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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 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 was 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 a 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 their
integrated dacs and apps can sometimes be lower quality or cause undesirable
electrical noise so in the same way that people who are really serious about
music might use a separate headphone app rather than relying on their
motherboard's audio jack the audio nerds on the 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 many of 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 voice is
without getting an echo change the sensitivity or gain so that your mic
won't 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 to your pc via usb though you can also use an analog
connection in case you'd like to let something like a sound card handle the
conversion but i wouldn't recommend it do note though that you might not notice
a huge difference in sound quality just because of microphones 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 you'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 your 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 ploses 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 air conditioner is constantly humming these things might be easy to
forget about if you're wearing headphones so try to 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 an 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 gif the options are only limited by
your own creativity and customization is incredibly easy just drag and drop your
actions onto the buttons throw on 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 WAN 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 okay guys thanks for
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