SCHEDULE
before I go into elaborating or expanding on the set up, I would like to 1st of all cover the schedule of putting together a performance for the Vitamin S-Tream. I will cover the basic timeframe of the schedule and the process over one week towards the performance.
DRAW
the first thing that has to happen is that a draw must be created from performers who are interested in being involved. This requires putting all the performers names into the Vitamin-S website which then randomly generates a draw of two trios per date. This now becomes the draw that we will work from to bring the Trios together for the performances.
As the draw has done again from scratch each time, it can sometimes be necessary to swap a few names so that performers who recently performed together in previous drawers are not performing together again. This is to create unique combinations and experiences for each performance, and each set of performers.
NOTIFY POOL OF DRAW DATES, TIMES, TRIOS
All the performers in the draw are notified by email if possible, or other messenger services if email is not available for them, so that they know the date, which set, and who they are playing with. This means they can consider whether or not they are available. Although, largely due to the conditions surrounding the Covid-19 crisis currently, we have not had any performers have to withdraw from the trio at this time.
CONTACT PERFORMERS FOR COMING WEEK AND ORGANISE A TECH/SOUND SET UP TEST STREAM
Performers for the two trios to perform on the coming Monday, are usually contacted on the Tuesday to check that they are still available. This is to organise a technical and sound set-up/test.
It is not necessary for the combinations of the Trios to be tested as they will perform as long as all performers get a chance to check their technical and sound setups. It is also a chance for them to experience what it is like to perform using zoom, and the idiosyncrasies around performing over the Internet. It means any issues or problems can be confronted in the sessions and work to be solved so that everybody is as comfortable as they can be heading into the performance on Monday.
The sessions for me as the organiser and coordinator make heading into Mondays performance a lot less demanding, as there as less chance of last-minute technical or sound issues needing to be solved in a hurry.
These sessions are put through the same software applications platforms that they will be put through on the coming Monday. The process for the performers is pretty much the same as that that they will follow on Monday. The test is also streamed to YouTube has an unlisted stream so that they can then look back on it to see how they themselves, and the group they do the test with look and sound. It gives every performer an opportunity to then adjust their approach and their set up before the performance on the coming Monday.
PROMOTION AND POSTING
On Wednesday or Thursday the forthcoming event is created on the Facebook page, and posted as a Facebook event and shared on the Vitamin-S Facebook group as well is shared amongst any other similar groups. On the Sunday before the event, an email is sent out to the Vitamin-S list which consist of a list of all the performers, and a separate list for people who wish to be friends and receive notifications of events and other happenings.
PERFORMANCE EVENING SCHEDULE
Below is a list showing the functions of the applications, and the tasks that need to be completed up to the beginning of the performance. First of all let's list the functions that ach application performs, and how they connect/communicate.
APPLICATIONS AND FUNCTIONS
before 7.00 pm
See the next blog entry for more images and videos of the work flow. Following that will be some observations on the positive outcomes and issues that aose during the series, and how some of these were solved.
before I go into elaborating or expanding on the set up, I would like to 1st of all cover the schedule of putting together a performance for the Vitamin S-Tream. I will cover the basic timeframe of the schedule and the process over one week towards the performance.
DRAW
the first thing that has to happen is that a draw must be created from performers who are interested in being involved. This requires putting all the performers names into the Vitamin-S website which then randomly generates a draw of two trios per date. This now becomes the draw that we will work from to bring the Trios together for the performances.
As the draw has done again from scratch each time, it can sometimes be necessary to swap a few names so that performers who recently performed together in previous drawers are not performing together again. This is to create unique combinations and experiences for each performance, and each set of performers.
NOTIFY POOL OF DRAW DATES, TIMES, TRIOS
All the performers in the draw are notified by email if possible, or other messenger services if email is not available for them, so that they know the date, which set, and who they are playing with. This means they can consider whether or not they are available. Although, largely due to the conditions surrounding the Covid-19 crisis currently, we have not had any performers have to withdraw from the trio at this time.
CONTACT PERFORMERS FOR COMING WEEK AND ORGANISE A TECH/SOUND SET UP TEST STREAM
Performers for the two trios to perform on the coming Monday, are usually contacted on the Tuesday to check that they are still available. This is to organise a technical and sound set-up/test.
It is not necessary for the combinations of the Trios to be tested as they will perform as long as all performers get a chance to check their technical and sound setups. It is also a chance for them to experience what it is like to perform using zoom, and the idiosyncrasies around performing over the Internet. It means any issues or problems can be confronted in the sessions and work to be solved so that everybody is as comfortable as they can be heading into the performance on Monday.
The sessions for me as the organiser and coordinator make heading into Mondays performance a lot less demanding, as there as less chance of last-minute technical or sound issues needing to be solved in a hurry.
These sessions are put through the same software applications platforms that they will be put through on the coming Monday. The process for the performers is pretty much the same as that that they will follow on Monday. The test is also streamed to YouTube has an unlisted stream so that they can then look back on it to see how they themselves, and the group they do the test with look and sound. It gives every performer an opportunity to then adjust their approach and their set up before the performance on the coming Monday.
PROMOTION AND POSTING
On Wednesday or Thursday the forthcoming event is created on the Facebook page, and posted as a Facebook event and shared on the Vitamin-S Facebook group as well is shared amongst any other similar groups. On the Sunday before the event, an email is sent out to the Vitamin-S list which consist of a list of all the performers, and a separate list for people who wish to be friends and receive notifications of events and other happenings.
PERFORMANCE EVENING SCHEDULE
Below is a list showing the functions of the applications, and the tasks that need to be completed up to the beginning of the performance. First of all let's list the functions that ach application performs, and how they connect/communicate.
APPLICATIONS AND FUNCTIONS
- Zoom to connect the performers and their audio,
- Logic to mix audio from zoom and my audio input so it can be sent to OBS studio.
- OBS studio to create a sequence of scenes that are sent to YouTube,
- YouTube to stream from OBS studio to the 'Vitamin S-Tream' YouTube channel
before 7.00 pm
- Launch and test audio and video connection between all applications
- zoom
- Logic
- OBS Studio
- open YouTube, and schedule the YouTube stream (four 7:55 pm on the Monday evening )from the Vitamin-S channel
- test the connection between OBS studio and the newly created YouTube stream
- Send zoom invitation to all the performers. And make sure waiting room has enabled in the same settings.
- Let performers into the room from the waiting room at the time required for their technical/sound set up test (usually this would start with the second Trio testing first, and the first trio testing second so they can finish their test, have a short break and then go straight on to perform)
- Start streaming to YouTube, click on the 'GO LIVE' icon.
- Begin with the first scene and OBS which is the Vitamin-S slide (see below),
- After that has become established fade across to the scene with the wine cellar montage and the audience hub-bub sound.
- When performers for the first set are ready, and it is just after 8 pm, fade to the performers scene
- Once the performance has ended, 'outroduce' the performers, and mention that there will be a break until the second set while we swap over the performers.
- Begin with welcoming everybody and introducing the performers.
- Once the performance begins, turn off my camera and microphone input.
- Once the performance has ended, 'outroduce' the performers, and mention that there will be a break until the second set while we swap over the performers.
- Fade to the in between sets scene, this scene features audio playback behind the image from any music chosen to play from my computer. Lately we have choosing local releases avilable on Bandcamp.
- When second set performers are ready, fade back across to the performers scene
- Introduce performance for the second set
- Once the performance begins, turn off my camera and microphone input.
- Once the performance has ended, 'outroduce' the performers, and thank all performers and anyone in the audience watching on YouTube for joining us. Mention that we will be back next week, and that if anybody would like to join to be part of a performance please contact hours through our Facebook group page, or our website.
- Fade to last scene, 'Thanks for watching, we'll be back next week same time same channel'. This scene also features audio playback behind the image from any music chosen to play from my computer. We have been continuing playback of the music selected for the in between sets scene
See the next blog entry for more images and videos of the work flow. Following that will be some observations on the positive outcomes and issues that aose during the series, and how some of these were solved.