EMI Livestream and Media Workflow Report for Ari / Sardius

Purpose of This First Draft

This report is a first-draft briefing for a conversation with Ari Burt / Sardius Media. It is intended to give enough context for meaningful strategic advice without asking for a simple gear shopping list.

The central question is:

How can EMI design the simplest sustainable media workflow that reliably captures services and events, supports multilingual audiences, archives content intelligently, and turns selected teachings into outreach content without overwhelming volunteers?

Why Ari / Sardius Is a Good Fit for This Conversation

Sardius Media appears to focus on live and on-demand broadcast workflows for mission-driven organizations. Public research found that Sardius works around live streaming, video on demand, distribution workflows, encoder management, analytics, AI-powered discovery/metadata, live subtitles/translations, multi-language experiences, and multi-track interpretation support.

Ari Burt is listed as a Co-Founder of Sardius Media. Public company context suggests he is best approached as a broadcast workflow and platform strategist rather than only as a camera/video production person.

For that reason, the most valuable conversation is likely around:

• workflow architecture,
• livestream reliability,
• multilingual delivery,
• automation,
• AI-assisted metadata/search,
• archive structure,
• on-demand content reuse,
• volunteer-sustainable operations,
• when to stay simple and when to professionalize.

Executive Summary

EMI / the Florida local ministry currently livestreams Sunday services and special events through Subsplash. Subsplash also provides the local ministry website at https://florida.emmint.com/ and automatically posts a replay in the app shortly after each livestream ends.

The current local production setup uses a Canon M50 Mark II, ATEM Mini, iMac, OBS, Zoom, WorshipTools, and a Behringer X18 audio mixer. OBS provides a higher-quality local recording, while Zoom is used as a resilient live video layer and allows phones to join as extra cameras. The team does not currently livestream directly to YouTube or Facebook.

The system works, but the ministry is in a transition season. Sunday meetings happen in a rented school building, which creates setup/tear-down burden, Wi-Fi dependency, lighting limitations, and limited ability to improve quality. International EMI gatherings add a different challenge: remote locations, inconsistent internet, and multiple language needs.

The highest-value areas for expert help are:

1. Multilingual livestream and in-room translation.
2. Reliable livestream architecture for local and international settings.
3. Volunteer-friendly mobile production setup.
4. Lower-third lyrics/slides instead of full screen-share workflows.
5. NAS-first archive, metadata, and searchable media library.
6. AI-assisted post-production for clips, captions, summaries, translations, and content reuse.

Ministry Context

Current Services and Events

EMI currently records or streams:

• Sunday services,
• special events,
• larger EMI family gatherings and international meetings,
• outreach teachings prepared intentionally for public sharing.

Audiences

The audience is broader than a local church replay audience:

• local Florida congregation,
• remote viewers through Subsplash,
• international EMI-connected ministries and families,
• English and Spanish audiences,
• additional language audiences connected to France, Denmark, Africa, and other regions,
• public outreach audiences through YouTube, Facebook, and The Walking Voice Media.

Publishing Channels

Current channels/platforms:

• Subsplash livestream and app archive,
• local ministry website through Subsplash: https://florida.emmint.com/,
• The Walking Voice Media YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TheWalkingVoiceMedia,
• KingdomEMI YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@kingdomemi,
• Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/kingdomemi/,
• EMI private social app / website app: an owned private communication platform. This should be included as a strategic ministry platform, not just as a technical side project.

Current policy:

• Every Sunday full service is automatically available through Subsplash.
• YouTube is selective: only publish when a teaching is well prepared and intended for public outreach.
• When a new YouTube teaching is published, create 3–5 short clips per week for YouTube and Facebook.
• Walking Voice Media target cadence: 1–2 outreach pieces per month.

EMI Private Social App / Owned Community Platform

The report should also account for EMI's private social app / website app. This app is meant to become a secure, invitation-based place for EMI-connected people to communicate globally without depending only on public social platforms.

Current/desired capabilities include:

• posting and social updates,
• open and closed groups,
• global chat with automatic translation,
• media series,
• private/invitation-based access,
• an onboarding model where people can be invited by someone already inside the app,
• a more secure private place for international communication, discipleship, coordination, and media distribution.

Strategically, this changes the media conversation. EMI does not only need a livestream/archive workflow for public platforms; it also needs a workflow for feeding selected, approved content into an owned global community space. Public YouTube/Facebook can serve outreach and discovery, while the private EMI app can support ongoing relationship, closed-group communication, translated discussion, regional coordination, and secure media series for invited participants.

Current Local Sunday Workflow

Current Signal Flow

Audio path:

Microphones / instruments → Behringer X18 mixer → XLR output → audio interface → iMac / livestream computer → OBS local recording + Zoom/Subsplash live workflow → Subsplash replay/archive

Video path:

Canon M50 Mark II → HDMI → ATEM Mini → iMac / livestream computer → OBS local recording + virtual webcam → Zoom/Subsplash live workflow → Subsplash replay/archive

Flexible camera path:

Phone cameras → Zoom directly → live stream contribution without routing through ATEM/main computer

Lyrics/slides path:

WorshipTools → local screen + Zoom screen share → livestream view, with camera reduced to small window during screen share

Equipment and Software

Team Roles

• Worship team: sets up audio board and building speaker connections.
• Adolfo: livestream setup lead, audio feed connection, camera/ATEM/computer setup, simple trims, some Final Cut editing.
• Dzidula Boney: lyrics.
• Sara Gianelli: lyrics trainee, livestream computer helper, sometimes translation.
• Sinae Gianelli: camera trainee.
• Gary Collins: previous camera/livestream support; currently less active.
• Brother Gino Gianelli: editing support on Windows, likely using DaVinci Resolve.
• Eli Lastra: overall content creator supervisor and quality reviewer.
• Apostle David: higher-level ministry/message approval when needed.

Current Local Pain Points

1. The Sunday setup depends heavily on Adolfo.
2. The rented school building requires setup and tear-down every week.
3. Livestream depends on Wi-Fi.
4. The iMac is a single point of failure.
5. Lighting is limited because the team cannot fully use the building lights.
6. Zoom screen share for lyrics/slides reduces the camera to a small window.
7. Wired HDMI camera routing limits camera placement and increases setup time.
8. Audio through ATEM has shown brief dropout problems, so the team routes audio separately.

International Event Workflow Challenge

International EMI gatherings are a different problem from the local Sunday workflow.

Common constraints:

• meetings often happen in remote areas,
• internet reliability varies significantly,
• apostles and leaders travel globally and may not want bulky equipment,
• audiences may need multiple languages at once,
• local in-room translation has worked in some cases but has not been optimal,
• phone/headphone-based access may be ideal in some locations but not universal.

Desired international translation model:

• When internet and audience devices allow: people connect with their own phone/headphones and choose a language.
• When internet is weak: provide local off-stage translation directly to people in the room.
• Long term: design a hybrid model that can adapt by country, venue, internet quality, and number of languages.

Translation and Captioning: Highest-Priority Problem

Translation is currently the biggest pain point.

Current state:

• English and Spanish are the main large audiences.
• Human translation still makes sense for English ↔ Spanish.
• Additional languages are needed for connected ministries in France, Denmark, Africa, and other places.
• Zoom Caption Auto-Translation is being tested again and seems better than in the past.
• Automatic captions/translations struggle when both English and Spanish are present in the same audio stream.

Likely direction:

• Keep human translation for English and Spanish where quality matters most.
• Explore automatic captioning/translation for additional languages.
• Investigate sending a clean English-only feed into the caption/translation system to improve accuracy.
• Determine what tools can provide selectable captions or language experiences during a livestream.

Key question for Ari / Sardius:

What is the most realistic and reliable multilingual workflow today for a ministry that has both local Sunday services and international events in remote locations?

Desired Future State

The desired future system should be:

• reliable enough for Sunday services,
• mobile enough for a rented school building,
• flexible enough for international events,
• understandable enough for trained volunteers,
• strong enough to produce quality outreach content,
• organized enough to preserve and search years of media,
• simple enough not to overwhelm the team.

Desired capabilities:

• Lower-third lyrics/slides instead of full Zoom screen share.
• Mobile cart/case setup for fast Sunday deployment.
• Multiple DSLR/mirrorless-style cameras using wireless HDMI.
• Reliable audio path independent of ATEM audio issues.
• Redundancy plan if the main computer fails.
• English/Spanish human translation plus AI captions/translations for additional languages.
• International event playbook for strong internet, weak internet, and hybrid scenarios.
• NAS-first archive with metadata and transcript search.
• AI-assisted workflow for transcription, clip selection, captions, summaries, translations, and social repurposing.
• Publishing pipeline into the EMI private social app, including media series, translated discussions, and open/closed group distribution.

Decision Areas Where We Need Expert Help

1. Translation / Multilingual Experience

Questions:

• What is realistic today for live translated captions?
• What is realistic today for multi-language audio or interpretation channels?
• How should we handle English/Spanish human translation while also supporting other languages through AI?
• What should be local/offline vs. internet/cloud-dependent?
• Are there tools that allow selectable captions or language experiences during live streams?

2. Encoding / Livestream Reliability

Questions:

• When should we stay with OBS/Zoom/Subsplash?
• When should we consider dedicated encoders, managed broadcast workflows, SRT/RTMP/HLS designs, or Resi-like reliability?
• How should we think about backup internet and backup computer options?
• How can we improve reliability without making the workflow too complicated for volunteers?

3. Volunteer-Friendly Mobile Setup

Questions:

• What should be pre-wired into a mobile cart/case?
• What should stay modular?
• How should power, networking, ATEM/interface, computer, camera receivers, and monitoring be arranged?
• What is the smallest setup that still gives room for quality improvement?

4. Lyrics / Slides / Lower Thirds

Questions:

• Should we solve lower-third lyrics with WorshipTools, OBS, Zoom, or a different workflow?
• How can lyrics be visible without sacrificing the camera feed?
• How should preaching slides be handled differently from worship lyrics?

5. Archive / Search / Media Asset Management

Questions:

• How should we organize the 8TB NAS media archive?
• What folder and naming convention should we standardize?
• What metadata should be captured from day one?
• What NAS-based tools can provide transcript/quote search?
• How should AI transcription and summary data be stored for long-term reuse?

Desired searchable fields:

• speaker,
• date,
• event name,
• scripture/reference,
• topic/theme,
• language,
• people in video,
• quote/transcript search.

6. AI-Assisted Post-Production

Questions:

• What AI tools are mature enough to use now?
• Can AI reliably help identify sermon clips?
• What should be automated vs. reviewed manually?
• How should captions, translations, summaries, thumbnails, titles, and descriptions be generated?
• What review process should protect quality and theological/message accuracy?

7. Owned Community App / Private Social Platform

Questions:

• How should the private EMI social app fit alongside Subsplash, YouTube, Facebook, and Walking Voice Media?
• What content should be public outreach versus invitation-only community content?
• How should media series be packaged for the app after a livestream or teaching is recorded?
• How should automatic translation in global chat and groups connect with the broader livestream translation strategy?
• What security, moderation, onboarding, and invitation controls should be considered for a global ministry communication platform?

What We Are Not Asking For Yet

We are not primarily asking for a shopping list.

Before buying more equipment or software, we want to understand:

• the right workflow architecture,
• what should be standardized first,
• what should remain simple,
• what should be automated,
• what should stay manual,
• what purchases should wait until the process is clearer.

Focused Questions for Ari / Sardius

1. If you were designing this from scratch for a mobile church/ministry, what would you standardize first?
2. What should we keep simple and volunteer-friendly versus what should be professionalized?
3. What is the best realistic path for multilingual livestream and in-room translation today?
4. How would you structure our media archive so it becomes searchable and reusable instead of just stored videos?
5. What AI workflows are mature enough to use now for captions, metadata, clips, summaries, and translations?
6. How should we integrate the EMI private social app as an owned, invitation-based global communication and media distribution platform?
7. At what point does OBS/Zoom/Subsplash stop being enough?
8. What equipment/software do churches commonly buy too early?
9. What would you measure to know whether the media workflow is improving: stream health, watch time, engagement, clip performance, volunteer load, private-app engagement, archive reuse, or something else?

Recommended First Priorities

Priority 1: Translation Prototype

Test a controlled Sunday workflow where only a clean English feed is sent into auto-caption/translation. Compare results against the mixed English/Spanish audio scenario.

Priority 2: Lower-Third Lyrics Prototype

Test whether WorshipTools, OBS, or another workflow can generate lyrics as lower thirds while preserving the full camera feed.

Priority 3: Mobile Cart / Case Design

Design a simple pre-wired mobile system for the rented school setting. Include power, computer, ATEM/interface, audio interface, wireless HDMI receivers, network gear, and monitoring.

Priority 4: NAS Archive Structure

Create a folder/naming/indexing standard before adding more media. Start with date, event, speaker, language, and transcript fields.

Priority 5: AI Post-Production Pilot

Choose one strong teaching and test a full pipeline:

recording → transcript → summary → clip candidates → reviewed clips → captions → title/description → YouTube/Facebook/Walking Voice publishing

Priority 6: Private App Publishing Pilot

Choose one approved teaching or event series and test how it should live inside the EMI private social app:

approved recording → transcript/summary → media series packaging → translated discussion prompts → open/closed group placement → invitation-only access review → engagement/moderation feedback

Proposed Attachments / Examples to Add Before Sending

Before sharing this report, add links to:

• one recent Subsplash Sunday service replay,
• one strong teaching suitable for public outreach,
• one example where lyrics/screen share reduced video quality,
• one international gathering example if available,
• one short clip or desired example style if available,
• screenshots or a preview link for the EMI private social app if helpful for the conversation.

Related Working Notes

• [[Livestream and Video Generation Process]]
• [[EMI Media Outreach and YouTube Strategy]]
• [[kenya_trip_2026]]
• [[Technology for the Kingdom of God]]