Facebook Live - how?

[Imagine]

OK - I feel like I'm missing out a little here.

Everyone else is doing short sets to "cheer people up" (OK, I know it annoys the hell out of me). But....

I always do my local village primary school disco. They were heartbroken when it was cancelled, and I feel I could do something for them over Facebook (obviously with them all in their own homes etc.)
I know the video will be pulled afterwards, and no problem with that. As far as I can see though, the live stream is usually unaffected. It can also be kept private to the kids and their parents - they've set up their own Facebook group (can I broadcast to just a specific group?)

But here's the question - how do you do the sound element of things. Is it literally a case of pumping out to a couple of studio speakers and letting the phone which is broadcasting pick it up? Or is that too simple?

#askingforafriend

[Nakatomi]

If you use a free program called obs studio you can stream live, taking video from a number of sources (screen capture, webcam etc) and also audio from a number of sources (or just one - a laptop's line input).

Most 'pro' streamers use this, directly to YouTube. I'm not sure how to do it with Facebook live without using a phone (audio would suck with a phone mic).

Edit: if you search for 'how to stream to Facebook live using OBS studio,' you'll find out how to do it without even involving a phone :)

[rth_discos]

I would just use a second laptop to stream the audio through.

Most seem to use a speaker and pick that up - but it doesn't sound great.

Take the line out from your mixer (2 x photo) and plug that in to the line input of the laptop with webcam (minijack) that you'll be running the Facebook live on.

Then, use your mic to 'talk' to viewers. Will sound far, far better.

EDIT: This looks handy if you want to use your phone... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzY238PnOcM

[Imagine]

If you use a free program called obs studio you can stream live, taking video from a number of sources (screen capture, webcam etc) and also audio from a number of sources (or just one - a laptop's line input).

Most 'pro' streamers use this, directly to YouTube. I'm not sure how to do it with Facebook live without using a phone (audio would suck with a phone mic).

Edit: if you search for 'how to stream to Facebook live using OBS studio,' you'll find out how to do it without even involving a phone :)

Looking at this now Justin - thanks for the heads-up.


I would just use a second laptop to stream the audio through.

Most seem to use a speaker and pick that up - but it doesn't sound great.

Take the line out from your mixer (2 x photo) and plug that in to the line input of the laptop with webcam (minijack) that you'll be running the Facebook live on.

Then, use your mic to 'talk' to viewers. Will sound far, far better.

EDIT: This looks handy if you want to use your phone... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzY238PnOcM

I'm looking at the OBS option above at the moment Gavin and it's looking promising (I want to do it properly - those kids deserve a party). I've seen a LOT of the live streams recently (who hasn't - and you'll appreciate more than most in here how many are being removed from certain FB groups!), and yes, the sound on a lot of them is diabolical!

Having to update a Windows (urgh!) machine that I've not used in 12 months to get the webcam to work :o so the feed will indeed be from a separate machine.

It looks like OBS does everything I need it to do. Will do some proper testing tomorrow.

The problem I have is the availability of kit (aka cables) at home. My gear is stored 10 miles away and fetching is isn't deemed to be "essential travel" is this neck of the woods (although a trip to queue up at Waitrose for wine and bog roll is :) ). And fair play to Mr Plod - the restrictions are in place for a reason and I'm fully intending to follow them without breaking the rules (unlike a lot of my neighbours who suddenly seem to have taken up exercise having previously been couch potatoes :o )

I have my controller, my Xenyx and a limited supply of spare cables which I thought to bring home before the lockdown for sorting out - and I think I might be lucky. If not, it's a looooong wait from Amazon as they seem to be prioritising deliveries essential to fighting the virus over and above other stuff (and rightly so).

[Excalibur]

Having to update a Windows (urgh!) machine that I've not used in 12 months to get the webcam to work :o so the feed will indeed be from a separate machine.
Oi! Maligning the work of Mr Gates is a bad idea on a Forum policed by a Grumpy Old Plod who even had Windows phones, till everybody stopped making the apps for them. ( Still the best phones I've ever used )
However, as my latest Nokia is almost as bad as the legendary 5120 which used the same button to make or end calls, offering the potential for dialling people you didn't intend to on countless occasions, I may be calling for advice on possible fruit based products. :o

If not, it's a looooong wait from Amazon as they seem to be prioritising deliveries essential to fighting the virus over and above other stuff (and rightly so).

Amazon? Amazon? :mad: If you're not a Prime customer ( and that's a rip off, unless you're a very heavy user) then check out CPC (https://cpc.farnell.com/) I know they're the wrong side of the Pennines, but they're very good, and there's a little wrinkle for quick delivery. ;)

[rth_discos]

I'm looking at the OBS option above at the moment Gavin and it's looking promising (I want to do it properly - those kids deserve a party). I've seen a LOT of the live streams recently (who hasn't - and you'll appreciate more than most in here how many are being removed from certain FB groups!), and yes, the sound on a lot of them is diabolical!


The only reason to use OBS is if you are using multiple video and/or audio sources.

If you're just using one camera, and one audio feed (ie, from your mixer), then there's no need to use OBS - it adds an unnecessary layer in.

Don't get wrong, OBS is an amazing piece of software, and very clever, but is effectively a software 'vision mixer', used to control different cameras and sources.

[Nakatomi]

The problem I have is the availability of kit (aka cables) at home. My gear is stored 10 miles away and fetching is isn't deemed to be "essential travel" is this neck of the woods (although a trip to queue up at Waitrose for wine and bog roll is :) ). And fair play to Mr Plod - the restrictions are in place for a reason and I'm fully intending to follow them without breaking the rules (unlike a lot of my neighbours who suddenly seem to have taken up exercise having previously been couch potatoes :o )

I have my controller, my Xenyx and a limited supply of spare cables which I thought to bring home before the lockdown for sorting out - and I think I might be lucky. If not, it's a looooong wait from Amazon as they seem to be prioritising deliveries essential to fighting the virus over and above other stuff (and rightly so).

Not essential? NOT ESSENTIAL?! Surely going to fetch cables so you can do a live stream to cheer up kids could be classed as essential. Say it with me now, loud & proud....

Won't somebody please think of the children??

[Nakatomi]

Well I've had a bash at testing for live streaming & my conclusion is.... none of my webcams are any good in domestic lighting. So.. I augmented my lighting with some LED PARs... nope still not enough & all I get is very grainy awful looking video. Ah! Try my DSLR over USB right? No that won't work either. It'd be a different matter if I had a USB HDMI capture device, but I don't..

OH! You can use an Android phone as a webcam for a laptop! Off I went & grabbed a phone app & a PC app to work with it.. it's payware :( Then I tried another.. also payware :(

So it's back to the drawing board for me... aka I GIVE UP! :mad:

[Nakatomi]

Riiight. My Logitech C270 is just too grainy.

USB capture of my DSLR isn't gonna happen without paying $30.

HDMI capture of my DSLR isn't gonna happen without paying £££. Word to the wise - in general, video capture from DSLRs is bad for the camera if done for periods longer than about 20 minutes apparently (the sensor gets hot).

Using my android phone over USB as a webcam isn't gonna happen without paying.

Buying a newer webcam would be an option if all the decent affordable ones weren't already sold out everywhere. Repeat after me - you DO NOT need a webcam to work from home, people :mad:

Tonight I tried a new way. Using an app on my droidy phone to cast its main camera out over wifi. Then installed a directshow filter on my spare laptop and OBS can slurp it right up. The resulting video looks nice.

Another way would be to grab a USB soundcard for the phone, plug that into a mixer output & off you go.. Then you just need to sort out something to hold the phone still...

[Jim - Scotland's Party DJ]

Riiight. My Logitech C270 is just too grainy.

USB capture of my DSLR isn't gonna happen without paying $30.

HDMI capture of my DSLR isn't gonna happen without paying £££. Word to the wise - in general, video capture from DSLRs is bad for the camera if done for periods longer than about 20 minutes apparently (the sensor gets hot).

Using my android phone over USB as a webcam isn't gonna happen without paying.

Buying a newer webcam would be an option if all the decent affordable ones weren't already sold out everywhere. Repeat after me - you DO NOT need a webcam to work from home, people :mad:

Tonight I tried a new way. Using an app on my droidy phone to cast its main camera out over wifi. Then installed a directshow filter on my spare laptop and OBS can slurp it right up. The resulting video looks nice.

Another way would be to grab a USB soundcard for the phone, plug that into a mixer output & off you go.. Then you just need to sort out something to hold the phone still...

Can you not just run it off you're phone or laptop?

My bro and cousin have streamed sets this weekend no bother and we're looking at doing a collective thing later in the week - I'll either be phone or 2nd macbook filming and don't see how that would be a problem - No one cares and FB is going to condense the :Censored::Censored::Censored::Censored: out of your AV quality any way so no idea why you're looking at using a DSLR or the like....

[Nakatomi]

Can you not just run it off you're phone or laptop?

My bro and cousin have streamed sets this weekend no bother and we're looking at doing a collective thing later in the week - I'll either be phone or 2nd macbook filming and don't see how that would be a problem - No one cares and FB is going to condense the :Censored::Censored::Censored::Censored: out of your AV quality any way so no idea why you're looking at using a DSLR or the like....

Laptop webcam doesn't work. Phone audio is crap no matter what the phone is & besides I DON'T want to have to blast music out (I don't own small speakers anymore lol).

There's little point streaming anything that doesn't look & sound like the dog's danglies especially if it's for promotional reasons IMHO.

The working webcam I DO have looks like it's been taped on VHS & copied a few times once the light level it's presented with descends to less than bright sunlight.

To use a phone I think you really have to plug audio into it - especially for a live DJ set.

Also streaming directly from a phone/ tablet you can't easily overlay a logo, or any text.

[Imagine]

Laptop webcam doesn't work. Phone audio is crap no matter what the phone is & besides I DON'T want to have to blast music out (I don't own small speakers anymore lol).

There's little point streaming anything that doesn't look & sound like the dog's danglies especially if it's for promotional reasons IMHO.

The working webcam I DO have looks like it's been taped on VHS & copied a few times once the light level it's presented with descends to less than bright sunlight.

To use a phone I think you really have to plug audio into it - especially for a live DJ set.

Also streaming directly from a phone/ tablet you can't easily overlay a logo, or any text.

I've been doing some testing myself. Still not convinced I want to actually go live and risk being cut off by the Facebook police, but still contemplating it.

I've done my tests from a slightly different angle though....

I'm not keen on seeing fat blokes twiddling knobs for a couple of hours, so my approach has been to use my iMac webcam pointing straight at me, with a couple of old fashioned light screens for background (I'm thinking more along the retro route if I do actually go live). The effect is my smiling happy chops in front of a retro show (of sorts), rather than seeing the gubbins that make the sound.

For audio - I've got it 100% :)

Bit complicated because of the cables I have to hand, but going from controller to a Xenyx mixer, and from that into an iRig (normally used for picking up the sound for the light show) and into the back of the iMac. Broadcast all of that with OBS and it's actually working quite well.

[Nakatomi]

If going live is too fraught, you could record a show with OBS then upload it to somewhere like Vimeo & share it. It removes a possible interactive element though :(

A lot of DJs streaming live sets aren't caught out by Facebook's copyright detection algorithms because the tracks they're playing generally aren't on major record labels.

One DJ in the north east did a live stream of party cheese from his driveway, clocking up over a million views on Tik Tok (also streamed on Facebook live) & scoring a mention in the Daily Mail. You just can't buy that sort of publicity

[rth_discos]

One DJ in the north east did a live stream of party cheese from his driveway, clocking up over a million views on Tik Tok (also streamed on Facebook live) & scoring a mention in the Daily Mail. You just can't buy that sort of publicity

If only people were able to hold events and therefore book DJs right now ;)

[Imagine]

I'm going to bite the bullet and give it a go.

I've got the light screens here for background, I've tentatively stuck it on my FaceAche page (don't want a huge audience for the first time).
The theme? An hour of Cheefully Choonful Cheese :chzy::chzy:

[Imagine]

Well....I did it!!!

Got cut off twice in the process (probably more due to bandwidth limitations than anything else). Lots of love from those that found me - I didn't actually advertise it anywhere :)
MY GOD IT WAS SCARY! Put me in a room full of 100+ complete strangers any day of the week!

A few niggles to iron out but I think I might have to try again soon. Now....just the small matter of I don't know how many disputes from greedy publishers to deal with....don't they realise there's a war on? :o

[Marc J]

https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/5436150/coronavirus-scotland-edinburgh-dj-lockdown-police/

Is this guy on here??

[Excalibur]

https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/5436150/coronavirus-scotland-edinburgh-dj-lockdown-police/

Is this guy on here??

Well my inept and amateurish searches say: No.

[Imagine]

Well...I've done a couple of these now (both sitting down at a desk due to space problems but that will change tomorrow now I've been and collected a booth from my lockup without the Gestapo stopping and questioning the reason for having the van on the road....)

I'd still rather be in front of 100+ heads bobbing around on a dance floor, but this FB live thing (when it doesn't get cut) is actually proving very good for "Social Proof" and therefore Google rankings - I've seen an improvement already :o

There's still MUCH to improve, for example my "office" is being turned into the UK's smallest night club tomorrow (8ft x 6ft) to give me a more natural environment to work in with space to move around and have everything in a more convenient position. I've found that it's really boring playing to yourself, but the comments and feedback I'm getting are making me stick with it for now because let's face it, there's not a lot else to do! It's actually like running a pretend radio station, and if I'm honest, I'm starting to adopt the attitude of the stereotypical radio jock by talking a lot more than I normally would.

Of the two I've done so far (and I'm only doing an hour at a time from 3pm to 4pm because it's sort of convenient to me)

Tuesday - Cheerfully Choonful Cheese got 558 viewers
Thursday - 80s vs 90s got 1019 viewers! The ad for the slot which was only posted on my business page and then shared by followers was seen by 586 people (my "normal" post reach is around 100)

Saturday will be different - 8pm to 9pm with Old Skool Ibiza floor fillers (how hard can that be?). I'll be trying to use some lighting as well for that one but need to test that as not convinced it adds to things by the time the camera's have captured it and the streaming services have compressed it. I'm actually (shamefully) considering going down the Paris Hilton route of pre-recording the mix to make it perfect and just pretending to twiddle knobs for the stream! :o

Coming up will be a 70s disco set, a strictly 80s set, and possibly a 60s/Motown set. It seems that the easier listening/cheesier stuff I normally tend to avoid is going down better because people are listening to it whilst getting on with their lives. What I was planning on doing was recreating a previous wedding - but if you look back at what was played on the night, it's very disjointed unless you were there at the time so I'm not going there.

All future streams will also be recorded locally and dumped onto YouTube as a mini-set and used for advertising as to what I can do.

On the note of cameras because I know Justin was struggling with this one - I'm streaming via OBS Studio which works nicely, but has an add on to turn your phone/tablet into a camera too (it's something like £15 but works really well). Turns out the camera on the iPad is a LOT better and clearer than that on my 2013 playout (I was switching between the two today). Now looking to use the iPhone and the iPad as cameras to do the visuals and not use the laptop camera for that purpose at all!

I've also found two important things from feedback:
* Although I'm assuming the viewers are listening in the background, they DON'T want to see pictures of the controller/decks and would prefer to see the face (I don't know why but I've had several comments along those lines!)
* It's important to respond to comments on the stream - it wins big Brownie points on "social proof". Even if it's after the set's finished and the video is uploaded to your timeline.

I'm now looking at a way to stream to Facebook without going direct through Facebook. Going to cost me £15 a month if it works, but if it's keeping my name out there for the duration of what's happening so I can hit the ground running when we're back, it's got to be worth the investment.

By the time I've done a few more of these, plus done Tony Winyard's free course (see you there Justin ;) ), 2021 is finally going to be my year :)

[Nakatomi]

Whenever I see the word 'free' I read 'of little value'. Also, wherever DJs tend to congregate on Facebook I see little but negativity & bad vibes (DJ groups) - which is likely why I hadn't heard about this 'free course'. I've even quit the (initially very useful & positive) playlist group. Like the Pro Mobile conference.. I'd have enjoyed it all a lot more had it not been for all the sodding DJs.

Whoops! What I (maybe) meant to say was ..

Oh really? I didn't know anybody was offering a free course for DJs on social media stuff..

But y'know.. I'm in a bit of a rut of late. Can't think why!

[Jim - Scotland's Party DJ]

I did one last night. Was fun, regret polishing off a single malt and 2 bottles of wine right enough.

I put together a cooking video earlier in the week too 😂

[Imagine]

regret polishing off a single malt and 2 bottles of wine right enough.



:lol:

I feel your pain Jim - a very nice Jura and a bottle of Rioja seem to have found their way into the recycling this morning. Wish I hadn't done it now :o

[Nakatomi]

I did one on Friday at last.. just a tester but I had a lot of fun doing it. Frustrated with the poor quality of all my USB video cameras I did it with my phone & a DIY line to TRRS mic adapter. I only get mono audio but hey it's lovely quality.

Then last night after a few drinks...
https://photos.app.goo.gl/8L9sGmw1Nyi2VnXx5

[Excalibur]

I did one last night. Was fun, regret polishing off a single malt and 2 bottles of wine right enough.

I put together a cooking video earlier in the week too 


:lol:

I feel your pain Jim - a very nice Jura and a bottle of Rioja seem to have found their way into the recycling this morning. Wish I hadn't done it now :o

Tsk, tsk, tsk. :no::no: How often have I preached the evils of strong drink? ( Rhetorical question, by the way ). I'm currently having withdrawal symptoms at being banned from Lidl, by She Who Must Be Obeyed, and am restricted to whatever I can grab from the offers bin at the petrol station.

I'm delighted to say that I can strongly recommend Barefoot Malbec, not too hard on the wallet, and very easy on the palate. However, unlike you dipsomaniacs, I restrict myself to one glass per night*. Moderation in all things. :approve:

* I say " I restrict". Not strictly true. ;)

[Imagine]

However, unlike you dipsomaniacs, I restrict myself to one glass per night*. Moderation in all things. :approve:

* I say " I restrict". Not strictly true. ;)

I've decided that if this thing's taking me out - I might as well be numb to it ;)
Now if I come out the other end of the Covid Wars I might well be looking for a new liver. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it ;)

[Imagine]

I've decided that if this thing's taking me out - I might as well be numb to it ;)
Now if I come out the other end of the Covid Wars I might well be looking for a new liver. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it ;)

Oh :Censored: - I've done it again. A bottle of Soave and a LOT of single malt.

I'm really NOT going to survive this thing :daft::beer1:

[DJColsie]

I am finding the opposite. Entire consumption for last week..........3 cans of 1664!

[DJ Jules]

I'm really NOT going to survive this thing :daft::beer1:

Getting well off topic now, but my kids are binge watching the 80's/90's version of Home and Away. I may not survive the week :zip:

Julian

[Nakatomi]

I did my second ever live 'cast tonight. I got an audience of 50 or so viewers & some shares. Not bad considering it was just on the hoof.

Tonight was different to the first one - I brought Ethernet out to my garden & used a spare router to provide local wifi. My phone served as the main webcam, then my old c270 cam covered my controller. These went into Obs Studio, which ran on a second laptop, taking audio directly from a USB soundcard plugged into my controller.

I don't have a proper stand/holder for my phone but managed to lash this together.

18868

Yes that's an in-car phone clamp gaffer taped to a mic stand :rofl:

There was also a mains extension lead hanging from the stand, into which my phone's charger was plugged, SID style. I figured what the heck nobody was going to see it!

[DJ Jules]

There was also a mains extension lead hanging from the stand, into which my phone's charger was plugged, SID style. I figured what the heck nobody was going to see it!

That's the great thing about TV, the camera doesn't lie, but it only sees what you choose to show it :D

Julian