So in these weird times, when we are unable to do stuff in company with others, I thought I’d try out live-streaming from home. I have tried this before a while back using Streejelly.com but times have moved on and there are now a lot of different ways of doing this. So my intention is to try a number out to see which ones I’m most comfortable with.

The primary channels seem to be Periscope, Facebook Live and YouTube Live with StreetJelly still there. Yesterday I tried a short set on Facebook Live – you can see it here – and I learned quite a bit:

• It’s really tricky to ‘soundcheck’ – I haven’t worked out how to test the stream before going live and get a clear idea of what the sound is
• My set up needs work – I’m using the TC Helicon Play Acoustic pedal for effects and the Zoom U-44 as a USB interface into my iPhone with the monitor plugged in to the output ports. However, that doesn’t mix the stereo signal properly so I can either go straight into the iPhone from the PA and use the monitor direct from that but eventually I want to use the iPad for looping and extra instruments so I need to work this out.
• FB Live is a great community. I got over 200 views for my first attempt and loads of great feedback from the groups I subscribe to so that works really well and is a massive positive

So all in all a great learning experience and one to build from. I will definitely use FBLive again but I will also try Periscope next. However, before then, I will be spending a bit of energy to work out the best rig setup – comments and advice on this very welcome