Looking To Stream Your Wedding Or Conference? The Sound & Light Hire Company Talks Live Streaming & Virtual Events
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As you all know 2020 has been a bit of an odd year. Moving forward we need to try and understand how the events industry is going to change. This includes all aspects of the events industry from conferences, weddings to house parties. So, let us discuss how we are helping to reshape our services.
We have all come to the same conclusion that until next year weddings and conferences will be extremely limited. Although some are still going to take place just with new rules as guidelines. In some scenario’s clients, family members & guests will not be able to attend the event whether this is through their own choice or the current restrictions in place at venues.
Based on the current climate let us talk about streaming and how live streaming at your event or wedding can turn a negative situation into a more positive experience whilst the restrictions and legislation are ironed out which may continue to take another year or 2.
One of the most common requests we have received recently is live streaming services for weddings and small events. People are looking for a cost efficient solution with a simple set up installed and operated by a company that understands you are not broadcasting to Sky TV you are getting married and you want your friends and family to still be a part of it and streaming the live ceremony is the way forward. This goes for bar mitzvah events or company update in the corporate world to.
People not looking to do high end broadcasting require something more simplified that just works whilst these restrictions are in place, this is where we come in!
We will firstly start off with the basics, what is needed to stream your wedding or event. Let us take a typical scenario that everyone can relate to.
Recently at Horsley Towers weddings that had been booked in the couples did not want to reschedule. They wanted to think of a possible back up plan to adhere to the regulations allowing them to still go ahead and enjoy their anticipated day, bringing us onto streaming They can share the experience with their loved ones in a more virtual way.
In order to do this you need a local, reliable, trusted sound & lighting hire company and guess who is based in Surrey offering this service, that’s right us! The Sound & Light Hire Company!
Why do people use and trust our services? Because we have been around for 15 years providing sound, staging, lighting and now streaming services to many corporate and private venues such as Horsley Towers where we are a preferred supplier.
To stream your event you will need the following items:
*A streaming capture card which is an interface between the camera(s) and the laptop.
*You need a high-performance laptop enabled for streaming.
*You will need a small speaker system in most scenario’s (not in all) but we will come to that later.
*Professional stage lights to make sure you will be clearly seen on the camera ensuring the streaming service is more enjoyable.
*In most cases you will need a pair of professional video cameras (please note ‘’go pros’’/ webcams and cheap inferior recording equipment is not a reliable way to stream your event).
*You will also require a small mixing desk to adjust and balance out the levels on the mics.
*LED screen/ TV screen
Again we want to reiterate there are different levels and different requirements for whenever you are streaming an event, so maybe you are thinking this is the wrong set up for you, no problem give us a call and we can discuss how we can reliably stream your next event.
Of course, you need the most crucial part of this which is the internet! Without this none of the above works!
Now there are a few options with regards to getting good internet connection, 1 is fast broadband at your house or venue where the conference /wedding is being held. But just to be clear if you are getting married in a castle in the middle of nowhere with poor internet you will find it a challenge to stream reliable.
We do have a couple of solutions for this, but we are not going to cover this in this blog today.
Before we cover what a typical live streaming session is let’s remind you of some of the additional services we offer that you may not realize we do whilst reading this blog.
Any wedding, conference or party normally have additional items or equipment requirements whether this be a stage platform or providing uplighters for your wedding a stage set or video wall for a conference.
Maybe you have more than 1 person on your panel, a socially distanced conference? And need some LED screens. We can do all the above!
Let us get straight to the point what does it cost to stream your event or wedding? Unlike a lot of other companies, we are going to give you the cost right here:
A typical wedding/ event would be about £800.
This is a very rough cost based on a typical scenario with a couple of people requiring mics.
You will find a lot of other companies supply this for £1500 plus as this is a new buzzword, a new service offered.
Whereas Sound & Light Hire Company want to offer this service at a fair and competitive rate to appeal to most events.
We will give you a real-life example – last week 25th September we were at Horsley Towers in Surrey. The bride and groom not only wanted to stream to guests who could not make it overseas, they also wanted to send a live feed to their guests who were present in a separate room. Horsley Towers were kind enough to set up another room where 15 guests could watch the wedding live on a set of our 75” LED screens.
In the ceremony room we used a pair of our high definition SLR video cameras to capture the content which is then sent via our Black Magic live streaming rack to then stream via the Zoom platform. This is sent to online guests at home whilst the hardwired 75” screens were placed in an additional room showing the real time live camera feeds. The reason we did this although streaming is great is we have all had points where the internet is slow or has an outage, so by hardwiring the screens we could ensure they would see the content without any delays.
A pair of wireless discreet mics were placed in such a way that the bride / groom and registrars’ voices could all be easily picked up and heard.
4 x sets of our latest Bose S1 pro battery powered speakers were placed in the ceremony room and additional suite as this minimized cable and set up time.
Moving onto the finishing touches of the event, we also supplied a small but slightly raised white stage for the bride and groom, just 1ft from the ground this neat platform gave the couple a nice presence within the room.
Now you understand what we supplied let us have a quick recap over what the client asked for, what was supplied and what was achieved.
The client needed to stream their wedding via an online platform and also send a live feed into another room within the hotel for additional friends and family to watch and hear them get married.
They also requested a small carpeted stage to give them a centre focal point within the ceremony room.
With our video cameras and streaming rack this was quite easily achieved in a cost-efficient manner.
To explain the costs broken down with the above streaming equipment with the addition of the screens and stage….
2m x 3m stage carpeted £200
4 x Bose Pro1 battery powered speakers £200
Thomann 12 channel mixing desk £20
2 x wireless Shure handheld mics with stands £65
1 x SLR Camera £45
1 x Streaming capture card £50
1 x Laptop £35
2 x LED lights £30
2 x 75” LED screens on stands £300
1 x Technician £225
2 x crew £100
Transportation £60
This brought the total cost to £1330
Most clients don’t require or ask for the staging platform carpeted or prefer the smaller screens so to give you an idea of costs for this scenario would be the same kit as above minus the stage and use of 50” LED screens instead of the larger 75” screens, bringing the total to £900 plus the travel.
Maybe just 1 screen is required and perhaps just a couple of speakers rather than the 4 we supplied so this would bring the cost down again as an alternative option.
To sum up this article we would like to give you an overview of our services across London, Hampshire, Surrey and Berkshire. Whether you are looking to hire a small speaker system or some disco lights for your Halloween or Christmas parties or perhaps you have a conference that needs to be streamed and you require a reliable company to do so, or a local council promoting a Christmas light switch on, remember the Sound and Light Hire Company is Surrey’s leading event hire company stocking a vast range of sound& lighting equipment as well as festival stages and indoor/outdoor LED screens.
Come and get in touch about your next event, we look forward to hearing from you soon.
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