Content Creators - please help a new gal if you can spare a moment?

[Villanelle]

Hi content creators!

I hope you don't mind me reaching out this way. I'd like to try creating some PZ content and I was wondering if someone out there would be okay answering a few questions, mainly about software and hardware recommendations you might have?

We could move this over to a DM if any of you reading this have time for a quick chat but would prefer it be kept private.

If you are comfortable responding to questions in a public forum, my most pressing ones are:

1. What video capture software would you recommend for a beginner? I've used Bandicam pro before - is that good enough would you say?
2. What video capture software do you use?
3. What microphone / audio software do you recommend? I expect that capturing audio well is a pretty big deal. Any tips?
4. I've got Cyberlink PowerDirector Pro and am pretty comfortable with it. Do you think that's fine to carry on with or would you recommend a switch?
5. I don't want to splurge too much on a rig when I'm just starting out. Is there anything worth spending a bit more money on early on?
6. Do you play, record and talk at the same time, or record the visuals first and do the voice record afterwards?
7. When you started your channel, did you wait until you have a bit of content built up before you put it out there?
8. Any general tips for newbies? What do you wish you'd known when you started?

Thanks for reading I undoubtedly love and admire your work, whichever of you might be reading this!

~ Villanelle ~ new gal on the block ~ watch this space

 

[FoxyDee]

Tagging some content creators that are quite active around here and might help you out. Hope you dont mind.
@ZSHplays @Leaf Productions @Iben @Pacha Camac @Old Country

 

[Villanelle]

Tagging some content creators that are quite active around here and might help you out. Hope you dont mind.
@ZSHplays @Leaf Productions @Iben @Pacha Camac @Old Country

Not at all! Much appreciated thanks!

 

[DarthQuell]

I've wanted to know this, too, but I just never got around to asking

 

[Iben]

Hey there! First of all, wishing you all the best of luck

1/2. I have an Nvidea graphics card, which means I have Ansel. I tend to record using that, because it gives the best video quality so far in my opinion. It's easy because it saves it to a Planet Zoo folder as well and you don't have much hassle.
3/4. I have a Blue Yeti myself, but I think other YouTubers might be better to provide better options here.
5. As long as you feel like Planet Zoo can play without too many hiccups, you're absolutely fine. Pausing the game also helps!
6. That really depends on what you want to do! I know that speedbuilds are very popular, but at the end of the day you should do what you feel most comfortable with. I know that for instance my own building style does not really work with speedbuilds, so I don't do that. You can do a presentation whilst you're walking through the final product, or do intermittent updates. All things you can do!
7. Just went right into it hahaha. Being consistent does help, but don't let it control your life. You'll be fine if you skip a video once in a while.
8. Consistency is key for YouTube, but most of all, just enjoy yourself! As long as you're having fun, people will notice and will enjoy it as well.

 

[ethelred]

Hi,

I do a bit of streaming for rocket league and bloodbowl. Mainly just me and friends talking over games but in answer to your questions:-

1. OBS Studio. https://obsproject.com/. Free and the standard for most streamers. Essentially it allows you to combine different sources - screen capture, audio, webcam into a stream you can either send direct to twitch or record.

In combination with something like https://shotcut.org/ if you recording you can then further edit videos together, add additional sound and so on.

2. OBS Studio allows multiple sources to record your screen, second screen or at the window level.

3. I have a Hyper X Solocast (https://uk.hyperx.com/products/) that seems to work well. Again I just use OBS to record the audio. I've never met an audio engineer that's happy with the audio they record, but mic placement and making sure the signal is strong, as well as set at the right level compared to the other audio being recorded is key. It's something you'll have to fiddle with to get it "perfect", but you'll learn by doing. We use discord if there's more than one voice, but you can just use OBS/Twitch if you're recording.

4. Absolutely. Like I said before I use Shotcut to edit (as it's free and good enough for what I need it for). Are you comfortable using it? Then carry on!

5. A good mic, and probably a green screen are what I would spend on initially. I assume you have a good PC able to record at at least 720p? This is the limit of my technical knowledge but you need a crisp picture for streaming or uploading to YouTube.

6. It takes ages to edit and put together something when you pre-record, usually you need a few takes, or to rehearse. I much prefer streaming BUT you do need to be able to chat about what you're doing which is a bit of a skill until you have the chat to bounce off. Having a contributor makes things a bit easier!

7. I have heard that in war haste can be folly, but have never seen delay that was wise.

Sun Tzu said that. Just get it out there. You can always delete it later if it is not suitable!

8. YouTube has videos going through step by step most of what you need to know about OBS, streaming etc. Maybe some are a pinch of salt, but the biggest advice is just to get out there and do it!

Try and stream or publish content regularly at around the same time so you can build up a following.

Always raid another content creator at the end of your stream.

Enjoy yourself!

Good luck!

P.s. if you want to see my irregular ramblings, take a look at

Source: https://www.twitch.tv/ethelred_unread

 

[ZSHplays]

DON'T DO IT! YOUTUBE IS FULL!

Ahem. Sorry, I welcome new creators really. I've been doing it for 2 years now & I love it! It's also a very friendly community, I had some really encouraging & helpful conversations with my fellow YouTubers and I have never encountered so much as a hint of competition between us, just a lovely bunch really.

To answer your questions (and I'm sure others would/will give you completely different ones:

1. What video capture software would you recommend for a beginner?
2. What video capture software do you use?
The answers for the above are one and the same, I just use AMD Adrenaline which comes free with all AMD gfx cards. I assume nVidia comes with something similar. If you're streaming I believe OBS is the one to use but I don't stream so I'm not an expert.

3. What microphone / audio software do you recommend? I expect that capturing audio well is a pretty big deal. Any tips?
I use the cheapest USB condensor mic on the market (I think) the FiFine. Honestly, it's perfect to start with, it cost £39 and I still use it now. I should probably upgrade but haven't yet. Do not use a headset/phone mic, literally everyone who watches your video will immediately notice either consciously or unconsciously that you are an amateur. The £40 is more than worth it.

4. I've got Cyberlink PowerDirector Pro and am pretty comfortable with it. Do you think that's fine to carry on with or would you recommend a switch?
I've never used that, if it does what you need it to do then keep it! I use the free version of DaVinci Resolve which is AWESOME but no need to switch unless you feel restricted.

5. I don't want to splurge too much on a rig when I'm just starting out. Is there anything worth spending a bit more money on early on?
Total cost of my setup (not including PC haha) is £45. FiFine mic, some random cheap pop-shield, that's it! Don't spend more than that to begin with. If you want top quality then get a more expensive mic, a boom & a better popshield. If you're gonna be on camera then I have no idea other than a cam & a ring-light.

6. Do you play, record and talk at the same time, or record the visuals first and do the voice record afterwards?
For my main episodes I do the voiceover afterwards because multi-tasking REALLY ain't my thing. For Zoo Tours I record the tour live and then overdub an intro & outro.

7. When you started your channel, did you wait until you have a bit of content built up before you put it out there?
No, I built a zoo entrance, posted it at the weekend and then built something else & posted it the next weekend and that's still what I do now haha.

8. Any general tips for newbies? What do you wish you'd known when you started?
Your first few videos will suck, then you'll get better, I wish I'd done a few one off vids before jumping into my first series. If you want to have a few people watching each video & enjoying then go for it, it's a buzz knowing that people are spending their free time being entertained by you! If you want to grow your channel then do something different. Once you think you've got good enough to make vids like DeLadysigner, well guess what, there's already a DeLadysigner, do people need another one? Think of something that makes you you, don't copy other creators. And don't copy me or I will sue you with my expensive team of lawyers from my YouTube branded helicopter

The stats will confuse the hell out you at first, I'll explain the most talked about which is CTR (click-through-rate). This is the percentage of people who click on your video when it's one of their recommended. You want this to be 10%+, the higher it is the more YouTube recommends it. Now, as soon as YT starts pushing it out to more people, the number will fall, this is FINE, If YT is recommending a planet zoo video to 2,000,000 people the majority will not be interested so the number naturally goes down, the important thing is making sure it is high to begin with, this is what tells the algorithm that your video is attractive to people.

One final thing, it is SO rewarding, I have subscribers who don't even own Planet Zoo, they just like watching me build zoos, this warms my heart. Oh, and good luck!

 

[Villanelle]

Oh wow oh wow, I wasn't sure if I'd get a response! It is SO exciting to hear from you guys - I love your videos @Iben and @ZSHplays ! Thanks all of you for your replies and @ethelred I will check you out for sure

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply and for providing so much great advice. I'm taking notes.

It's great to hear that the set up costs don't need to be high, and even more exciting to hear that you all find it so rewarding even years on. I'm 100% in it for the journey, not the destination. I've never been one to sail with a map...but I do like to pack a good ship load o' rum and hang with a sick ass crew! The PZ community is so lovely, and I don't think I'd have the courage to try something like this if I wasn't confident that I'm speaking to an audience I appreciate and want to give back to. Hopefully I'll get to a point where it feels like giving back anyway, I think I'll take your advice @ZSHplays and do a few practice videos first to get comfortable with hearing my own voice, and finding that balance between energy and authenticity.

Thanks for explaining CTR @ZSHplays , that demystifies the algorithm and saves me a lot of research time.

Thank you for the wisdom and insights @ethelred , Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt ~ Sun Tzu back atcha. That didn't have any relevance it just sounded cool.

Lovely advice @Iben , thank you I will make sure I have fun

I am sure all this advice is immensely helpful to the other readers who click here as well.

Gah I can't say thank you enough, it's very kind of you guys
Once I've got some content on my channel I'll subscribe to you all from there (I'm already a subscriber on my personal acct of course!)
Look out for 'Villanelle' in the hopefully not-too-distant...

 

[DarthQuell]

I can picture it now: Villanelle's Village

I also wanna thank all the Content Creators for their videos and suggestions, as I've sgreatly improved my skills in the game, and Villanelle for starting this thread in the 1st place. Time to plan out how I'm gonna expand my channel

 

[Villanelle]

I just subscribed @DarthQuell ! Ooh a PZ music playlist, just what I need! I think I could hum Sounds of Summer backwards by this point I look forward to viewing some building videos when you get them up. I've enjoyed our bants on the forum today

I can picture it now: Villanelle's Village

I also wanna thank all the Content Creators for their videos and suggestions, as I've sgreatly improved my skills in the game, and Villanelle for starting this thread in the 1st place. Time to plan out how I'm gonna expand my channel

 

[ZSHplays]

Oh wow oh wow, I wasn't sure if I'd get a response! It is SO exciting to hear from you guys - I love your videos @Iben and @ZSHplays ! Thanks all of you for your replies and @ethelred I will check you out for sure

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply and for providing so much great advice. I'm taking notes.

It's great to hear that the set up costs don't need to be high, and even more exciting to hear that you all find it so rewarding even years on. I'm 100% in it for the journey, not the destination. I've never been one to sail with a map...but I do like to pack a good ship load o' rum and hang with a sick ass crew! The PZ community is so lovely, and I don't think I'd have the courage to try something like this if I wasn't confident that I'm speaking to an audience I appreciate and want to give back to. Hopefully I'll get to a point where it feels like giving back anyway, I think I'll take your advice @ZSHplays and do a few practice videos first to get comfortable with hearing my own voice, and finding that balance between energy and authenticity.

Thanks for explaining CTR @ZSHplays , that demystifies the algorithm and saves me a lot of research time.

Thank you for the wisdom and insights @ethelred , Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt ~ Sun Tzu back atcha. That didn't have any relevance it just sounded cool.

Lovely advice @Iben , thank you I will make sure I have fun

I am sure all this advice is immensely helpful to the other readers who click here as well.

Gah I can't say thank you enough, it's very kind of you guys
Once I've got some content on my channel I'll subscribe to you all from there (I'm already a subscriber on my personal acct of course!)
Look out for 'Villanelle' in the hopefully not-too-distant...

No problem, just to clarify around the first few videos: Don't treat them as practice videos, treat them as the most important thing in the world. After the first one, leave it a day or two and then watch it back after watching a vid from someone you admire. Make notes on where you are not as good and resolve to improve as many of those aspects as possible for the next video. Then do the same thing with the next one. When you aren't cringing anymore, launch into your mega opus masterpiece

Oh btw, all this advice is for if you are super serious about it (like me if you haven't guessed haha), if you just wanna have fun, just go do it! Sod the stats & the gear & just have fun! I know loads of people who make vids purely for the fun of sharing their creations with the community and don't care at all about viewing figures or anything like that and that is 100% valid.

 

[DarthQuell]

I just subscribed @DarthQuell ! Ooh a PZ music playlist, just what I need! I think I could hum Sounds of Summer backwards by this point I look forward to viewing some building videos when you get them up. I've enjoyed our bants on the forum today

Ha ha, yeah. I do have like 3 vids that aren't PZ related, but besides that mostly in-game PZ music

 

[Villanelle]

No problem, just to clarify around the first few videos: Don't treat them as practice videos, treat them as the most important thing in the world. After the first one, leave it a day or two and then watch it back after watching a vid from someone you admire. Make notes on where you are not as good and resolve to improve as many of those aspects as possible for the next video. Then do the same thing with the next one. When you aren't cringing anymore, launch into your mega opus masterpiece

Oh btw, all this advice is for if you are super serious about it (like me if you haven't guessed haha), if you just wanna have fun, just go do it! Sod the stats & the gear & just have fun! I know loads of people who make vids purely for the fun of sharing their creations with the community and don't care at all about viewing figures or anything like that and that is 100% valid.

Ooh gotcha. Great advice and I'll take it for sure. 'Not cringing anymore' - this might take a while! But we'll see!