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10 Tips to Improve the Quality of Your Church Live Stream – Viral Believer
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10 Tips to Improve the Quality of Your Church Live Stream

Improve the Quality of Your Church Live Stream!

If your church is looking to improve the quality of its live stream, there are ten things you can do. From encoding settings to choosing a camera, this blog post will help you ensure that your service reaches more people than ever!

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10 Ways To Make Your Church Live Stream Better

The quality of your church’s live stream is important. It can be the difference between someone watching or not. Here are some tips to help you make sure that your stream looks great!

Be sure to have a clear, well-lit stage.

If you don’t have a dedicated lighting person, tell the camera operator or volunteers in charge of streaming that they need to be careful with how dark it is on stage.

Keep the camera on the speaker at all times.

This may seem common sense, but it’s easy to get caught up in what’s happening on stage and forget the most important thing is the person speaking. Nothing is worse than viewing an empty stage for most of the service.

Use an appropriate background for your live stream

Don’t use the default green screen background if you don’t have to. Find a background that is appropriate for your church and stick with it. Pay attention to what is behind your pastor. I know of a church that has drapes behind the stage. They look ok in person, but they are terrible as a background for live streaming.

Make use of natural light when possible.

Natural light can go a long way to making your live stream look great. Some churches have windows behind the stage that is perfect for letting in natural lighting, which looks beautiful on camera as long as the sun does not shine directly into the camera!

Darker stages can be a challenge to record. If your church stage is dim or you use mood lighting, please light up the person speaking. Nothing is worse than being unable to see the person speaking.

Record sound separately from the video and then sync them together in post-production 

This is a great way to get better-quality audio. The person in charge of the live stream should be able to hook their computer to the mixer. You can then sync the audio with the video with the live-streaming software you are using.

Stay away from using the camera’s microphone or a single external microphone. Take the time to mix a feed for your live stream that sounds good online.

Check that you are not recording too loudly or softly – make sure it is at a medium level

This is especially important if you are not using a mixer. You don’t want people to adjust the volume on their computer or phone to hear your live stream properly. There are audio levels shown in your live-streaming software. Keep the sound peaking below the yellow with maybe a few spikes into the yellow area.

Use a good quality camera with a tripod or other specialty cameras for broadcasting.

You want to make sure that your live stream looks great. If you can, use a professional camera and tripod for the best results. As much as phone cameras and cheap Chinese knockoff cameras are cheap, they also give you cheap video quality.

Do yourself a favor and upgrade to a mid-tier camcorder with clean HDMI output. The better your camera and its resolution, the better the video quality will be on your live stream.

Consider purchasing a PTZ camera or an auto-tracking camera to switch between shots or eliminate the need for a camera operator to follow your pastor or worship leader. Multiple shots will help keep people engaged in your live stream.

Add subtitles, Bible verses, music lyrics, or closed captions to make it easier for deaf viewers and others who are watching online.

Not everyone who watches your live stream can hear what is being said. Adding subtitles or closed captions can help make sure that everyone can follow along with the service. You can also add Bible verses, music lyrics, or other text to keep people engaged.

Learn the basics of framing shots with a camera.

Framing shots is not complicated, but it can make a big difference in your live stream. A good tip for framing the shot is to have the person speaking on two-thirds of the screen with some space above their head.

Make sure you are using a tripod or a monopod while shooting video footage – nothing screams “amateur” like handheld footage.

A tripod ensures your camera is steady and doesn’t move around while recording the live stream. This will keep everything looking smooth on video, making it look professional!

Plan ahead for difficult situations, such as windy days or loud noises in the background of your church service, such as screaming kids or cars driving by.

It can be frustrating if something is going on in the background of your live stream that you have no control over! Just do your best to keep these at a minimum.

Upgrade your computer or internet bandwidth to stream at a higher definition.

If you have a good-quality camera and sound system, you’ll want to ensure that your computer can handle streaming at high definition. This means upgrading your internet bandwidth or getting a new computer with a more powerful processor. I recommend no less than a Pentium i7 or better.

Your bandwidth needs to be 2x the upload rate you are streaming at. The minimum for Facebook Live is 2.5Mbps, and the maximum is 6Mbps. The more Mbps you use, your live-stream video will be defined.

Conclusion – Improve the Quality of Your Church Live Stream

There are a lot of different things you can do to improve the quality of your live stream. If you follow these ten tips, then people will be able to enjoy watching your church service online even more!

I hope this article was helpful and that you learned something about improving your church live stream quality.

Sources:

Pastor Duke Taber
Pastor Duke Taber

Pastor Duke Taber

All articles have been written or reviewed by Pastor Duke Taber.
Pastor Duke Taber is an alumnus of Life Pacific University and Multnomah Biblical Seminary.
He has been in pastoral ministry since 1988.
Today he is the owner and managing editor of 3 successful Christian websites that support missionaries around the world.
He is currently starting a brand new church in Mesquite NV called Mesquite Worship Center, a Non-Denominational Spirit Filled Christian church in Mesquite Nevada.