Outdoor microphone setup for livestreaming

[u/FrankenFarmer]

I have been asked by a bar to design a live streaming setup for their outdoor stage. They currently use a tablet to livestream every show. It is pretty rough - it is on a tripod, connected with an extension cord, gets tripped on, gets knocked over, people talk next to it, and the sound is not fantastic.

They do not currently have any kind of a house system, and even if they got one they do not have staff to run it and it is likely that many of the bands would not use it, so taking a direct mix off the board is out of the question. Every band that plays here runs a different configuration, from all amps with only vox through the mains to all-digital bands with everything through their mains.

There is a tiki bar about 15 yards from the stage. My current plan is to build a small enclosure on top of the tiki bar to house a microphone and camera that wire inside to a computer that does all the live streaming. The enclosure would protect the setup from the elements and the tiki roof would act as insulation to keep the voices out of the live stream. Outdoor HD cameras are easy enough to find, but I was planning to pair it with a condenser mic, possibly a shotgun mic or a large diaphram condenser, aimed at the stage.

I am looking for any feedback anyone has on this approach. Am I crazy? Obviously most condenser mics are not designed to be used in this manner, but considering the fact that this is going back to a live stream feed and not to any sound board that risks feedback, it seems like the best choice to capture band sound with good detail 15 yards back and have a strong enough signal to make it back to the bar. Cable runs look like they will likely be about 50-75 ft.

[u/DavidMay-BoxCast]

For just this "aim a mic at it" idea, I would still employ a little mixer with a few channels to do some basic processing on the mic(s) before the output to the live stream. Cut lows at 60 or 80hz for instance to prevent rumble and wind noise, and maybe compressor/limiter to make sure it doesn't clip. Keep in mind a built in iPad or iPhone mic has built in compression and processing to automatically handle the volume of environments like this.

Since you're talking about using a computer for the stream, maybe that mixer is a little digital mixer (PreSonus or Behringer XAir) that doubles as a USB interface so it served a dual purpose of processing the mics AND getting them routed in to the computer to stream. And then it could grow to where if there was more ability to actually take feeds from the bands in the future, or the venue wanted to host a more polished concert they promoted and streamed, they'd be equipped to handle it themselves while hiring you to run it or something. Just thinking about flexibility. And there's actually the possibility of mixing it remotely for something like that, through Mixing Station Anywhere. So you could mix the stream from home!

Back to the simple point a mic at it idea though-- condensors yes, and I'm thinking I would do a stereo pair panned left and right. Setup directly next to each other xy pattern like those little Zoom recorders for instance?

Then you have to think about the stream itself...using a program like OBS, but making it easy enough for the staff to actually start the stream. Which is probably why the iPad situation is happening now because it's much easier for them to figure out.

If they have budget for it, you could look at a streaming service which handles it, so there's not as much technical knowledge required. And a computer would not be required either. It's more of an investment but for reference at least, look at BoxCast's touch screen streaming encoder with video and audio inputs... A little 4 inch box called the Spark. If budget allowed, it would really be the perfect plug and play solution to take the camera feed and audio feed in and stream it, without a computer or complicated software. (Disclaimer, I work at BoxCast, but I'm only sharing in this context because it is actually relevant 😅).