vMix + Bitfocus Companion: Control Projectors, a Blackmagic ATEM, and Lighting from the Same Buttons

vMix is the center, not the whole booth

With the vMix Web Controller and WorshipMetrics, volunteers can share vMix itself. But Sunday also involves:

• Projectors that need to be on, on the right input, before people arrive
• A Blackmagic ATEM switcher for the room screens or a second production
• A lighting console with looks for worship, the sermon, and prayer
• A sound board with scenes and mutes

Each has its own controls. Bitfocus Companion is how churches put them on the same buttons as vMix.

What a combined button looks like

Button	vMix	Other gear
Pre-Service	Welcome loop to Program	Projectors on, input: vMix; lights: walk-in look
Worship	Band camera, lyrics overlay on	Lights: worship look
Sermon	Pastor camera, lyrics off	Lights: sermon look; ATEM room screens to IMAG
Prayer	Wide camera	Lights: low; sound: piano scene
End Service	Stop stream and recording	Projectors to standby (on a separate, protected button)

How to build it

1. Set up Companion and connect vMix. (See vMix + Companion setup.)
2. Add a connection for each device: your ATEM, your projectors (often PJLink), your lighting console or software, your sound board. (See controlling projectors, PTZ cameras, and sound boards.)
3. Build each device’s actions on its own button first and test them one by one.
4. Combine them into moment buttons (“Worship,” “Sermon,” “Prayer”), adding short delays where one device needs a moment.
5. Agree with each team (lighting, sound, the room) which actions the booth is allowed to trigger.
6. Put the panel where volunteers can use it: a Stream Deck, a tablet touch panel, or inside WorshipMetrics.

Where the buttons live

• A Stream Deck beside the vMix keyboard
• An inexpensive Android tablet on the church network
• WorshipMetrics Present’s Companion tab, right beside the slides, where slides can press the buttons on their own. (See Companion buttons inside WorshipMetrics.)

Things to plan for

• Every device needs a fixed IP address and network control turned on.
• Projectors need warm-up time. Turn them on before the service, not at the first song.
• Lights and sound belong to people. Coordinate before automating their changes.
• Document it all in the Signal Map and design the pages for volunteers. (See designing Companion pages for volunteers.)

This is how a complicated booth becomes one a volunteer can run, often without a custom control system. (See making church AV easy to run without hiring an AV company.)

Build your own buttons: vMix shortcuts as a volunteer button panel in the Web Controller.

Using a Blackmagic ATEM? Splitting ATEM Mini jobs for church volunteers. See also Bitfocus Companion + ATEM · ATEM + WorshipMetrics.