Who we are
Flipside Productions have been providing professional on-location recording and broadcast services to the TV, music and media industry since 2001.
We have provided a diverse range of services, from recording simple spoken word at seminars in London Universities, to recording live audio for national TV at Hollywood film premiers, to broadcasting live HD sound and video for some of Europe’s biggest and most prestigious artists and media outlets.
We supply all of the services you could possibly require to reliably get your live content delivered efficiently to your viewers or listeners within budget and on time. All of our services are fully scalable to meet projects’ on-location recording and live broadcast demands.
What we do
On location recording
Live multi-channel HD video using the latest minicams and handhelds with a wide choice of tripods, jibs and dollies combined with up to 128 simultaneous tracks of audio recording.
All of which can be installed in our own soundproof Outside Broadcast vehicle – making recording outside events and concerts hassle free.
Live HD video streaming
Stream live to an unlimited audience size over a choice of Content Delivery Networks. Live HD video feeds, broadcast standard vision mix engineers and camera crew, independently mixed live audio.
All finished with slick custom graphic overlays and titles and the ability to add live adverts just like TV!
Connectivity anywhere
Un-contended broadcast satellite and bonded cellular ensure you have the most reliable and stable connection 24/7/365 – enabling HD streaming at the highest quality anywhere in the UK or Europe.
Stream live at multiple bitrates – ensuring your viewers don’t miss out on the action, no matter how slow their connection or their device.
What our clients say
Contact us
The cornerstone of our service is communication. Meaning you get the right product for your job – no matter how simple or complex. Please send us as much detail as possible in the contact form opposite and we will reply right away.
We also deal with last minute jobs – If you require urgent assistance, then feel free to call or SMS us on:
+44 (0) 7949 151974
Our work
Clients and artists we have broadcast/recorded since 2001 include:
Case studies
Live streaming IPTV case study - Gilles Peterson's worldwide awards
Client: Brownswood Recordings
Event: Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide Awards
Venue: Koko – Camden, London
Client brief
To supply a live multi-camera IPTV stream from an event consisting of several live bands, DJs and an awards ceremony. The live stream must have live lower third graphics to inform the viewers of who is currently performing and the next artist to play. The stream must be viewable on all devices in 720p as well as be available at lower resolutions for those with slower network connections. The total streaming production budget must come in at a minimum 20% less than their previous supplier or the event will not be streamed at all due to budget restrictions.
Challenges
1: Poor on-site internet connection for multiple bitrate IPTV stream uplink.
2: Demanding audio specification due to high volume of live acts.
3: Limited camera positions as event sold out and minimal stage space due to large backline.
Solutions
1: Flipside Productions installed one of our KA band satellite terminal on the roof of Koko, routed directly to the modem in the control room. This gave us access the satellite system’s 1:1 un-contended broadcast connection with the ability to book uplink bandwidth up to 10mb/s for the duration of the live stream. The satellite terminal was also fitted with heaters to make sure signal integrity wasn’t lost due ice and snow build-up in the freezing weather conditions.
We also recommended to the client a content delivery network that provides ‘in-house’ multiple bitrate transcoding from a single high resolution stream. This lowered the data cost of the satellite uplink – but still provided viewers the choice to view the stream at 240p, 360p, 480p and 720p resolutions, making it viewable on all devices at even the slowest connection speed.
2: This event consisted of 57 channels of live audio from stage – including our standard 4x ambient microphones to pick-up crowd noise. To overcome this demanding audio set-up in the confines of a small control room we worked closely with Koko’s in-house sound engineer’s to come up with well planned re-patcing of audio satellite boxes during band change-overs – thus reducing the channel count to a more manageable 48 channels. These 48 channel were routed from Koko’s stagebox passive splits to our own rack of XTA DS800s (analogue) and Midas DL32 (digital). The audio was sent to and mixed live on the combination of Cadac Live1 and Midas M32 consoles, before being sent out along with the video to the IP TV encoders.
3: Due to the event being sold out and limited stage space we had to carefully plan camera positions to make best use of the space available. On top of camera operators on-stage and on the balcony we also came up with the following solutions to get around the lack of space:
Firstly, as the front of house position was at capacity with sound, lighting & video engineers we opted to install a Panasonic AW-HE120 remote controllable pan & tilt camera. This camera has a small footprint enabling it to sit at FoH within the other equipment. The camera was programmed with several pre-set positions. This allowed our vision mixing team to quickly recall shots during the show – giving us nearly the same flexibility of having a human operator at that position.
Secondly, a Sony PMW EX1R & Teradek Bolt wireless system & operator was utilised along with wireless communications back to the control room. This gave us a HD camera that could effectively go anywhere within the venue where there was space. Including; the pit area in front of stage, within the crowd, on-stage or even roaming backstage!
Finally, we installed two HDSDI minicams around the DJ – giving us great shots of the DJs playing in-between live acts. We also had a GoPro minicam over HDSDI mounted to a tall stand – allowing us to have different creative shots of the live performers such as drum kit overhead, down the keys of a synthesizer or brass section / backing vocalist wide angle shot.
Event de-brief
The satellite uplink, heavily planned audio set-up and discrete camera systems all came together flawlessly to make the live IPTV stream from Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide Awards was a great success… So much so that they have requested we come back and produce the next one! According to the stream analytics it was viewed flawlessly by several thousand people in 80+ countries via desktop, tablet and mobile devices.
Brownswood Recordings was also extremely happy that we managed to produce the live stream at a cost 30% less than their previous supplier with a much higher level of sound and video production.
Live streaming radio case study - Rinse FM Live in Ibiza
Client: Ammunition Promotions
Event: Rinse FM live in Ibiza
Venue: Ibiza Rocks Hotel, Ibiza Rocks Bar, Space Nightclub, Sankeys Nightclub, Ushuaia Hotel & Pikes Hotel
Client brief
To supply live streaming infrastructure and live sound engineering support for a week of live radio from the island of Ibiza. The radio studio will be based in the Ibiza Rocks hotel ‘Green room’ – from where daily radio shows will be broadcast live back to Rinse FM’s London studio from 8am until 10pm. Between the hours of 10pm and 5am programmes will be broadcast live back to London from some of the biggest dance music events on the island. These events will be live from Ibiza Rocks Bar, Space Nightclub, Sankeys Nightclub, Ushuaia Hotel and Pikes Hotel.
Challenges
1: Poor internet connectivity across a majority of venues on the island even for low bandwidth radio streaming.
2: Providing streaming uplinks from more than one venue at any one time.
3: Supply of portable 16 channel live audio mix system with stage box over 75M from control room.
4: All equipment must be transported to Ibiza as standard airline hand or hold luggage.
Solutions
1: Flipside Productions reached out to a satellite system installer based in Ibiza and hired 2x satellite terminals + ground supports – saving costs to our client shipping our own satellite terminals. These systems could be used in conjunction with our broadcast grade satellite modems to provide 1:1 un-contended data uplink connectivity – giving us a reliable broadcast link back to Rinse FM’s London studio.
2: We installed one of the satellite terminals on the roof of Ibiza Rocks hotel to permanently be available for the week long duration of daytime radio shows. This terminal was networked to one of our broadcast grade modems, 6 storeys below in Rinse FM’s make-shift radio studio. From Ibiza the uplink was sent via a private content delivery network (CDN) channel embedded in the Rinse FM website. This channel was supplied using our own white label CDN service and able to be picked up in Rinse FM’s London studio – from where it could be routed to their mixing desk and broadcast live via their usual FM and Internet station channels.
The second satellite terminal was available as an ad-hoc connection that could be transported and installed at the night time venues whilst the daytime radio shows were being broadcast. With careful pre-planning we were able to get this terminal to all of the night time venues and installed in the correct location with a second broadcast modem ready for that night’s live broadcast. This night time broadcast was transmitted over a second private CDN channel (supplied by us) allowing the team in the London studio to seamlessly switch between daytime and night time live broadcasts from their end.
3: As part of the brief, Rinse FM asked us to supply the live audio mix from dance music events across the Island. To do so we supplied a 16 channel Pro-Tools laptop system paired with a Euphonix MC Mix control surface – giving us the flexibility and power of a digital mixing console but within a small and easily transportable package. The Pro-Tools system was complimented by a 2U stagebox consisting of 16 pre-amps able to go on stage or at front of house to send the live audio signals to the control room. Multicore was taken care of via ADAT optical to CAT5 converters, allowing the stagebox to be connected to the Pro-Tools system via inexpensive CAT5 cable shipped to Ibiza in advance.
4: Due to budget restrictions the brief specified that all equipment must be transported to Ibiza via standard airline hand and hold luggage. The key to making this work was a 24 hour site visit two weeks prior to the broadcast. During this visit we went to all of the venues within the schedule to identify control room areas, measure up cable run distances, locate mounting points for crowd ambient mics, discuss technicals with in-house sound crew and management as well as arrange access times and logistics.
The result of these site visits was a very light kit pack consisting of two carry-on 4U soft racks containing the stagebox, Pro-Tools & encoder interfaces, laptops & control surface as well as any delicate items such as hard discs and microphones. The hold luggage contained all of the heavy and non-breakable items such as cables, mic clamps & bars and basic tools. The total of four items of luggage were successfully carried to Ibiza and back on a standard flight carried by two member of our technical staff with no luggage excess.
Event de-brief
Although a tough schedule made this live broadcast a tall order, we successfully delivered a full week of live radio from the White Isle. Featuring live broadcasts of Katy B & DJ Zinc from W.A.R! at Ibiza Rocks Hotel, Disclosure & Skream from Space and a special VIP party from Pikes hotel (Club Tropicana!) featuring DJs Doorly and Yasmin. Rinse FM were in particular very happy with the live broadcast of their very own pop princess Katy B. The vibe and atmosphere of the live mix from the event could be felt clearly over the airwaves back in the UK!
