Blackmagic Design has announced that New Hampshire based live streaming and AV production company Events United used a Blackmagic Design live production workflow to produce Dropkick Murphys’ St. Patrick’s Day live stream “Streaming Up From Boston,” reaching a total of more than 10 million viewers.
For the first time in 24 years, Boston based Celtic punk band Dropkick Murphys did not perform a concert with a live audience for St. Patrick’s Day. The band took to the internet instead and performed a full concert set that was live streamed via the band’s Facebook, YouTube, Twitch, and other social media channels to fans throughout the world.
As a full service live streaming and audio visual production company, Events United was tasked with creating a high quality live streamed concert experience within a tight timeframe. The live stream idea was finalized only 48 hours in advance of going live.
Events United had already begun to build out a substantial streaming studio in response to many live events being postponed or canceled for the next few months. The setup needed to be expanded for a full band on stage, so as Dropkick Murphys’ live stream came to fruition, the team had to add even more AV gear to the workflow. Events United Producer Tim Messina worked tirelessly to make sure everything was done on time with a high quality look.
A Blackmagic Design Smart Videohub 40×40 12G router served as the hub of the live workflow. Seven cameras fed into the router, along with two computers for CG overlays and full screen video/graphics playback. Those feeds were routed into an ATEM 4 M/E Broadcast Studio 4K live production switcher connected to an ATEM 1 M/E Advanced Panel. Tim advised on the program cut during the show, and Video Director Jonathan Martell worked with the camera operators and directed Technical Director Kent Rich. Switching the cameras, Kent cut the main program on the ATEM 1 M/E Advanced Panel, which was then sent back to the router.
From there, the feed was sent to encoders and to several of Blackmagic Design’s HyperDeck recorders, including four HyperDeck Studios, three HyperDeck Studio Minis, HyperDeck Studio Pro and HyperDeck Studio 12G. Each camera was ISO recorded, and there were two recordings made of the program cut as well, one being the primary and the other as the backup. Audio was ingested into the ATEM 4 M/E Broadcast Studio 4K through a Teranex Mini Audio to SDI converter.
“Unlike the standard concert experience where everything is designed to look amazing to the audience, a live stream is a different ball game,” said Martell. “It didn’t really matter what this show looked like in the studio. The only thing that mattered was how everything came through the camera lens. We were able to work together alongside the band’s crew to make sure everything worked well to provide an amazing live stream.”
Jonathan noted that the team appreciated the ergonomics of the ATEM 1 M/E Advanced Panel, as well as the ability to remotely control the HyperDeck recorders, which made it very easy to sync up all the recordings.
“Blackmagic Design’s equipment was fast and easy to configure, had the right amount of processing power, and was reliable throughout the shoot,” said Martell. “We have multiple switchers in our inventory, but we chose the ATEM 4 M/E Broadcast Studio 4K because of its flexibility and input and output count. Blackmagic Design routers are the backbone of our video systems because they are reliable and affordable. Our team is all about premiere production services, and we really love working with our clients like Dropkick Murphys to help them realize the full potential of their ideas and events.”