Mixing In-House and Livestream Recommendations

[SeanParticipant]

I have a Qu-16 that I’m using to mix audio for our in-house audio as well as our live stream audio. We have audio in house sounding good, but the live stream mix needs some work. Aside from sending channels to the USB stream, I can’t figure out how to adjust the audio before it reaches the computer. Any suggestions?

[Mike CParticipant]

How are you connecting the QU16 to the computer at this time.

What issues are you having with the live stream, poor mix balance or
noise and distortion…all the above!

To set up a somewhat independent mix for live you’ll need to use an available
mix, set it post fade, start off with all of the send levels set the same around
60%.
Been discussed many times here.

[SeanParticipant]

I am connecting the Qu-16 to the computer via a USB cable. I have each channel sent to the computer individually.

The issues I’m having are that the mix is completely different from what we hear in-house: piano is too loud, guitars and drums are too low, vocals are audible, but certain mics are louder than they should be.

Are you suggesting that I send a mix’s post-fade L and R channels to the computer instead of all of the input channels I’m currently using? That might work, but we have a few channels that we can’t route in-house or they will create feedback loop. I’m concerned that if someone accidentally presses that mix button on the board, we could damage equipment and ears.

[Mike CParticipant]

Are you using a DAW program in the PC to mix for live stream?

Setting up a post fade mix on the QU16 dedicated for live stream lets you adjust the relative mix balance for the live stream that will track along with changes made for the main mix.
Normally inputs sources that are loud in the room like maybe a guitar amp are turned down in the main mix but would need to be louder in the live stream, in that case the live stream mix send for the guitar would be turned up higher.

You would need to monitor the live stream mix with good headphones or in another room
and make mix changes as needed. If the band is normally the same once you get it dialed in it can more or less stay the same. It may not be the perfect solution but it will sound decent.
Having someone actively mix the live stream mix in a isolated room from the main mix either with an ipad, using the computer running a DAW or a completely separate mixer would be best but that requires at least one another dedicated person to be involved.

Yes some channels like room ambience mics should be assigned to the main mix, operator training is about the only fix for that!!

[SeanParticipant]

No DAW mixing for the livestream. Should I be doing that?

We’re also looking for an operator that isn’t also in the band. Right now I’m stuck with the challenge of mixing and playing guitar. 🤪

[Mike CParticipant]

At this point you are better off just supplying the mix for the mixer setting up a post fade mix like I mentioned.
Assign the mix your using to channels 17 & 18 on the USB output and in the streaming software assign the QU16 as the audio source.

I need to correct a typo in my other post……..
“Yes some channels like room ambience mics should NOT be assigned to the main mix, operator training is about the only fix for that!!”

[BrianParticipant]

It sounds like you want/need a “hands off” approach to mixing for broadcast. The best way to handle this IMHO is to set up a dedicated stereo aux send for the broadcast and set it as a “post fader” send. This means that while you can set levels for each input for the broadcast independently of the FOH, anytime you change the FOH mix it will also change the broadcast mix too. That may be hard to understand at first, so let me go into more detail….

First, during rehearsal, you need to get a good sounding mix for FOH. Once that is done, then change the console to control the broadcast aux and listen to that mix. Make any changes (like increasing the drum and guitars, and lowering the piano) to get a good sounding mix for broadcast. Once that is done, switch the console back to controlling the FOH mix. Now both mixes should sound good. During the service, if someone makes changes to the FOH mix (perhaps there is a guitar solo that needs to be pushed up a couple of db to sit on top of the mix and then turned back down after the solo) those changes will happen to both FOH and broadcast automatically.

Normally we would suggest that the broadcast mix be sent out “pre-fader” if there is someone mixing the broadcast mix. That way any changes made to FOH wouldn’t change the broadcast mix, but in your case you don’t have anyone monitoring the broadcast mix, so setting it up a “post fader” will be the best method.

Hopefully that makes sense!

[Author]

Posts