Gadgetory

thanks for watching tech quickie click the subscribe button and enable notifications with the bell icon so you won't miss any future videos so maybe the teacher never called on you when you were a kid or maybe you're that person who's always dropping zesty jokes in a group chat that no one seems to laugh at hmm anyway whatever the reason you've been searching for a platform where people might finally listen to you so you turn to game streaming and while you might have watched our previous episode on the kind of PC you need to stream one detail we left out what's the importance of having a proper audio setup starting of course with a microphone now odds are that if you're looking at the streaming you probably have a webcam with a mic built-in or a gaming headset lying around now you can use these in the pinch but I strongly recommend against it as the quality difference between a built-in solution and a proper standalone mic will be as clear as night and day to your viewers so one of the primary decisions you'll have to make when shopping for a microphone will be whether you want an XLR or a USB connection USB microphones have built-in analog to digital converters that obviate the need for any other hardware to process whatever you're saying into the mic this makes them simpler to set up and more convenient but while there are some great USB options out there that are integrated acts and amps can sometimes be lower quality or cause undesirable electrical noise so in the same way the people who are really serious about music might use a separate headphone app rather than relying on their motherboards audio jack the audio nerds of these streaming side of things are all about that XLR XLR microphones are usually preferred in professional audio settings they require a separate audio interface to plug it into one good idea is a mixing board or mixer may which can handle the conversion from analog to digital for you but they also allow finer control over your microphone so if you want to adjust the equalization settings monitor how loud your voices without getting an echo change the sensitivity or gain so that your mic will pick up too much background noise or hook up a second mic if you're streaming with a friend a mixer board provides a convenient control center on your desk that's easy to access during your stream without having to tab out of the game many mixers can connect your PC via USB though you can also use an analog connection in case you'd like to let something like the sound card handle the conversion but I wouldn't recommend it do note though that you might not know is a huge difference in sound quality just because a microphone is XLR it's just a different type of connection and you might have to shell out some serious coin if you want something that will blow away a USB model however even a lower end XLR mic can give you more options down the road since we'll be able to upgrade other parts of your audio setup without having to buy another microphone of course the actual electronics themselves are only part of the story to prevent unpleasant scratching or bumping noises when you mash or keyboard a little too hard you'll want something to stabilize your microphone such as a stand or a boom arm with the latter being preferred by many streamers because it can be mounted to your desk to keep your mic super stable above you to save space while also allowing you to move it around freely and you also won't want to forget a pop filter which is an inexpensive disc that goes in front of your microphone to prevent plosives the unpleasant popping sounds that can be caused by saying words to start with B or P and finally consider what's around you are you streaming from a rather bare room with hardwood floors or somewhere where an era Commissioner is constantly hunting these things might be easy to forget about if you're wearing headphones so try the stream from a quieter environment with minimal echo and invest in some rugs or squishy acoustic panels if need be it'll be hard to attract viewers if you sound like you're streaming from the end of a sewer pipe and speaking of streaming are you a streamer that's looking for more control over your broadcast at your fingertips then check out the elgato stream deck and easy to use accessory with 15 totally customizable LCD buttons that allow you to access the streaming commands you need with just one touch it's compatible with twitch YouTube xsplit and OBS map whatever you'd like to the tactile buttons anything from thanking a donor to switching a lower third to displaying a gift the options are only limited by your own creativity and customization is incredibly easy just drag-and-drop your actions onto the buttons through all in whatever icon you'd like and you're ready to go and you could even turn buttons into folders and create multiple profiles if 15 buttons just isn't enough we use stream deck with the wine show here at Linus Media Group we love it and we think you will too so check it out today at the link in the video description ok guys thanks for watching tech quickie like dislike check out our other channels leave your comments below and your ideas for future videos and don't forget to subscribe