Streamers with jobs

Thanks Veloxi! I use OBS.

Yeah, I am getting a mic for this no matter what, but I'd rather know before hand whether it will actually solve all-most of my current problems or merely disguise them.

Some context required, I live on a freaking 30th floor with 3 massive elevator rooms rigth above my head (thankfully one is out of order) they are going up and down all day and night and my building literally swings back and forth enough that you get a bit seasick. You can imagine how loud these bastards are while operating. I also live next to a very busy avenue and sometimes one of my neighbours yells out the window threatening to kill everyone and cursing us all to hell.

So, any mic I get will need to be able to prevent picking up this racket while I'm trying to make that sick joke or that insightfull observation on the nature of life. I've been reading about dynamic microphones in that regard and that could be one way to offset the amount of unavoidable noise I have to deal with.

This brings me to another question, does it make more sense to find a proper headphones with a good mic or to have a separated mic anyway?

Edit: whether, not "wheter"

Welcome to the streaming life, Feeank.

- Microphone is by far the most important piece of equipment when starting out

- "Entry-level" microphone does not equal bad. (I've been using the Elgato Wave:1 for 2+ years and do not see a need to upgrade anytime soon)

- Webcam is a distant second but if you use one, being well-lit is very important, then finding a good place to put your head among the UI for whatever game you're playing

- Make sure to get a pop filter or sock for your mic

- As Beanman has mentioned, setting up audio filters makes a world of difference. Check Youtube for tips.

- A single-monitor set up can be supplemented with a tablet (or phone) running the Twitch app in Stream Manager mode

- Muting the mic before switching back to Twitch's live view mode is my quick n' dirty way to verify audio is good at the start of a stream

- Although a luxury item, a Stream Deck can also give you much more (and faster) access to OBS commands than you would have otherwise when restricted to a single-monitor set up.

- I also recommend creating a "Starting Soon" and "Be Right Back" screen. I don't recommend using the Starting Soon longer than 10 minutes at the start of your stream as a general rule of thumb.

- Use the heck out of OBS's local recording feature to test all aspects of your stream before going live

- Set up a secondary Twitch for live testing so you're not seen floundering around on your main account

- There's a wealth of YouTube how-to creators for live streaming... almost too many. If you're looking for recommendations or have a specific topic to go in-depth with, let me know and I can try to dig up some recommendations

Thanks a bunch Mac, Veloxi and Beanman, lots of tips I'm going to follow and study, I'm sure in no time I'll feel more comfortable and confident walking down this path.

This.
We're just talking tools and nuts & bolts to live streaming. Depending on how much you plan on doing it and your overall goals, there's a mental side that comes into play and it can... diminish one's enjoyment.

Thanks fellas! I'm taking the weekend off to tweak all details of my channel as much as possible and fill some blanks in my understanding of what exactly OBS is capable of doing, even thou I've used it a lot before for my pixelart videos I had no idea of the things you could do with it, once you sit down and actually do your basic research. I have still lots to learn but I feel on the right path already, at least visuals-wise.

So I have scenes for Brb and waiting to start as well, and I've run some audio tests that sound promising, tomorrow should be fun.

Oh god I forgot about that. Good one.

Last week I got my new microphone and it's been amazing, made a couple of covers trying to learn my way around it, it works great so far, no background noise that I can perceive on those recordings.

I haven't streamed this week but hope to be back on monday. Graphic wise I think my channel is solid and consistent, no flashy or bombastic stuff in that regard, sober but fun I'd define it, but I wan't to go more indepth in the chat add-ons now, maybe program a bot to liven up the place while I'm busy playing /talking, but this is perhaps the most daunting aspect to this whole endeavour, I'm using "streamelements" but can't really grasp the meaning of most of the functions their chatbot uses. Guess I have to watch more streams to learn about those types of interactions but as usual any insight is appreciated here.

BTW, I received a gift-sub for Maclintok's channel, Thanks MAC!
I'll be checking up more streams this weekend as part of my *research*

Nice and congrats on the new mic! I’m glad you got the gift sub, too. I’m lucky to have a serial sub gifter among my followers.

Stream Elements is absolutely a great way to start with chat commands and chat automation. Let us know what you want to add to chat and I can try to help.

Hey streamer crew,

I may ditch the games and do another Just Chatting stream tonight. I used to be on top of this sort of thing but I don't do nearly as much idle web surfing during my work day like I used to as a younger, more care-free office drone. Where in the heck do I find collections of funny videos and memes to click through? Any good subreddits I should be bookmarking? I'd like to do this for part of the stream if I'm just going to be shooting the breeze with chat. TIA.

Big news from TwitchCon
https://www.dexerto.com/entertainmen...

So I just had a bit of a freak out since I use Restream Chat to have all the various services be able to chat to each other, and this new Twitch nonsense said that might be a no-no. However, the Restream folks seem to think as long as I'm not embedding my chat in the visible stream -- which I don't -- I should be okay.

So whew, for now.

If Twitch gives me sh*t about it then f*ck 'em.

I gave up on being a Twitch affiliate when I got a job. It's honestly not worth it, for me at least.

Any Restream.io users here?

Now that Twitch changed their policy I've been simulcasting on Twitch + Youtube for close to a month.
I remember there used to be an option to set up an Event in Restream. Didn't really do anything for Twitch but for Youtube it would create that handy "coming soon" or "premiere" video that acted like a waiting lobby for the next stream.

Well, the option is still there but the functionality has changed. Each new event you create requires you to input a specific stream key to OBS or some weird thing. All I ever do is sign into my streaming accounts in OBS...I've never needed to update the RMTP crap manually. I've opted to skip creating Restream events for now because it just seems cumbersome. Am I just missing something here?

I'm ambivalent. It's no big deal for me, but if something happens and I have to get a sub one Sunday then it's one more potential point of failure. Having the event means people can get reminders in FB or YT though, and that functionality is worth the aggravation. It also means the nursery folks can tune their TV to the YouTube feed before the service actually starts, because by that time they have kids to wrangle.

It also means that if something goes wrong with the stream and the event fires and fails, then that key is NFG* and I have to go back in and swap to the "go live now" key.

*acronym; stands for "No Good." Usually used for hardware, but felt right here.