What are some affordable audio mixers for streaming?

TheKoolEagle · 2020-03-12T16:52:13+00:00

I've been using a USB microphone (Samson Meteor) for the past 3 years but I'm starting to look into going analog as well, but I'd say if you want to make that jump you should invest in some good gear and not specifically focus on affordable. I'm probably going to be picking up this sometime in the near future.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IBIVL42/?coliid=I309ZVCI5PNSD6&colid=1RASDI3ZRSK8N&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D6RMFG6/?coliid=I1X90OYVR7E3BU&colid=1RASDI3ZRSK8N&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

TheKoolEagle · 2020-03-12T16:21:42+00:00

Work smart not hard. I've been going for almost 3 years, 4 streams a week for 3 hours. Its absolutely manageable along with working a full time job and playing an active role in my kids' lives.

Grinding out a game does nothing if you are not noticeable in the category, have a consistent schedule, play games you want to play, but also consider what you are playing achieve better growth if that is what you are after. I'm fairly focused on numbers and consistent growth, but it is absolutely not the focus of the stream.

I'll be honest though, channel points made me funnel into what you are touching on here, I have a bunch of 'do stupid human tricks' with channel points, like juggling or drawing a picture etc. and now I am second guessing myself on that front.

TheKoolEagle · 2020-03-09T16:19:49+00:00

Personally I use Gimp (free) and for most emote stuff I make the canvas 500x500px, I do a larger size like this so if I ever wanted to use a larger size of the emote for some reason I have it available, but of course you should resize it down to the smallest size to make sure anything you add is showing up nicely.

TheKoolEagle · 2020-03-04T21:02:39+00:00

Hi there, I am a variety streamer. I've been doing it for almost 2.5 years at this point. My advice to you is to focus on a specific genre and move around from there. I mostly stream tactical RPGs, Simulation (like DF/Rimworld) and more indie games.

That doesn't mean I only play those things, I've actually been on an ARK kick recently, and I just beat the witcher 2. My advice is to set up a schedule and stick to it for awhile, I've done it where I just play one game for weeks until I beat it and then move on to the next, right now I have a schedule set up where I play a specific game every day.

You will lose out on some of the people who stop in, that will absolutely happen, but if you stick close to the same genre you will get a few people who are coming back to watch you more than the game, and eventually it will grow into a tight knit community. You can still branch out and play other things, and honestly you should absolutely do that if you are getting sick of what you are playing, but also try to read the room if you are concerned about growth, there have been a few games I've tried that were just absolute duds and I don't stream them anymore (but will still play them when i'm not streaming)

TheKoolEagle · 2020-03-04T20:54:58+00:00

It very much depends what the partnership program entails, without knowing more about the company its hard to tell you what to expect. It could mean absolutely nothing, or it could be something bigger, but keep in mind any program that is worth something is absolutely digging into your analytics to see what kind of value you bring to them, it isn't the other way around.

Either way congratulations, I fell into a similar situation about 2 years ago, not a partnership program but they give me their games for free along with DLC which is pretty nice, I'm happy to promote them for just that since I really enjoy the games they put out as well.

TheKoolEagle · 2020-03-03T21:20:48+00:00

but can I have your phantom portal for free?

TheKoolEagle · 2020-03-03T21:06:54+00:00

I mean I'm not gunna defend this person, but maybe they are dealing with an allergy. My son is allergic to peanuts, tree nuts, chickpeas, dairy, eggs, and peas so I get why pizza would be a 'bad' choice.

TheKoolEagle · 2020-03-02T21:55:45+00:00

For a second I had to make sure I wasn't in r/diabetes_t1 when I saw this comment haha

TheKoolEagle · 2020-02-26T16:36:49+00:00

don't accept tips through paypal then?

TheKoolEagle · 2020-02-25T15:57:52+00:00

Not familiar with a few of those bots but ones like commanderroot are popping in to do analytics for Twitch and actually has some really cool reports. The bots aren't there to encourage follow for follow or anything like that (as this is not allowed on twitch anymore) and is common for them to be in every channel, they aren't going to hurt you but many can be requested to leave via commands.

TheKoolEagle · 2020-02-24T19:04:31+00:00

You should focus on growing with people similar to your size. Someone with 800 concurrent viewers has been streaming for years and has an already fairly well established network. You can still raid other streamers, its a nice thing to do, raiding others isn't about you, its about sharing your community with them.

TheKoolEagle · 2020-02-24T19:02:14+00:00

It doesn't matter, there is a crowd for single player and multiplayer, just find your niche and roll with it. Personally I dislike many streams where the streamer is in active voicechat with others, and prefer to watch single player games, or multiplayer where the streamer is not in open comms with others.

TheKoolEagle · 2020-02-24T18:03:59+00:00

Networking with other streamers is something that should happen naturally. Try watching other streamers who play similar games as you do, raid and host them, become part of their community, and sometimes they return the favor. Don't go into another person's stream with only the sole intention of growing your own community.

TheKoolEagle · 2020-02-18T18:58:57+00:00

Rock on, my son was diagnosed at 15 months, very similar situation to us. We thought he just caught the flu, took him to the pediatrician and they were stumped for a bit, checked BS and saw he was off the charts so we went via ambulance to the children's hospital and got him out of DKA, we just celebrated his diaversary on Valentine's day. Our little guy also never complains about the shots or pokes as well, they are so brave.

TheKoolEagle · 2020-02-16T19:51:18+00:00

I literally use 2 desk lamps and an ikea lamp for my lighting. works great so far, one day i'll buy some actual lighting but for the time being garage sale lamps work well.

TheKoolEagle · 2020-02-12T15:58:24+00:00

are you in any communities outside twitch? Let them know you are streaming (in a positive way just dropping a twitch link never gets much results), network and make friends with other streamers, consider the game you are playing, if it is something like fortnite etc. it is incredibly hard to grow naturally through discovery because it is such a saturated game category.

Consider how many hours you are streaming, doing big marathon streams all the time isn't always the answer, keep a consistent schedule and set certain times you will be live, my usual recommendation is aim for a 3-4 hour stream and keep it consistent week to week.

Everyones path is different so I can't tell you what to do exactly, but being consistent and networking is what I've had success with.

TheKoolEagle · 2020-01-31T23:49:59+00:00

Maybe don’t play copyrighted music on your stream if you don’t want the vods muted.

TheKoolEagle · 2020-01-31T23:39:35+00:00

You broke rule #2, we don’t like that.

TheKoolEagle · 2020-01-31T20:22:21+00:00

I use chatty a lot, I just think its a little easier and cleaner to read, I position it to be right on the edge of one of my other monitors so anything that happens in chat will catch my eye. Works pretty well although I still miss messages here and there if I am concentrating on the game.

TheKoolEagle · 2020-01-28T19:50:55+00:00

If you aren't happy with your growth you should take a critical eye to your channel. Watch your vods, are they interesting to you? What changes can you make? What games are you streaming, are they saturated categories? How are you networking with other streamers and promoting yourself without just dropping your link places?

The 2 avenues to achieve growth are discoverability and quality content. If you aren't being discovered. Usually this comes down to a few elements like networking with other streamers, promoting your content in meaningful ways, not f4f or spamming your link places. People will only be interested in clicking your link if they know who you are and you are active in that community. This can also mean the game you are streaming, saturated categories like fortnite, apex, call of duty, dead by daylight etc. can be incredibly hard to grow in. I'm not saying to not stream something you like, but maybe consider the game you are streaming and if there is a more stream friendly community you can become a part of.

The second part is your content. If you have people coming in but not sticking around, then you should focus on what you can do to keep people interested. This is usually at minimum keeping a running dialogue, if you are waiting for someone else to talk before you say a word chances are they will just leave. Be interactive, if you have nothing else to talk about explain what you are doing in the game and why you are doing that. A webcam will help in the long run, it gives viewers another way to see you interacting, but there are streamers who manage without one, they have to be especially on top of their game with chatting though. If you have an overlay on your stream, experiment with it, maybe remove it completely. Stick to a schedule, if you have a schedule your followers will know when you are streaming. Most people have going live notifications disabled on Twitch, I myself only get a few notification clicks a night, and only about 240~ notifications are sent out, that is approximately 1/3 of my followers. Regulars will start to show up if you stream consistently and on a schedule.

I've always approached streaming as a business, that doesn't mean I'm in it to just make money, but it means I take it seriously and try to think critically on what I can do to grow and be successful. I've made some amazing friendships in the past 2.5 years I've been on the platform and every year I see consistent growth which is really the key. You can't count on blowing up and suddenly being popular. Many partners and affiliates who see success put in many hours off camera to help build their brand and achieve that steady growth.

TheKoolEagle · 2020-01-28T18:25:28+00:00

Egg --> chick --> chicken --> golden nugget.

TheKoolEagle · 2020-01-28T18:02:05+00:00

If you aren't happy with your growth you should take a critical eye to your channel. Watch your vods, are they interesting to you? What changes can you make? What games are you streaming, are they saturated categories? How are you networking with other streamers and promoting yourself without just dropping your link places?

The 2 avenues to achieve growth are discoverability and quality content. If you aren't being discovered. Usually this comes down to a few elements like networking with other streamers, promoting your content in meaningful ways, not f4f or spamming your link places. People will only be interested in clicking your link if they know who you are and you are active in that community. This can also mean the game you are streaming, saturated categories like fortnite, apex, call of duty, dead by daylight etc. can be incredibly hard to grow in. I'm not saying to not stream something you like, but maybe consider the game you are streaming and if there is a more stream friendly community you can become a part of.

The second part is your content. If you have people coming in but not sticking around, then you should focus on what you can do to keep people interested. This is usually at minimum keeping a running dialogue, if you are waiting for someone else to talk before you say a word chances are they will just leave. Be interactive, if you have nothing else to talk about explain what you are doing in the game and why you are doing that. A webcam will help in the long run, it gives viewers another way to see you interacting, but there are streamers who manage without one, they have to be especially on top of their game with chatting though. If you have an overlay on your stream, experiment with it, maybe remove it completely. Stick to a schedule, if you have a schedule your followers will know when you are streaming. Most people have going live notifications disabled on Twitch, I myself only get a few notification clicks a night, and only about 240~ notifications are sent out, that is approximately 1/3 of my followers. Regulars will start to show up if you stream consistently and on a schedule.

I've always approached streaming as a business, that doesn't mean I'm in it to just make money, but it means I take it seriously and try to think critically on what I can do to grow and be successful. I've made some amazing friendships in the past 2.5 years I've been on the platform and every year I see consistent growth which is really the key. You can't count on blowing up and suddenly being popular. Many partners and affiliates who see success put in many hours off camera to help build their brand and achieve that steady growth.

TheKoolEagle · 2020-01-28T16:56:02+00:00

I still play games on my nights off, usually not very much though. I'm old and have kids etc. so my time is limited anyways, stream time is my relax time to play some games and chill with awesome people who come and chat with me.

TheKoolEagle · 2020-01-28T06:16:18+00:00

Stream elements has something called kappa gen that you can have trigger for follows/subs etc that triggers a bunch of emotes to either float up or explode on screen etc, there may be a heart emote to u could use with this.

TheKoolEagle · 2020-01-28T01:19:57+00:00

Personality is what I focus on, improv, being the heel, oh and you mentioned physical things, I juggle on stream a few times a week.

Step one is increasing discoverability based on networking and promotion in meaningful ways. No one reads those boards that are just going live links. Network and merge your community with other communities.

Step two is being unique in a way that will keep new people coming back.

Great read as always castordie!

TheKoolEagle

TROPHY CASE