The amount of video content creators has grown a lot in the last decade, so many people have decided to enter the world with different expectations. Some have dreamed of rubbing elbows with the giants of YouTube and Twitch, but others do it as a hobby or with more realistic goals.
The fact that more and more people are deciding to get into video creation is mainly due to three factors: that the industry itself is trending due to the huge growth it has experienced in the last decade, that the tools for video creation and editing have improved a lot in terms of usability, and that the amount of third-party tutorials has increased a lot, making it easier to learn how to use the most popular tools.
Leaving aside that the tools make it easier to create and edit video than in the past, something that could be even more enhanced with artificial intelligence, the most important thing is to be realistic and not to dream too much, since, due to the saturation of the sector, it is extremely difficult to stand out, and if we talk about making a living out of this, let’s not even mention it.. In fact, in the Hispanic YouTube scene almost all the big channels and many of the medium-sized ones have a Patreon account in order to obtain additional income, usually in exchange for access to some exclusive content.
Does the above mean that one should give up the idea of making videos? Of course not. If you feel like getting into it, there is no reason to put your head down and give up, but before starting it is very important to take into consideration two points: first, be sure that you can resist the pressure of being exposed to the Internet, although operating under a pseudonym and without showing your face can help in that sense. Second, be clear about the type of content or the areas you intend to cover in order to have a target audience to reach, which in turn helps to create a foundation that will possibly allow the channel to grow.
In this article I am going to expose various hardware peripherals and some applications that are useful for video creation. Far from what one might imagine, to be a small creator you don’t need to invest an excessive amount of money to have a competent material and with which you can get more than decent results, although obviously the big YouTube channels invest hundreds or thousands of euros in top level professional equipment, professional paid applications and even a studio.
But before I get into the nitty gritty, I would like to make three things clear in case someone shows discrepancies or would recommend something else in some of the sections:
- The products have been selected with a primary focus on cross-platform support, covering Windows, macOS and Linux. The peripherals will be connected directly to the PC or to a USB hub if possible.
- The rendering process will focus on using H.264/x264 through the processor, so initially the use of a dedicated graphics is not even necessary. Yes, using the CPU may sound outdated, but on paper it offers more image quality than the GPU and I reach more people, as a few years old Core i5 or Ryzen 5 processor should be enough to perform the task at the level I’m exposing. Obviously, this is totally separate from the technical requirements of video games, in case someone wants to record games.
- The focus is more on editing than streaming, more on YouTube than Twitch to name the most popular platforms.
Hardware componentsLogitech C920 HD Pro Webcam
Showing your face is something to take into consideration, because everything that is published on the Internet remains there and then reverse it is almost impossible. If you are not looking for the highest image quality, but still good enough, the Logitech C920 HD Pro webcam is a classic used by many small content creators. Its official price is 115 euros in Spain, but it is very common to see it discounted on Amazon.
The Logitech C920 HD Pro works at a maximum of 30 frames per second and officially supports a maximum resolution of 1080p.. Although monitor and TV manufacturers have been pushing resolutions such as 4K and even 8K for more than a decade, the reality is that most people in the Spanish-speaking world consume content through mid-range or low-end Android phones, so posting videos with a resolution higher than 1080p doesn’t make much sense unless the content is clearly intended to be viewed on a TV screen.
The choice of the Logitech C920 Pro is not a categorical one, but is based on Amazon user reviews, my own personal experience, and that it’s not too expensive looking at the quality you can get with it. However, if the image quality is not something critical because the format of the videos will flirt with the podcastingIf you are looking for a cheaper one and even support 720p, it is possible to opt for a cheaper one, but I consider 1080p as a more optimal floor because most of the monitors in use support that resolution.
On the other hand there is the possibility that the image does play an important role in videos. Considering that here we try not to go overboard when it comes to spending money, trying with the mobile would be a very good idea.. In fact, many mid-range Android phones include camera configurations capable of offering more than enough image quality for a low-profile content creator.
Razer Seiren Mini Microphone
Due to the fact that most of the contents are consumed from cell phones, the audio quality ends up being more critical than the image quality. In the market there are many microphones of all kinds and the most professional ones cost an arm and a leg, but in reality there is no need to invest a fortune to have something optimal and adjusted to the context that I am covering. The issue is more twisted than it seems, because the most important thing is not so much the quality as the fact that the profile and characteristics fit what the creator needs.
One microphone that may be ideal for a small content creator is the Razer Siren Mini, which is, quite possibly, one of the best options for its price-performance ratio.. It is a small USB microphone, which offers a more than sufficient quality in capturing the voice and most importantly: it is supercardioid, so the sound capture angle is adjusted to focus on the voice and mitigate, not eliminate, the noises that may be around if they are not excessive.
Its small size makes it easy to transport and place even in places where there is not much space, and the being supercardioid makes it optimal for those offices or rooms where total silence is not available.. In addition to all its virtues, it has an official price for Spain of 59.99 euros, although on Amazon you can usually find it discounted.
The Razer Siren Mini is not the best microphone in the world and the connector that goes to the peripheral is mini-USB and one USB Type-C, but it is a good choice for a small content creator.
Slimbook External Capturer
Slimbook’s external capture unit is an excellent choice if you consider its price-performance ratio and can be mounted on a laptop, but in exchange the computer must have USB 3 and HDMI connectors. to perform their function. For years these connections have been very common in computers, although HDMI has been somewhat less so lately due to the push for DisplayPort.
In addition to an excellent price-performance ratio, the Slimbook’s capture unit stands out for offering cross-platform support for Windows, Linux and macOS. In terms of recording, it supports 4K resolutions at 30 frames per second, 1440p at 60 frames and 1080p at 60 frames..
If you want to record 4K at 60 frames per second you should look for another option, but do not forget that this article is aimed at potential small creators (or small creators who are already in the game) who do not want to spend an arm and a leg and that most people consume content via mobile, so providing content at 4K is not critical and what’s more, today that resolution is still not a standard beyond the major channels, mainly in the Anglo-Saxon area.
If one looks at the Steam survey, 1080p is still by far the most used resolution, although its percentage has been dropping over the last few years. However, the resolution that is benefiting the most from that drop is 1440p, a resolution that can be recorded at 60 frames per second with Slimbook’s capture. 4K makes a lot of noise in the media and forums, but when it comes down to it, 4K is a minority resolution among gamers.
Regarding its ability to record games, it is a very competent device for that task and can also come in handy if you want to improve the quality of the screenshots obtained from the desktop for tutorials, for example.
Its price is 79.99 euros and its main drawback is that there are not always stock in the Slimbook store.
Software componentsOBS Studio for video capture
If we talk about video capture, one of the best known applications in the industry is OBS Studio, which has proven its worth over the years and is one of the great prides of free software as its source code is released under the GPLv2 license. However, its development is asymmetric, so we find that the Windows build incorporates more features and has more add-ons available than the macOS and Linux builds..
Although its interface can be a bit confusing at first, with a little patience and trial and error it is possible to understand the most basic parts. In order to make things easier and if you are not proficient, it is very important to let the wizard do its job at the first start of the application so that you have an initial configuration that you just have to adjust.
In the main window the user can add or remove scenes, add or remove sources to capture, adjust the capture volume both from the desktop and through the microphone and the buttons that allow to start, pause and stop recording.
The other important part is in File > Settings, where the user can adjust the image quality, image resolution, sound quality and choose the renderer (or encoder) to use. If the equipment is old, good results may not be obtained by recording at 60 frames per second, and if you do not know which renderer to use, it is best to leave x264 with the door open to use the low CPU consumption mode.which comes at the price of a large increase in the size of the generated file, but that is something that can be corrected later by editing or reprocessing the material.
Kdenlive, Shotcut, Clipchamp or CapCut for video editing.
And I enter what is possibly the most complex section of the whole article: the video editors. I warn that I will not go deep into the features, but I will just mention some options with the highlights they offer keeping the focus on cross-platform support.
Kdenlive is the most popular video editor released as free software and one of the most used among Linux users, if not the most. The software from KDE, the project behind the Plasma desktop for Linux, tends to offer many customization possibilitiesThis works in Kdenlive’s favor because it is possible to learn how to build things by dragging and dropping and interacting with the interface, which can be modified to fit the workflow even better.
Shotcut is an editor with professional aspirations that is published as free software, but its interface may not be as user-friendly as Kdenlive’s, although it may remind some people of the late Windows Movie Maker. Compared to Kdenlive, Shotcut stands out for being a somewhat more polished application, despite being somewhat more difficult to use.
Clipchamp is a free video editor owned by Microsoft that is proprietary and that can be used through a Chromium browser. (Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Opera, Vivaldi, Brave, etc). In addition to being quite user-friendly among applications in its category, it makes available templates for different video platforms and allows you to create videos automatically using artificial intelligence.
CapCut is another editor capable of running over the web, but it is more oriented to content targeted to TikTok and the shorts from YouTubewhich stand out for their short duration and vertical layout. A convenience whose price is too high for many (including me).
That Clipchamp and CapCut are web-enabled has its advantages, but also disadvantages such as the need for registration, possible user tracking and in the case of Clipchamp the uploading of content to the cloud. The typical price for the convenience of the Internet.
Hanbrake as a video converter
Handbrake is a useful tool to have on hand for reprocessing videos that have become too large in footprint to be posted on YouTube and/or other video platforms. However, video editors can perform the same function, even better if the user has achieved a certain mastery of a particular application.
Audacity as audio editor
Audacity is an audio editor released as free software, with cross-platform support and which has proven its worth in professional contexts. It can be used not only for podcasting or recording voice over videos that are not made in front of a camera, but also for adding and correcting things in the audio if necessary..
Feature-wise it supports recording; non-destructive editing; import, export and conversions to other audio formats, both free and proprietary, although support for some of the latter must be added separately; customization of the toolbar, themes and functions and through plugins LADSPA, LV2, VST, VST3, Audio Units, Vamp and Nyquist; plus audio analysis.
Conclusion
As we can see, you don’t need to spend a lot of money to get more than acceptable results creating content. In addition to some components with a good quality-price ratio, there are many free applications that have proven their worth in the professional sector, so in the end it all comes down to finding the right peripherals and learning how to use the necessary tools.
Cover image: Pexels.
