The Production Geeks

What happens when a startup asks you to livestream the first flight of the world’s largest fully electric aircraft—from a remote runway, with a strict 6-pound weight limit, and zero chance for a rehearsal in the air?

In this episode, Michael Sorrentino (Founder of NYC-based Sorrentino Media), Alex Alvarado (Digital Content Lead at Heart Aerospace), and Ben Ratner (LiveU) share the behind-the-scenes story of broadcasting the maiden flight of the Heart X1 experimental aircraft.

Discover how a team of broadcast veterans strapped iPhones to the wings of an airplane flying 90 knots, bonded cellular signals with onboard Starlink Wi-Fi to pierce a carbon fiber fuselage, and directed the entire live show from a hotel lobby 400 miles away at 4:30 in the morning. Plus, learn practical lessons on how businesses can use cloud production, redundancy, and live video to build trust and boost audience engagement.

Want to bring broadcast-grade live streaming and video production to your company? Visit https://SorrentinoMedia.com to learn more and connect with Michael and the Sorrentino Media team.

Episode Highlights:
- Why Heart Aerospace needed live multi-camera feeds for both investors and real-time flight engineering.
- How cellular bonding + Starlink solves impossible connectivity challenges on the ground and in the air.
- Why "selling certainty" and building redundancy are the biggest advantages broadcast pros bring to corporate production.
- How cloud control rooms (LiveU Studio) lower costs and let teams produce live shows from anywhere in the world.

Connect with Sorrentino Media:
Website: https://SorrentinoMedia.com

Should your production studio make the switch from traditional green screens to an LED wall? In episode 4 of Production Geeks, Michael Sorrentino and Dave Shaw breakdown the real-world pros, cons, and technical realities of installing an LED wall in their Midtown Manhattan studio.

From navigating pixel pitch (1.2mm vs 1.9mm), managing power circuits, and avoiding moiré patterns to leveraging dynamic lighting and virtual sets for live events, learn what it actually takes to build and run modern studio infrastructure.

Need expert studio consulting, virtual production services, or high-end NYC video production?
Visit https://sorrentinomedia.com to connect with the team.

Welcome to episode three of The Production Geeks! Streaming live from our Midtown Manhattan rooftop, we are diving into the complex engineering behind two massive, upcoming live events. 

In this episode, we talk about:
• Upgrading our NYC studio with a cutting-edge 1.2mm pitch LED video wall for an international 4th of July celebration. We break down the realities of broadcast refresh rates, power circuits, and front-serviceable wall mounting.
• Solving the extreme technical challenges of live streaming the first-ever 30-person fully electric passenger plane test flight. 
• How we are leveraging iPhones with the LU Smart app, bonding cellular connections with Starlink in mid-air, and programming a multi-second delay to keep ground and air cameras perfectly in sync.
• Marrying live flight data (via JSON push/pull API) into Singular Live HTML graphics over a vMix switcher.

Timestamps:
0:00 - Introduction & Rooftop Margaritas
1:40 - Project 1: 4th of July Tall Ships Live Stream
5:22 - The Tech of LED Walls: Pixel Pitch & Refresh Rates
7:37 - Powering & Mounting Heavy Studio LED Walls
11:07 - Getting Seamless Visual Angles with LED Panels
15:53 - Project 2: Streaming the First Electric Passenger Plane Flight
17:27 - Networking, Starlink on Planes & Latency Delays
20:18 - Integrating Real-Time Flight Data & Cloud Backups
25:07 - The Nightmare of Starlink Port Forwarding

Whether you're an audio listener or watching us via the new video podcast features on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, thank you for tuning in! 

Make sure to rate, review, and follow the show on your favorite platform.

BRAND STORYTELLING | FULL SERVICE VIDEO PRODUCTION
Professional Branded Video Production Storytelling Experts

#SorrentinoMedia | Full-Service Video Production Company including LiveStreaming services

232 Madison Avenue
Suite 1002
New York, NY 10016
[email protected] 
(212) 203-8419
www.SorrentinoMedia.com 
https://www.sorrentinomedia.com/contact-sorrentino-media

#videoproduction 
We specialize in digital video content production.
From green-screen instructional videos to unscripted digital series and live streams - we will make it interesting and make it pop. Anyone can say they are a production company - we have a broad portfolio of work that has delivered results. 

#podcast Production
https://www.sorrentinomedia.com/podcast-production
We offer all podcast production services including recording, editing, and publishing.
We are passionate about telling your audio stories and bringing them to life in a way that will resonate with your listeners. Whether you need full-service podcast production or our professional advice on which direction to take, we are excited to work with you!

#mediatraining 
https://www.sorrentinomedia.com/media-training
Michael Sorrentino has a solid track record in working with on-air personalities from reporters/anchors to thought leaders. If you have never been on camera, media training can get you up to speed in no time. If you are a seasoned TV guest, we will fine-tune your skills to make you the best guest you can be!

#nyc  #studios 
https://www.sorrentinomedia.com/our-production-studios 
At the heart of Manhattan, Sorrentino Media offers three production studios for rent that are ideal for anything from small shoots to full-scale productions. Located at 232 Madison Avenue, at the corner of 37th and Madison, we are just minutes from both Penn Station and Grand Central.

Our studios are fully equipped with the latest in production technology and our experienced team is available to assist you with all your production needs. We offer teleprompters, green screens, cameras (HD and 4k options are available), lighting panels and audio equipment, including wireless options. We also have a separate control room for live streaming with 4k and HD multi-camera switching.

Extra features include a hair and makeup room with a styling station, a Nespresso coffee maker, and a fridge stocked with water and small snacks.

Whether you need a space for a photoshoot, commercial shoot, music video, or anything else, we have the space and equipment you need. Have a project in mind? Contact us today to learn more about our rates and availability for film studio rental in NYC.

REMOTE VIDEO PRODUCTION KITS AVAILABLE https://www.sorrentinomedia.com/remote-video-production
REMOTE PRODUCTION TIPS: https://www.sorrentinomedia.com/remote-video-production-tips

What happens when you have to shoot a high-stakes, multi-camera video podcast inside a moving vehicle, but your setup window is just a hard two hours?

In this episode of The Production Geeks, Mike Sorrentino and Dave Shaw pull back the curtain on the chaotic engineering and logistics behind a recent project wrapped for a major automotive sponsor. When vehicle delivery was delayed on shoot day, the team had to reverse-engineer a complex production workflow on the fly to get everything rigged, power-mapped, and tested before the talent arrived.

Mike and Dave break down the exact "prosumer" gear and workflows used to solve this high-pressure bottleneck, including:

• Windshield Multi-Cam: Using the Blackmagic Cam App on iPhones to capture clean 4K ProRes files directly to external SSDs.
• The Backseat Brain: Utilizing an ATEM Mini Extreme ISO in the moving backseat to manage synchronized backup streams (and how they handled phone overheating from the midday sun).
• Mobile Video Village: Clamping a Hollyland Cosmo wireless transmitter to a roof rack to push a real-time multi-view feed up to 1,000 feet away to a chase truck, allowing the client and agency to monitor audio and video live.
• Exterior Tracking Shots: A review of the Tilta Hydra Alien Mini electronic suction cup mount paired with the DJI Osmo Pocket 3 for smooth 60 MPH shots.
• Hidden Audio: How our audio tech battled intense road noise using DPA mini-shotgun mics on the sun visors alongside hidden lavaliers.

Segments: 
00:00 Whiskey Tasting and Sponsored Car Podcast Concept
02:55 Production Logistics and Vehicle Delivery Challenges
06:37 The Two-Vehicle Setup: Car A vs Car B Workflows
08:34 Windshield Multi-Cam Rigging and Blackmagic Cam App
10:34 Backseat Engineering: ATEM Mini Extreme ISO Workflow
13:32 Mobile Power Demands and Vehicle Inverter Failures
15:10 Hollyland Cosmo Wireless Transmission Range Testing
18:03 Amazon Monitoring Setup and Audio Splitter Adjustments
20:48 Hollyland Headset Comms Distance Check
21:30 Tilta Hydra Alien Mini and DJI Osmo Pocket 3 Teardown
27:50 Next Week: Prepping a 24-Hour Corporate Live Stream Event
29:53 Electric Airplane Test Flight and Audience Brainstorm Invite

Production isn't about everything going perfectly; it’s about having the right contingencies and the right tools to pivot when it counts.

We want to troubleshoot your project on a future episode! Connect with us to pitch your production bottlenecks or share your thoughts.

• Email Us: [email protected]
• Our Studios: sorrentinomedia.com | madisonavelive.com

Be sure to rate, review, and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform!

Welcome to the debut of The Production Geeks. In this inaugural episode, Mike Sorrentino and Dave Shaw (VP, Content and Creative Engineering) pull back the curtain on the technical evolution of Sorrentino Media. 

Transitioning from their long-running Media Offline series, Mike and Dave pivot toward the "work that goes into the work," focusing on high-level engineering and the "raw" reality of complex production.  

Inside this episode, Mike and Dave dive deep into:The Philosophy of Certainty: Why their core product isn't live streaming, but the guaranteed reliability of a broadcast signal—from midtown studios to electric airplanes.  

Studio 6: The Madison Ave Build: A technical post-mortem of their 37th & Madison facility, moving from a "gut reno" to a fully remote-controlled, versatile studio 2.0.  

The "Nerd" Stack: An on-the-spot technical tour showcasing LiveU cellular bonding, Blackmagic Design routing, and the integration of vMix and Hollyland comms.  

Engineering the Board: A breakdown of their Behringer X32 audio workflow and why specialized engineering beats "cookie-cutter" setups every time.  

Whether you're a CTO looking for mission-critical reliability or a fellow production nerd obsessed with signal flow, Mike and Dave share the "10% of ideas" that actually make it to the air.  

Recorded Live at Madison Ave Live Studios, NYC.

CHAPTERS
0:00 Intro – “It’s Production Geeks time” & show concept
0:08 What is Production Geeks? – Nerds vs. geeks, solving technical problems for clients
3:25 Keeping It Raw – Embracing mistakes, “we don’t sell video, we sell certainty,” Goose Island IPA segment
6:08 Studio Origin Story – Moving to Studio Six, “bomb went off” space, rebuilding the room
9:59 Live Studio Tour – LU-Smart / LiveU bonding, cameras, acoustics, control room & vMix
14:54 Routing & Infrastructure – Blackmagic VideoHub 40x40, “anything to anywhere,” Apple TV/Oscars example
19:49 Audio Deep Dive – Behringer X32 Compact, Midas preamps, buses, IFB, and why audio is always overlooked
25:45 Cameras & Comms – Blackmagic studio cams, Video Assist, SDI vs HDMI, Hollyland comms, SpaceComms cloud IFB
36:15 Building the Right Toolset – From Discord hacks to a versatile, client-ready backbone in Studio 2.0
37:30 Wrap-Up & Call to Action – Topics/guest invites, relationships with vendors, where to watch/listen

BRAND STORYTELLING | FULL SERVICE VIDEO PRODUCTION
Professional Branded Video Production Storytelling Experts

#SorrentinoMedia | Full-Service Video Production Company including LiveStreaming services

232 Madison Avenue
Suite 1002
New York, NY 10016
[email protected] 
(212) 203-8419
www.SorrentinoMedia.com 
https://www.sorrentinomedia.com/contact-sorrentino-media