This is the fifth, and what I hope to be the final part in the series on setting up the studio. If you haven’t read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, or Part 4 yet, I suggest you head over and read those first.

I know last time I said the 80% mark was good enough to start tech testing on stream…. well, not quite. Audio issues were absolutely prohibiting that. So let’s call it 85%, which is where I think we’re at now.

It’s been a while since the last update, and that’s usually what happens in the holiday season and when I have competing projects that need doing. But not to worry, I’ve been hard at work behind the scenes doing stuff for the stream as time permits.

First, a quick update on the studio (and like an idiot I forgot to take pictures). We have stable network access in the studio! Finally bothered to get the cable ran and terminated.

A few webcams are on their way for use as a “booth” cam and a sneaky further back “studio cam”. The booth cam was planned originally, but the webcam that was normally used for it finally bit the dust (and was a decade old), and the studio cam angle keeps coming up as useful as I tweak the setup and want to see it from further back than the normal view. I kept having to use my phone tied to OBS to view it while messing with lights and the placement of things. It looked good in the layout so I figured I could add it permanently and just use it occasionally. It’s a neat “behind the scenes” type view with the cameras and lights.

I also spent about 4 hours this past Sunday figuring out what art to put up on the blank wall and getting the audio dialed in to the point where a tech test would sound acceptable. OBS was being uncooperative with USB audio from my mixer, but that’s all sorted now.

One irritating thing is the art I hung up isn’t super visible, mostly due to glare off the glass. That’s fixable, just need to get to a crafts store and get some matte spray paint. It’s these dumb little things that keep getting tacked on because I notice them. “Do one thing to improve things, find out you just added two more things to the list” has been the story of this project.

During the week I’ve been putting finishing touches on all the composite graphics and other on-screen things. It’s mainly been layout tweaks and start/end screens, but I’ve been doing a fair bit of After Effects work on animated graphics and logo stuff. Those probably won’t be done for the first few episodes, but when they do make their way into the imaging of the show, I think they’ll look nice.

I plan to do a quick video update as soon as I get all this stuff in and finished up; that should show off some of the capabilities of the stream setup and serve as a good diagnostic prior to streaming.

Can’t wait to officially show off the space!

A quick update on show/set news while I’m here – I’ve managed to dig up my old Z1 mixer from storage, which will get used at home during the week so I can rough in the show prior to the stream. It needs a few parts which I’ve also ordered, but should be back in working order soon.

With the Christmas and New Year’s holidays approaching I’m going to try to spend a little more time over at the studio doing tech testing during the week. I hope to start doing the streams closer to the end of the year, or if not, right at the start of 2023.