Easy Livestreaming Setup for Beginners

Here are my 3 Easy Livestream Set up to help you get started whether you are live streaming on Facebook, Youtube or on other live streaming platforms out there!

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⏰ Timestamps⏰

00:00 Start
2:31 Mobile Livestream Setup
11:00 Webcam Setup
14:23 DSLR Camera Setups
20:23 Questions

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Easy Livestreaming Setup for Beginners – Video Transcript

Today, we are going to look at what are some of the best live stream equipment setup, so live streaming equipment set up options because I know that I’ve done some videos on the different best cameras. I’ve done a video on the best microphones, and I’ve done a video on the best lights, but I haven’t put it all together for you yet.

Well, I feel I haven’t put it all together for you yet. This is what today is all about. I’m going to walk you through 3 of my favourite or recommended live streaming setup options, equipment, and how to bring it all together.

And I’m really excited. If you are, hello, whether you are joining me live now, thanks for being here or if you’re catching us on the replay. Please, if you are live on the chat and you have a question, put it in the chat.

If you are watching the replay, feel free to comment and I’ll respond as soon as I can or create another video if we need to. For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Sara Nguyen, and I help coaches consultants and creative pros build their business using video on social media with ease.

And I live stream a lot about live streaming to help you get the best possible live stream experience and best possible live stream production. Excited for today. Let’s get right into it. I’m going to start off with my first favourite live streaming setup.

I want to, firstly, start off by saying that I find that when it comes to live streaming and you guys have also told me when I’ve put out polls, what, what is it that gets you guys stuck? Where are you stuck?

And a lot of people have said to me that it’s the equipment. There’s just so much to deal with. I don’t even know where to start. I’m going to come up, so I’ve got some options for you. And I also want to say that you don’t have to go out and spend a lot of money.

You don’t have to have crazy setups in order to start live streaming in order to start connecting. And in order to start building your audience and generating more income for your business from live streaming, you just don’t need it. And particularly if you are spending times in certain Facebook groups and you see people posting these like crazy sets where they’ve got expensive lights and they’ve got expensive cameras and things hanging from the ceiling and there’s buttons everywhere.

And you’re like, Oh man, like I’m not there. And my, and my advice to you is that you don’t need to be there in order to start live streaming. And the first option is one of my favourite options and it is the mobile livestream setup. I think, I feel when I first started live streaming, I started using my mobile device, right?

I didn’t have anything fancy. It was the mobile device that I had at the time prerequisites that it does need to be a mobile device that has camera, and it does need to be a mobile device that can connect to the internet. If you have a Nokia 5110?

That’s just not going to cut it. I’m sorry, but we need to have a modern mobile device that at least can connect to the internet and has a camera so you can live stream from. Let’s look at ta-da a little setup that I’ve got here and let’s break it down in terms of this mobile setup.

Okay. Obviously this is a mobile device. Mobile can extend to not just being a phone. It can also be tablets so your iPad or non-iPhone or Apple related. It can be, you know, Android family, if that’s what it is, it doesn’t have to be like an Apple. It doesn’t have to be, you know, a certain brand.

It can be whatever mobile device, as long as it has internet, the ability for you to download the native apps. Whether it’s the Facebook app or a browser and the ability to connect to the internet. I’m going to break down the setup that I’ve got here that I use.

I actually use it more than people know, and why this is kind of one of my recommended setups. Here I’ve got my mobile device and you can use your mobile device to live stream directly from, or you can use your mobile device and set it up so that the mobile camera, and they’re pretty good these days, as you know, the mobile camera is the camera source.

Then you can plug your mobile into your computer. You can do wifi as well and use that as the camera source. You kind of have cameras everywhere now. You’re able to use the mobile as a, you know, to live stream with. I’ve got my mobile device, I’ve got a microphone.

I do recommend that if you don’t have a microphone, you at least use the headset that comes with a little microphone and they’re pretty good these days because you want the audio to be as clean as possible, or as clear as possible and block out as much of the background noise and wind as possible.

Having a microphone that connects to the mobile device, the one that I’m using here, that you can see, this is the RODE VideoMic me-L. And it’s a lightning microphone, so it’s easy to use.

It’s pretty affordable as well and the sound that you get from it is really good. And for the most part, you don’t have to do anything ’cause who wants to do anything these days? Like there’s so much, there’s so much going on, so much going on. Definitely recommend a microphone.

A little connector microphone like that works really well. If you want like some other options for microphones, for mobile, for your mobile, there’s a lavalier microphone that I really love. And this was sent to me, you can’t see it at the moment by the team at Deity.

It’s the Deity V.Lav, and it’s a smart lav. And you can plug it, you know, using the adapter into your phone. You can also use it with your DSLR or into your computer. And the quality of sound that you get from the Deity V.Lav is beautiful, particularly for the price, I think they’ve got a really fantastic microphone.

And I’ve been saying that I would do a review on it for the past six months and I’m still working on it. I just have no time, but this is definitely an option if you’re wanting something that plugs in in a cable or whatnot.

Definitely recommend the Deity V.Lav, if that’s an option that you want to use. And I also get lots of questions in terms of mobile to say, okay, I want to use the mobile, but I need to walk around and I need to be kind of cable-free. What are the options?

There are wireless microphone options for mobile. The one that’s really popular right now is the RODE Wireless Go. What would happen is you would click one side, which is the microphone into your shirt or, you know, whoever’s talking and the other end you’d use the cables and connect that to the mobile device.

I do think that it’s a great option. I find that it’s not cheap. I really think that the wireless option at the moment they’re quite expensive, right? You don’t have to go wireless. Like if you look at the Deity V.Lav, like there is so much cable there like that should, that should help you deal with the distance that you need.

I think, I cannot remember how, how long the cable is, but that’s a common complaint that people have about the V.Lav that the cable is too long. If you want distance and wireless is kind of out of your range, then consider a lavalier microphone.

And also remember you can also get extension cables for the lavalier microphones as well. In terms of mobile setups, you’ve got the mobile, you’ve got the different microphone options that plugged directly into the mobile.

And the third thing that I want to talk about is a tripod. A lot of times I see people live streaming, and I can tell that they’re holding the actual device because there’s movement, there’s natural movement in your hand, regardless, you know, whether you are leaning on something, there’s always going to be a tiny bit of tremor.

Try to get a tripod. The one that I’ve got here is the Joby GorillaPod mobile rig. And I recommend it for two reasons. One, it looks really cool, like a little robot, because it’s got all these arms, right? And these arms, let’s just get in shot, allow you to add your attachment.

It allows you to have a light on one side or a microphone on another side or two devices, right? You can chop and change whatever accessories you need. And you’ve got everything all in one place. This is why I really like the Joby GorillaPod mobile rig, and it’s not too expensive either.

I really like this one. You don’t have to use this one, obviously, there’s so many different tripod options, but I like the Joby particularly for live streaming, mobile live streaming, because you’ve got the arms, it looks a bit like a robot.

It’s really flexible and allows you to attach all of your accessories in one thing. That you’ve got the setup all in one. This is why I really, really love this setup as a recommendation. Now, as you can see, I’ve got this light on the Joby as well, and this is a little led light.

Particularly with mobile, I don’t think that you need expensive lighting. I think that you can get away with using natural lighting. Live stream in front of a window during the day, that should be sufficient, but if you need some extra help little led lights can go a long way.

This is the Manfrotto. They’ve got a little led light. I picked it up because it was what was available to me at the time. And I think I bought this when I was, you know, traveling at the time. I liked it because it was small.

But you don’t have to use the high-end ones, just any light that can attach and give you some, you know, some extra light so that you’re not so dark. And so that the quality of the video looks a little bit better. This is an example of the framework, so to speak, that I would recommend for a live streaming setup.

Microphone, the different options there, A try pod, Joby’s really great, but you don’t have to use the Joby you can use whatever tripod you want, but the Joby GorillaPod mobile rig has an advantage because it’s got the arms that gives you accessories so everything can be all at one point.

And then lighting as well. Consider the lighting. This is the first of the options that I would recommend in terms of live streaming. I really love this mobile setup. And I think like I had a lot of questions from people who are just starting out, whether they’re starting out on Twitch or whether they’re starting out just for their business.

And they know they want to start live streaming, they’re always like, what camera should I use? What should I go out and buy? And I’m like, no, don’t go out and buy anything just yet, just use your phone to get started and then buy afterwards.

People don’t realise that your mobile device is like this powerhouse of, you know, content creation stuff. Use what you’ve got. And this mobile setup is definitely incredibly powerful.

I’m going to put a link in the description because I created a tutorial that showed you how to use your iPhone as a webcam using Filmic Pro. And that’s really, really powerful as a set up as well. I’ll put that in the description.

But set up number one, pardon me, using your mobile phone as a camera and the livestream setup. That’s the first setup. Now, let’s have a look at setup number two. I’m gonna need some water because your girl’s been sick and it’s been a little bit tough I must say.

The second setup that I recommend when people start live streaming, I find that this is the progression, so firstly people will start by live streaming using their mobile device and then sometimes, or alternatively they’ll progress to the second setup, which is a webcam set up, right?

The webcams that I recommend and have used, these two. This is the Logitech Brio 4k and the other one, so this is the higher end because it’s a 4k camera. The other one, it’s the Logitech C920, or the Logitech C922. All three are very, very good webcams for live streaming with, right?

It’s such a great option to livestream with because one, the price point– well, Brio’s a bit more, but it’s still cheaper than getting a DSLR. The price point of webcams are quite cheap. I know that the C920, it just keeps going down in price every time I look at it.

It’s like, well, I didn’t buy it for that price when it first came out, but I’m really glad to say that, you know, there are relatively affordable webcameras these days. And the other thing with webcams is that you can just plug it directly into your computer, into the USB or USB-C port.

That’s why I recommend that as the second option for live streaming with. Using your, getting a webcam or using your existing webcam as the camera. Because once again, it doesn’t have to be an expensive setup in order for you to go live and connect with people.

That is set up number two. And pretty much similar to the mobile setup. The camera source would be your webcam. I’d recommend getting a microphone, microphones. There are lots of options for microphones. The easiest option would be to get a USB microphone.

I really love the RODE NT-USB mini. They’re like, it’s such a great microphone in terms of the quality of the sound that you get. You don’t have to do anything to get great sound. It’s really small.

It’s the one that you’re listening, listening, that I’m talking to you from now. And the price is really fair as well. It’s like, I really think I hit the nail on the head with this one in terms of it, I’m going to lift it up so you can see it.

I definitely recommend a USB microphone because it’s so easy and the price point’s really good. If you want something a little bit more, which is, as I said, not necessary, I just use a USB microphone and I dunno why people USB microphones, they’re absolutely fine.

A shotgun microphone is a good option as well. This is the Deity D3 Pro, and it’s a shotgun microphone that I can use with my, pardon me, I can use with my mobile device, I can use with my computer or I can use with my camera as well.

They are the two options that I would recommend if you were going to look at the, using a webcam or, and having an external microphone as well. Sorry, I’ll grab some more water because I’m struggling today.

That was option number two. Now, behind door number three. It’s the one that everyone seems to be a little bit caught up on. Right? And I think I’m going to try and break it down and also clarify some things.

If you want to go down this option for your live streaming setup. Option number three is using a DSLR camera to livestream with.

I’m currently live streaming to you using a Canon 90d, right? I don’t want to get into the war between Canon and Sony and all the other providers. I’m going to talk more to what you need to have if this is what you want to use.

If you want to have, use your, use a DSLR camera to live stream with, so you want, you want either to live stream in 4K, or you want to live stream in a high def, you want the ability to use the lens and to zoom using a DSLR is definitely an option. Now, when you’re trying to research the camera and the options for cameras, there’s a couple of things that will make your life a little bit easier.

First of all, you want to get a DSLR camera that has clean HDMI out. Now, what does that mean? That means that when you plugin the cables, that you’re able to turn off the lines on the camera, so that at the moment you can’t see any lines, hopefully you can’t see any lines on this live stream because the Canon 90d has a clean HDMI out.

I’m able to go into the settings and turn off the lines, the grid on the camera. Not all cameras have that, right. And I know that the Canon M50 currently doesn’t have it. And in order to get around that people have to use software in order to get rid of that.

And that kind of decreases the quality of the camera in the live stream. I’d recommend you getting a camera that has clean HDMI out as a start. Also it needs to have video capabilities. Obviously it needs to be able to record video in order for you to live stream with, which is also video.

Those are the two things that you need to be mindful of. The other thing that you need to be mindful of, is that’s not it. DSLRs come with a lot of other things that you need.

In order to make the DSLR, you know, talk to your computer and to livestream with you also need a capture card, right? And capture cards are frustrating because they’re just frustrating.

I don’t know what else to say. But luckily there’s been this little, no namem c’mon, there’s no name brand, that’s not focusing, capture card that’s just started to float on the market, particularly when COVID started around March, 2020. And it really is about $20. I’ve seen it for 20. I’ve seen it for $30.

No one knows where it actually came from. And it’s really cheap and it does the job and it just works. I have struggled with capture cards, like many people where they’re inconsistent because they’re, software-based, sometimes they turn on, sometimes they don’t, this one, this no-name capture card has just always worked every single time.

And it’s definitely one that’s cheap, that I love ’cause cheap means it’s accessible and everyone can use it. And it works, right? You need a capture card, need an HDMI cable to plug the capture card to, and to connect your DSLR to.

I also think that in terms of a DSLR setup, everyone seems to want it, but they don’t realise how much work goes into configuring it and how much money goes into making it all work.

I think that if this is something that you want to use, definitely understand that there’s cost with this. In terms of the lens that I have and I use with my DSLR, I’m actually not really fancy. I use my kit lens. I use the 18 to 55 lens that came with the camera.

I’ve been considering getting another lens, but in all of my research and in for what I need, I haven’t seen anything that justifies spending, you know, an extra thousand, $2,000 when the kit lens just does exactly what I need. It’s always just always, there’s always money when it comes to like DSLRs, there’s always like another lens and other capture card, another whatever.

But in terms of what you need, those are the basic things. And also lighting. You will definitely need to get some lighting in order to make your DSLR settings work. Now I have a lot of feelings about lighting.

I use ring lights because one, they don’t take up a lot of space and two, you don’t have to do much to make yourself look good on camera and all about that ease factor, right? It’s essentially turning it up, turning it on and adjusting the dial so that I’m not too blown out or I’m not too dark. And that’s it. I really like ring lights.

And I use ring lights for all of my live streaming options. I know that Elgato has, you know, their streaming lights and they’re fine. I don’t have anything against them. Soft box lights are okay as well, but just know that with the DSLR, it’s not just out of the box and boom, you go, you’ll need lighting, you need a capture card, you need an HDMI cable and you’ll need a microphone as well.

That’s essentially all of the things, so many things, when it comes to setting up on, you know, the different livestream setups. It doesn’t matter which one you start with, or it doesn’t matter which one you have. What’s more important is the content.

And I find that people get so caught up in wanting to live stream with a DSLR that they, you know, spend all this money and then they don’t focus on the thing that will actually make the live stream a success, which is the content.

I just want to nail that point in addition to saying that these are the options, but don’t forget about the content. That essentially is my little breakup. I’m gonna just go through some of the questions quickly. Hey, Giga Art! Great to see you here.

Thanks for joining me today and glad to hear that you guys are out of lockdown. Really glad to hear that. Also said, love the glowing countdown. I created the countdown myself using Canva, and I’ve got a tutorial to show you how to do that as well.

Joel says, “Thank you for sharing this live. You’re priceless”. Aw, thanks Joel. That’s so nice! Jusuf says, hello Jusuf, “I’m from Chicago.” great to have you here! Rach says, “Which lens do you use on your DSLR?” yeah, so I use the kit lens and I’m looking for another lens, but my kit lens is the 18 to 35 Kit lens the Canon one, the one that came with the camera, like this is as fancy as I got, the one that came with the actual camera.

I am looking for another lens. If you’ve got recommendations on a good lens that won’t break the bank, like I went to the camera store and when I was talking to the guy there, I was like, let me know the options. And the first thing that he took out was a $2,000 lens. Don’t get me wrong.

It was beautiful. Like when we put it on the camera and we had a look at it, it was stunning, but I was like, that costs more than the camera man. Like, come on, like that’s not necessary for live streaming.

Anyway, the lens that I use is the kit lens. There are lots of options out there, but it’s okay to use the kit lens. Like, as you can see, I think the quality of this livestream is pretty good. That’s the one that I currently use.

Rach says, “Do you use auto-focus during your livestream?” yes, I do. Normally my husband sets up like the camera for the most part, but yes, I do use auto-focus for the most part. Tiffany’s here and Tiffany says, “Look who’s live.

Hello, Sara!” good to see you Tiffany. She has a really great channel. Go check out her channel. That, you know, if you’ve got any other questions, please, please, please do drop them in the chat or in the comments.

But hopefully that breaks down all of the lives, not all of the livestreams, some of the basic livestream options. We talked about using a mobile setup and what you need there.

We talked about using a webcam setup and what is required there. And then we also talked about using a DSLR, which seems to be what everyone wants to use, but just understand that if DSLRs is the way you want to go and I get it, I really get it.

I get how seductive all of this is. I get how seductive all of the equipment is because it’s like, Oh, Canon’s coming out with a new one. Oh, Sony’s come out with a new one. Oh, Olympus came out with new. It looks so beautiful.

And then, you know, you see the videos and the ads for it, and like they’re all on the lights and it’s like, Oh, like the heavens have opened. I get, I get how seductive it is. Just remember that, you know, it takes a little bit of, it will cost you money and it takes a lot of things, extra things in order to get the DSLR to work.

Now, oh, another question from Giga Art, “Are you using StreamYard? OBS? Or Restream?” this is a very good question. I use at this particular livestream I’m using Ecamm live so I’m on a Mac.

That’s the Mac-only livestream software, and I’m multi-streaming through Restream. I use those two live streaming softwares together in order to get 4K live streams. And in order to have the flexibility to do all of these overlays that you can see in all of these animations.

That’s the combination that I’ve been using for, oh my goodness. How long? It feels like a really long time to time. Time and space has all just merged in these last few years. Yeah, I think I’ve been using this setup for at least 18 months to two years.

And I absolutely love it. I’m a big fan of StreamYard as well. I love StreamYard because I think what they offer for the price point and how easy it is is great. But I also love Restream. Restream you can use like how I use it, where I connect Ecamm Live and Restream, or you can use Restream with the web-based option only.

If you don’t, you know, have Ecamm live, you can just use the web based browser option. They are a really great provider as well. I’m not the biggest fan of OBS because I’ve just struggled to use it. I haven’t found it easy to use and the learning curve has just been too high for me.

And I’m not one of those people who likes the software to get in the way. Right. I just want to be able to do it, learn it quickly so that I can start creating content. And that’s my advice for everyone as well. How Adam’s Exploits, “Several video content creators shows I watch recommend the Sigma lenses.

I bought a Canon M50, but I need a better PC. I can’t run it with my computer and the added software for clean HDMI”. That’s been a challenge, right, with the Canon M50?” you need additional software to get rid of, to get that clean HDMI. I do.

I do think it’s a great camera, but as I say with DSLRs, they’re great, but they require extra computer processing. You need like, you know, the computer needs to be able to handle it, you need to have everything come together. I love the Sigma lenses, but they are expensive, my friend.

Absolutely beautiful lenses. The Sigma lens is very popular, but goodness me, they cost more than– I’ve seen Sigma lenses that costs as much as the camera or more than the camera.

And I find that a little bit hard to justify, but we’ll see, you know, Christmas is coming up. There’s a couple of sales coming up so we’ll see how that goes.

Adam says, “Same thing for me with OBS and Streamlabs OBS”. I know that like, for people who don’t know, OBS is like a live streaming software and it’s open source, right. No one really owns it, so to speak, and it’s free. And then you’ve got Streamlabs OBS.

Streamlabs took this open source software and then they kind of coded on top of it to make it slightly better. And they’ve got a slightly different pricing model to use the Streamlabs OBS. But I, you know, I tried it, I really tried it, but I just couldn’t, it just wasn’t intuitive. Right.

I didn’t find it easy to use, but, but, but, but but Streamlabs and I have a couple of videos coming out shortly, have put out, created a new live streaming software option that is so easy to use.

It’s called Melon, and I’ve been testing it out and it’s, you know what, it really is a contender to compete with Streamlabs. They’re still quite, StreamYard. It really is a little bit early still, but I really like how easy it is to use. I really like how powerful it is.

And I’ve got that coming really shortly. I’m in the middle of producing that now, but really excited to show you Melon, which is the web based live streaming option from the guys at StreamYard and Logitech. Yes. Oh my goodness.

Thank you so much for joining me in the amazing and chatting and hanging out with me. It’s been a, it’s been a while. I’ve just been a little bit sick and tired and it’s all been a bit much. It’s been a bit of a crazy time.

I just needed a bit of a timeout. That essentially wraps u the live stream today. If you found this video useful, give me a thumbs up and don’t forget to subscribe to the channel if you haven’t already.

For more live streams about live streaming, tech tutorials and everything to help you grow your business with video with ease. Now I’m going to put a link to my Facebook Live Cheat Sheets.

It’s a super simple guide to help you get up and streaming on Facebook live, even if you’ve never hit record before. I’ll put it, link it on the screen as well as in the description below.

I’ve got another live stream that I’m about to do shortly. If you guys are here and want to join that, definitely join me there and I’ll see you in the next live stream. I’m going to start it really shortly. I’ll see you there. Bye for now.