Not everyone wants to be a rock star.
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But a university project that has run for 15 years in Ballarat, training more than 180 technical production students and producing the work of more than 900 local musicians, proves that often it’s the people behind the rock stars that are having the most fun.
Live on Lydiard is Australia’s longest-running live music webcast. It runs several times a year, with Federation University music production students recorded, mixing and producing the live performances of local talent.
The performances, often filmed with four cameras and mixed to near-professional level, is streamed live via Youtube. In fact, Live on Lydiard has been operating before Youtube was even launched.
We’re packing up our whole production setup, putting it in a truck, and setting up a TV station in the 1868 Minerva theatre.
- Federation University live production teacher Rex Hardware
This year alone, the Live on Lydiard videos have received almost 40,000 hits, adding to its tally of half a million hits over the past 11 years.
Teacher Rex Hardware said Live on Lydiard, which has been held at multiple venues over the past decade and a half, was an opportunity for students to produce the work of local professional musicians – with slick results.
“Live on Lydiard has been at the epicentre of recording and documenting local music since 2000. There are always new opportunities springing up for performers as new venues open in Ballarat,” he said.
“The material we help record assists artists and helps the local music scene thrive.”
It’s a symbiotic relationship. The musicians perform for free because they receive a disc with a four-camera recording to use for their own Youtube channels.
Live on Lydiard is back again from August 31 to September 3, this time moving Federation University’s entire TV production setup to the stunning Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute for its inaugural open day.
The students will mix and produce the work of well-known local artists including The Dead Salesmen Duo, Freya Josephine Hollick and Matt Malone.
“We’re packing up our whole production setup, putting it in a truck, and setting up a TV station in the 1868 Minerva theatre,” Mr Hardware said.
For more details, visit www.ballaratmi.org.au/springcelebrations
