Executing technically ambitious live streams, virtual productions, and immersive media today requires talent, creativity, and the right supporting technology. Los Angeles-based production outfit Butcher Bird Studios balances all three, with a skilled, nimble team of 10 people and a robust workflow. They execute a range of projects, from original intellectual property (IP) to traditional interview setups, large-scale livestreamed events, virtual productions, and immersive VR experiences. The company has delivered 180° and 360° VR media for clients like Meta and BuzzFeed, and worked with Canon to document best practices for 180° VR filming and post production. Whether working in the studio or on a remote production, Butcher Bird relies on flexible signal routing, low-latency I/O, and redundancy delivered by AJA solutions.
Managing signal flow
With such a diverse project slate, Butcher Bird spends a lot of time building and testing new workflows. Their operation requires the flexibility to send and receive video signals across the facility from the stage to green rooms, offices, creative suites, and beyond. To streamline signal flow, especially for its stage ceiling grid with monitors, the team leverages AJA KUMO 12G-SDI and 3G-SDI Routers, including one KUMO 3232-12G, one KUMO 1616-12G, and one KUMO 1616 (3G-SDI). The setup ensures producers, talent, and crew can monitor shoots without having to crowd around a single screen.
“KUMO routers are a natural fit for what we do. They’re fast, dependable, and easy to operate. Their web UI is great for keeping signals organized,” explained Technical Director Brian Druckman. “The hardware strikes the right balance between industrial – working no matter what – and being easy to use. It also introduces very little latency, which keeps everything feeling responsive for operators, talent, and audiences.”
For redundancy, Butcher Bird relies heavily on pre-saved routing tables known as salvos. It runs primary and backup vMix systems for every project, so if the main system fails, salvos let the team instantly re-route the backup to the right destination. “KUMO salvos are super simple to set and forget,” Druckman added. “Once configured, we can trust our backup will work, which gives us peace of mind.”
In addition to KUMO, Butcher Bird often brings an AJA Io 4K Plus on remote projects to support external Thunderbolt I/O for encoding setups. It allows them to keep their footprint small by using laptops or compact systems running OBS or vMix, rather than large workstations. Druckman has found Io 4K Plus useful when the team needs to add just one or two extra inputs, and it often serves as their I/O for final encoding and delivery.
Reducing project complexity
Maintaining signal path integrity proved mission-critical for a recent multi-camera green screen virtual production shoot with live compositing. The Butcher Bird team employed a three-camera 4K workflow and positioned monitors around the stage to allow the actors to see live views of the performance with the composited imagery so they could react in real time. It required precise coordination across the stage. Every signal – from camera ISOs to composited outputs and isolated backgrounds – had to be routed through to monitors, other displays, and recorders across the studio, for which Butcher Bird deployed AJA KUMO 3232-12G routers.
“The KUMOs were clutch for us on this project. They allowed us to maintain a seamless, low-latency production environment, even as we sent the composited feeds to the monitors and recorders,” Druckman noted. “Without the flexibility and reliability of KUMO, this workflow would have been challenging to execute. AJA gear lets us keep all our signals organized both in-studio and while working remotely.”
Marching forward
In the future, Butcher Bird plans to expand its virtual, live, and immersive capabilities. As it does, incorporating emerging remote production and AI technologies into its studio and remote pipelines will prove a central focus. Regardless of the new technologies and techniques it adopts, Druckman will continue to depend on AJA technology to provide the video routing and I/O stability that the studio’s technically ambitious projects demand.
About AJA KUMO Routers
AJA KUMO Routers provide a convenient, dense routing solution in a lightweight, compact, fanless form factor for use in facilities, OB trucks, post suites, and more. Available in multiple matrix sizes and in 3G-SDI and 12G-SDI options, KUMO is easy to update, configure, and control with optional Control Panels for quick physical access to source and destination routing, with convenient USB ports for IP address configuration. Plus, all models offer a web user interface accessible over the built-in Ethernet connection. KUMO 1616-12G and KUMO 3232-12G routers enable 4K and UltraHD routing on a single BNC for rates up to 12G. /www.aja.com/routers
About Io 4K Plus
Io 4K Plus is a cutting-edge capture and output solution available over Thunderbolt 3, offering a full set of professional video and audio connectivity with support for the latest 4K/UltraHD devices, High Frame Rate, High Dynamic Range and deep color workflows. Thunderbolt connectivity enables Io 4K Plus to handle various formats from SD to HD, UltraHD and full 4K with frame rates up to 60p over both 12G-SDI and HDMI 2.0 via a single cable, plus HDR support over HDMI and SDI for the latest HDR workflows. Complementary AJA Desktop software releases are optimized for macOS, Windows, and Linux systems. www.aja.com/io-4k-plus
About AJA Video Systems
Since 1993, AJA Video Systems has been a leading manufacturer of cutting-edge technology for the broadcast, cinema, proAV, and post production markets. The company develops a range of flexible baseband and IP video/audio interface and conversion technologies, digital video recording solutions, and color management, streaming, and remote production tools. All AJA products are designed and manufactured at our facilities in Grass Valley, California, and sold through an extensive sales channel of resellers and systems integrators around the world. For further information, please see our website at www.aja.com.
