A few weeks ago Bastian and I had the idea to run a live stream to celebrate the release of version 3.5 of Kirby and show new features and functionality. As I’m truly a huge fan of Kirby (and Basti, and his work) I loved this idea!

Why I like Kirby so much? Well, before I started using it – also for client projects back then – I aways had to suffer the “I have to tweak and bend the hell out of Wordpress to get what my client asks for” world. When I started using Kirby, and even more with the introduction of the Panel in Kirby, this was history for me.

It’s soooo bloody easy to get a quick draft of a site up and running and throw a first functional draft on your clients table. It’s so quick to quickly test whether tabs in the panel work for you or if you prefer using columns … or a combination of course. The flexibility – not just in the panel, but also with what you are able to make out of Kirby – is something everybody raves about. Including me. Just have a look at the many fantastic websites people built with Kirby. Oh, and I don’t want to miss mentioning how fast Kirby performs. Most of the times, you can really feel a difference, when you, for example, migrated your website or blog to Kirby. I mean, Jon Hicks just said this a few days ago, right?

But I get dragged away … This show is focusing on a new release: Kirby 3.5. What are the new features? How has Kirby and the team behind it, including Basti and Nico, done during Covid-times so far? What is planned for the future? How comes, that the Kirby community on Discord and formerly on Slack is so active and what does this mean for Basti’s work and the development of Kirby? If you don’t have or bring questions, I certainly will!

So, join Bastian, Nico and me in a live show about all the above and use you chance to ask them the questions you always had ;)

👉 Information and Registration

I am using a lot of the tech I had already to run my live streams, but got a bit of extra equipment like light for example. As I had a lot of gear already for beyond tellerrand and running events for 20 years, I did not have to buy a lot, which means, some of the stuff is quite expensive (like the Canon EOS R), not bought specifically for this reason and you might not need this kind of camera for a good quality image and can get a way lower priced camera to use.

I am working on a post where I configure a package that is not as pricey, but a good point to start without having a big budget. If you are already on YouTube, there is plenty of good recommendations out there as well for certain aspects (camera, light, microphone), but also for complete packages.

Hardware

What I use right now, since people asked me and/or people wondered when Vitaly used my Studio for SmashingConf and Workshops, is the following (all links are affiliate links and it won’t cost you anything more to use them, but brings me some financial support during these times – if you consider buying some gear and use these links, thanks a lot):

(The link on the product name is the information link, Thomann and Amazon behind it)

Switcher/Capture Card

• Blackmagic Design ATEM Mini Pro ISO – (Thomann | Amazon), ~€879
  • Other versions I have/use:
    • Atem Mini – (Thomann | Amazon), ~€295
    • Atem Mini Pro – (Thomann | Amazon), ~€599
  • If you only want to stream with one Camera and don’t need a live switcher, you can use an Elgato Cam Link – (Thomann | Amazon), ~€125

Camera

• Canon EOS R – (Amazon), ~€1950 with
  • Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM – (Amazon), ~€1750
  • or Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM – (Amazon), ~€340

Light (Keylight, Hairlight, Ambient)

• 2 Elgato Key Light Air – (Thomann | Amazon), ~€125 each
• 2 Aputure MC – (Thomann, €105 | Amazon, €119)
• 2 Philips Hue Ambiance Play Lightbar (double packs) – (Amazon, €115 each)

Audio (Soundcard, Microphone)

• RME Fireface UC – (Thomann, €824 | Amazon, €879)
• Røde NTG3 – (Thomann, €584 | Amazon, €649)
• Shure SM7B – (Thomann, €398 | Amazon, €354) with
  • TritonAudio FetHead in-line preamplifier – (Thomann, €67 | Amazon, €79)

Additional Hardware

• Elgato Stream Deck – (Thomann, €143 | Amazon, €149)
• Feelworld 4K 7" monitor – (Amazon, €160) (for preview or multi view)
• My old Canon HV30 as second angle camera
• GoPro Hero 3+ as hand camera
• Lots of cables, plugs and power supplies

As said before, this is just a quick list. I am going into more detail on each of the aspects in more posts. I plan to explain which light I use for what (in case it is not clear) or why I use the Shure SM7B for podcasting, but not for live streaming, but the Røde NTG3 then, for example.

If you buy cables, don’t safe money on these. Good quality cables are really worth the money and help your good quality sound!

Next to this, software and streaming platforms are a topic I’d like to write about as well. I use Vito to gather my Stay Curious and beyond tellerrand community every other week and Ecamm Live (before I used Zoom) to host my guests on video. But more about this soon

If you have questions, please [drop me an email](mailto: hello@marcthiele.com). If you want to buy me a coffee: great! ;)

Sadly I was knocked out for the whole past week and lying in bed. Otherwise I would have pointed you to the latest episode of Can’t Sell This, a podcast by my mate Hugh Elliot and Stefan Grambart and which was released a week ago.

We sat down and had a really nice conversation, discussing how much communities are worth, what events mean to a lot of people in digital businesses, what the differences are for online events and much much more.

It was a great pleasure hanging out with these two and they edited the whole podcast nicely. Thanks for having me as a guest and keep on rolling!

And if you want to listen to the show 👉 this way, please

A few years years passed since last time, but I am happy to be back at the Creative Mornings Düsseldorf stage with a short talk. This time virtual and together with Fabienne Schovenberg and Sandra Christmann. Each of us is going to give a short 10-minute presentation (in German this time). Tickets are still available. So why don't you grab a coffee and pop in. It is a free event and a good way to start the last day of the week.

Taking the dog for a walk, while getting my youngest to school and before going for a run.

Elsewhere: Instagram

More impressions from a morning walk. Not as nice to shoot, when I compare it to yesterday’s weather, but the autumn mood and atmosphere clearly shines through. Found a panda, a giant asparagus (?) and deer.

Elsewhere: Instagram

Impressions from a walk on an early Monday morning. Somehow a nice way to start the week. It has been pretty cold and a foggy curtain hung over the fields and forest. But the sun gave it a lovely light and color. So I grabbed my iPhone and shot these photos while being out with my dog.
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Have a good start into the new week all of you! ☀️

Elsewhere: Instagram

On October 27 Blackmagic Design released an ATEM switchers update to 8.5.1 that finally saves the startup state of an ATEM Mini. This is great news, as you now don’t have to load your state using restore anymore and your media library is also stored on the device. This also is super handy, as you not necessarily need a laptop anymore, when you are on the road and are streaming, as the device, once powered up, has all the settings stored. But do you spot the sad part?

ATEM Mini Pro and ATEM Mini Pro ISO now have non-volatile memory.

Yes. This update sadly only brings this to the ATEM Mini Pro and ATEM Mini Pro ISO. Any ATEM Mini owners, still need to restore their settings every time they start the device to load the media library for example.

Anyways, I am happy that at least two of my three ATEM Minis are able to start with the settings I need now.

Short after Blackmagic Design released the version 8.5.1, they released version 8.5.2 which fixes a bug that some external USB drives did not work anymore, when trying to record videos with the ATEM Mini Pro and the ATEM Mini Pro ISO.

Visit the Blackmagic Design support center to download the latest version.

I actually can’t add too much to Matthias’ article. He take Richter’s work and his process and compares this to his idea of how we should think about building for the web. He says:

By using static wireframes and static layouts, by separating design and development, we are often limiting our ability to have that creative dialogue with the Web and its materials.

So true. I had a lovely conversation about something similar also with Cassie and Charlie in my last Stay Curious Café.

But read on yourself now. ;)

This morning I had edition 200 of Veerle’s wonderful newsletter in my inbox. I am still a big sucker for newsletters and am subscribed to a lot. But honestly: there are not too many that are as consistent in terms of being sent and quality for such a long time.

I raise my coffee cup, say congrats! and on to another 200. ;)