Rome wasn’t built in one day
The year 2020 and 2021 have resulted in some interesting alternatives for live music. With most concerts cancelled, some artists went online instead and started to livestream. I personally find this approach very interesting for several reasons. The ability to play live to anyone in the world is the primary factor. And the possibility to experience it even after the concert is over is another. It opens a whole new forum for musicians to interact with their followers. However, I do suspect there is a huge technical barrier for many musicians. Personally, I love to figure out how things work and bang my head on a problem until I find a “perfect” solution. Learning how to livestream drums AND play the drums at the same time might perhaps be my most ambitious and rewarding project yet. Because there is no end in sight of technical problems to be solved!
My dream is to have a nice electronic drum kit, with multiple simultaneous cameras and the ability to livestream when I play it with perfect studio quality audio. I have been constructing that drumkit of my dreams for the better part of two years now, constantly adding new features that you usually won’t find on average Joe’s drum kit. For example, a 37” screen in front to show the notes and a touch screen controller to the left. I also have the possibility to control Cubase or Ableton directly from my drum throne using another computer to the right. This is where I run my backtracks. The sound system is a 2.1 loudspeaker kit. The subwoofer is crucial for any e-drummer. You need to “feel” the kick drum when playing. It adds more authentic feel than just about anything else.
I have also done a lot of livestreams in the past 2 years, but I have only used my iPhone and later a lightning connected stereo mic. But so far, it always sounds horrible. I usually play with guitar and bass backtracks and a metronome, and the online audience gets to hear it all, with click track and everything. That is not a long-term solution. Especially the click tracks must go, but I still need to keep it in my headphones. Yesterday I added a very important component to my setup that have been missing for way too long. An additional computer that will only be used for the livestream. This laptop will have a USB audio interface with ADAT coming in. That way I can create the perfect submix on my main studio computer including all instruments, with the click track separately routed to my headphones. Finally, I can do livestreams with perfect studio grade audio quality! There’s still a lot of cable routing remaining, but I have done a test stream and it works just the way I hoped.
The next step is to improve the video quality and add a couple of cameras. I have always liked a GoPro wide angle in the ceiling above the drum kit. A floor camera pointed on the kickdrums is also a nice touch. And then you also need a face cam, with a microphone, so that you can do the talking between the songs. So, three cameras seem to be the absolute minimum I suppose. Perhaps I should add a floorboard to jump between various cameras during a session. I have an old Behringer FCB1010 pedalboard collecting dust that could be put to good use here! I have started to scan the 2nd hand sites for used livestreaming cameras (like GoPro or Mirrorless/DSLR), but for now I will just use some old webcams and a smartphone.
This is a rabbit hole that never ends. When video and audio quality is top notch, then I must arrange studio lights around the drum kit and make the place nice and tidy. There are unlimited technical problems to solve here, and I will enjoy every second of it. This week it really hit me that I am creating something unique here. To pull something like this off, you need to have an exceptionally rare combination of interests and skills. I suspect 99,9% would probably give up before even starting. Most drummers I know of, for example, often prefers to bang their drums rather than tormenting themselves with figuring out submix routing and multi-PC livestreaming setups. I am also pretty sure I have at least some kind of letter combination, that is extremely useful in a project like this.
Rome wasn’t built in one day, and neither was my drum setup.