Do You Have The Right Setup at Home To Start Streaming?
Do You Have The Right Setup at Home To Start Streaming?
Live streams have become a normal part of so many people's lives. When the barrier to entry as a streamer is relatively low, having a good setup will help kickstart a channel from single-digit viewers to creating a community of viewers.
There are a lot of variables when it comes to live streaming. From the choice of streaming platforms (Twitch first and foremost, YouTube live, and even Facebook Gaming if you like to go off the beaten path) to choosing the right digital camera or XLR microphone, and picking the kind of content they want to do, live streamers need to make multiple layers of decisions.
This is not going to be a guide about the difference between a hardware encoder and a software encoder, an ultimate guide to chroma key filtering, or a step-by-step tutorial on how to set up your capture card. Here we will be talking about an often overlooked aspect of live streaming.
Let's dive into how to create a nice livestream room.
Where should your live streaming studio be in your home?
A live streaming studio space requires a mix of a few different elements: good lighting, no interference or background noise, and access to a stable internet connection.
Essentially, you're building a home studio and that requires not just space but the right space. A spare room right above a garage might be the best you can do when starting out but finding ways to improve that room so that you can have the cleanest possible audio and video sources will go a very long way.
Keep in mind that streaming regularly is not the same thing as simply doing a live video on Facebook live from your phone. Even if your video content is fit for the Just Chatting category, a proper setup will help with both the sound quality and the stability of your stream.
It's not just a question of getting a better upload speed or camera choices - you essentially have to be your own set designer.
Lighting.
A streaming setup with proper lighting is crucial Even if you are planning to become a VStreamer or won't have a representation of yourself on-stream aside from your voice, you still need a proper lighting setup.
Many webcams these days are able to pump out some decent video quality, especially for small video output size or simply pick up on facial movements to animate an on-screen avatar.
However, good lighting can drastically improve the appearance of a stream, even more so than a good camera.
If you intend to use a green screen, abundant light is a necessity. You don't necessarily need an expensive ring light when starting up but having three light sources will help significantly.
Try to position yourself and your camera so that you are lit from three separate directions. You want a key light in one spot to highlight the part of your face shown most prominently, a fill light so that the other side of your face isn't too dark to get picked up and a backlight to balance out the illumination from the previous two sources.
Even if you have a DSLR camera, you will have to get used to spending some time tweaking your settings to get the right look.
Ring lights tend to be very popular as key lights since they don't create an overbearing source of light.
If you stream during the day, having some natural light in the background is a great idea too. Natural lighting is easier on both your own eyes and the eyes of the audience without the need for extensive visual tweaks in OBS studio or your live streaming software of choice.
Low-light streaming channels are a creative choice. Still, many software encoders have trouble rendering good-looking low-light footage without creating annoying visual artifacts. It could be a good idea to work with filters that work for your live stream instead of plunging yourself in the dark in front of a bright screen for hours.
Audio.
Most webcams, modern webcams, have a built-in mic but if you spend any amount of time watching streaming content, you will know they do not have broadcast quality microphones.
Poor microphone audio quality is one of the first things that will deter people from continuing to watch a small stream. Beyond buying high-quality audio equipment and fiddling with your audio interface while asking chat if they can hear you, having a good audio setup in your home studio is critical.
Sound waves are fickle and, while managing your audio cables to make sure you don't unplug one of your XLR audio inputs by accident is important, using proper soundproofing can save you a lot of hours trying to mix audio.
In this instance picking the right room to record in is very important but if you're stuck then what you need to do is protect the stream's audio sources. Cheap soundproofing, like this $20 6-pack panel, can do a lot of work when used in conjunction with something like RTX Voice. RTX Voice is free as long as you have an NVidia card and works like some sort of black magic but don't be tempted to forego investing in sound-proofing just because of it.
Other accessories.
A live stream is about personality first - well, maybe second after your stream key.
Many people use bright neon lights behind them in gaming live streams but there are also people who play with a plushy on their lap, a display case of games or memorabilia in the background or displayed posters.
There are also those who stream with about a dozen half-empty soda cups from Wendy's in plain view.
Whatever your brand, just make it is authentic. Along with streaming using wi-fi, inauthenticity is one of the live streaming cardinal sins.
If you are unsure of what to add to your background, that's perfectly fine. You can decorate your room as your stream grows with suggestions from your community.
If you stream as a musician, an audio mixer can vastly improve the quality of your stream that gives you the ability to play with a specific audio source independently from the rest of your other audio sources.
Beware of mess.
When you pick the right place in your home to start streaming, one thing that can quickly get out of control is clutter and mess. Unless you're doing IRL streams where you walk around a city to capture video footage and random events, to live stream is to stay in view of a camera for hours on end.
From empty takeout boxes to the tangled mess of wires created by all the accessories and critical elements like the multiple cameras for special angles - they can all devolve into a fire hazard.
A live stream of a setup catching fire might make it to the top of Live StreamFails but it's not that entertaining when the fire is in your home.
To prevent an accident like that on and off-stream, it's a good idea to have established a good setup from the start. It's easier to clean up or reduce the amount of mess if you have designed the space to facilitate that.
What if you don't have a room where all these conditions are in place?
Improvise. It's the quality that live-streaming demands. When a capture card fails, when the game hits a lull, it's time for improvisation.
Waiting for perfection to stream is a recipe for a story that never begins. A green screen can help you hide a room that you're not particularly proud of, a decent microphone coupled with some minor noise gating software can help eliminate or dampen the sound of construction outside, and so on.
A good live stream depends on the streamer, but spending the time to polish what you can with your live streaming studio - whatever the shape it takes - will help you gain and retain viewers.
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