MixOne Cinema employs Blackmagic Design’s switchers for live production and streaming

Video production company MixOne Cinema, led by Director Kevin Garcia, implemented the ATEM 2 M/E Constellation HD (Conception Blackmagic) as the demand for adding live streaming to full fledged live productions continues to grow.

ATEM 2 M/E Constellation HD live production switchers has supported multicam live production and streaming for a host of musical performances and live events, including VetsAid 2022 music festival, Pentatonix at the Hollywood Bowl, Kelly Ripa’s Live Wire book tour, Adam Lambert at the Hollywood Palladium, R.E.M.’s Chronic Town 40th Anniversary concert and more.

“The main element that’s been a huge advantage with the ATEM is the mappable outputs and ISOs of cameras that I can assign to different places. It’s come in handy for mixing IMAG and stream capture at once from one switcher,” noted Garcia. “I also use the USB webcam output as a backup into the stream computers for every event in case anything goes down.

“The built in Fairlight audio mixer has been very useful. During Lamb of God’s performance at Aftershock Festival, we didn’t have any crowd microphones. I ended up using camera audio in between songs and fading it up or down from the downstage edge camera. It really helped bring a ‘live’ energy that wouldn’t have been accomplished otherwise.”

Dynamic projects

According to Garcia, his projects are incredibly dynamic, especially when live, and the ability to control everything subtly yet quickly has been a huge addition to his workflow.

“Pentatonix at the Hollywood Bowl was a 12 camera shoot, with the furthest camera over 1,000 ft, away,” he explained. “Having the ATEM 2 M/E made it easy to monitor all 12 cameras and communicate clearly, as we also took advantage of camera control using the Blackmagic Camera Fiber Converter et Studio Fiber Converter for shading. Pentatonix is unique with five lead singers, so we always have additional cameras, and showing the vast size of the Hollywood Bowl was something we really wanted to capture.”

In addition to the ATEM 2 M/E Constellation HD, MixOne Cinema recently added a HyperDeck Studio 4K Pro broadcast deck to its arsenal, which also includes numerous Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro 12K digital film cameras, URSA Diffusion G2 appareils photo, Caméra de cinéma de poche digital film cameras, Assistance vidéo monitor/recorders, ATEM 1 M/E Advanced Panel 10 control surface and more.

“The ability to use SSDs or SD cards with the HyperDeck Studio 4K Pro helps a lot,” said Garcia. “Some of the streaming we do is delayed, maybe one to two hours behind real time, so being able to record in H.264 is such a benefit when we don’t have time to encode.”

“Oftentimes we have a back to back schedule of events, and on top of that, more and more we are being asked to add a live streaming component,” he added. “For Evanescence’s performance at the Louder Than Life festival, we had one hour to get an entire stream set up for the DWPresents Twitch channel special event. The day after Pentatonix at the Hollywood Bowl, we were across the country with my ATEM 2 M/E rack, Advanced Panel and cameras for Kelly Ripa’s book tour, live streaming a Q&A in a theater on Long Island with a live audience.”

Garcia concluded, “The ease of all the Blackmagic Design gear working together helps me achieve practically any setup, all in a very short window.”