Produce a show from one Mac with the Studio alone, or prepare it together on the platform and let the Studio run what the team prepared: what each way gives you and when to choose it.
Live Producer works in two ways. One person at one Mac produces a live show with Live Producer Studio and nothing else. Or a team prepares the show together on the Live Producer Platform first, and the Studio runs what they prepared. The second way builds on the first: on the day, the production is the same.
One Mac, one operator
Section titled “One Mac, one operator”Live Producer Studio is a live video switcher for the Mac. You bring in what you want to show and hear, cameras, the windows of other apps, video clips, images, web pages, audio inputs, and mix them into one program while it runs. You decide what the program looks like.
Layers let several things be on air at once: a camera on one layer, a lower third over it on another, a logo on a third. Taking a new lower third replaces only the lower third. A picture in picture or a side by side is one shot with two sources, each with its own place, size, look and effects. See Layers, shots and sources and The editing canvas.
Lower thirds come from an HTML template: one page, filled with each presenter’s name and title. See HTML templates.
Live captions turn the program’s sound into text on the picture, for people who cannot hear it or watch without sound. A wording file teaches the captioner your names. See Live captions.
The program goes where your audience is, and to several places at once:
| Destination | How |
|---|---|
| A video call | The Studio appears in Teams, Zoom, Meet or Webex as a camera and a microphone, so the call sees the program instead of your webcam. See Video calls. |
| A streaming service | YouTube or any other service that takes RTMP or SRT, to several at once. See Streaming. |
| A recording | The program as a file, and each camera’s own recording for replay. See Recording. |
This way needs no account. The Studio is the switcher alone: no rundown, no script, and Spelvin’s features that run on the platform are not there. Live captions run on the Mac and work without an account.
Choose this way for a webinar you run yourself, a meeting you want to look produced, or a talk you record.
Prepared together, run by the Studio
Section titled “Prepared together, run by the Studio”An all-hands meeting is rarely one person’s work. Someone writes the script, presenters bring their words and recordings, someone else makes the slides and the lower thirds, and one person runs the show. The Live Producer Platform is where that work comes together before the day.
The show starts on the web. A showrunner writes or uploads the script, and Spelvin reads it into sections, parts and cues. Contributors see their own parts and fill them in: their words, their recordings, their photo and title. Files are collected as resources, in versions, so a replaced video replaces it everywhere. When the show is ready, the showrunner publishes a version. See Scripts, sections, parts and cues, Companies, people and roles and Resources.
The script feeds more than the operator. The same script drives the prompter, so the presenter reads their words on an iPad or a phone, in step with the show; it can follow the host by listening. It sets the show clock and tells the Studio where the slides change. See Follow the host.
An account brings Spelvin. With a plan, Spelvin reads scripts, builds lower thirds, mattes and stingers from a prompt, suggests a layer setup for the show, and changes the open show when you ask in its chat. Each plan includes a number of Spelvin actions. See Where Spelvin acts and Actions and limits.
The Studio follows the web show. On the day, the operator signs in and links the Studio to the show. The Studio receives the latest published version by itself, and every later one: the rundown, the files, the presenters. What the show still lacks, a camera not yet plugged in or a recording not yet delivered, is a stand-in that shows what belongs there, linked in place when it arrives. See Published versions and Stand-ins and linking.
From there on, the production is the first way: layers, shots, Take, and the program to a call, a stream or a recording. While the show runs, the Studio reports its position back, so the web shows what is on air and who is next. See Live status.
Choose this way for an all-hands, a town hall, or any show with several presenters and people who prepare it.
Starting with one, growing into the other
Section titled “Starting with one, growing into the other”Start with the Studio alone and learn the switcher with your own sources. A show you made that way keeps working when you sign in: the account adds the platform, the script and Spelvin on top, and takes nothing away.
Read more
Section titled “Read more”Describes Live Producer 0.305 · 29 October 2026