Zak Claxton Happy Fun Show (09.14.24)

Me being weird, which is kinda my default setting. Photo by Kat.

This is not supposed to be a post about the Zak Claxton Happy Fun show I did on Facebook last night. No, it was originally going to be a post about a Zak show at Lutz City of Templemore in Second Life.

But for the first time in many years, my streaming software (or streaming server... culprit still at large) let me down and after trying fruitlessly to get it working, using every option at my disposal, I had to call it a day and cancel the SL show after 15 super frustrating minutes.

I'd spent all day getting ready for what should have been a great show at Templemore. It's been a long time since technology hit me in the head with a 2x4.

Trying desperately to get my stream rolling. Many thanks to the patience of Amyra Vuitton, who did everything in her power to help out. I truly hate canceling shows. Photo by Kat.

I was livid. I'd prepared a really good set and got nice and warmed up, and then spent the aforementioned time angrily sweating over my stream settings, trying to get something going before giving up. I sat there silently until Kat, being helpful, said, "You should use that same set at another show. It's really good. Maybe the next time you do a Zak Claxton Happy Fun Show or something."

Boom. I took that idea and ran with it... immediately. For those of you who don't know, for many years when I've sporadically done a live video/audio stream performance, I've branded it as the Zak Claxton Happy Fun Show. It had been nearly two years since my last one, which was October 9, 2022 per my records.

Still boiling with anger over my aborted SL show, I threw up an HD camera, launched my video broadcast software, and with no notice or forewarning, did the same set I was going to do but on Facebook Live instead of in SL. You can watch the whole ZCHFS show below if you'd like (assuming Facebook's video embed functionality actually works).

How I Do What I Do

I promised some folks during and after the ZCHFS that I'd tell them more about my streaming/broadcast setup, but I think the most important thing to understand is that good broadcast sound invariably starts at the source. So this first part is going to sound egotistical as fuck, but it is objectively true: if you like the sound of a vocalist or musician, it starts with the sound that's coming from their vocal cords and their fingers on their instruments. In other words, if if doesn't sound good in the room where I'm performing, no amount of magic is going to make it sound good when it arrives to my listeners.

And it goes beyond any aspects of talent. I have a really good vocal mic, one that's no longer made -- a Groove Tubes GT57 -- but there are many current mics in its range that would serve similar results. The GT57 a large diaphragm FET condenser microphone. My guitar is a handcrafted Takamine Pro Series P5DC, and I must say, it's a super great-sounding guitar, especially when making use of the onboard preamp. I've done all my SL shows with it for the past eight years.

Groove Tubes GT57

Takamine Pro Series P5DC

I should note here for the sake of transparency... I've worked for both Groove Tubes and Takamine. But my statements are from the perspective of a recording and performing musician, and I'd feel the same way about my gear with or without any connection to the manufacturers.

Where Next?

Both the mic and the guitar go into a Soundcraft EPM8 mixer. Important note: I don't need this to simply stream the two signals of my guitar and microphone. I could run them directly into my computer's audio interface, which we'll talk about in a moment. But I do like having faders to quickly adjust the volume balance between those two sources, and I also like having the onboard EQ of this little analog desk.

Soundcraft EMP8 Analog Mixer

From the mixer, the audio heads over to my interface, which again, is a low-cost but effective Focusrite Scarlett 6i6. This particular model is discontinued; the closest current equivalent would be the Scarlett 8i6. It's a perfectly fine interface for what I do here in terms of streaming live audio and recording demos and so on. It's connected to my Mac mini via USB-C.

Focusrite Scarlett 6i6

How Do You Broadcast?

Like most USB gear with a Mac, it's plug-and-play. Any audio software sees the Focusrite as an input source, and in setup, I simply set it as the default for most purposes.

I am currently angry at my usual audio streaming software -- perhaps for no reason, because yesterday's fuckup may be an issue with the server I use for live streaming. But 99% o the time, it's been fine, so I'll put yesterday's glitch aside and tell you that for Second Life shows, I use a pretty powerful software package called Audio Hijack by Rogue Amoeba. You can grab a free trial (with limitations) to check it out; the full version is $64 USD and I say it's well worth it. I use it all the time to capture audio from any source, and it's very convenient for streaming.

Rogue Amoeba Audio Hijack

However, when it's time to do a full audio and video broadcast, like millions of people, I turn to Open Broadcaster Software, aka OBS. This open-source software is completely free, and has clients for Mac, Windows, and even Linux if that's your groove. I have been consistently impressed by OBS. It is tremendously powerful and full of options for various broadcast goals using multiple sources.

Open Broadcaster Software (OBS)

I have pretty good upload speed on my home internet here, so while I don't try any crazy levels of high quality, I do have my settings in OBS with video at 4000Kbps, capturing at 1920x1080 (but with scaled output to 1280x720), and audio set at 160Kbps (with 48kHz sampling rate in stereo).

The camera? Nothing special. A little Logitech cam that's typical for people who do Zoom meetings and other videoconference needs. It is capable of HD 1080p capture, and for streaming I really don't need anything more extravagant than that.

And the result is pretty damn good. A lot of people comment on the quality of both picture and sound, but in my opinion, my whole setup is pretty basic and pedestrian. Not low-end shitty, but also not anywhere near something I'd consider a serious pro broadcast system. But for what I need it to do, it works fine and people do tend to comment on the audio quality of the broadcast. If you need to know more details, feel free to hit me up in the comments.

The Show, Though?

Right! Forgot about that.

I wasn't kidding above when I said I was still angry when I finally gave up on being able to do the show in SL. All of my shit was working fine except the crucial aspect of being able to connect to my streaming server. And, after trying to plug in all manner of streaming configurations while the audience was arriving and waiting patiently, by the time I gave up I was coated in sweat and probably looked like a deranged serial killer.

I have to once again credit Kat for the idea of doing the show on Facebook Live instead of SL. I can tell you for a fact that she wasn't expecting me to do it literally right then and there. I never even took off my guitar; I just put up the camera, moved my mic stand back a few feet, and launched OBS to connect to Facebook Live. That took literally three minutes. By 5:20, I'd started the show... at first to no one, and then within seconds, to some random people who happened to be on Facebook and got a notification that I had started a live stream.

Shaking off the annoyance of my SL show being a bust, and getting right into the music helped turn my attitude around pretty quickly. Photo by Kat.

It had been a couple of years since I'd done a video-based livestream show. I had to kinda ramp up to the concept of being seen with human eyeballs. Photo by Kat.

As soon as I settled in, it became a more typical Zak Claxton Happy Fun Show. Every so often I'd ask Kat (who was close enough to her monitor to actually see things) who was around in the viewers, and I'd greet the people who were making their presence known with comments and such.

I ended up playing most of the set I was going to do at Templemore, rocking Facebook live for the next 45 minutes straight. It was a decent enough show from me musically, but perhaps more important -- to me anyway -- there was definitely a feeling of catharsis after the disaster that had happened with my streaming server. Had I not done that Happy Fun Show right then and there, I would have been moping about it for the rest of the evening (and perhaps much of Sunday as well).

Every so often, I'd check the Facebook feed while in the midst of a song, just to make sure that there indeed was an audience out there in the ether. Photo by Kat.

I did eventually cheer up. Photo by Kat.

ZCHFS set list...

All I Want (Joni Mitchell) 

Save It For Later (English Beat) 

Crosses (José González)

Garter Snake (Macie Stewart)

Thank U (Alanis Morissette)

*And She Was (Talking Heads)

Northern Sky (Nick Drake)

Pecan Pie (Golden Smog)

Any Major Dude (Steely Dan) 

Ziggy Stardust (David Bowie)

*Indicates the first time I've ever performed this song

Big thanks to everyone who popped into the show, or has watched it since Sunday! I'm glad I turned some shitty lemons into some pretty good lemonade. Thanks for being there so I wasn't playing with myself. Always appreciated.