Butcher Bird Studios takes flight with AJA signals

Los Angeles-based production outfit Butcher Bird Studios executes a range of projects, from original intellectual property (IP) to immersive VR experiences, completing tasks for businesses like Meta and BuzzFeed. 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 Video Systems.

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. To streamline signal flow, the team leverages AJA KUMO 12G-SDI and 3G-SDI Routers, which ensure 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 organised,” explains Brian Druckman, technical director. “The hardware strikes the right balance between industrial – working no matter what – and being easy to use.”

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 route the backup to the right destination.

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.

For a recent multi-camera green screen 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. Every signal – from camera ISOs to composited outputs and isolated backgrounds – was routed through AJA KUMO 3232-12G routers to displays and recorders.

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. No matter what new technologies are adopted, Butcher Bird Studios will continue to rely on AJA to deliver the video routing and I/O stability its ambitious projects demand.

Find out more at aja.com