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Comedy Central · Warsaw 2018

Live streaming from a bar venue — a bar instead of a studio, three cameras and two Teradeks

„Drunk History” broadcast live from the International Bartending School in Warsaw. A dark room, one table and no internet line on site — and still fifty minutes of live broadcast for Comedy Central's audience.

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  • 3Sony XDCAM cameras
  • 2× Teradek Bond
  • 50:11minutes live
  • 0metres of cable to the net
The challenge

A venue is not a studio

The light is whatever you find there. The space for equipment is whatever is left between the tables. The acoustics of a wood-panelled room lined with bottles work against you, not for you. And there is no back room to move the flight cases into.

On top of that, the show went out live on Facebook before the episode aired on Comedy Central. The broadcast was a trailer for the format rather than a record of it — and it had no right to stall, because it was being watched by the very people the channel still had to win over.

The most mundane obstacle of all: the venue had no line we could build a half-hour live broadcast on.

How we did it

Four decisions shaped by a tight room

Step 1 · A flypack in the corner

The gallery in flight cases, set up where it stays out of shot and out of the guests' way. There is no room for a truck at a venue like this, and nowhere to park it either.

Step 2 · Three cameras on one table

Sony XDCAM: a wide of the table and two angles on the people talking. In a dark interior it is fast glass and placement that decide, not camera count — a fourth would have had nowhere to stand.

Step 3 · Two Teradeks instead of a line

Two Teradek Bond units on LTE modems. If the venue had nothing to build the broadcast on, the uplink travelled in with the crew.

Step 4 · Sound above everything

A full audio package and Altair Audio wireless intercom. On a show built on conversation it is the sound that decides whether the viewer stays — the picture may be intimate, the sound may not be accidental.

Equipment

What came into the venue

FlypackPortable gallery set up on site
3 × Sony XDCAMCamera channels with full crew
2 × Teradek BondUplink bonded across LTE modems
Altair Audio intercomWireless crew communication
Full audio packageRadio mics on guests plus room sound
Facebook LiveBroadcast ahead of the TV episode

In a cramped venue the winner is not whoever brings the most equipment, but whoever knows what to leave in the van.

Three cameras, a flypack in the corner of the room and an uplink built on two Teradeks.
The recording

Fifty minutes exactly as the audience saw them

Drunk History - recording of the live broadcast for Comedy Central
The result

A trailer that played like an episode

50:11minutes of continuous broadcast with no technical break
Ahead of airviewers met the format before it entered the schedule
No line neededthe venue stopped being an obstacle to the choice of location

What mattered most to the channel was that the broadcast did not look like promotional material but like a piece of the show itself. The same venue, the same tone of conversation, the same set — only live, and earlier than on television.

FAQ

Common questions about live streaming from a bar or restaurant

Can you broadcast from a dark venue?
Yes, but we come and look at the room first. In a bar or restaurant we rarely bring in a full film lighting rig, because it would destroy the atmosphere of the interior. Instead we choose fast glass and lift what is already there — the lamps over the table, the light behind the bar. The picture should look like the venue, not like a studio pretending to be one.
How much space does the crew take up in a restaurant or bar?
For a set-up like Drunk History all we need is a corner of the room for the flypack, roughly the footprint of one large table, plus space for the camera tripods. We need no back room and no parking for a truck. We usually rig a few hours before opening, or during hours when the venue is closed.
What if the venue has no internet?
We bring our own. Teradek Bond combines several LTE modems from different carriers into one stream, and for Drunk History we used two such units. Venue Wi-Fi is almost never suitable for a live broadcast, because it is shared with the guests and the payment terminal. We survey the signal on site before the production.
How do you deal with room noise?
It starts with radio mics on the people talking rather than a single room mic. Room sound is captured separately and used only as much as is needed to hear the life of the venue. If a coffee machine or ventilation runs in the background, we ask for it to be switched off for the broadcast — one of the things we agree during the site visit.
Can the broadcast go out before the TV transmission?
Yes, and it is a common scenario. For Comedy Central the live went to Facebook before the episode reached the schedule, so it worked as a trailer for the format. It does require agreeing with the channel what may be revealed on the stream and what is still under embargo.
How many people does a production like this take?
With three cameras it is usually a director, a vision mixer operator, a sound engineer, camera operators and one person responsible for the uplink. In a tight interior we deliberately keep the crew as small as possible — every extra person is another body between the tables.
Which platforms can we broadcast to?
Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, your own website, or several at once. Drunk History went to Facebook because that was where the channel's community was. If you need several channels simultaneously we set up multistreaming.

A broadcast from your venue?

Tell us where and when — we will come and see the room before quoting.

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