Video livestreamers/podcasters, what's your setup like?

Share with us your gears & workflows.

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Whats your end goal for this? Are you looking for advice?

Yes, I’m looking for inputs & advice in smooth stream experience, as there’s too much variable in gears price & capabilities, and I’m aiming for sub $500 budget with just fabrics for room audio treatment, I have not include lighting in that budget range.
I’m researching for online coding class video streaming setup, OBS to Zoom & Youtube most likely, Google Hangout too. Adding integration with Instagram Live would be ideal since the students are young girls and the ones who run the program think it would be more fun & engaging.

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Well, it is easily the worst time ever to try to get hold of a webcam or capture device, I would guess. And I haven’t looked at USB mics at all.

Lets pretend the world wasn’t falling apart and everything would be available. I’ll also assume that you are alone and don’t need a second mic.

I recently saw this video on the NT USB mini, that might be the cheapest and easiest way for solid audio. I have a Rode Podcaster which is very good and a combination of the Rode Procaster + Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 first gen. That combo is even better but quite a bit more money. I would only advise for that if a second mic is needed.

Personally I hate webcams but they are the easiest way to get started. Something like a Logitech C920 would be a good first choice.

If you’d like to go higher quality on the video, a used Panasonic G7 (or G70, same camera, different name in different countries) and a capture device like the Elgato Camlink 4K is the price/performance way to get a really crisp image.

Yeti something with USB straight into desktop. I have vim or Kate with a markdown file (mostly for highlighting) in one screen and a browser with relevant links in the other screen. Sometimes I’ll pin half and half so I’m not turning my head and screwing up the audio. I push my keyboard forward and put the mic in front of my face. If I stick out my tongue I touch the mic (I do this every time to get a good taste of metal and aluminum before I start).

Coffee or water within reach because when I yammer on about God knows what (C mostly, as of late) my voice gets a bit dry and then I sound like I’m constipated (when really I don’t want to cough).

I practice the intro a few times before I start, all in all about two minutes of talking before I start the show. I say the intro, scream some obscenity about how awful that was, stop and delete, start the intro, do some Ron Burgundy quotes

Mainly this one (time stamped)

After that I tell my wife that total silence is required to do my work at which point she yells at me to “shut the fuck up”. Then I get about five minutes in before one of the cats goes “YOWWWWWLLL YEWWWWWWWL YOWWWWWWL MEOAAAAW! MWWWWWEOEEEEWWW!” and I say “JESUS FUCKING CHRIST YOU’VE RUINED EVERYTHING SHUT THE FUCK UP.” at which point my wife says “SHUT THE FUCK UP I’M IN A MEETING”.

After all that I finally start recording the intro and dig into the meat of the show.

I recommend a browser extension that offers some sort of highlighting to help with at a glance quotes or notes in the browser.

I still don’t have all the details, but I’m not worried in terms of interface, I’ve set up plenty of cards like AJA, Decklink to SDI or XLR. I don’t know too much about mics though I’ve been scouring youtube for audio & technicals these few days. Camlink is a good advice, thanks!

ahahahahha this is very good advice… thankfully I won’t be talking in front of camera or mic any time soon.

The video I posted is from Curtis Judd, he knows a good deal about mics. I simply got some Rode mics and stuck with those because I like them. So my knowledge is also very limited.

Did you try to treat your room acoustic?

Not at all … but I will after I move into the new place. I’ve used my mics mostly for teamspeak while playing WoW so it is less critical if there is a bit of echo in the background because the game sound is masking that. It helps of course that the podcaster and procaster are dynamic mics.