# Playing Live on Facebook



## mrfiftyfour (Jun 29, 2008)

My band is going to do a live Facebook stream.
Anybody with any experience with this.
My thoughts are to play like rehearsal.
Guitars and bass turned up to match drum levels with vocals and acoustics through the PA. We would have monitors.
The sound would just be captured by an Iphone.
Another option is to mic up everything and send through the PA, just like a gig. Probably everyone monitoring with in ears.
Thoughts?


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## bw66 (Dec 17, 2009)

A few things to think about...

Facebook won't let you do "landscape" format on video from an iPhone, So your video will be taller than it is wide - not the best for a band. A computer with a decent webcam would be better.

Any USB mic would be better than the onboard mic of a phone or computer.

If you can do a board mix through a USB audio interface, you will get the cleanest sound.

It would be a good idea to have someone listening to the actual stream and controlling your mix.


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## bw66 (Dec 17, 2009)

A few more things:

A direct Ethernet connection will yield better results than wi-fi.

Good sound is more important than good video, but decent light and a decent camera angle will improve the video dramatically.

You can practice live-streaming on Facebook with the privacy set to "Only Me". As far as I can tell, this only works on personal pages. If you use a band page then "going live" is automatically public.


Disclaimer: I've done exactly two Facebook live-streams (publicly) and I preach better than I practice. Everything I've suggested has been learned by trial and error and I'm still figuring things out. Hopefully we're back to real gigs before I become an "expert".

Let us know what you learn!


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## mrfiftyfour (Jun 29, 2008)

Unfortunately, we'll only have iphone internet connection.
Hoping to have a decent band mix at the very least.
It will be fun to play again!


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## bw66 (Dec 17, 2009)

mrfiftyfour said:


> Unfortunately, we'll only have iphone internet connection.
> Hoping to have a decent band mix at the very least.
> It will be fun to play again!


Yes, it does fill the gap somewhat. I was actually more nervous than I typically get for a live performance - though these days I'm a solo performer and being in a band is typically a different experience. It's pretty weird playing "live" to an empty room - you don't get a whole lot of "vibe" back from the audience. Let us know how it goes.


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## Kerry Brown (Mar 31, 2014)

mrfiftyfour said:


> Unfortunately, we'll only have iphone internet connection.
> Hoping to have a decent band mix at the very least.
> It will be fun to play again!


It may introduce some lag but you could try setting your iPhone as a hotspot for a laptop. A computer gives you much better options than an iPhone.


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## Cardamonfrost (Dec 12, 2018)

Will OBS stream live to FB? I know that I can stream live to YT with OBS.

On a phone I would recommend using something like a iRig which will allow you to at least use a real microphone ( it supplies +48 and some gain) and plug it into your headphone jack. 

C


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## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

I was invited to do a facebook live thing, but I'm not ready for that. But the group sets it all up. They even have a sound check to make sure you are broadcasting correctly . My niece's boyfriend streams on facebook quite often and all he uses is a phone stuck on a tripod. Sound and video look amazing for a live stream


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## Chito (Feb 17, 2006)

Cardamonfrost said:


> Will OBS stream live to FB? I know that I can stream live to YT with OBS.
> 
> On a phone I would recommend using something like a iRig which will allow you to at least use a real microphone ( it supplies +48 and some gain) and plug it into your headphone jack.
> 
> C


I've been working on trying to get a livestream going with my duo and this weekend we might be able to do it finally. I've already tried the setup I have. And to answer your question, yes you can do Facebook live with OBS. I'm using a Canon video cam with an Audio Technica stereo mic into a laptop through an Elgato camlink as my capture device. There is usually a bit of lag but it doesn't affect the stream itself. I'll let you guys know after Saturday.


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## KapnKrunch (Jul 13, 2016)

Chito said:


> I'll let you guys know after Saturday.


Let us know what? We wanna tune in! C'mon...


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## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

I'm watching a live stream now. One of the Local Hamilton pubs is hosting it since they can;t do open mic. Pretty cool idea! Every player gets 15 minutes to play. 15 players...


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## KapnKrunch (Jul 13, 2016)

The annual music festival folks held one here in our little town. People performed from their homes. I liked it.


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## Cardamonfrost (Dec 12, 2018)

Chito said:


> I've been working on trying to get a livestream going with my duo and this weekend we might be able to do it finally. I've already tried the setup I have. And to answer your question, yes you can do Facebook live with OBS. I'm using a Canon video cam with an Audio Technica stereo mic into a laptop through an Elgato camlink as my capture device. There is usually a bit of lag but it doesn't affect the stream itself. I'll let you guys know after Saturday.


Cool. I have used a similar setup. I think with enough tinkering JamKazam will be superior to OBS, however, it doesn't want to see my startech capture card, so I am stuck with a cheapo Webcam. However, the reason I am liking JK is that it sees all 16 channels of my soundcard, so when everything is back to normal, I may be able to live stream my whole band in HQ.
C


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## Guncho (Jun 16, 2015)

I'm playing one song in a live Zoom concert Saturday night. I'm going mic-audio interface-laptop and using the laptop camera. I really wish I could run the audio through Reaper to add some reverb, compression and eq but apparently that is really complicated. My audio interface has no power supply and I'm actually really surprised my laptop can supply enough power to it to send phantom power to the my mic.


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## mrfiftyfour (Jun 29, 2008)

To answer an earlier question, yes iPhones will stream on Facebook and in landscape mode too.
We are going to use the Irig preamp so we can use a real microphone. 
I'm sure using a laptop with decent interfaces would be a better option


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## Chito (Feb 17, 2006)

We should have a thread for GC members livestream links.


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## bw66 (Dec 17, 2009)

mrfiftyfour said:


> To answer an earlier question, yes iPhones will stream on Facebook and in landscape mode too. ...


Cool. I'll have to try it again. A friend of mine couldn't get it to work either.


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## DaddyDog (Apr 21, 2017)

Wifey and I have been trying external mics to get better audio (with iPhones and iPads). The video quality is excellent. We're just trying to record, not go live... yet.

1. H2N Zoom recorder mic: terrible.
2. MXL Desk Mic: pretty good.
3. Shure 58 to mixer with usb output: very good. Almost what we settled on.
4. Shure MV88+ kit: excellent quality (after trying all of the presets). And a very simple set up. The iPhone clip is great, but there's no clip for an iPad.
(good luck finding one though... I think we got the 2nd last one in the city)


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## Cardamonfrost (Dec 12, 2018)

Chito said:


> We should have a thread for GC members livestream links.


Lol. Mine is just so my band can play along so we can learn the same songs together. I am trying to learn this group of songs entirely by ear (no tab, no YT vids etc), and it is super painful to listen to. Lots of F**kery. Lol. I don't care because I have no subscribers - but its the only, and easiest, way to archive what I am up to.

I was thinking of making one of those "three years of practice compilation" videos someday. And it has helped me immensely with stage freight. I figure if I can sing to strangers (hypothetically, I mean, I have no subs out of family) I can sing to my band. So far it isn't working, but its my best hope!

That and practice practice practice.

C


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## mrfiftyfour (Jun 29, 2008)

Success!
We had a blast doing this!
Had some family and friends watching us, everyone social distancing. 
It was so cathartic to everyone involved!
So everything was miced into the PA with just the Iphone mic.
Band mix was good, although my guitar was a little quite in the mix, but no biggie.
We were able to be in landscape mode, however, the image was reversed!
We are all right handed, but the video shows we are all left handed! 
Oh well, we'll get that figured out for the next time!



__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=912240109224308


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## Lord-Humongous (Jun 5, 2014)

f'kn A stream dude. The sound is great - if I understand you correctly, you've mic'd the band like you would performing live and are just using your iPhone mic to capture the live mix?


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## mrfiftyfour (Jun 29, 2008)

Yup, that is correct.
I'm sure the sound quality could've been better if we took a direct feed from the board or used a better mic.
But I think it turned out pretty good!


Lord-Humongous said:


> f'kn A stream dude. The sound is great - if I understand you correctly, you've mic'd the band like you would performing live and are just using your iPhone mic to capture the live mix?


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