Emergency mode

Emergency mode immediately takes what viewers see and hear off the air, without ever stopping the live or the recording: an inappropriate image or sound, a camera showing what it should not, an incident on stage.

“Emergency mode never stops the live or the file” — “The broadcast and the local recording always continue. Returning to production is always manual.”

Emergency mode works in the Advanced control room.

Turning on emergency mode on this computer

Emergency mode is off by default. To turn it on:

1. Automation › Production rules › Emergency mode.
2. Turn on the Turn on emergency mode switch.

• Off: “Off on this computer: the Emergency button, its shortcut and its card do not appear in the control room.”
• On: “On for this computer, for every event.”
• It cannot be turned off during an emergency: “Return to production first to turn emergency mode off.”.

Configuring the actions

“A command that immediately takes what viewers see and hear off the air, without stopping the live. Once turned on, it appears in the control room header.”

The configuration state shows: Ready, Not configured or Needs checking.

Actions to run

“Run together as soon as the hold completes. Returning to production reverts them.”

A source deleted since is flagged “Source not found” (“2 not found”) and can be removed from the list.

Emergency scene

The Emergency scene card: Choose a scene and “Scene preview · rendered on this computer”. Prepare a dedicated scene, for example a “We’ll be right back” screen.

Trigger

• Hold duration: 1 s, 1.5 s, 2 s or 3 s. “1.5 s by default: short enough during an incident, too long for a click.”
• Keyboard shortcut: ⌘⇧U, to hold like the button. If the combination is already used by a control room command: “⌘⇧U is already assigned to an OBS command: the emergency command stays on its button.”.

Test safely

Test in Preview only: “Plays the emergency scene in Preview. Program, microphones and the file do not change.” The result shows: “Last test: 21:04 · succeeded”.

In the control room

Once turned on, emergency mode adds:

• the Emergency button in the header, before Simple / Advanced;
• the EMERGENCY chip in the macros bar;
• the Emergency command card at the top of the Control tab: “Clicking “Emergency” arms the command; holding it for 1.5 s activates it. A single click never triggers anything.”.

Triggering the emergency

Emergency takes two gestures: a click arms, a hold activates. A single click never takes anything off the air.

1. Arm

Click Emergency (or press ⌘⇧U). A window opens under the button:

• “Switch to emergency mode? — The live continues: viewers see the emergency scene.”
• Configured actions: each action with its state (Configured or Needs checking), including “Keep the broadcast · the live continues” and “Keep the recording · the file continues”.
• The red Hold to activate button and “Hold for 1.5 s · releasing early cancels”.
• Cancel, or Esc. Without a hold, the command disarms by itself after 10 seconds (“Closes after 10 s”).

The status bar shows “Emergency armed · nothing has run”.

2. Hold

Hold the red button (mouse or space bar), or ⌘⇧U, for the chosen duration. The button shows “Keep holding… 1.2 s” and “Nothing has run yet”. Releasing early cancels.

3. Emergency active

When the hold completes, Studio runs, in order:

1. stop automatic commands (macros, rundown, schedule, rules);
2. hide the chosen cameras on the output;
3. mute the chosen microphones;
4. cut immediately to the emergency scene.

• An Emergency mode active banner shows above the control room: applied actions (Microphones muted, Cameras hidden, Emergency scene, Broadcast kept, Recording kept), “For 00:02” and Return to production.
• The header button becomes Emergency active, the Control tab card “Emergency mode · Active” (“Activated at 21:04 on this computer, by holding the button.”), the status bar “Emergency active”.
• “Returning to production is manual: nothing comes back on its own, even once the incident is over.”
• During the emergency, the Simple view cannot be chosen and automations stay suspended.

If Studio closes during an emergency, the reopened control room restarts in “Emergency active” with the same manual return.

Returning to production

Click Return to production. The “Return to production?” window summarizes what will be restored:

• “Studio restores the state from before the emergency (21:04), using the Fade transition (300 ms):”;
• Program scene: the previous scene, or “unchanged · changed during the emergency” if you changed it in the meantime;
• Microphones: “unmuted at their previous level”, or “stay muted”;
• Cameras: “shown again · 2”;
• Live and recording: “unchanged”.

Options: Keep microphones muted (“You will unmute them yourself from the mixer.”), then Return to production or Stay in emergency.

Only what the emergency changed, and is still in that state, is restored: a microphone unmuted or a camera shown again by hand during the emergency stays as it is.

Messages