appleyoga kit
The tech we use for livestreaming yoga
Make sure you’ve got long and good quality cable to go from your phone to your computer, and ideally a big second screen if you’re planning to watch your students in gallery mode as well. Don’t rely on your computer’s webcam for video, they’re rarely good enough, but that phone in your pocket might just be perfect!
Good speed internet is essential, it’s your upload speed that’s so often not high enough, so ensure you do some test runs!
Below is the kit we use - we’ll update it if we change anything, but don’t feel you need these specific models, think of it as an approach, some ideas to ponder.
Video
Any modern smartphone will have a great camera, we use the iPhone 12 Pro for filming. https://www.apple.com/uk/iphone/
Neewer lighting set https://amzn.to/3CfESfj
Note that you likely don’t need the green screen stuff, any smaller lighting kit will be fine, but having several means you can get it just how you like - light from the sides in front of you, and if you can something right above.
Ailun phone holder for tripod https://amzn.to/3rbqyQo
Elgato Streamdeck for quick access to mute, switch gallery/speaker view in Zoom etc https://amzn.to/3ot9oxk
Sound
Note that I often stream my voice with harmonium as well, at the same time, so I wanted to make sure I have complete control of the audio mix. If you only need voice there will be other head mics you can use (the Rode is often recommended) which will transmit wirelessly to a box that will plug straight into your computer - saving you the expense of a mixer etc.
The headset microphone and wireless kit I was recommended was quite the investment, it’s professional theatrical quality, and far more than is really needed to broadcast on the web!
Audio Technica BP892cLM3-TH mic https://amzn.to/3n9IuLE
Behringer XM8500 mic if recording musical instruments https://amzn.to/3HfKU3g
Sennheiser AVX-MKE2 wireless mic system https://amzn.to/3cb5CCZ
Behringer Xenyx QX1002USB mixer https://amzn.to/3nca5vJ
We went for this one as it has effects, there are smaller ones with fewer inputs, or without the effects, that are a little cheaper but this was great value!
Apps
Camo app https://reincubate.com/camo/
This is phenomenal - it allows me (with someone else to control it while I’m teaching!) to use my iPhone camera, and pan around and zoom in/out with ease, without moving the phone. We’ve now got the lifetime license and it’s been rock solid these last couple of years we’ve used it!
Zoom app https://zoom.us/
Zoom is ideal for teaching yoga as you can see your students! There are other platforms that might be better quality if you’re just broadcasting, but I like to see the bodies of my students, and gallery mode + large screen is excellent! Make sure you enable HD, test the various noise supression settings, and see if you can get Group HD working on your account.