Event Stream Team enhances its streaming workflow with the Blackmagic ATEM Constellation

Le Magie noire ATEM Constellation, among other equipment, have enabled production company Event Stream Team to significantly improve its workflow.

Event Stream Team est un live streaming production company with more than 120 active clients. Based in Baltimore, Maryland, the family-owned and operated company is led by Jimmy Reid, who also serves as chief technology officer. Its client base ranges from non-profit organisations and museums to regional and federal government agencies. Recently, the company has decided to incorporate a significant selection of Blackmagic solutions to better meet its diverse needs.

The Event Stream Team’s workflow is structured around a ATEM 2 M/E Constellation HD production switcher. As Reid says, “We needed an SDI based switcher that could do some heavy lifting, and its twenty inputs, as well as the built in Fairlight audio mixer, have changed our entire production.”

For Reid and his team, the dynamics and EQ of the Fairlight tools are essential: “We use them in every gig to ensure the audio is smooth and consistent between the HyperDeck recorder/player units and the audio mixers from our wireless mics. Also, before, we had to bring a full size mixer with us for audio. Now, we can just use our ATEM 2 M/E Constellation HD and know that our audio will be top notch.”

In the Baltimore courtroom

Event Stream Team recently broadcast a four-hour hearing from the courthouse in Baltimore County. For this project, the production company decided to use an ATEM 2 M/E Constellation HD switcher along with two Caméra Blackmagic Studio 4K Pro units, Blackmagic Zoom Demand et Blackmagic Focus Demand devices, and three ATEM Studio Converters.

Reid believes the team responded perfectly: “Blackmagic Studio Camera 4K Pros, when paired with the ATEM Studio Converters, are just incredible, especially when it comes to simplifying my workflow and cable management. The camera’s dual native ISO makes the image quality look awesome regardless of the event, whether I’m in a brightly lit courtroom or a dimly lit venue. The Zoom and Focus Demands are a must have accessory for the cameras as well. The ability to dial in and focus from the tripod handles is a game changer. My hands never have to leave the handles.”

The Event Stream Team also relied on the Caméra Blackmagic Studio 4K Pro to capture the historic moment of the unveiling of William Arthur Smith’s painting ‘Andrew Ellicott and Benjamin Banneker Surveying the Boundaries of Washington, DC’, which is preserved and on display at the Banneker-Douglass Museum in Annapolis, Maryland. During the live broadcast, Reid focused one Caméra Blackmagic Studio 4K Pro unit on the artwork, while a second was used to record the sign language interpreter.

A flexible workflow

For smaller events or tight spaces, Reid has built a portable production system around an ATEM Mini Pro ISO mixer, a HyperDeck Shuttle HD recorder et un HyperDeck Studio Mini unit for live graphics. The Event Stream Team also uses the HyperDeck Studio HD Plus model for clip playback and four HyperDeck Studio 4K Pro units for backup. “Blackmagic Design has given us the confidence and the gear to come onto any site and know that we’ll deliver top quality. “In doing so, we’ve been able to create a reputation for ourselves as the go to team for live streams,” says Reid.

At the same time, the Event Stream Team manager has started using DaVinci Resolve Studio 18 editing, colour grading, visual effects and audio post-production software: “Editing takes up a lot of my time, so I’m really looking forward to outsourcing that with Blackmagic Cloud.”