Help me stream Shakespeare for Crying Babies and Faraway Relatives
November 23, 2019 12:41 PM Subscribe
My kids' youth theater group performs unabridged, original language Shakespeare plays. They are great but sometimes it is hard to hear and crying babies make it worse. I'd like to make it easier for parents to leave the theater with a loud baby by streaming the show to a monitor in the lobby. Can you help be figure out the best way to do this in 2019?
Even in the best of times, some kid actors are hard to hear and, because this is youth theater, there are often younger kids and babies in the audience. When they make noise it is harder to hear the actors, but it is also hard to ask parents to take a young child out if their older child is performing. I'd like to help by unobtrusively streaming the show, audio and video, to a monitor in the lobby so parents who take a young one out of the theater don't totally miss the show. And, if there is a solution that would allow geographically distant or homebound relatives to see the play too, that would be awesome. I've never tried to set up something like this before and would love to hear any suggestions (or pitfalls) from folks who have done similar things. I've currently got access to iphones, a tripod, a decent-sized TV with an Amazon fire stick, a smaller, but ok monitor, and a 2011 mac laptop. I can buy additional gear, but would to prefer not to spend more than $200, unless the more expensive option will yield way better results. Thanks in advance MeFites!
Even in the best of times, some kid actors are hard to hear and, because this is youth theater, there are often younger kids and babies in the audience. When they make noise it is harder to hear the actors, but it is also hard to ask parents to take a young child out if their older child is performing. I'd like to help by unobtrusively streaming the show, audio and video, to a monitor in the lobby so parents who take a young one out of the theater don't totally miss the show. And, if there is a solution that would allow geographically distant or homebound relatives to see the play too, that would be awesome. I've never tried to set up something like this before and would love to hear any suggestions (or pitfalls) from folks who have done similar things. I've currently got access to iphones, a tripod, a decent-sized TV with an Amazon fire stick, a smaller, but ok monitor, and a 2011 mac laptop. I can buy additional gear, but would to prefer not to spend more than $200, unless the more expensive option will yield way better results. Thanks in advance MeFites!
OK, professional theatre sound designer here: you're going to need microphones. Your main problem in any streaming situation is going to be audibility.
The best solution will be wireless mics on all of the performers, which will require someone to fit them, change batteries/recharge them, manage any costume changes or changeover between cast members, and fix problems in the wings if they arise. Then you'll need someone to run an audio console so that the various cast members are at equivalent audio levels, and there's no feedback/peaking/distortion. This is not within your $200 budget.
What you might be able to do (without knowing details of your theatre) is rig one or two 'choir' style mics from your lighting bars or grid (at the furthest point downstage you can manage, angled towards the centre of your playspace) and send a feed of all the stage sound to your camera (you will need a camera, an iphone won't cut it here) and send the camera feed direct to the monitor in the foyer. I'm not sure the Fire Stick will be of much use in this situation - use cables, the latency will be much better.
You'll have the following issues:
posted by prismatic7 at 2:16 PM on November 23, 2019 [6 favorites]
The best solution will be wireless mics on all of the performers, which will require someone to fit them, change batteries/recharge them, manage any costume changes or changeover between cast members, and fix problems in the wings if they arise. Then you'll need someone to run an audio console so that the various cast members are at equivalent audio levels, and there's no feedback/peaking/distortion. This is not within your $200 budget.
What you might be able to do (without knowing details of your theatre) is rig one or two 'choir' style mics from your lighting bars or grid (at the furthest point downstage you can manage, angled towards the centre of your playspace) and send a feed of all the stage sound to your camera (you will need a camera, an iphone won't cut it here) and send the camera feed direct to the monitor in the foyer. I'm not sure the Fire Stick will be of much use in this situation - use cables, the latency will be much better.
You'll have the following issues:
- The mics will pick up everything on stage, indiscriminately. This means feet shuffling, props banging against set pieces, coughs, etc. This might be good experience for young performers in moving quietly though!
- Young performers also tend to be inconsistent with vocal levels - work with your director to remind them to speak 'up and out' to the audience, which will help the mics
- Your camera will be dealing with low-light situations - it's theatre! So you'll need something that has reasonable quality in low light.
posted by prismatic7 at 2:16 PM on November 23, 2019 [6 favorites]
Some of the stuff prismatic7 mentions can almost certainly be rented for the night rather than bought - microphones, cameras, cabling - although how much of your $200 budget that will eat up will depend on your local market rates. Useful search terms would be "event production", "A/V (audio-visual) production", "theatrical production", "A/V rental."
It would be worth calling several different companies to get quotes, prices can vary a lot depending on each company's available equipment and general target market. (A company that specializes in fancy corporate event production is going to have top gear and charge a lot for it, a company that specializes in smaller local events will have older but still serviceable equipment and charge less.)
I'd like to help by unobtrusively streaming the show, audio and video, to a monitor in the lobby so parents who take a young one out of the theater don't totally miss the show. And, if there is a solution that would allow geographically distant or homebound relatives to see the play too, that would be awesome.
It's been years since I did this - to the point where I don't remember which service we used - but it wasn't very difficult. You would want a wired ethernet connection, though.
I assume these days YouTube Live or Facebook Live would probably be the way to go.
So the idea would be microphones connected to audio mixer, audio mixer out to camera, camera out to USB in of the macbook, macbook streams to the web via wired internet connection.
posted by soundguy99 at 5:44 AM on November 24, 2019
It would be worth calling several different companies to get quotes, prices can vary a lot depending on each company's available equipment and general target market. (A company that specializes in fancy corporate event production is going to have top gear and charge a lot for it, a company that specializes in smaller local events will have older but still serviceable equipment and charge less.)
I'd like to help by unobtrusively streaming the show, audio and video, to a monitor in the lobby so parents who take a young one out of the theater don't totally miss the show. And, if there is a solution that would allow geographically distant or homebound relatives to see the play too, that would be awesome.
It's been years since I did this - to the point where I don't remember which service we used - but it wasn't very difficult. You would want a wired ethernet connection, though.
I assume these days YouTube Live or Facebook Live would probably be the way to go.
So the idea would be microphones connected to audio mixer, audio mixer out to camera, camera out to USB in of the macbook, macbook streams to the web via wired internet connection.
posted by soundguy99 at 5:44 AM on November 24, 2019
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posted by mskyle at 12:56 PM on November 23, 2019