Manchester music and event space The Yard Mcr and StreamGM (formerly United We Stream), an award winning music and culture streaming platform also based in Manchester, have joined forces to revive and elevate Northern England’s vibrant grassroots music scene.
From live streamed sessions, club nights, and theatrical performances to intimate podcasts, The Yard Mcr’s creative spaces, restored and repurposed from a former Victorian boys’ school, have swiftly become a destination for emerging artists seeking a platform to showcase their talent along with a technical partner to help them reach a wider audience online.
To meet the rising expectations of online audiences and enhance the viewer’s experience, The Yard Mcr and StreamGM have recently overhauled their live production capabilities, implementing cameras and ATEM live production switchers from Blackmagic Design.
Dedicated to Greater Manchester music and culture, StreamGM approached The Yard Mcr to collaborate on a number of projects after garnering more than 20 million views across its platforms during the pandemic. “We had a couple of meetings with The Yard Mcr owners about collaborating and opening a production office in the building. Our values aligned in so many ways with all of us driven by an immense love of local culture, so the partnership was perfect,” begins StreamGM Producer Laura Graham.
Indie music series “Spill the Sound” was one of the projects to kick start the partnership. The 25 minute show highlights some of the best talent from across the North of England, blending new and unsigned acts alongside established headliners. The first series wrapped in April, and series two begins production in autumn 2024.
“The concept was created by presenter Louise Schofield and The Yard Mcr Film (a film collective based at The Yard Mcr), and together we have produced seven episodes featuring amazing bands and artists, such as Red Rum Club and The K’s, which sit on our website and YouTube channel,” Graham explains.
When it came to devising the live streaming workflow for the series, Graham notes, “We needed a camera solution that was both flexible and unobtrusive to capture the dynamic nature of the show, which is comprised of an interview with the artists followed by a live performance.”
Several decisions were made to deliver a quality multicamera production with minimal connectivity and equipment. The solution includes an ATEM Television Studio HD8 ISO live production switcher and Blackmagic Studio Camera 6K Pros coupled with Sigma 18-35mm f1.8 lenses, ensuring consistent images across all cameras.
A second space for the live interviews runs a three camera setup based on the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro digital film camera and the ATEM Mini Extreme ISO, with all cameras from both spaces recording in UltraHD on portable USB-C drives connected directly to each of the cameras.
The ATEMs also create a multicam DaVinci Resolve project while simultaneously recording all live camera feeds as HD H.264 files with timecode and the final program mix. “With the live stream done, we take the Resolve project and relink the UltraHD camera originals in post, allowing us to polish the edit and grade,” notes Graham.
The master audio from the bands’ recordings is remixed using the individual audio stems and then relinked in DaVinci Resolve Studio. Following this, the episodes are delivered in both HD and UltraHD for web and social media.
“The approach ensures a fast turnaround for online delivery that doesn’t compromise quality. We are now at a place where the upgraded workflow has more than halved the time spent on set and in post production,” Graham enthuses.
“For the Red Rum Club shoot, we planned for three hours of filming time as we hadn’t shot with a six piece band before,” she explains. “However, through the combination of plug and play Blackmagic technology and working with a punctual, experienced band, we sailed through filming and wrapped in a little under an hour.”
“In partnership with The Yard Mcr, we now have a solid creative and technical foundation to work from and the freedom to be more ambitious with complex shoots, new filming techniques and styles. The talent we showcase on StreamGM will have the best possible production and overall filming experience,” Graham concludes.
