Sound Solution or Build Live Kit from Ground Up?

Hello,

New to the boards. I've found a few topics in the search that cover similar issues:

(e.g.
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=64952
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=56657
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=34873 )

However they don't quite cover my fairly specific scenario, so I hope i don't strain your patience too much with a new thread/topic. Apologies in advance also for the fairly lengthy description of things(!).

The 'tl;dr' version is that I'm after:
A. Some advice on how to most effectively use current kit, and/or
B. Some direction on how to set up a completely new live-streaming package.

Here we go:

We have a client who wants a weekly presentation live streamed via Skype for Business and then delivered after the event as an archive/record.

We film this from 2 x angles (currently using 1 x Sony FS5 and 1 x Sony A7S2). 1x wide safety (A7S2), 1 x mid shot tracking the current speaker (FS5).

There are sometimes up to 3 speakers on stage at one time and a roaming shotgun mic for audience responses/q&a. We've asked for budget for a sound operator and the client is unwilling to pay this, claiming the footage is just for reference and not critical. Fine. Still happy to get a regular weekly gig even if things aren't perfect.

With our current equipment, sound is our biggest challenge.

We have 2 x Sennheiser G3s, 1 x Sony UWPD16/K33 package (with the standard lav transmitter and the attachment for stick mics). We've tried running these to a Zoom H6 and mixing on that, then feeding to the FS5 via line-out. However for reasons we can't figure out the signal is way too low/noisy, despite adjusting the settings on the Zoom and the FS5 accordingly.

Instead we are (and try not to laugh) mounting the 2 x Sennheisers into the 2 x XLR ports on the FS5 and then using the hot-shoe we're plugging in the Sony receiver. We're then manually (quickly!) changing the settings on the FS5 so the right mic is being fed into the right channels.

If there are any soundies here it'd be great to hear if running it via the Zoom SHOULD be possible and it's worth persisting or if there's something else we could do that would make it a bit less of a mad panic when the speakers change and we have to quickly change channels. One solution I've considered is using the K1M/K2M module and swapping the FS5 to an FS7 where we could utilise all 4 x audio channels and still have physical knobs to set levels. My understanding is that there is no way to record all 4 x channels with the FS5 so even with the K1M/K2M we'd still need to change channels if we stuck with the current camera

We're feeding the video signal from the FS5 with a mono-mix of the audio out via SDI to our Blackmagic Web Presenter then via USB to the client laptop/Skype.

The second camera is for post-production. After the event we cut up the 6 hour stream into individual presentations along with the slides. The client has asked for a picture-in-picture effect for the master. You can see a very similar layout to how we deliver at 10'25" at this link:

youtube [DOT] com/watch?v=oaqHdULqet0

(Roughly two vertical thirds of the screen are the slide, one vertical third is the presenter - this switches left or right depending on their position. We then use the wide safety to make sure we have them covered while the FS5 tracks when there's a speaker change).

The live version is full screen with the speaker centre-frame. The client slides are on the client laptop. People dialing in to the Skype for Business channel see the slides full screen with a tiny (really tiny) thumbnail of the full-screen video in the lower right corner.

Editing in the third/two thirds style is frankly a pig and this is part I'd like the most help with coming up with a live solution. So what I'd like is a way to live mix that same picture-in-picture in that style and then send it out live as well as recording a master simultaneously so minimal editing is involved.

Question:

1. Whatever happens am I right in thinking the Sony FS7 is the only camera that currently offers 4 channel audio support? There are no Blackmagic cameras for example that offer this a way to record 4 channels of wireless audio on one file?

If the above is true and I stuck with the current cameras My thinking:

Sony FS5 > video + audio to ATEM Television Studio HD via SDI
Sony A7S2 > video only to ATEM Television Studio HD via HDMI
Mic 1 > audio to Sony FS5 via XLR
Mic 2 > audio to Sony FS5 via XLR
Mic 3 > audio to ATEM Television Studio HD via XLR
Mic 4 >audio to ATEM Television Studio HD via XLR

Mix Audio and create picture-in-picture effect in the ATEM Television Studio HD. How easy is it to create the picture-in-picture effect on the fly? I.e. if we're shooting a speaker on the right side of the stage and then suddenly a speaker on the left side of the stage starts talking, how easy is it to flip the P-I-P to the other side of the screen? And what would be shown in the output while this is taking place?

ATEM Television Studio HD > picture-in-picture video + audio to Web Presenter via SDI

Web Presenter > video + audio to Laptop via USB

ATEM Television Studio HD > picture-in-picture video + audio to HyperDeck Studio Mini via SDI

The HyperDeck Studio Mini records a back-up of the edited production to SD card.

I could upgrade things a bit by swapping out the FS5 and the A7S2 for a pair of Studio Cameras (do these support PTZ?)

The DREAM would be a way for one person to do this all on their own (that person would probably be me before you get the pitchforks out, I wouldn't wish it on anyone else but it would save me some money each month : ) I.e. come in, unpack, set up cameras and workstation, place mics on speakers, then sit back and control it all via PTZ and a desk. Do-able?

Are there any hardware options I'm overlooking? Does the above equipment sound compatible as a workflow? Is it overkill?

If I were going to go down the route of getting all new kit I would want to rack mount it and have a portable case - presumably some kind of Peli case? And, because I hate having empty spaces are there any additional units that I might not need for this job but which may come in handy down the line so I can fill the rack units out?

I haven't done any live stuff since I started out (in news about 15 years ago) and things have moved on a bit since then : )

Any advice greatly appreciated. And in the meantime I'll practice my Sony FS5 menu navigation - doing speed-runs of how fast I can change the channel : )

Thanks in advance,
Ed

Guess I'll reply to my own topic here since I've come on a long way since Jan.

In the end I picked up an ATEM TVS HD and a HyperDeck Studio Mini to go along with the Web Presenter plus more cables than I ever hoped to own.

Regarding recording 4 channels - the FS7 with the K1M unit remains by far the easiest solution though the audio I'm getting from the K1M isn't as clean as the on-camera XLR mounts. It's fine, but it's not perfect.

I never found a way to get the Zoom H6 recording and sending into the camera even though it seems that it should be a thing. Couldn't determine if faulty unit or what so I just pay a bit extra for rental of the FS7. Not ideal and eats into my profits but I know it works and it's much less stressful.

Regarding Picture in Picture - Macros are your friend. In fact they're not even strictly necessary. So long as the camera op is properly tracking the subject in the right position I've found by doing a DVE USK and having it pre-set to appropriate A and B positions I can instantly switch between left hand and right hand side slide positions. The only issue is that the framing needs to be either the left third or right third of the screen because the ATEM TVS HD can only (I think!) handle one USK. So I have the camera image in full size at the original position and frame the speaker to the left with a resized powerpoint slide covering up the right two thirds of frame. Fairly sure I'd need fancier models of ATEM to have more key options (i.e. crop the camera image so I just needed to frame the speaker in the centre of the camera and re-position it to appear in the left third of the space).

I'd still love some kind of audio solution where I'm not mounting mics to the camera but say have 4 x AVX units stuck on the back of a mixer on the flypack but I haven't yet found something the right size / with the right options yet.

Case-wise I went with an SKB Studio Flyer which seems to fit the bill. I'm currently looking at a custom PDU to fit in the remaining 2/3rds of a rack unit space.

Will keep the thread updated in case anyone comes along in the future, finding themselves in a similar situation.

Cheers