Practical notes from the studio and the stage on equipment, cameras, sound and lighting, written by the people who set it up and run it.
Our articles cover the everyday decisions behind live television, from routing a signal to placing a microphone. New pieces appear about once a day, and each one is written to be useful on a working shoot.
A step-by-step walk through planning, wiring and testing the vision mixer, router, monitors and intercom in a small television studio so they behave as one working system.
A working checklist for anyone about to commission lighting for a studio or stage: room, people, rigging, power and programming, so the brief is clear before anything is hung.
Most trouble in multi-camera work starts before the red light comes on. Here are the common camera operation and direction mistakes we see, with plain ways to head them off.
A plain account of how room assessment, acoustic panels and microphone placement are priced, and which features of a room and a brief push the figure up or down.
Mark runs a small music society in Herefordshire. This is how we covered his autumn concert with four cameras, a mobile gallery and a steady signal feed to a screen in the next room.
Mid autumn is the quiet window to review run sheets, patching notes and crew habits before winter schedules fill up. Here is how a workflow audit and a short training session fit in.
Three terms that come up in every studio fit-out, tally, talkback and genlock, explained without jargon, with what each one does for a control room and why it matters on air.
A comparison of tungsten and LED lighting for a small news and interview studio, looking at colour, heat, rigging and running cost, with a clear recommendation for most rooms.
A behind-the-scenes look at how our camera crews prepare a live interview: shot lists, positions, talkback and the small checks that keep a three-camera show calm.
The question we hear most about studio audio: why a presenter sounds distant or boxy on air. Rachel explains how a room is assessed and what treatment and mic placement can realistically change.
A look at how our mobile gallery and signal feeds shape multi-camera coverage of concerts, festivals and parties, from the first cable run to the last act coming off stage.
Part two of our look at workflow audits: the paper, spreadsheets and rehearsal methods we rely on when we review a production process and train teams on their own equipment.
Daniel Hartley sets out the questions worth answering before you commit to a studio integration: what you own, what must talk to what, and who tests the finished system.
Most lighting problems on a live show are made days before the broadcast. Tom Gregory goes through six common mistakes in key, fill and backlight setups, and what to do about each.
A plain breakdown of how camera operation and direction is priced for interviews, news bulletins and multi-camera live shows, and which choices raise or lower the final quotation.
Rachel tells how Martin's community radio and video group stopped fighting an echoing hall, and what a room survey, a few panels and better microphone placement changed.
