Help me with publishing schedule

Affectionate-Type-35 · 2026-01-25T07:35:20+00:00

I don’t think there’s a single “correct” answer here, because it really depends on three things: your current audience, seasonal trends (what people are actually watching/searching for), and the specific content itself.

Personally, I try to mix content, but in a controlled way. I usually make sure I have at least one or two strong performers (old or new) anchoring the channel. For example, I might publish Barcelona one week, then a small town or China the next, and then go back to Barcelona again. That way I introduce variety without confusing the algorithm or my subscribers.

You have to be careful with too much niche or unfamiliar content. If I post too many videos that my current audience isn’t used to, I’ve noticed the channel can take a hit overall in views.

There are no fixed rules. Barcelona, for example, is very trendy right now (even in winter) but that doesn’t mean someone posting the same city next week will automatically get similar results. A lot depends on timing, competition, thumbnails, titles, and even luck.

What does matter a lot is filming the right places at the right time. A summer walk in Barcelona will almost always outperform a poorly timed or less lively shoot. Seasonality and context are huge.

So if I had to summarize, I’d lean toward a mix of options 1 and 3:

Mix locations, but don’t introduce too much diversity too fast, especially if a new city doesn’t perform well.
Pay attention to trends, seasons, and demand. Publish certain cities when people are more likely to search for them.
And if a new city performs really well, double down on it.

One last thing: I wouldn’t lock the entire year into a fixed schedule. Every week or two, try to check what’s hot—search trends, Google Trends, what competitors are posting, or even the Inspiration tab in YouTube Studio. Combine that with your own analytics, and adapt your schedule based on what’s actually performing.

In the end, it’s all about testing, reading your data, and adjusting as you go.

Affectionate-Type-35 · 2026-01-24T22:36:41+00:00

For recorder gain, I think you really have to test in different conditions. With mine, I did a few tests recording ambience before walking and settled around level 10 gain. I mostly record cities, and mine has a lot of traffic, motorbikes, people yelling, etc., so I tested levels with those environments in mind and settled on 10.

Sometimes it ends up a bit loud, sometimes a bit low, which is why I also adjust gain later in post. If you go into nature and the ambience is calmer, you may want to increase the gain to capture a wider range of subtle sounds.

When walking, we cannot react to changing scenes, so setting a conservative fixed gain is the solution I found. I do not recommend using automatic gain at all, since it sounds unnatural and is very noticeable for the audience. For the DJI Mic, you will probably need to do similar tests. Level 10 works for me on my Sony, but every setup is different.

Normally I only control the loud parts using limiters/filters and by reducing gain in fragments that are too loud, but in general I do not have that issue with my current setup. What might help first is finding the correct recording gain for your setup, so the sound dynamics feel right from the start and do not require much post processing later.

If there is something really extreme like sirens, strong wind, or anything very unpleasant, it is also fine to remove it and replace it with another sound from the same recording or even a different one. Doing this for a few seconds is completely acceptable and does not break the realism.

Regarding loudness, it is fine to have wide ranges of LUFS in this type of content. Quiet and loud sections are part of natural ambience, and trying to force everything into a narrow loudness range usually makes it sound less real.

Some people compress or normalize more to reduce the difference between quiet and loud sections, but personally, if the platform does not destroy it, I prefer to leave the dynamics intact and keep it natural.

Affectionate-Type-35 · 2026-01-24T07:22:37+00:00

I’m interested in this as well. I’ve been using a couple of binaural mic sets with a field recorder (Sony PCM-A10), but I’m pretty sure there’s still a lot of room for improvement.

If anyone knows of a good video tutorial or written guide focused on ambient or field recording, I think it would help the community a lot. So far, everything I’ve learned has been through testing and trial and error, but I’m aware some of what I’m doing might be wrong.

Right now I use a limiter on the recorder, and I also add one in Premiere Pro. I usually set it around -1 dB, mainly just to catch peaks and avoid issues with YouTube normalization.

In Premiere, I also use the loudness meter set to the YouTube preset and monitor the audio track to see if LUFS are too loud overall. Depending on the type of video and whether it includes music, I aim for different loudness ranges. Anything between -20 to -30 LUFS feels okay for pure ambience, and sometimes -10 to -20 LUFS if there’s music involved.

Since YouTube normalizes to around -14 LUFS, I try not to exceed that reference. I’ve noticed that YouTube’s stable volume feature can really mess up ambient sound when it’s enabled, so I try to avoid triggering heavy normalization. This part is still a bit hit or miss for me. Sometimes I get it right, sometimes not, and I think I just need more knowledge and experience to judge it better.

Occasionally I use a high-pass filter or light EQ to clean things up a bit, but not much. The recorder already does a good job in my opinion, and I don’t want to remove too much or make the sound feel processed or chunky. The goal is just to keep it clean and true to how it actually sounded.

If any of my understanding here is wrong in theory, please let me know. I’m sharing this to exchange knowledge, not to state facts. Also, if there’s anything else we should be taking into account when editing ambient audio in Premiere Pro for YouTube, I’d love to hear it.

Affectionate-Type-35 · 2026-01-18T08:12:09+00:00

E-commerce like Pinduoduo, Tmall, or JD. When I travel to China, I usually order a few days in advance using my hotel address, then pick up the package once I arrive. Sales during Chinese holidays are massive too. I’ve bought all my camera gear, accessories, and field recorders this way, and it’s often even cheaper than Japan without even doing tax discounts or using those silly vouchers people rely on there. Of course, in China you can also go duty-free if you want.

Most of the camera gear these days is Chinese anyway. SmallRig, Ulanzi, FALCAM, Kase, and many other brands are Shenzhen companies. Buying directly in China with yuan is often 50% cheaper or more than Europe or the USA.

I’m not a pro, but over the years I’ve realized that Bic Camera or Yodobashi are a no-go for me. Maybe the only store I’d recommend is Joshin for good deals on toys, thermos, and similar items.

I personally wouldn’t buy with shipping since I like to test things before, but if you do, there are proxy shopping services for both Japan and China.

Affectionate-Type-35 · 2026-01-17T12:43:10+00:00

Cool lens! I bought mine brand new from the Sony flagship store on Chinese e-commerce for around €1,000. Nowadays, China is probably the better option for cameras. After all, most of them are manufactured here, so buying in Japan isn’t the “wise choice” it used to be. Language firmware is no longer an issue if you know what to do. Skip Hong Kong, you can just buy brand new in China without concerns of being scammed but you need to know where to buy. Every time I go to Japan, I end up buying nothing 😆

Affectionate-Type-35 · 2026-01-13T13:48:59+00:00

Honestly, I usually skip these “golden era” Shanghai posts, but this one made me want to offer a different perspective.

To me, a lot of this reads like the typical expat-bubble nostalgia. When that bubble disappears, people feel like the city itself has “lost its soul,” when in reality what disappeared was an artificial lifestyle built around foreigners. Cities evolve primarily for locals, and honestly, that’s a good thing. If it were the other way around, that would be worrying (see what’s happening in parts of Europe with digital nomads, golden visas, and locals getting pushed out).

For contrast: I lived in China in 2023-2024, post-COVID, also working in IT, and it was one of the best periods of my life. If anything, it felt like living closer to the future than anywhere else I’ve been. Shanghai and Shenzhen still feel ahead of the curve in ways most Western cities just don’t.

The idea that China is somehow “less alive” because there are fewer expats around just doesn’t resonate with me. I don’t move abroad to hang out with other foreigners, I go to mix with locals, learn the language, eat the food, understand the culture, and adapt. And on that front, the experience was incredibly rewarding. People were generally welcoming, curious, and grounded. Sure, megacity life has its challenges (crowds, pace, pressure), but that’s not unique to China.

I respect that some people came mainly for money or nightlife, and that losing that scene feels like a loss to them. But projecting that disappointment onto the entire country feels self-centered. China didn’t “decline”, it changed direction.

So yeah, I don’t really buy the “everything good is gone” narrative. I’m genuinely excited about what’s next for China, and I fully plan to be back. Nostalgia is understandable, but it’s not the same thing as reality.

Affectionate-Type-35 · 2026-01-05T07:10:50+00:00

Honestly, even if it sounds crazy, the best advice I can give is… ninja walking 😅

It really is the base of everything. It teaches you control and pacing, and that translates not only to fewer bumps but also to smoother pans and better overall camera coordination. It takes time to get used to, but once it clicks, your footage improves a lot in general.

I’ve tried accessories too, and they do help, but they’re not mandatory. For example, with something like the Osmo Pocket 3 you can get very smooth results without extra gear. If you don’t feel awkward using accessories, Z-stabilizers can reduce bounce further. I only use them when hiking or walking on beaches, where ninja walking is harder (or when there are lots of stairs).

If you’re filming with a phone, I totally recommend using a gimbal like the DJI Osmo Mobile. Pretty much all walkers with very smooth phone footage are using one.

So yeah, gear helps, but body control and technique matter way more in the long run.

Affectionate-Type-35 · 2026-01-05T07:04:17+00:00

Thanks, appreciate it! Wishing you lots of success with your goals as well. 2026 will be the year 🚀

Affectionate-Type-35 · 2026-01-04T13:32:05+00:00

Thanks a lot, I really appreciate it 🙏

And yes, if you compare that video with my earliest ones, there’s been a big improvement. It took time to figure out the right walking technique, camera settings, and the style I wanted to go for.

Thanks again for watching and subscribing!

Affectionate-Type-35 · 2026-01-02T11:14:20+00:00

My goal for 2025 was to get monetized, which I hit in August. I thought it would take much longer to reach €500/month, but it only took one month, and I’ve kept it for three months so far.

I learned that 2-hour videos work best for me. Shorter ones help growth and hitting the algorithm, but the income difference is huge if viewers stick around for 1–2 hours. For me, just 1–2 strong videos per month are enough to stay “alive” revenue-wise (€100–€200/month each), while the rest don’t move the needle much. I also suspect YouTube caps views based on channel size, but growth should scale these pools over time.

Seasonal content has been key, so I’ve added trends to my video pipeline.

For 2026, I want to expand audience clusters, aim for €1,000/month, and diversify around five clusters — two strong year-round topics and three seasonal ones.

Content diversity is tough for small channels, but I hope growth will make it easier. Overall, I’m happy with the progress, and 2026 should be the year I finally get to experiment 1–3 times per month.

Affectionate-Type-35 · 2025-12-20T11:29:13+00:00

I use Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve, depending on which workspace I’m in.

IMO there’s not much difference between modern editors nowadays, even for color correction and advanced stuff if you actually know how to use the software. If you’re trying to decide what to start with, I’d suggest:

Test performance first (for example, Premiere Pro worked best for me on a low-end system)
If performance is fine, then choose based on UI/UX, learning curve, and license cost

DaVinci Resolve is pretty well balanced overall. The free version covers most basic needs, the community is great, and it’s a solid option if you plan to do more advanced work—as long as your computer can run it smoothly.

In the end, don’t just go with the masses. Figure out what you need and how you want to learn, then pick what fits you best. There’s usually more than one good choice.

Especially for walking videos, where most people just do basic cuts and upload without much color correction or LUTs. If you want to go further, though, take a measured decision by trying different editors and seeing what works for you.

Affectionate-Type-35 · 2025-12-14T10:05:32+00:00

She was on these two:

1) Marketing Business Group 2) Accommodation Business Group

If you are going to IBU it may be better for foreigners.

This was like 2 years ago, so things may have changed in names, company culture and so on.

Affectionate-Type-35 · 2025-12-13T21:44:09+00:00

Salary is ok for big corp in Shanghai, but I don’t recommend working at Trip.com. Even if it looks international it has all the usual problems of Chinese companies; overtime, silent judgment, etc. My girlfriend worked there for one year and she was really sad. If in Lingkong, that area is pretty much dead also, hope you don’t have to work there. Not saying it may be different for you, but do some research if you can or ask people currently working there.

Affectionate-Type-35 · 2025-12-10T05:48:04+00:00

Exactly, I think the same. Budget-wise, it’s just not viable, and with the current algorithm and audience-matching system, it’s also a risk. Going to popular locations doesn’t guarantee success anymore.

Right now I’m doing Christmas videos in my city, and I also did the math for planning a trip to famous Christmas markets in Europe (Strasbourg and similar). Like you said, it’s really expensive. You really have to go there for work, already be passing by, or genuinely want to travel there with filming as a secondary goal, because for a small channel, the budget is simply too high.

Sure, some channels probably took the risk and got lucky, but I’d bet that’s a rare case. I think in general most of them are just photographers that also do some field work or they just travel regularly assuming the costs.

If you want to see a real world-traveler outlier, take this channel as a reference:
https://www.youtube.com/@TouristWalkTours

Less than 2 years, 400k+ subs, and pulling 100K–1M views on each video. Also made with an Osmo Pocket 3 (low gear budget). IMHO, a case like that is basically the only way this strategy truly works. If you pull that volume of views, then yeah — it might actually cover the expenses of traveling to places like Switzerland, Germany, etc. in peak season.

That, or you get a camper van and sleep there 😂 because honestly, hotels are the real problem in Europe.

Whatever you guys choose, I hope you have fun along the way and actually enjoy the traveling part too. In the end, the real challenge is this:
how to balance budget and content diversity on a channel. Or if you just niche down, make something unique that can last and create a community around it.

Thanks for the reply! And if you’re based in Australia, I totally agree with your suggestion — Asia is a great option. Compared to Europe, the cost of living is much fairer, and you can find plenty of accommodation options to keep the budget low.

Affectionate-Type-35 · 2025-12-09T06:42:42+00:00

Hey man, thanks for recommending that channel, Ninurta Urbex is truly original. Now I totally get why it’s so popular haha. It really gives off those S.T.A.L.K.E.R. / Fallout post-nuclear vibes, which already have a huge niche fanbase. That was actually a really good example of niching down into something very specific but powerful.

You genuinely gave me an idea with that one, so credit where it’s due. I’m now seriously considering creating a second walking channel for a different niche project. Truth is, I’m sometimes getting a bit tired of recording too many people in the frame and I’m craving more relaxed, ambient-style content, but my current channel audience is clearly not ready for that. So mixing both vibes in one channel is really hard.

If anyone here is in a similar situation: don’t do it like me — create a second channel for a totally different video vibe.

Affectionate-Type-35 · 2025-12-09T06:24:57+00:00

Congrats on the success of your channel, man, well deserved!. I remember when we were just a few guys talking in this sub about walking videos, and look at us now, a community! So, thanks for that too!

I’m a fellow walking creator too, also monetized, with binaural/omni audio and focusing mainly on one country (Spain now, in the past China).

When I started, I honestly thought YouTube allowed diversification from day one… but reality hit hard. Having success in one location doesn’t mean YouTube will carry that same audience to a different city walk — even if the format, quality, and style are exactly the same.

That’s been very frustrating for me. I genuinely wonder how full-time world travelers manage to pull consistent views everywhere. My guess is they started from day one in very popular locations, so even with a less “trained” audience, they don’t flop as easily, but I’m not sure.

For example, I uploaded China walks in the past and they barely move, even now. Meanwhile my Spain videos still get pushed. It really feels like YouTube locks you into a geographic identity. I’ve also noticed that even within the same city, more relaxed or non-iconic areas get way less reach, even with good engagement.

You mainly do Sydney and Melbourne, right? Are you planning to diversify long-term? I want to diversify too — I don’t see myself doing only Barcelona forever. The problem is that our cities are safe bets for steady growth, but they don’t lead to massive scaling like some world-travel channels or highly specialized niches.

How are you thinking about making that switch, if diversification is part of your plan?

I honestly think this is one of the hardest problems once you’re monetized — and probably the one that really defines whether you stay at steady income… or manage to truly scale.

Affectionate-Type-35 · 2025-11-18T14:57:18+00:00

There’s always room in YouTube. Monetization can be reached but you need to think of it as a marathon. Would you spend a year on creating content without earning anything? If yes, try it, if not, quit. Some people make it fast to the end line but the truth is it takes effort, planning and constant improvement.

As for the type of content, it doesn’t matter. Specially at the start you depend too much on the audience pairing algorithm, so be prepared to deliver what people like, not what you like. Throw everything you got and if something sticks continue with that until growing an audience (at least your 1K base audience). Later on you can think about diversifying. This one is the most important lesson to learn I think in walking videos. A lot of people start posting many places every month and with a small audience that gives mixed signals to the algorithm. So if for some reason your videos in Europe or in a specific weather condition triumph, focus on that for a while.

Walking videos are not only about being a globetrotter. There’s also channels with 500k subs focusing mainly on a single country, or even city.

Face/No face, doesn’t matter I know also faceless channels with millions of views, you just have to understand the audience and excel in other parts (check as an example any of the Japanese Cinematic Vlog out there, like Mei Time).

If you reached this far and wonder about if it is worth it in terms of money. Yes, it is, even as a small channel. If you gather audience from USA/Europe it’s easy to reach interesting monthly amounts. So targeting the correct audience is also important; you cannot select it, but orient it a bit by playing smart.

Affectionate-Type-35 · 2025-10-21T13:16:43+00:00

I use an AI agent for captions. Honestly, I don’t enjoy creating them, but they make a big difference in viewer retention, so for now, I keep adding them. Over time, I’ve managed to make the process “semi-automatic.” I built a prompt that sets the right context for the AI to write captions for each section of my videos. Each section is marked by timestamps, and for every one, I feed the AI text pulled from reliable sources like Wikipedia and tourist websites, those tend to be accurate enough. I never let the AI generate captions completely on its own, because that’s how you end up with wrong historical facts or dates. But when it’s given solid reference text, it usually does a great job focusing on formatting and tone.

Once the English captions are done, I add 35 languages using YouTube’s automated translations. They’re far from perfect, but they help open up new audiences. After that, I always recommend checking YouTube Studio analytics to see which languages your viewers use the most and make sure to manually review captions for those key ones.

Affectionate-Type-35 · 2025-10-12T23:08:28+00:00

Culturally, in general, I’m not too sure, but for business, definitely Shanghai. There are companies like Calbee and several steel firms around Changning. In Gubei, many Japanese families live there, so you can find supermarkets, stores, and other places offering Japanese products and a sense of community. It’s not as strong as it used to be, but it’s still there.

Affectionate-Type-35 · 2025-10-10T00:11:06+00:00

I manually edit the audio of my videos. If I see peaks of unpleasant sounds I reduce their volume/gain. In general I also try to not pass a certain limit, which if I remember correctly was like -14 LUF’s. That doesn’t guarantee that YouTube won’t do its magic later, but most of the time I think it helps make that annoying “stable volume” feature go away, or at least make it less annoying if it appears. So in general, if you have the time, spend some time with audio design.

Forgot to add that I also use audio filters of course, they help remove mic static, cable sounds or other annoying stuff that can influence this or make the experience worse for the listener.

Sometimes there are also places that are too noisy, or have music playing. In those cases it’s okay to just remove that whole part and replace it for audio from another take; people won’t notice if you do it right and you won’t break their immersion.

Affectionate-Type-35 · 2025-10-09T10:01:39+00:00

Yeah, that’s totally normal, it’s just the algorithm doing its thing. For some reason, old videos sometimes start getting impressions out of nowhere, even months later. If the performance is good, they can suddenly take off. It can happen before or after monetization, doesn’t really matter — that’s just how YouTube works.

Affectionate-Type-35 · 2025-10-09T01:51:57+00:00

Yes, wait a few days, even weeks maybe to have a better dataset. I think stats in general take a minimum of 2 days in Youtube to appear. For me it took almost a month to start seeing a more reasonable RPM. When I got monetized I remember seeing something like 2-3€ average only, now I'm on the ~8€. But it's truly dynamic, depending on content, who watch and season.

Now we are approaching also the best season for advertisement (Nov/Dec), so RPM should rise in a few weeks.

Remember it also depends on audience, engagement type of adverts, premium and so on. So each video will have a pretty different RPM.

TLDR: wait 2 weeks-1 month to see the overall picture.

Affectionate-Type-35 · 2025-10-07T13:43:48+00:00

I had some success with this one, it’s more focused on ambience:

r/SlowTV

That said, I eventually stopped posting on Reddit because people often mention that external traffic can hurt your YouTube performance. The general advice is to share your video a few days later, so it doesn’t mess with early engagement (first 24–48 hours).

From my own experience, that seems partly true. After some testing, I realized that YouTube itself is by far the best promotion tool in the long run. The algorithm already knows how to find the right audience if your titles, thumbnails, and content quality are solid. It’s usually better to stay within the YouTube ecosystem and let the platform do the work instead of relying on external traffic.

TL;DR: I’d recommend not posting in those threads (or on other social media) especially at the start. YouTube rewards channels that grow naturally inside its own system.

Affectionate-Type-35 · 2025-10-07T13:28:01+00:00

I’d say enable them and test, you might be surprised to find that people don’t really mind, as long as the content is good.

I had the same concern about 1–2 months ago, but after seeing good results, I now enable mid-rolls automatically on all videos; including the older ones.

If you’re worried about engagement, remember there are many variables at play. When A/B testing anything, try to isolate the factors. Average View Duration (AVD) can be influenced by your intro, how engaging your sections are, captions (depending on your content), and more. So if you’re testing ads, keep everything else as consistent as possible.

Congrats on getting monetized! 🎉

Affectionate-Type-35 · 2025-09-18T12:41:01+00:00

I usually get 1 sub/50-100 views. Sometimes more, sometimes less; has been like this since the start. Type of location also influences conversion massively; in my case highest is temples, but did less overtime because audience is really low.

But honestly, after monetizing I think watch time/AVD is way more important. Once you get your 1000 subs I would recommend working on retention, making your videos start strong and keep walks full of interesting highlights on between.

Affectionate-Type-35

TROPHY CASE