AV and MUSIC for ONLINE CLASSES – Michael and Jennifer Reis

AUDIO

Our equipment is a combination of new pieces, and some is years old, originally acquired for travel-teaching, so there may be newer iterations of what I list here. I suggest calling and talking with two places – AV NOW 1-866-384-3922 and Sweetwater 1-800-222-4700 to find the most current models and also for advice.

AvNow.com is very knowledgeable about setups for online classes; however they generally have a smaller selection of choices to purchase equipment in all categories.  Ask for Jon. 

Sweetwater.com is more musician oriented, also quite knowledgeable, and has a huge selection of equipment. Most of our equipment is from Sweetwater. Ask for Jake Barker.

Equipment prices are the basically the same everywhere, so better to buy from people you can get advice from, get the correct cables, etc. We’ve had to return things and Sweetwater was incredible to work with!

Basic Equipment We Use:

1. Wireless microphone system: Shure BLX Series. This comes in various models and packages incl. a microphone.
2. Microphone: Shure Earclip mic. You can find a range of qualities and prices for this kind of delicate looking yet extremely hardy mic. We love this one!  Trains, helicopters, dogs barking, etc do not pic up much with this mic. It makes a huge difference in the quality of the voice as well.
3. Amplified speaker to monitor/hear music yourself during class: models range from $100 – $400.
4. Mixing board:  Behringer Q802 USB.  Small, inexpensive mixing board that plugs into USB port on computer. About $125.
5. Music streaming source from an old iphone or even older iPod.
6. Cables as needed.
7. Power conditioner – optional. This cleans up any background noise or hum caused by lights and audio plugged into the same circuits, etc. Ours is:  Furman PST-8 8 Outlet Power Station.

Here is a basic diagram of how these components are set up. It took me three months of trial and error to figure this out — then I found this diagram!

LIGHTING

We use LED lights in several configurations. We happened to buy most of our lighting from BHPhotoVideo.com so I will give two or three links to their website. Please do compare similar items, prices, etc. as things are always changing.

1. My best suggestion is to get two 18” ring lights.  You can use these on either side for close up head-and-shoulders, or you can use them on either side of a yoga mat for mat work. To get the light just right, we use pillow cases or white t-shirts over the ring lights.  Angler Bi-Color LED Ring Light Kit with Stand (18″).

• Big LED softbox – we have one. We use it on one side of the yoga mat area, and two smaller LED lights on the other side, to light the whole area.  Two of these would light a yoga mat area nicely. Do not see ours listed anyplace, but here is a kit of two:  Westcott uLite LED 2-Light Collapsible Softbox Kit

• LED light panels – we bought several of these hoping it would be all the light we needed, but they are too small to be general purpose lights. But glad to have them. They are great for fill lighting to brighten a dark corner, or lighting a wall behind you to avoid shadows, etc. Dracast LED500 Silver Series Bi-Color LED Light.

Daylight – daylight can be beautiful, but its hit-or-miss. Unless you have a big window of North light, daylight can often be harsh or shadowy.  And daylight is so bright, that it takes a lot of light to fill shadows and even out the lighting.  It takes more light to fill shadows and smooth the lighting when it is bright daylight out, than to create even lighting when it is dark out.

CAMERA

We use an IPhone camera and the quality of the image is very good – actually better than how it will show up on Zoom. Using an IPhone does cut both sides off so the image isn’t as wide as the width on a laptop camera or actual camera.

MONITORS – COMPUTERS

Jennifer uses:

• MacBook Pro laptop
• Mouse and an external keyboard she can move anyplace (then your arms aren’t in front of the camera using laptop keyboard and touch pad).
• Large external monitor. This allows her to a) have two screens; b) to have a large screen on which to see the student on, and she opens a new Zoom screen on the laptop in order to see herself.

STUDIO SET UP – by Jennifer Reis

My studio view: plus more lights, and my laptop (not shown). I sit on the ottoman facing the windows.

What students see:                                                                 What I see:

I use an adjustable medical (or computer) table so I can easily adjust heights to make everything fit. I have a desk mat on the table to reduce clanking noise when I move things around on it when I’m online. On the medical table I place the laptop (not shown), Ipod, keyboard, mouse and a very handy writing easel for my scripts/ outlines and place it just under the Iphone/camera which is on an arm/tripod (not shown). You can also see in this pic the small amp/speaker on a smaller table (this allows me to hear the music that I’m playing for the students, otherwise I could not hear it!).

You can see how we hang a pillowcase over the ring light to soften/dull it a bit. I love using my erasable white board to keep me on track whether it’s a basic outline for yoga nidra; or posture flows for yoga class. Also a fan that I turn on/off during the classes for feeling hot! The lights are not hot, but something about the brightness of them can make a person feel hot/intense. With my awesome mic the fan noise is not audible at all. Lots of cords, cords, cords! Michael found zipper cases for them that are long tubes that you can put a bunch in – sometimes we use those and it feels much more zen when we do.

Booklights and reading glasses are indispensable tools for a yoga nidra guide.

YogiTunes.com music – monthly subscription that gives you PERFORMANCE RIGHTS meaning you can legally use all of their music online, on a website, in recordings, etc (read up on the fine print before recording anything to be sure). They add music all the time. They also offer playlists. Here’s my Yoga Nidra playlist (I use only 1 track per yoga nidra session and put it on REPEAT. I do not play one song after another for yoga nidra as it changes too much). Make sure you listen through an entire song before using it for a class. I spend HOURS  listening for music and its not easy to find. This will get you started!