Youtube Project: Day 2 - Tools For The Task
The next stop in my journey was figuring out what kind of tools I would need. I figured that i would need around 5 or 6 things to be able to create and post some content.
- A Content idea
- A way to see me on the video
- A way to hear me on the video
- A way to record 2 and 3
- A way to edit the recording
- The extras
The Content
Content is a non-issue. Like many of you I have more ideas of what to make content about than I have time to make that content into ideas.
The Video Recorder
My vision for the channel is me presenting content directly to the viewer. For this format I would need the abilitiy to record my face while presenting. I researched this for a bit and found that the video recording part is really flexible. I believe I saw it first in one of Magistudio's videos - but your phone is a really good source for recording video (and audio if you need it). Alternatives to this were webcams, actual cameras, and specialty video cameras. I like having equipment that serves a single purpose, so I ended up going with a very cost effective Logitech Brio.
https://www.logitech.com/en-us/shop/p/brio-100-webcam.960-001580
The phone would have worked nicely, but I would also need to get some sort of mount for it. Rather than spend a little money on mounting my phone I opted to spend a tiny bit more and get the webcam. This also opens me up to use the phone as a secondary camera when I get to that point.
The Microphone
The Brio webcam has built in audio that does the job for work meetings, but as you might expect it has a very thin sound. Right from the start I knew this was not going to work for me, so I spent the majority of my budget on an Elgato Wave 3. The reason I went with this mic is solely based on several videos showing off its features. You really can get a good sound right out of the box with this thing and configuration was an absolute breeze. 10/10 would buy again.
https://www.elgato.com/us/en/p/wave-3-black
Edit: RoyBretton brought up a really good point in the comments. If you have an existing microphone - try it out! It might already give you the sound quality that you need. No need to spend any money :). Thanks for the input Roy!
The Recording Software
I have a couple of friends who stream themselves on the internet, so through their advice I tried out an amazing (and free) software called Open Broadcaster Software (OBS). This software is absolutely free, and really has an amazing set of features. I was able to get it up and running in a handful of hours, and so far it has been able to do everything that I need it to do.
The Editing Software
This was another recommendation that ended up being absolutely spectacular. Davinci Resolve is a professional grade editing studio for free. Its absolutely mind blowing that this software is free to use. There is a steep learning curve but any time spent is absolutely worth it, and you can be editing videos after watching just a couple of tutorials. The basics are really easy to get working, and there is an incredible amount of depth and feature. Highly recommended.
https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve
The Extras
There were a handful of extras that might be nice to have, but they are not at all essential for what I am doing.
Green screens will allow you to essentally clip out your background and replace it with another image. This works much better than the background features that you have on Zoom and Webex. They arent super expensive, but again they fill a very specific need and I just diddnt need one.
I saw some recommendations for a high powered computer with a beefy graphics card. I imagine this would help a lot when you were playing games, streaming, and recording at the same time. So far my Mac Mini seems to be doing fine :).
And thats it! At a bare minimum you could get content posted with your phone and an idea - nothing else spent. If you are inclined to pick up some tooling I would personally recommend spending more on the microphone than a camera. Lastly, there are a handful of other devices that can be used for streaming and recording - but the ones that I found served a very specific purpose. If you require that specific thing then great, but if its not an immediate need, save the cash (or upgrade your microphone :)).
I don't know a lot, but Id be glad to share any of my experience with you all if there are any questions. Thanks for reading!
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Recent Comments
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Good morning Jeramy,
Thank you for documenting your journey, that's a great idea and very helpful indeed.
It's interesting about microphones, I have tried a couple of stand-alone microphones, which have been recommended by many people on this platform. However, I have been disappointed with the sound quality, so I am still using my Sennheiser headset which seems to give a very clear crystal sound. I understand there is a lot to learn about sound and it's something that I don't really know enough about.
I believe you have done the right thing by purchasing a webcam, I believe it's much better than using a phone. Don't get me wrong, phone cameras are brilliant for when we are out and about and we want to take videos or photographs, etc. But a webcam is a great asset and definitely worth having. My Logitech Webcam also has a microphone, but I get a much better quality sound from the Sennheiser headset microphone.
Wishing you all the best with your YouTube videos.
Roy
Hey Roy. Its entirely possible that you already have a great microphone in your headset. I have a headset with a mic that has passable quality, but it really lacked that depth of sound that i was looking for. I should add a caveat to my post about trying what you have before buying anything new. Thanks for the input!!
Hello Jeramy,
To be fair, the microphone in my headset appears to be very good, I originally brought it for Dragon NaturallySpeaking, which is speech to text software. However, when I create my videos, it appears to have a good sound with no background noise, etc. The actual headset is a Sennheiser SC 165 USB connected. I prefer to have a connected microphone over a wireless type, as it helps to keep any issues to a minimum.
Last year, due to Wealthy Affiliate member recommendations, I tried a Blue Yeti nano premium USB mic and a Rode NT – USB professional grade microphone, however, I had to send these microphones back as the sound was nowhere near as good as the Sennheiser headset. The idea was that I wouldn't have to wear a headset when I'm recording, but I prefer to have good quality sound, so I've stuck with the Sennheiser headset.
I appreciate that there is a lot to know about sound, maybe I need to experiment more with these microphones, as they all had very good reviews.
It's a pleasure to communicate with you, as other members can also learn from these experiences.
Enjoy your weekend.
Roy
I did perform some setup and placement for my mic. A bit of EQ, some compression, and good placement really made the difference. Im surprised that the Rode had a weak sound. It could very well be that your headset is that much higher quality.
I was surprised and disappointed, Jeramy, with both the microphones. I have a budget desktop microphone from Amazon on my desk, which is kind of okay, but I'm told it's good to have good sound for YouTube videos. Apparently, people put up more with poor picture quality than they will with poor sound.
I would like to see what an experienced sound man would do, as like many things, I think there's a lot to know about sound and where and what to do with microphones, etc. I'm certainly not an expert, I expect to plug it in and it to work properly. I see people like Kyle and Jay using similar microphones and their sound sounds absolutely fine. It's only a small spare room that I use, I wouldn't imagine there's too much echo, but who knows.
Thank you for the interesting conversation.
Enjoy your Sunday.
Roy
Hey Mr William. The other microphone that I looked at was the Yeti. Icame really close to buying it, but ultimately went with the Elgato based on a recommendation about the 'out of the box' sound clarity.
https://www.logitechg.com/en-us/products/streaming-gear/yeti-premium-usb-microphone.html
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I really like reading your YT-Das Blogs.
Very inspiring.
Do you think green screens through Zoom Video help?
Thanks Monse! Do you mean using the background features of meeting software, or using a green screen with Zoom?
It is possible to have your software try to remove the background without a green screen, and this works surprisingly well. Essentially your computer tries to find the border between your image and the background and changes the background. I believe this can be done in a couple of ways - depth being one of them.
This is essentially doing the same thing that a green screen would be doing. The green screen helps the computer do this in two ways. It creates a flat constant background that is easy to detect, and creates a clear separation between what is foreground and what is the background. Since your computer knows exactly what it should replace, the detection of the background is much more accurate.
Its early, so I may have misunderstood the question, so please correct me and I can try to help some more.
You've got it right; both are great.
What software are you using?
I was using cap cut wut the banning stuff, I stopped.
I've been using zoom as a recording but i think it visually looks really bad.
Right now my current stack is:
OBS - recording and overlaying my face on the desktop
Davinci Resolve - editing, rendering to a final video.
Check out OBS if you want to try another tool. It has a tiny bit of a learning curve but it really does the job (recording video) for me.
https://obsproject.com
Thank you, I will definitely take a look! 🙂