person concerts resume , an online component will be with us for years to come and can help reach a global audience . As my other engineer hero and co-producer John “ Beetle ” Bailey once said ; “ Please don ’ t ever be discouraged that you don ’ t fit in to a narrowlydefined category . Do your own thing . Work like crazy at it . The world will notice .”
Queen ’ s Diamond Jubilee Medal recipient Chris McKhool is violinist , bandleader , and producer of Billboard-charting band Sultans of String . His work has earned four Juno Award nominations and five Canadian Folk Music Awards , including the 2021 CFMA for Producer of the Year with their new album Refuge , which amplifies the voices of new immigrants and refugees to Canada , as well as Indigenous voices and ambassadors of peace . www . sultansofstring . com
PHOTO : DREW BIRSTON
30 CANADIAN MUSICIAN