Hello, my name is Facundo Chiniec. I’m the Production Manager at Iglesia Conexion con Dios here in Lanus, Buenos Aires, Argentina and this is my streaming setup.
We`ve been live streaming our services on YouTube and Facebook for a couple years but It didn’t have much information such as lyrics, lower thirds, tickets, and some other things that it has today.
Due to COVID-19, in our country, churches are forbidden to open, neither can the technical team or the worship group go to the church for live streaming. That is why with special permits, we were able to do a small TV studio in our pastor’s house (who are also my parents, ha-ha) and we carried there most of the equipment we have.
Now the only way people have to be in service is through live streaming. That is why we decided to create new content, very complete, that is fun, eye-catching, and not boring and simple as we had before. We want to ensure that people have a good experience at home. So, we not only added lyrics, lower thirds, but also improved streaming quality, audio quality, and went from mono to stereo audio.
EasyWorship in our case is the best program we can find to run verses spontaneously. Our pastor finishes his sermon minutes before the service, so we do not work with PPT during the week, or he preaches already prepared and we know what verses are needed ahead of time. The verses must be added to the schedule minutes before the pastor takes the stage.
Also, during the preaching, the pastor asks for verses that were not listed, and EW was the best software we found in this since it has the function to find verses faster than any other program. In a matter of seconds, the verse is on screen due to the program auto-completing the name of the books, and with the Tab key, we go to the chapter and verse very quickly.
The new Alpha output function through NDI was key to being able to distribute the letters and verses with a transparent background to various computers and to be able to place them anywhere on our screen.
Due to COVID-19, I am the only tech authorized to circulate and do the technical part of the services. That is why we think of an easy way, that a person can perform various functions and be able to transmit a complete and attractive service.
Our Equipment:
- 1 – ASUS Laptop: EasyWorship, vMix, and NDI.
- 1 – LENOVO Laptop: OBS, camera capture, NDI, lower thirds, etc.
- 1 – iMac: we control the YouTube stream, live chats.
- 1 – Macbook Air: Pads, background music for intro and outro.
- 1 – Elgato HD60s
- 1 – Sony PXW-X70
- 1 – Manfrotto tripod
- 1 – 50´´ Smart TV (vMix output)
- 2 – 21´´ Foldback monitors (EW foldback output)
- 1 – 23´´ camera monitor
- 1 – Midi controller: controller for vMix overlays
- 1 – Allen & Heath SQ-6
- 3 – Allen & Heath ME-1
- 4 – Sennheiser G2 IEM
- 4 – Sennheiser G2 handheld
- 1 – Sennheiser G2 Lavalier mic
- 1 – Sennheiser G3 Lavalier mic
- 1 – Presonus Audiobox Two
- 1 – EAW VFM-12 floor monitor
Our Setup:
Audio
Our worship band has:
- 1 guitarist: who uses his pedalboard and has a stereo output, also has a talkback to speak to the rest of the band. Use A&H ME1 as his personal monitor.
- Drummer: plays with a Roland SPDX, shakers, and a Peruvian Cajon. Use A&H ME1 as his personal monitor.
- 2 worship leaders. They use Sennheiser G2 mics and in-ears (mix from SQ6).
We also have:
- 1 ambient microphone (AKG Perception 170)
- 2 spare wireless microphones (Sennheiser G2)
- 1 x Shure GLXD B87 Wireless Talkback Microphone (it’s for me, I use it to countdown the worship band, and other stuff).
- 2 lavalier microphones for the pastors (Sennheiser G2)
- 1 in-ear with reference to the console master and APFL so that I can move comfortably and not be limited to being near the console.
Video
ASUS laptop:
On this computer we run EW and vMix. What we do is use all the verses and lyrics without backgrounds from EW and send it by NDI to vMix in this computer and to OBS that is running in the streaming computer. In this way we can have different backgrounds for the studio screen and another background image/video for streaming.
This computer has two outputs, one HDMI and one VGA. The problem we had is that when you use one output, the other is overridden. So, I had to add a USB 2.0 to DVI output with a converter to HDMI to be able to use the FOLDBACK output. The MIDI controller is also connected here to control the vMix overlays. So, the signal flow of this computer would look like this:
EasyWorship sends to vMix through NDI, Foldback Screen through USB to HDMI converter, studio screen through native HDMI, and OBS through NDI. It is not a computer with many resources. The GPU is always at the limit, but it does its job.
LENOVO laptop:
In this computer, we stream to different social platforms. The PreSonus board is connected to capture the streaming audio and the ELGATO capture device with the signal from the camera. In OBS, we use almost 15 different scenes, each with different lower thirds, videos, and a few other things.
Every two or three weeks we change the format of the lyrics, verse backgrounds, and lower thirds of the lyrics. One function we love that lets us make several changes without having to modify many things is to create custom themes for verses and songs. In this way we can configure different styles and change them quickly. We do it once and apply it to the rest of the songs and verses.
Thank you very much for reading what we do. I hope it will be beneficial for you. If you need help with anything, don’t hesitate to contact me at facundo.chiniecc@gmail.com.
Facundo is the Production Manager at Iglesia Conexion con Dios in Lanus, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
