Today I’m excited to share the simplest way to integrate lyrics into the lower third of your livestream broadcasts. If you’ve struggled with this aspect of church production, fear not—I’ve got you covered. Let’s dive in!

Understanding Lower Thirds:

  • Lower thirds refer to graphical content displayed at the bottom portion of the screen during a broadcast, commonly used for song lyrics, Bible verses, and speaker identification.
  • This tutorial focuses on achieving this effect using ProPresenter 7, but similar principles apply to other presentation software.

Setup with ProPresenter:

  • Begin by creating slides with lyrics, ensuring a simple black background to facilitate keying.
  • Connect your computer to an input on your switcher, such as a Blackmagic ATEM switcher, using a cable.
  • Verify that the lyrics appear on the multiview output of your switcher.

Configuring Upstream Key:

  • Access the Upstream Key menu on your switcher and select Luma Key.
  • Set the Fill Source and Key Source to your ProPresenter output, which contains the lyrics.
  • Enable Pre Multiplied Key to optimize keying settings.

Positioning the Lower Third:

  • Activate the Upstream Key to overlay the lyrics onto your program feed.
  • Use the Flying Key feature to adjust the position and size of the lyrics, ensuring they align with the lower third of the screen.

Advanced Keying Techniques:

  • For more complex lower thirds with colors and gradients, utilize chroma keying.
  • Adjust the background color of your slides in ProPresenter to green for chroma keying.
  • In the switcher software, switch to the Chroma Key tab and select green as the chroma sample.
  • Fine-tune the positioning of the lower third to achieve seamless integration.

Optimizing Workflow:

  • Maintain consistency by running lower thirds and all slides from the same ProPresenter computer.
  • Ensure proper coordination to prevent conflicts between lower thirds and full-screen slides during the service.
  • While dedicated graphics computers are ideal, this budget-friendly approach offers practical solutions for church livestreaming.

By following these simple steps, you can effortlessly incorporate lower thirds into your church livestreams, enhancing the worship experience for remote viewers. Embrace these techniques to streamline your production workflow and elevate the quality of your broadcasts.

Until next time!


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