Event: Sermon recording
Type: Live to Zoom + OBS recording
Location: Chapel
Macs do NOT solve all your audio problems, in fact in some regards it complicates them. The grass is not any greener.
Also, I need a "Did you test it?" printed out on a t-shirt.
Summary
It didn't go to plan because I didn't do a complete test. Situation was saved by using SK's airpods on his phone (yay; he says they were joking about needing to have a backup plan such as this in the staff meeting. Well it happened!)
Problem summary: The USB interface of the sound mixer works differently on macOS as it does on Windows, when used with Zoom. And so I wasn't actually Muting and controlling the individual channels as I thought. (I was trying macOS as it doesn't have audio clicking/glitching which happened last week - heard in the chapel sound system)
On macOS, "Zoom will transmit audio from all of the inputs of a connected audio interface and there is no way to alter the volumes of each individual input in the application."
What threw me off was that the recording in Audacity was fine. I didn't understand that Zoom was also t My brother tells me that this is because Audacity takes in only channels 1 and 2 (the stereo channels).
And I thought I had Aux Mixes and Digital Patching worked out... I'm not really keen *right now* to invest further time into learning how to use a DAW with a mixer for live, so will likely avoid going down this path!! (Especially as I think back to the earlier parts of this year and work-rest).
Heart
1. Feeling bummed out when things don't go to plan
I'm certainly not trying to climb the ladder of technical excellence. It is not and should not be my intention to have a perfect, professional result when this really is not my 'job'. In some sense I'm happy on how I did allocate my time last week - with more spent on what was of greater value.
Some other thoughts in the mix (of both wrong and right):
- Perhaps I should(‘ve) said no to doing this; (Wrong)
- I’ve probably overestimated myself. (Wrong; but)
- I'm not prepared, capable, competent. (Correct - did not test end-to-end / Zoom-to-Zoom). I know I'm certainly not a genius for a fact!!
- Tech is hard work and today was just that. It is the way it is. (Right)
2. How much of myself should I be putting into this?
Another issue I've been thinking through as of late is the tension between of the amount of effort spent vs the required effort
Yes I did spend some hours into preparation for this livestream throughout this past week. Not doing a complete Zoom-to-Zoom test was my big mistake which I will claim. But nonetheless I think something I've been realising this year is that there is some kind of 'appropriate' level of amount of effort that is optimal to put in to something. And that it takes wisdom to know what 'appropriate' is!? This impacts work-rest balance and many other things in life.
To end, it was not actually the disaster I had in my mind - I asked some people afterwards. So, at the end of the day, low impact mistake.
As they say "No obstacles, only challenges"
I am currently accepting kindness and love, thanks!!! 🙂 🙂 And likewise, same goes towards other people too!!
Ideal
Its simple and I can enjoy and participate church service and sermon myself rather than stressing and writing these notes.
Have a team (not just me)
Have a second in charge (who importantly needs to be onboard I feel)
Can be done simply (the challenge of tech)
9am Gaps
[Vision] Hardware PIP was not picking up computer. Fix action: Restart the PC. Alternative fix action: Toggle the display output resolution, and back again. (Write a script????)
11am Gaps
[Setup] Second display should use a 1x2 HDMI output
[Zoom - Android] - Viewing a Shared Screen will have NO audio when the phone screen is off.
Digital return channel was not working. I think it was Zoom (Mac) not sending out audio to output speakers.
[Vision]
The HDMI camera feed in died (and recovered itself) at one point. (Is it the usb 3.0 on macOS?)
The HDMI 4*4 died (and recovered itself) at one point.
[Mixer]
Always remember - mixes start at odd numbers. e.g. Channels 1 & 2, 13 and 14.
I patched the Mix 13 & 14 to USB in, but to still too soft (????)
Future improvements
ACTION -
Hardware PIP if PC input does not work; toggle the resolution from PC
Run all streaming at 720 NOT 1080 when without NVIDIA GPU
ACTION - Work out* how to get SL III into Zoom the way I want it to work. Perhaps go back to Windows - then need to work out audio glitch issue. *Or pay someone to.
ACTION - [Recording] Bring SD Card for backup recording. (!!)
ACTION - Prepare NDI Virtual Input and Studio Monitor earlier
ACTION - Work out a backup plan. There likely already is one but it just hasn't been communicated to you.
ACTION - Bring the other tablet for UC. It is very be useful.