Sounds of Thunder: R.K. ANTHONY LIVE from SBNation’s Welcome to Loud City Facebook page

About two weeks ago Marina brought it to our attention that SBNation was encouraging their sites to be more engaged on their respective Facebook pages during the game. Since I basically have no life other than watching Thunder basketball...I volunteered.

After a little research poking around the Facebook page’s best practices and suggestions, I came across some data on drawing more attention to a page using Facebook Live. It sounded intriguing, but I don’t own a cell phone and Facebook Live was designed for ease of use with a smart phone. (I know that is a horrifying thought to anyone under the age of 40, but it is what it is.)

I did some checking, and found some software called OBS Studio that was designed for video gamers. Many of the gaming videos you see on Youtube in which the player is adding audio comments while playing are done using this software.

As luck would have it, the software was compatible with Facebook Live, and it hit me as I was watching the demo and thinking about how what I was seeing would translate into a live video, that I would be able to do things with OBS that a smart phone user can’t. These are things that most basketball fans enjoy, and decided I was going to go for it.

Keep in mind, I am not the most cyber-savvy cat around, and my first fledgling attempts were awful AND I had an audio issue. The audio track was starting again about 35 seconds into a live feed and dubbing itself right along with live audio. It sounded completely terrible.

I searched high and low for a solution but none was available, or at least none that I could find. I was about to throw in the towel when I remembered the software’s original purpose, adding audio commentary to video game streams. I took another look at the OBS display and saw the problem....Desktop Audio!

The software was picking up the audio from the Facebook LIve demo screen, which is running 30 to 40 seconds behind what I was doing live then feeding it into the live broadcast. It was a simple fix. So I put together something and posted it.

The videos went over fairly well but many of the viewers don’t just want stats, they wanted a face to go with the voice and interact in order to ask questions, make comments, or just say ‘sup’.

To pull it off, I knew it would require something over my head...so I called my son Derek. It took some time, mainly because I needed to have every step explained as we went, and by golly, the kid came through and at 12:30 last night I went live with a fully interactive Facebook LIve broadcast:

Now before I get hit with the Siskel and Ebert treatment...I know I need practice. My purpose here was just to demonstrate some of the things OBS allows me to do...and I’ve done some checking around and it may let me do a lot more. It’s a work in progress! But I’m going to be adding some things to our Thunder coverage that you can’t find anywhere else, so click on over to the WTLC Facebook page, ‘Like’ it, and stay tuned for more FB Live analysis and reaction!