Line in from PA system

[philoaks]

Hi all, another noobie here so please bear with me. Over the past few month I've successfully used OBS to stream our pre-recorded church services on Facebook.

I'm now trying to organise myself for livestreaming from the church itself. Video will be coming from a DSLR camera setup and audio (hopefully) by linking into the church PA system. I need to make up a lead for the mono output from the PA to feed into my laptop which has a Realtek Audio Manager. I've run a few tests but the audio level seems quite low and I suspect I'm not using the correct connections.

At the moment I've used the screen from the PA cable to the sleeve on the 3.5mm jack and the ring and tip on the jack are both connected to the other wire from the PA. As I say, it does work but levels are low. At the moment I'm using a jack with Tip/Ring/Sleeve but wonder if I should be using a Tip/Ring/Ring/Sleeve type with a different connection setup.

Any advice would be appreciated!

 

[Lawrence_SoCal]

Couple of thoughts
- OBS can composite multiple sources into a single video output
Once you've created that recording of a service, you don't need to use OBS anymore. You could simply upload that video to Facebook and 'publish' (make Public) at desired time. Where you could use OBS is if video is pre-recorded, but then you used OBS to combine video and something else (service bulletin, lyrics, etc) into a single video stream

For reference, I'm new to OBS and started livestreaming from church almost 7 months ago. I stream combination of video, that is I go back and forth between pre-recorded content (readings, Hymns, announcements, etc) and live video of priest, along with using PowerPoint for service bulletin. We've been using a webcam, but PTZ just arrived and we should switch soon. Audio comes via our Presonus AR12 sound panel and priest wearing wireless lav mic. On our current PC, I have to boost audio mic input by 7db to get proper audio levels. which is good enough... once we switch to PTZ feed, we'll also move PC into sound closet and use a USB connection vs XLR to 3.5mm audio line audio connection ... ah more fun/tech to learn/setup [said somewhat sarcastically]

Part of your issue may be optimizing/configuring the Windows Sound settings. OBS adds its own complexity, so I'd start with OS Sound control panel applet and test the audio input into Windows OS itself (OBS not running, not just in background). You can use Windows Media or Recorder to record audio input to do more detailed testing if need be (or whatever recorder you choose). But get that sorted first. You may have to adjust output levels on your soundboard. Depending on cable length and quality, you may need audio signal booster. ONLY after all that squared away, would I recommend opening OBS and now dealing with Audio there (otherwise you aren't sure if OBS or OS issue)
As for TRS vs TRRS, that depends on exactly what you are using as output (ie sound panel port), the connecting cable, and more importantly the physical audio port and Realtek settings on the PC. [Sorry, don't know what " screen from the PA cable " means] I know the business class PCs I work with can switch between TRS or TRRS connections... BUT beware the variety of TRRS 'standards' and how they interplay which can cause lots of hassle (no simple plug and play). I did my own research, and even then had to go to the guy who setup up our sound system to finally get something that worked (and it took some tweaking even then). For simple line-out, TRS would make more sense (as TRRS exists to provide stereo audio + microphone)
I hope that helps get you started

 

[philoaks]

Couple of thoughts
- OBS can composite multiple sources into a single video output
Once you've created that recording of a service, you don't need to use OBS anymore. You could simply upload that video to Facebook and 'publish' (make Public) at desired time. Where you could use OBS is if video is pre-recorded, but then you used OBS to combine video and something else (service bulletin, lyrics, etc) into a single video stream

For reference, I'm new to OBS and started livestreaming from church almost 7 months ago. I stream combination of video, that is I go back and forth between pre-recorded content (readings, Hymns, announcements, etc) and live video of priest, along with using PowerPoint for service bulletin. We've been using a webcam, but PTZ just arrived and we should switch soon. Audio comes via our Presonus AR12 sound panel and priest wearing wireless lav mic. On our current PC, I have to boost audio mic input by 7db to get proper audio levels. which is good enough... once we switch to PTZ feed, we'll also move PC into sound closet and use a USB connection vs XLR to 3.5mm audio line audio connection ... ah more fun/tech to learn/setup [said somewhat sarcastically]

Part of your issue may be optimizing/configuring the Windows Sound settings. OBS adds its own complexity, so I'd start with OS Sound control panel applet and test the audio input into Windows OS itself (OBS not running, not just in background). You can use Windows Media or Recorder to record audio input to do more detailed testing if need be (or whatever recorder you choose). But get that sorted first. You may have to adjust output levels on your soundboard. Depending on cable length and quality, you may need audio signal booster. ONLY after all that squared away, would I recommend opening OBS and now dealing with Audio there (otherwise you aren't sure if OBS or OS issue)
As for TRS vs TRRS, that depends on exactly what you are using as output (ie sound panel port), the connecting cable, and more importantly the physical audio port and Realtek settings on the PC. [Sorry, don't know what " screen from the PA cable " means] I know the business class PCs I work with can switch between TRS or TRRS connections... BUT beware the variety of TRRS 'standards' and how they interplay which can cause lots of hassle (no simple plug and play). I did my own research, and even then had to go to the guy who setup up our sound system to finally get something that worked (and it took some tweaking even then). For simple line-out, TRS would make more sense (as TRRS exists to provide stereo audio + microphone)
I hope that helps get you started

Hi Lawrence,

Thanks for your reply and advice. As you suggest I will concentrate on making sure that the sound levels are ok within the Windows environment before I add OBS into the mix. I've also bought a simple USB audio adapter to try that too as that has separate input and output ports so no TRRS/TRS questions.

Unfortunately I live in South Wales (UK) and we have just entered a 2 week Covid lockdown so can't get to the church to try anything out at the moment. :(

Our livestreaming of a recorded service is a bit odd I know but our Pastor was originally livestreaming every Sunday from his home and people got used to accessing that. Sadly his health is not good so we have had to move to pre-recorded services but I kept the livestream going so that people didn't have to get used to doing things in a different way (hence the reason for OBS). I also put the pre-recorded service into a YouTube schedule so people have multiple ways of accessing the service at 1030 each Sunday. Like myself, many of our congregation are on the wrong side of 60 but they don't all enjoy the challenges of online life! Some don't or won't have a Facebook account and some don't like using YouTube so it's all a bit of a mash up at the moment. Once we can fully return to church then I will livestream on YouTube only so people will have to adapt I'm afraid ;)

Thanks again for your help and hopefully I can put your suggestions to use once we are released!

 

[Lawrence_SoCal]

I'm one of those who refuses to get a Facebook account ;^)
But in regards to watching livestream services, by using a 'Scheduled' Facebook live event, there is a URL that anyone can watch (any browser, even smart TVs, etc - no Facebook account/login required). And the video shows up at the same URL every week (it is a URL specific to our church facebook.com/{groupname}/live/ . So as much as early requests did include YouTube support, we decided single platform was MUCH easier and everyone can watch from pretty much any device. To be nice to folks who can't click on link, getting a bit.ly or similar shortened URL will help when trying to get URL typed into a SmartTV, Roku, or similar streaming device
Another nice side benefit of using the dedicated Facebook Live URL for our group, is folks can see prior services at same URL, as well as during a livestream to see the facebook user comments (.. depends on viewing device, some wil lshow video only, others can see comments... ymmv... side note: our priest actively encourages comments/replies, and will comment on them during sermon to increase engagement... my suggestion)

And we are in a sort of lockdown as well, but limited gatherings are accepted... so just me and priest in sanctuary, and I'm wearing a mask

Oh and one other thing, on Dell Precision laptop and Optiplex desktop, the Dell sound s/w allow different settings on plugging in an audio cable [heaphones, headset, lin-in, mic-in, etc) - play with those settings to figure out what works for your system.