Featured workflow · the tandem

ATEM Mini Pro & RØDECaster Video S.

You don't have to pick. The ATEM does the video switching it was born for. The RØDECaster handles the audio it was born for. Wired together correctly, you get hardware streaming, real XLR mics with proper preamps, four cameras of HDMI switching, and one less reason to swear at your studio at 11 PM.

Contents

01 Why pair them at all 02 The signal flow, drawn out 03 The exact cables you need 04 First power-on, step by step 05 Lip-sync — the one thing that can go wrong 06 Alternatives if this isn't quite right

01 · Why pair them

Each box is brilliant at one half of the job.

The ATEM Mini Pro is excellent at video. Four HDMI inputs, hardware streaming, a USB webcam output, and a row of physical buttons that feel exactly right under your fingers. Where it's weaker: audio. The mic inputs are 3.5mm minijacks — fine for a wireless lavalier, painful if you have a real XLR microphone with proper preamp requirements.

The RØDECaster Video S is the inverse. Three HDMI inputs (one fewer than the ATEM, for HDMI cameras anyway). But the audio side is broadcast-grade — XLR/TRS combo jacks, RØDE Revolution Preamps, APHEX processing, two independent headphone mixes, and the ability to handle USB mics natively.

Pair them — ATEM does the video, RØDECaster does the audio — and you have a setup that's roughly equivalent to a $5,000 broadcast rig for around $1,000 total.

The trade-off, honestly

You're using two boxes instead of one. More cables. More desk space. One more thing to power up. The benefit is that each box is doing what it's best at, which translates to better audio AND better video than either box alone.

02 · Signal flow

The picture, in monospace.

Here's the whole signal flow, drawn out. Cameras into the ATEM (because that's the video switcher). Microphones into the RØDECaster (because that's the audio mixer). The two boxes meet at one connection where audio is sent from the RØDECaster into the ATEM, so the ATEM's stream/recording carries the good audio.

                  CAMERAS                              MICS
                     |                                  |
                HDMI 1-4                          XLR 1-2
                     |                                  |
                     v                                  v
        +--------------------+           +--------------------+
        |   ATEM Mini Pro    |           | RODECaster Video S |
        |   (video switcher) |           |   (audio mixer)    |
        +--------------------+           +--------------------+
                     |                                  |
                     |                       Headphone OUT (or
                     |                       USB-C UVC OUT) carries
                     |                       the mixed audio
                     |                                  |
                     |       3.5mm TRS or USB-C      |
                     |   +<----------------------------+
                     v   v
              MIC IN 1 / 2 on the ATEM
                     |
                     v
        +--------------------+
        |   ATEM Mini Pro    |
        |   mixes audio      |
        |   with chosen      |
        |   camera           |
        +--------------------+
                     |
              USB-C OUT -> computer
              HDMI OUT  -> TV / recorder
              Ethernet  -> stream to YouTube/Twitch

Cameras → ATEM · Mics → RØDECaster · RØDECaster audio → ATEM · ATEM out

03 · The exact cables

What you'll plug in, in order.

From the cameras to the ATEM:

Camera 1 → HDMI cable → ATEM HDMI IN 1
Camera 2 → HDMI cable → ATEM HDMI IN 2
Camera 3 (optional) → HDMI cable → ATEM HDMI IN 3
Camera 4 (optional) → HDMI cable → ATEM HDMI IN 4

From the microphones to the RØDECaster Video S:

Microphone 1 → XLR cable → RØDECaster XLR/TRS 1
Microphone 2 → XLR cable → RØDECaster XLR/TRS 2

The crucial cable — RØDECaster audio out to ATEM audio in:

RØDECaster Headphone OUT 2 → 3.5mm TRS to 3.5mm TRS cable → ATEM MIC IN 1

Why use Headphone OUT 2 instead of OUT 1? Because OUT 1 stays available for your actual headphones — you want to monitor what you're hearing without affecting what the ATEM gets. The RØDECaster lets you set the two headphone outs to different mixes, which is the whole point of having two of them.

From the ATEM to your output destinations:

ATEM HDMI OUT → HDMI cable → TV / monitor / external recorder
ATEM USB-C webcam out → USB-C cable → computer (for Zoom / Teams / OBS)
ATEM Ethernet → Cat5/6 cable → router (for direct streaming)

Important: turn off the ATEM's mic input gain

Once the RØDECaster is feeding the ATEM, set the ATEM MIC 1 input to "line level" in ATEM Software Control (not "mic level"). Otherwise the ATEM will try to amplify an already-amplified signal — resulting in distortion and a sound your audience will not enjoy.

04 · First power-on

Plug in. Power up. Test.

Cable everything per section 3, with both units powered off.
Power the RØDECaster first. Verify mics work — talk into mic 1, watch the level meter on the touchscreen.
Plug a pair of headphones into Headphone OUT 1. Confirm you can hear yourself. This is your monitor mix.
Plug the 3.5mm TRS cable from Headphone OUT 2 into the ATEM MIC 1 input.
Power the ATEM. Wait for the buttons to come up.
Open ATEM Software Control on a computer. Go to Audio. Set MIC 1 to "On" and to "Line Level" (not Mic Level). Set the level so the meter peaks around -12dB during normal speech.
Press button 1 on the ATEM. You should now see your camera and hear your mic-via-RØDECaster on whatever HDMI OUT or USB-C OUT you've connected.
Test a cut. Talk into mic 2, press button 2 on the ATEM. Camera and audio should both be present and in sync.

05 · Lip-sync

The one thing that goes wrong, and how to fix it.

Because the audio takes a slightly different path than the video (cameras → ATEM → out vs. mics → RØDECaster → ATEM → out), they may arrive at the output a few milliseconds apart. If you can see the speaker's mouth moving before you hear the words — or vice versa — that's lip-sync drift.

The fix is in the ATEM. Open ATEM Software Control → Audio → the input you're using for the RØDECaster feed. There's an "Audio Delay" setting in milliseconds. Adjust it until the audio matches the video. Most setups need somewhere between 0 and 80 ms of delay applied to the audio (because the video path through the cameras and ATEM is slightly slower).

Quick test

Clap your hands twice in front of one camera. Watch the program output. If you hear the clap before you see your hands hit, add audio delay. If you see the clap before you hear it (rare), the cameras have processing delay you'll need to investigate — usually a camera setting like "Smart HDR" or face-detect that adds latency.

06 · Alternatives

If the tandem doesn't quite fit.

RØDECaster Video S alone. If you're a solo creator with 1-3 cameras and want one box on the desk, the Video S can do everything — it just has fewer HDMI ports than the ATEM. Read the standalone guide →
RØDECaster Video (original) alone. Four HDMI cameras, real faders, ISO recording — basically the tandem in one box, plus DaVinci EDL export. Larger, heavier, more expensive. Read the standalone guide →
ATEM Mini Pro alone with a USB mic. If you only need one microphone and don't care about XLR — a RØDE NT-USB or similar plugs into the same computer the ATEM is connected to via USB-C. Software-mixed, but works.
ATEM Mini Extreme alone. The Extreme has actual XLR inputs — no RØDECaster needed. Read the standalone guide →
RØDECaster Pro II / Duo + RØDECaster Video Core. RØDECaster Sync chain — if you already own a Pro II for podcasting, the Core is the cheapest path to add video. Read the Core guide →