Tips for live-streaming
|
Hi! I'm Johan. I'm a volunteer at Our Lady's Parish in York, where we've been live-streaming Masses and other liturgies since the coronavirus lockdown began. Although communications is my day job (I look after the online media for the Carmelite Friars in Britain) live-streaming has still been a learning-curve for me, and indeed all of us in the parish who are online.
A number of people have asked me how we're doing what we're doing at Our Lady's. So, I hope the following will be helpful to you. Churches interested in live-streaming will also find useful resources from Church Times, the Church of England, and Bible Society. |
What follows may seem daunting and technical, but a lot of it is intuitive. I would describe myself as a good amateur when it comes to computers; I'm not a professional IT person, but I know how to use common office apps, and which way round to point a camera (just!). The reality is that everyone is learning new skills at the moment, and I'm certainly not an expert by any means. You will need someone with a bit of technical nouse, somewhere on site away from the priest, to live-stream in the way we're doing at Our Lady's. This person will need some familiarity with computers, but they don't need to be a whizz-kid or professor!
Sadly, I don't have time to be involved in setting up live-streaming for other parishes, but I hope these notes will be useful, and if you have further specific questions please email me.
You can see videos of the live-streams we've done in recent weeks on our parish Facebook page and YouTube channel.
Sadly, I don't have time to be involved in setting up live-streaming for other parishes, but I hope these notes will be useful, and if you have further specific questions please email me.
You can see videos of the live-streams we've done in recent weeks on our parish Facebook page and YouTube channel.
Basic principles
Back in March our first live-streamed Masses began with our parish priest, Tony, reading all the texts, including the Scripture readings and bidding prayers. There was no music. Many parishes are still using this basic format, and it is certainly the simplest to organise.
However, having discussed the matter with members of the Parish Pastoral Council, it was agreed that Our Lady's live-streams should incorporate other voices to encourage the sense of community participation, and be visually engaging so that people watching feel like participants not spectators.
The challenge then - both technical and pastoral - is how to involve the wider community whilst respecting the restrictions on people's movement.
Another important principle to bear in mind is that we want to provide live liturgies. There's plenty of footage of papal and other Masses online, and lots of spiritual resource multimedia, but we're not trying to reproduce those. We want our liturgies to have a sense of the parish community coming together, if not physically then "virtually".
Some parishes have incorporated other voices into the live-streaming of their liturgy by having parishioners call the priest by phone before Mass, wait on hold, and then contribute readings live during the worship. This has the advantage of everything being live, but sometimes the technology doesn't work well, and it can look rather odd seeing Father's face in church listening to a disembodied voice.
So, the decision was made at Our Lady's to prerecord video segments that are played on a computer during the live celebration. This isn't ideal, but we feel it is the best option in the current circumstances. So, how do we do it?
Back in March our first live-streamed Masses began with our parish priest, Tony, reading all the texts, including the Scripture readings and bidding prayers. There was no music. Many parishes are still using this basic format, and it is certainly the simplest to organise.
However, having discussed the matter with members of the Parish Pastoral Council, it was agreed that Our Lady's live-streams should incorporate other voices to encourage the sense of community participation, and be visually engaging so that people watching feel like participants not spectators.
The challenge then - both technical and pastoral - is how to involve the wider community whilst respecting the restrictions on people's movement.
Another important principle to bear in mind is that we want to provide live liturgies. There's plenty of footage of papal and other Masses online, and lots of spiritual resource multimedia, but we're not trying to reproduce those. We want our liturgies to have a sense of the parish community coming together, if not physically then "virtually".
Some parishes have incorporated other voices into the live-streaming of their liturgy by having parishioners call the priest by phone before Mass, wait on hold, and then contribute readings live during the worship. This has the advantage of everything being live, but sometimes the technology doesn't work well, and it can look rather odd seeing Father's face in church listening to a disembodied voice.
So, the decision was made at Our Lady's to prerecord video segments that are played on a computer during the live celebration. This isn't ideal, but we feel it is the best option in the current circumstances. So, how do we do it?
Location, location, location
The first thing to consider is location. There's an argument for using the worship space that parishioners are familiar with (the church sanctuary). However, these are often large spaces that can feel empty with just the priest, and which causes the priest's voice to echo when a congregation isn't present. Hence, at Our Lady's, we decided to use the Day Chapel which has a more intimate feel. This we have decorated with flowers and candles, and with photos of parishioners' faces that they have sent in.
Most bishops have specified that celebrations of Mass during the lockdown should not be attended by anyone but the priest (with some exceptions made for male religious communities). Therefore, if any technical assistance is to be given, the person(s) involved must be a suitable distance away. This can be tricky if you don't have a reasonably large space, or long extension leads for the power cable, USB cables, etc.
You're going to need a good broadband speed to live-stream video, so you need a strong WiFi connection or, even better, an ethernet cable going directly into the computer from your router/network. And your computer must have a good enough memory (RAM) to handle streaming software (encoding). Our office computer is not top of the range, but able to cope; a desktop PC (personal computer) is more likely to cope better with the complexities of streaming than most laptops.
The first thing to consider is location. There's an argument for using the worship space that parishioners are familiar with (the church sanctuary). However, these are often large spaces that can feel empty with just the priest, and which causes the priest's voice to echo when a congregation isn't present. Hence, at Our Lady's, we decided to use the Day Chapel which has a more intimate feel. This we have decorated with flowers and candles, and with photos of parishioners' faces that they have sent in.
Most bishops have specified that celebrations of Mass during the lockdown should not be attended by anyone but the priest (with some exceptions made for male religious communities). Therefore, if any technical assistance is to be given, the person(s) involved must be a suitable distance away. This can be tricky if you don't have a reasonably large space, or long extension leads for the power cable, USB cables, etc.
You're going to need a good broadband speed to live-stream video, so you need a strong WiFi connection or, even better, an ethernet cable going directly into the computer from your router/network. And your computer must have a good enough memory (RAM) to handle streaming software (encoding). Our office computer is not top of the range, but able to cope; a desktop PC (personal computer) is more likely to cope better with the complexities of streaming than most laptops.
Video capture
The main thing you will need in terms of hardware is a good (ideally HD) webcam (or two if you're feeling ambitious). Since the quarantine began, these have been in high demand on shopping sites like Amazon or PC World, so you may need to spend some time searching, or see what you can borrow.
You will probably want to mount your webcam on a tripod or suction cup (depending on the location you're using). At Our Lady's we got a very good Logitech webcam for about £100, and a tripod for about £40.
The main thing you will need in terms of hardware is a good (ideally HD) webcam (or two if you're feeling ambitious). Since the quarantine began, these have been in high demand on shopping sites like Amazon or PC World, so you may need to spend some time searching, or see what you can borrow.
You will probably want to mount your webcam on a tripod or suction cup (depending on the location you're using). At Our Lady's we got a very good Logitech webcam for about £100, and a tripod for about £40.
Sound capture
We'll be talking about sound input/capture (microphones) and sound output (what comes through a computer to speakers and/or streaming software).
We are using two sources of sound capture for live-streaming at Our Lady's.
The first is a microphone. Most webcams have these built in, but they don't pick up sound very well over a distance, so you will probably want a microphone that can feed sound straight from the priest's mouth into your computer. Your church may already have a fixed and/or roving microphone that the priest can carry or wear, but not many of these can be easily rigged up to feed into a computer. At Our Lady's we bought a wireless handheld microphone for about £35 that runs on AA batteries (make sure to always check its power level before each liturgy). This wireless mic connects to the computer via a dongle (aerial) that plugs into a USB port; make sure that the dongle isn't surrounded by too many wires as this can distort or disrupt the wireless signal.
The second source of sound is what plays through the computer itself, for example prerecorded videos or music files. We'll come to how you switch between these shortly.
We'll be talking about sound input/capture (microphones) and sound output (what comes through a computer to speakers and/or streaming software).
We are using two sources of sound capture for live-streaming at Our Lady's.
The first is a microphone. Most webcams have these built in, but they don't pick up sound very well over a distance, so you will probably want a microphone that can feed sound straight from the priest's mouth into your computer. Your church may already have a fixed and/or roving microphone that the priest can carry or wear, but not many of these can be easily rigged up to feed into a computer. At Our Lady's we bought a wireless handheld microphone for about £35 that runs on AA batteries (make sure to always check its power level before each liturgy). This wireless mic connects to the computer via a dongle (aerial) that plugs into a USB port; make sure that the dongle isn't surrounded by too many wires as this can distort or disrupt the wireless signal.
The second source of sound is what plays through the computer itself, for example prerecorded videos or music files. We'll come to how you switch between these shortly.
Streaming (part 1)
The two main live-streaming websites in Britain are Facebook and YouTube (though other services are available). Both allow for viewer comments, which can help create a sense of community, but which someone may want to monitor (they do not need to be on site to do this). Both Facebook and YouTube make automatic recordings of live-streamed videos that you can decide whether or not to allow people to see at a later date.
Both Facebook and YouTube allow for live-streaming with input direct from a device (webcam, tablet, or mobile phone). However, we quickly found at Our Lady's that the options for streaming from one device are limited, and to incorporate video and additional elements you need to live-stream using a 'studio' app (app=software).
The programme we are using at Our Lady's is called OBS Studio. OBS stands for Open Broadcast Software. It is open-source, which means it's free to download. It takes a bit of getting used to, but because OBS is very popular among streamers there are lots of helpful video tutorials to be found on YouTube (just do a Google search). We will come back to how to use OBS a little later.
The two main live-streaming websites in Britain are Facebook and YouTube (though other services are available). Both allow for viewer comments, which can help create a sense of community, but which someone may want to monitor (they do not need to be on site to do this). Both Facebook and YouTube make automatic recordings of live-streamed videos that you can decide whether or not to allow people to see at a later date.
Both Facebook and YouTube allow for live-streaming with input direct from a device (webcam, tablet, or mobile phone). However, we quickly found at Our Lady's that the options for streaming from one device are limited, and to incorporate video and additional elements you need to live-stream using a 'studio' app (app=software).
The programme we are using at Our Lady's is called OBS Studio. OBS stands for Open Broadcast Software. It is open-source, which means it's free to download. It takes a bit of getting used to, but because OBS is very popular among streamers there are lots of helpful video tutorials to be found on YouTube (just do a Google search). We will come back to how to use OBS a little later.
Recording video segments
I've found that the simplest way to arrange video segments for Mass is using PowerPoint, which is part of Microsoft Office. I won't give a detailed description of PowerPoint here, assuming that most people considering live-streaming have at least some experience of it. PowerPoint has the advantage of being quite intuitive to use. I have uploaded to Dropbox some PowerPoint files I created for recent Masses and other liturgies that you're very welcome to download and adapt for your own use; just be aware that some files are very large because they contain videos.
Each week the parish priest and I identify people to contribute the following elements of the Mass:
Fortunately our parish has a good music group and individual musicians who contribute; I'll say more about music and licensing later. We try to get a range of ages and sexes involved in the readings; it might sometimes be appropriate to incorporate other elements, such as Scripture drama by children, depending on your parish.
Some readers/musicians are able to record their video segment on their own device (PC, mobile, or tablet). Since videos tend to be larger files than most email servers can handle as attachments, contributors normally upload their files (usually in MP3 or MP4 format) to a cloud server such as Google Drive, One Drive, Dropbox, or WeTransfer. They then send me a link to download the file to my computer.
Probably more reliable, however, is to record video segments yourself through a web chat. This could be through a Facebook video chat, a Skype call, Google Hangouts, etc., but I like to use Zoom. I send the contributor a link to my Zoom ID, and arrange a time to video chat with them. Zoom allows you to record your chats, and can generate both video and audio files. Depending on your settings, Zoom will normally highlight the voice and video image of whoever is speaking; so, I ask the contributor to count themselves down from three (this switches Zoom's focus on to them) and then start speaking/singing whenever they are ready. In the meantime I mute my microphone so that Zoom doesn't switch the recording back to me. Most people like/need to do their segment two or three times. We don't mind where people do their recordings from (living room, garden, etc.), but they need to bear in mind issues like broadband strength (will the connection drop in the garden), lighting (don't sit with your back to a bright window or we won't see you), the noise of movement in the rest of the house, etc.
I've found that the simplest way to arrange video segments for Mass is using PowerPoint, which is part of Microsoft Office. I won't give a detailed description of PowerPoint here, assuming that most people considering live-streaming have at least some experience of it. PowerPoint has the advantage of being quite intuitive to use. I have uploaded to Dropbox some PowerPoint files I created for recent Masses and other liturgies that you're very welcome to download and adapt for your own use; just be aware that some files are very large because they contain videos.
Each week the parish priest and I identify people to contribute the following elements of the Mass:
- an opening hymn or reflection
- the first reading
- the psalm (sung by a cantor if possible)
- the second reading
- the gospel acclamation (sung by a cantor if possible)
- the gospel (proclaimed by our parish deacon)
- bidding prayers
- closing hymn or reflection
Fortunately our parish has a good music group and individual musicians who contribute; I'll say more about music and licensing later. We try to get a range of ages and sexes involved in the readings; it might sometimes be appropriate to incorporate other elements, such as Scripture drama by children, depending on your parish.
Some readers/musicians are able to record their video segment on their own device (PC, mobile, or tablet). Since videos tend to be larger files than most email servers can handle as attachments, contributors normally upload their files (usually in MP3 or MP4 format) to a cloud server such as Google Drive, One Drive, Dropbox, or WeTransfer. They then send me a link to download the file to my computer.
Probably more reliable, however, is to record video segments yourself through a web chat. This could be through a Facebook video chat, a Skype call, Google Hangouts, etc., but I like to use Zoom. I send the contributor a link to my Zoom ID, and arrange a time to video chat with them. Zoom allows you to record your chats, and can generate both video and audio files. Depending on your settings, Zoom will normally highlight the voice and video image of whoever is speaking; so, I ask the contributor to count themselves down from three (this switches Zoom's focus on to them) and then start speaking/singing whenever they are ready. In the meantime I mute my microphone so that Zoom doesn't switch the recording back to me. Most people like/need to do their segment two or three times. We don't mind where people do their recordings from (living room, garden, etc.), but they need to bear in mind issues like broadband strength (will the connection drop in the garden), lighting (don't sit with your back to a bright window or we won't see you), the noise of movement in the rest of the house, etc.
Editing video segments
Once you have gathered together your video segments, it's time to edit them. Unless your contributor sent you a perfectly produced video, or managed to do the reading without any hitches on the first take, you're going to need to crop out material either side of the piece of footage you want. For this you will need some video editing software.
Microsoft Windows 10 has its own basic video editor as part of its camera app (you'll find it by typing "video editor" in the search box at the bottom left of your screen). This is okay, but can't really cope that well with large files and is limited in what it can do. I use CyberLink PowerDirector365 which you can purchase as a one off (for about £100 I think) or pay for a monthly/annual subscription. Another user favourite is Adobe's Premiere Elements (the basic version of the full Premiere editing app). Like OBS Studio, PowerDirector is very popular and quite intuitive to use, and there are lots of tutorials for it online.
To produce/edit video footage you basically start by inserting/capturing the media you want to use (video files, audio files, picture files). You then edit them together by laying them out on a sort of 'timeline'. Finally you tell PowerDirector what type of video file format and quality it should produce (I go for the "H.264 AVC" tab and select "MPEG-4 1280 x 7.20/50p (30 Mbps)").
Your video editing programme will allow you to crop the video segment to the part you want, and do any additions, such as adding subtitles (useful for psalms and hymns) or incorporating photos or audio tracks. For instance, if a musician sends you a recording of a particular hymn, you can add pictures, subtitles, and special effects to that sound file to generate an attractive video.
When you get to the final stage of editing each segment and are ready to make your final video file - called "production" in PowerDirector - you have to bear in mind two factors. On the one hand it's obviously nice to produce videos of the highest picture resolution and sound quality because these look best on your computer. However, unless you have a very fast processor in your computer, and an ultrafast broadband connection, you probably won't be able to stream such material without the computer having a breakdown! You will have to experiment based on your local circumstances, but in York I'm producing videos of medium quality (720p) that I know the church computer and broadband connection can cope with.
Once you have gathered together your video segments, it's time to edit them. Unless your contributor sent you a perfectly produced video, or managed to do the reading without any hitches on the first take, you're going to need to crop out material either side of the piece of footage you want. For this you will need some video editing software.
Microsoft Windows 10 has its own basic video editor as part of its camera app (you'll find it by typing "video editor" in the search box at the bottom left of your screen). This is okay, but can't really cope that well with large files and is limited in what it can do. I use CyberLink PowerDirector365 which you can purchase as a one off (for about £100 I think) or pay for a monthly/annual subscription. Another user favourite is Adobe's Premiere Elements (the basic version of the full Premiere editing app). Like OBS Studio, PowerDirector is very popular and quite intuitive to use, and there are lots of tutorials for it online.
To produce/edit video footage you basically start by inserting/capturing the media you want to use (video files, audio files, picture files). You then edit them together by laying them out on a sort of 'timeline'. Finally you tell PowerDirector what type of video file format and quality it should produce (I go for the "H.264 AVC" tab and select "MPEG-4 1280 x 7.20/50p (30 Mbps)").
Your video editing programme will allow you to crop the video segment to the part you want, and do any additions, such as adding subtitles (useful for psalms and hymns) or incorporating photos or audio tracks. For instance, if a musician sends you a recording of a particular hymn, you can add pictures, subtitles, and special effects to that sound file to generate an attractive video.
When you get to the final stage of editing each segment and are ready to make your final video file - called "production" in PowerDirector - you have to bear in mind two factors. On the one hand it's obviously nice to produce videos of the highest picture resolution and sound quality because these look best on your computer. However, unless you have a very fast processor in your computer, and an ultrafast broadband connection, you probably won't be able to stream such material without the computer having a breakdown! You will have to experiment based on your local circumstances, but in York I'm producing videos of medium quality (720p) that I know the church computer and broadband connection can cope with.
Putting it all together
I advise treating each segment of your liturgy as a stand-alone video file. Don't be tempted to edit into one video file all the material from the first reading up until the Gospel; you will create a huge file that most computers will be daunted to cope with, and have no flexibility if you decide to add in or remove segments later.
This is where PowerPoint comes in handy as a way to manage your video presentations. I use PowerPoint to create a slide for each segment of the Mass that requires prerecording, or that will appear on screen alongside the priest. I begin with an opening slide that can appear on viewers screens in the minutes before the event (it's always good if you can start streaming 5 to 10 minutes beforehand so that people can be sure to find your feed in plenty of time). I create a slide for the first reading by going to the "insert" tab and inserting the appropriate video file from my PC.
For reasons I shall explain later, I suggest that once you've saved your final PowerPoint as a PowerPoint presentation file (.pptx), you then additionally save it as a slideshow file (.ppsx).
When all the videos and other slides are in place, I can then use PowerPoint in slideshow mode to bring up the material at the appropriate point in the Mass.
So how do we switch between the "live" element of the priest, and the pre-prepared video material? This is where OBS Studio comes in.
I advise treating each segment of your liturgy as a stand-alone video file. Don't be tempted to edit into one video file all the material from the first reading up until the Gospel; you will create a huge file that most computers will be daunted to cope with, and have no flexibility if you decide to add in or remove segments later.
This is where PowerPoint comes in handy as a way to manage your video presentations. I use PowerPoint to create a slide for each segment of the Mass that requires prerecording, or that will appear on screen alongside the priest. I begin with an opening slide that can appear on viewers screens in the minutes before the event (it's always good if you can start streaming 5 to 10 minutes beforehand so that people can be sure to find your feed in plenty of time). I create a slide for the first reading by going to the "insert" tab and inserting the appropriate video file from my PC.
For reasons I shall explain later, I suggest that once you've saved your final PowerPoint as a PowerPoint presentation file (.pptx), you then additionally save it as a slideshow file (.ppsx).
When all the videos and other slides are in place, I can then use PowerPoint in slideshow mode to bring up the material at the appropriate point in the Mass.
So how do we switch between the "live" element of the priest, and the pre-prepared video material? This is where OBS Studio comes in.
Streaming (part 2)
So, the priest is preparing to start, and you have your PowerPoint slides ready and waiting. Now's the time to start streaming using OBS Studio.
The priest will not be able to do this at the same time as celebrating Mass; there's too much to keep an eye one. You will need someone to be running OBS on a computer nearby (but not too nearby!). Essentially, this person is the "producer" of your own little TV studio.
On OBS you can set up a number of "Scenes". These basically determine what will appear in the black box in the top half of OBS.
Let's start by setting up a scene that will be the main shot of the altar, facing square on. We set the scene by pressing the plus sign at the bottom of the "Scenes" box, and giving the scene a name; let's call it "Webcam 01". Next we need to tell OBS where the "Sources" are for the "Webcam 01" scene, in other words: where it is going to take video picture and sound from? Press the plus sign at the bottom of the Sources box, select "Video Capture Device", and specify your particular webcam. The webcam's video feed will now appear in the black box above, and you can adjust the size by dragging in/out on the red borders (it's rare that a webcam's picture is exactly the same dimensions as the OBS screen). Press the plus sign in the Sources box again and choose "Audio Input Capture"; now specify the microphone you're going to use (make sure it's switched on in order for the computer to pick it up). Congratulations, you've now set up your first basic scene: a video image of the altar, with sound from the priest's mic.
Now let's set up a second scene that we're going to use for prerecorded video footage that we've saved as slides in PowerPoint. First, open the PowerPoint file that you're going to use; open the slideshow version (.ppts) not the presentation version (.pptx). On OBS press the plus sign in the Scenes box and call it "PowerPoint". In the Sources box, press the plus sign and choose "Window Capture". This will tell OBS to take in the material from a particular window (app or programme) open on your computer (you can also specify other options, such as taking material from a particular screen if you have more than one set up). Once you've clicked "create new", it will bring up a window called "Properties for Window Capture". Here you can specify in the drop-down menu what window it should capture from. So long as your PowerPoint slideshow is running, you should see it appear in the drop-down menu. Earlier I suggested that you run the PowerPoint as a slideshow file, not a presentation file; this is because using the latter doesn't always work when streaming with OBS (it gets confused between commands for some reason). If you find that the slides don't transition correctly, change the "Capture Method" on the "Properties for Window Capture" from "Automatic" to one of the other settings. Just as with "Webcam 01", you can decide how much of the screen to fill with your PowerPoint Window Capture. Now you've told OBS where to get video image from, you have to specify where to get sound. If you have sound embedded in your video files, or inserted audio files into your PowerPoint, you'll want to ensure that "Audio Input Capture" is selected. You might also want to include the priest's mic as a possible source, if you want the priest to be able to speak over parts of the PowerPoint. You can switch audio inputs on and off in the "Audio Mixer" window (just remember to turn Father's microphone back on when he starts to speak!).
Now let's imagine that you want to superimpose some of your PowerPoint on the scene showing the altar; for example, you want viewers to see the priest at the altar, but also to give them the words of the "Gloria" in the bottom right-hand corner. This is where you combine elements from two different scenes to create a third scene (known in the trade as "Picture in Picture" or "PIP"). To build this scene, first click the plus sign and give it a name like "PIP". Then go back to your scene "Webcam 01". Right click on "Video Capture Device" and select "copy". Go back to "PIP", and in the "sources" box, right click and "paste". You've now told the "PIP" scene to use the same main image as "Webcam 01". Now select the scene "PowerPoint" and, using right click again, copy the source item "Window Capture". Again, paste this in "PIP", but now rezise the PowerPoint screen capture by clicking on the red lines and shrinking it down and moving it to where you want it to appear. If it isn't showing, use your mouse to left-click on "Window Capture" and drag it to the top of the Sources box; OBS will layer your sources from top to bottom (like specifying the "order" of overlapping files in PowerPoint, Word, or Publisher).
You've now got three basic "scenes" set up in OBS Studio. Switching between them will determine what your viewer ultimately sees.
Now you have to link what OBS is doing with your Facebook page or YouTube channel.
So, the priest is preparing to start, and you have your PowerPoint slides ready and waiting. Now's the time to start streaming using OBS Studio.
The priest will not be able to do this at the same time as celebrating Mass; there's too much to keep an eye one. You will need someone to be running OBS on a computer nearby (but not too nearby!). Essentially, this person is the "producer" of your own little TV studio.
On OBS you can set up a number of "Scenes". These basically determine what will appear in the black box in the top half of OBS.
Let's start by setting up a scene that will be the main shot of the altar, facing square on. We set the scene by pressing the plus sign at the bottom of the "Scenes" box, and giving the scene a name; let's call it "Webcam 01". Next we need to tell OBS where the "Sources" are for the "Webcam 01" scene, in other words: where it is going to take video picture and sound from? Press the plus sign at the bottom of the Sources box, select "Video Capture Device", and specify your particular webcam. The webcam's video feed will now appear in the black box above, and you can adjust the size by dragging in/out on the red borders (it's rare that a webcam's picture is exactly the same dimensions as the OBS screen). Press the plus sign in the Sources box again and choose "Audio Input Capture"; now specify the microphone you're going to use (make sure it's switched on in order for the computer to pick it up). Congratulations, you've now set up your first basic scene: a video image of the altar, with sound from the priest's mic.
Now let's set up a second scene that we're going to use for prerecorded video footage that we've saved as slides in PowerPoint. First, open the PowerPoint file that you're going to use; open the slideshow version (.ppts) not the presentation version (.pptx). On OBS press the plus sign in the Scenes box and call it "PowerPoint". In the Sources box, press the plus sign and choose "Window Capture". This will tell OBS to take in the material from a particular window (app or programme) open on your computer (you can also specify other options, such as taking material from a particular screen if you have more than one set up). Once you've clicked "create new", it will bring up a window called "Properties for Window Capture". Here you can specify in the drop-down menu what window it should capture from. So long as your PowerPoint slideshow is running, you should see it appear in the drop-down menu. Earlier I suggested that you run the PowerPoint as a slideshow file, not a presentation file; this is because using the latter doesn't always work when streaming with OBS (it gets confused between commands for some reason). If you find that the slides don't transition correctly, change the "Capture Method" on the "Properties for Window Capture" from "Automatic" to one of the other settings. Just as with "Webcam 01", you can decide how much of the screen to fill with your PowerPoint Window Capture. Now you've told OBS where to get video image from, you have to specify where to get sound. If you have sound embedded in your video files, or inserted audio files into your PowerPoint, you'll want to ensure that "Audio Input Capture" is selected. You might also want to include the priest's mic as a possible source, if you want the priest to be able to speak over parts of the PowerPoint. You can switch audio inputs on and off in the "Audio Mixer" window (just remember to turn Father's microphone back on when he starts to speak!).
Now let's imagine that you want to superimpose some of your PowerPoint on the scene showing the altar; for example, you want viewers to see the priest at the altar, but also to give them the words of the "Gloria" in the bottom right-hand corner. This is where you combine elements from two different scenes to create a third scene (known in the trade as "Picture in Picture" or "PIP"). To build this scene, first click the plus sign and give it a name like "PIP". Then go back to your scene "Webcam 01". Right click on "Video Capture Device" and select "copy". Go back to "PIP", and in the "sources" box, right click and "paste". You've now told the "PIP" scene to use the same main image as "Webcam 01". Now select the scene "PowerPoint" and, using right click again, copy the source item "Window Capture". Again, paste this in "PIP", but now rezise the PowerPoint screen capture by clicking on the red lines and shrinking it down and moving it to where you want it to appear. If it isn't showing, use your mouse to left-click on "Window Capture" and drag it to the top of the Sources box; OBS will layer your sources from top to bottom (like specifying the "order" of overlapping files in PowerPoint, Word, or Publisher).
You've now got three basic "scenes" set up in OBS Studio. Switching between them will determine what your viewer ultimately sees.
Now you have to link what OBS is doing with your Facebook page or YouTube channel.
Using Facebook Live
When we first started live-streaming from Our Lady's I tried to stream to both Facebook and YouTube at the same time using an app called ManyCam, but found that neither the computer nor the broadband connection could cope with two streams at once. So, we've been using just Facebook Live since. Here's how.
On Facebook, go to the page of the church or group you want to stream on behalf of (this is our page at Our Lady's). In order to do this, you will need to have a Facebook account of your own and have editor's privileges for the page/group in question (this can be assigned by the page administrator by them going to the page's "settings" and specifying "roles").
On your church's Facebook page, you'll see beneath the cover photo a box marked "Create". Click the "Live" button in this box, which will take you to "Facebook Live". This is where you will control the general settings for your broadcast.
You can either "Go live now" if you're ready, or "Schedule a live video" for a future time, which will inform visitors to your page that a video will be appearing later. Under "Post" you specify the page you want to stream to (or "crosspost" the same video to several pages if appropriate). In that "Post" section you can give the video a name and description.
In the "Get Started" box, "Use camera" is what you would press if you were simply streaming direct from one camera in front of the priest. However, we're more elaborate than that, and so we're going to select "Use stream key". The stream key is essentially the code that Facebook gives OBS to tell it where to send your stream. Thus far I haven't selected either of the boxes in "Setup options". Under "Live stream setup" you will see "Stream key". Click the "Copy" button next to this and then go back to OBS Studio. On the right-hand side of OBS Studio is a "Controls" section. Click "Settings", and then "Stream" in the menu on the left. From the drop-down menu called "Service", select "Facebook Live" (or YouTube, or whatever service you're going to use). Delete the dots in the box called "Stream Key", and paste the key you copied from Facebook (either by right-clicking in the box and then selecting "paste", or pressing "Ctrl+v" to paste). Click "Apply" and "OK" at the bottom of the Settings window. Back on the OBS main screen, click "Start Streaming".
Go back to Facebook Live, and the black window which till now has said "Waiting for live video" should now start to pick up the stream from OBS. Facebook and OBS are now "talking" to each other (streaming), but viewers won't see any live video on their Facebook page yet.
You can now specify various options on Facebook Live by going to the "Settings" box. For example, you can choose to "allow embedding", which means that you can embed the video's code into your own website. This is how we do it at Our Lady's on our live-stream page; a few minutes before Mass begins, I access the parish website's (our "Content Management System" is Weebly but each parish will have its own CMS) and put in the "embed code" from Facebook Live. Facebook Live provides the streaming technology, but parishioners can access it either through Facebook or through the parish website. Under settings you can also decide things like whether or not to allow viewer comments that appear in a side bar on Facebook (a good way for parishioners to feel connected to one another).
A few minutes before a live-stream begins, I go to the tab "Quick access to your live videos" and copy the "Show Live" website URL. I paste this on my own Facebook page, and send it via WhatsApp to anyone I think might be interested. It's a good reminder/invitation.
When everything is ready, you can press the "Go Live" button, and Facebook Live will begin to show your live-stream. You're now broadcasting to the world! To stop, simply press the same button. Facebook will automatically post the video to your page's wall (from where you can delete it if you wish, or download it for your own records).
When we first started live-streaming from Our Lady's I tried to stream to both Facebook and YouTube at the same time using an app called ManyCam, but found that neither the computer nor the broadband connection could cope with two streams at once. So, we've been using just Facebook Live since. Here's how.
On Facebook, go to the page of the church or group you want to stream on behalf of (this is our page at Our Lady's). In order to do this, you will need to have a Facebook account of your own and have editor's privileges for the page/group in question (this can be assigned by the page administrator by them going to the page's "settings" and specifying "roles").
On your church's Facebook page, you'll see beneath the cover photo a box marked "Create". Click the "Live" button in this box, which will take you to "Facebook Live". This is where you will control the general settings for your broadcast.
You can either "Go live now" if you're ready, or "Schedule a live video" for a future time, which will inform visitors to your page that a video will be appearing later. Under "Post" you specify the page you want to stream to (or "crosspost" the same video to several pages if appropriate). In that "Post" section you can give the video a name and description.
In the "Get Started" box, "Use camera" is what you would press if you were simply streaming direct from one camera in front of the priest. However, we're more elaborate than that, and so we're going to select "Use stream key". The stream key is essentially the code that Facebook gives OBS to tell it where to send your stream. Thus far I haven't selected either of the boxes in "Setup options". Under "Live stream setup" you will see "Stream key". Click the "Copy" button next to this and then go back to OBS Studio. On the right-hand side of OBS Studio is a "Controls" section. Click "Settings", and then "Stream" in the menu on the left. From the drop-down menu called "Service", select "Facebook Live" (or YouTube, or whatever service you're going to use). Delete the dots in the box called "Stream Key", and paste the key you copied from Facebook (either by right-clicking in the box and then selecting "paste", or pressing "Ctrl+v" to paste). Click "Apply" and "OK" at the bottom of the Settings window. Back on the OBS main screen, click "Start Streaming".
Go back to Facebook Live, and the black window which till now has said "Waiting for live video" should now start to pick up the stream from OBS. Facebook and OBS are now "talking" to each other (streaming), but viewers won't see any live video on their Facebook page yet.
You can now specify various options on Facebook Live by going to the "Settings" box. For example, you can choose to "allow embedding", which means that you can embed the video's code into your own website. This is how we do it at Our Lady's on our live-stream page; a few minutes before Mass begins, I access the parish website's (our "Content Management System" is Weebly but each parish will have its own CMS) and put in the "embed code" from Facebook Live. Facebook Live provides the streaming technology, but parishioners can access it either through Facebook or through the parish website. Under settings you can also decide things like whether or not to allow viewer comments that appear in a side bar on Facebook (a good way for parishioners to feel connected to one another).
A few minutes before a live-stream begins, I go to the tab "Quick access to your live videos" and copy the "Show Live" website URL. I paste this on my own Facebook page, and send it via WhatsApp to anyone I think might be interested. It's a good reminder/invitation.
When everything is ready, you can press the "Go Live" button, and Facebook Live will begin to show your live-stream. You're now broadcasting to the world! To stop, simply press the same button. Facebook will automatically post the video to your page's wall (from where you can delete it if you wish, or download it for your own records).
Music and licensing
In addition to any music that you may have in your video segments, you might want to play music before, during, or after the service. This can be done by using your computer's media app (such as iTunes or Microsoft's Groove Music / Windows Media Player) or your own music streaming service (Spotify, Google Play Music, etc.). It's best to prepare a play-list in advance, and then you can stream whatever sound is going through the computer by selecting "Audio Input Capture" on OBS. Bear in mind that this form of audio capture will play any sound going through your computer, so you might want to go to your computer's sound settings or volume mixer to turn off system sounds (the various pings and beeps that different apps can make).
As well as the technical side of playing music, you will also need to bear in mind the legal. Copyright on music can be owned by multiple persons, and depending on what you use, you may need to have permission from: the composer; the performer(s); the publisher/distributor. In order not to infringe copyright, most churches will need to have:
Facebook will not interrupt any live-stream, but you may find that afterwards, sections of your automatically-saved video are muted if their database of music identifies any copyrighted material. YouTube does the same. There aren't normally any financial punishments or legal problems if you infringe copyright and aren't making money out of doing so; it may simply be that sections of your post-streaming video are muted, or that you can't "monetise" the video (which parishes wouldn't be doing anyway). During the coronavirus pandemic a number of copyright holders (such as the Taizé Community) have lifted copyright restrictions on some (not all) of their recordings for live-streaming worship, but unfortunately Facebook and YouTube don't seem aware of this. In such cases it is possible to dispute a copyright claim; with YouTube this is a fairly straight-forward business, but with Facebook it is more difficult to find the necessary information.
In addition to any music that you may have in your video segments, you might want to play music before, during, or after the service. This can be done by using your computer's media app (such as iTunes or Microsoft's Groove Music / Windows Media Player) or your own music streaming service (Spotify, Google Play Music, etc.). It's best to prepare a play-list in advance, and then you can stream whatever sound is going through the computer by selecting "Audio Input Capture" on OBS. Bear in mind that this form of audio capture will play any sound going through your computer, so you might want to go to your computer's sound settings or volume mixer to turn off system sounds (the various pings and beeps that different apps can make).
As well as the technical side of playing music, you will also need to bear in mind the legal. Copyright on music can be owned by multiple persons, and depending on what you use, you may need to have permission from: the composer; the performer(s); the publisher/distributor. In order not to infringe copyright, most churches will need to have:
- A CCLI licence which covers you for technical matters, performers' fees, and publishers' rights: at Our Lady's we have the Church Copyright Licence (CCL) which covers 500,000+ songs and allows us to include the words of hymns in our video segments, and the additional Streaming Licence. Yes, you need a specific add-on licence to live-stream. The cost of licences depends on the average size of your regular congregation.
- A One License Licence, plus additional Streaming Licence, which covers many more publishers and pays composers for their work. Again, costs vary depending on church attendance figures.
- To use any material not covered by these two licensing agencies, you will need specific permission from the composer / performer / publisher to stream (broadcast/podcast) .
Facebook will not interrupt any live-stream, but you may find that afterwards, sections of your automatically-saved video are muted if their database of music identifies any copyrighted material. YouTube does the same. There aren't normally any financial punishments or legal problems if you infringe copyright and aren't making money out of doing so; it may simply be that sections of your post-streaming video are muted, or that you can't "monetise" the video (which parishes wouldn't be doing anyway). During the coronavirus pandemic a number of copyright holders (such as the Taizé Community) have lifted copyright restrictions on some (not all) of their recordings for live-streaming worship, but unfortunately Facebook and YouTube don't seem aware of this. In such cases it is possible to dispute a copyright claim; with YouTube this is a fairly straight-forward business, but with Facebook it is more difficult to find the necessary information.
Additional suggestions
Those are the basic guidelines. Here are a few other suggestions:
Those are the basic guidelines. Here are a few other suggestions:
- Use multiple screens if you can; if you're running PowerPoint, OBS, Facebook, and a music app all at once, you may want to run 2 or 3 screens from your computer.
- Don't under-estimate the time and energy it takes to prepare a live-stream. A 1-hour Mass may require a day's work to compile and edit video footage.
- Watch/listen to your live-stream on a separate device (mobile or tablet) using headphones (one earpiece in, one out). You want to focus mainly on the live action, but if you can multi-task it's good to check that everything is working properly, especially the sound. Don't watch/listen through the same computer you're streaming from, or OBS may pick up and stream the material it has already streamed. Remember, there's a 20-30 second delay between what happens live in the church and what appears on screen. Keep an eye on viewer comments; they'll usually alert you if something isn't working properly.
- Make sure your parishioners can easily find your live-stream broadcast. If using Facebook, "pin" the live post to the top of the page, circulate the web address in advance, etc.
- If you're feeling ambitious, add a second webcam. This means you can switch views, for example by focussing in on the lectern during the homily.
- The technician/editor needs to work closely with the priest before and during the Mass; work out a system for telling the priest when he can start, when he should pause, etc.
- For many people coming to Mass is not only about worship but also about community. We've been holding "virtual coffee" after Sunday Mass by inviting those with webcams to join a Zoom chat. Zoom (or similar apps) can be used to build community during the week with drop-in sessions, social time (quizzes, etc.).
