Hello, dear reader, I hope you’re doing well. Last week I did an overview on creating YouTube videos. Today I wanted to focus on the hardware, and this article is in no way sponsored by any of the equipment I’m talking about. I’ll explain what I use, what I’ve learned, and what items you may want to look into for yourself. I’m still focusing on recording video games. It is one of the fastest growing forms of entertainment, period. I’m hoping this advice will help others carve a niche in the industry if they so desire. I’ve been adjusting to using Apple product compatible hardware because I’m planning to use this hardware for other projects as well as YouTube videos.
I use an iMac, iPad Air 2, an Elgato HD 60 game capture device, a lightning adapter for the iPad to connect to the Elgato device, an Apogee Mic 96k microphone, a USB 2.0 hub, earbud headphones and a place to record. With hindsight, I would advise anyone trying purely to make YouTube videos to invest in a PC rather than a Mac, and to find a decent alternative microphone. The Blue Yeti microphone has been a common recommendation online. There are also more advanced video game capture devices from Elgato and other companies, but this was the best one I found which was Mac compatible. Note you can buy a headset which works as a microphone and headphones at the same time. I just prefer my method because my ears are sensitive. No kidding.
Elgato’s hardware comes with software to help you edit videos, adjust game music, and record your commentary. It was a must. The Apogee Mic 96k was a simple plug-in microphone with no hassle. It only works with Apple products, as far as I can tell. A different USB microphone would make more sense if you wanted to work with it on PCs too. USB hubs, the lightning adapter, and headphones are also simple plug-in devices. The earbuds are cheap as can be, and work for my purposes. Computer mice and keyboards are mandatory.
As explained previously, my process is to hook up my iPad to the Elgato game capture device, capture video through my iMac, record audio with the microphone, and listen to the in-game audio and my commentary with a separate pair of headphones (I use earbuds rather than headphones). It is very hard to hear delayed speech from yourself and continue talking. You may want to practice or mute the commentary for yourself. That’s all you need.
Overall, there are many resources available for finding out what hardware you need. Figure out what you want to record, and then find out how others are doing it. I learned about the Elgato from nickatnyte’s channel on YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/user/teachboombeach. I plan on posting about software next week. Let me know if you have any questions. Have a good day, dear reader!
I use an iMac, iPad Air 2, an Elgato HD 60 game capture device, a lightning adapter for the iPad to connect to the Elgato device, an Apogee Mic 96k microphone, a USB 2.0 hub, earbud headphones and a place to record. With hindsight, I would advise anyone trying purely to make YouTube videos to invest in a PC rather than a Mac, and to find a decent alternative microphone. The Blue Yeti microphone has been a common recommendation online. There are also more advanced video game capture devices from Elgato and other companies, but this was the best one I found which was Mac compatible. Note you can buy a headset which works as a microphone and headphones at the same time. I just prefer my method because my ears are sensitive. No kidding.
Elgato’s hardware comes with software to help you edit videos, adjust game music, and record your commentary. It was a must. The Apogee Mic 96k was a simple plug-in microphone with no hassle. It only works with Apple products, as far as I can tell. A different USB microphone would make more sense if you wanted to work with it on PCs too. USB hubs, the lightning adapter, and headphones are also simple plug-in devices. The earbuds are cheap as can be, and work for my purposes. Computer mice and keyboards are mandatory.
As explained previously, my process is to hook up my iPad to the Elgato game capture device, capture video through my iMac, record audio with the microphone, and listen to the in-game audio and my commentary with a separate pair of headphones (I use earbuds rather than headphones). It is very hard to hear delayed speech from yourself and continue talking. You may want to practice or mute the commentary for yourself. That’s all you need.
Overall, there are many resources available for finding out what hardware you need. Figure out what you want to record, and then find out how others are doing it. I learned about the Elgato from nickatnyte’s channel on YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/user/teachboombeach. I plan on posting about software next week. Let me know if you have any questions. Have a good day, dear reader!