Sometimes you hate them, endlessly talking about themselves and why they’re doing this video or that video for the first 2 minutes! But just because Vloggers don’t often get to the point quickly, that doesn’t mean that they aren’t a very important part of everyone’s personal continued-education.
We’ve all learned how to make a pizza from scratch, change a shower valve, or switch the brakes on our cars (without dying) thanks to the help of these brave educators who put themselves out there to help people learn from their own mistakes. And let’s face it, they sorta get paid for it too.
Building up a following is what brings in the real bucks, and there is a class of professional Vloggers, YouTubers, Streamers, Casters (whatever you want to call them) that make a decent living just sharing their know-how and opinions to anyone to see.
To get to that level, you’ve got to be good and put out a lot of content, but the more time you spend in post is the less content you’ll create. So, with the help of Kriscoart, we’d like to introduce you to some cool, free software that can record, and automate everything you need to get your Vlog post up as fast as possible.
Being consistent with posting a video blog is really a full-time gig. You write, shoot, edit, finish, and post all on your own most of the time. That’s is what makes OPS (Open Broadcast Software) so amazing.
Open Broadcast Software can do everything you need to create and finish your content. It can apply effects, EQ, color, record, and generate the appropriate file to post, and it does it all for free.
Let’s dive in and take a closer look at OPS.
Setting Up A Scene
To get started, simply click the plus button in the lower-left side corner.
You’ll need some sort of input device to capture a live feed from your camera of choice, and an audio device that you want to use to record your voice. In this video, Kriscoart is using an Elgato HDMI capture device, and a USB microphone.
Choose your device, and select the correct resolution for what you need. *Note: The resolution needs to be set several times – in camera, in the input settings, the canvas resolution, and the output resolution in order for you to make sure it isn’t downscaled.
For the most part you’ll only need one scene, but you can set up different types of scenes depending on what you’re producing.
Output Settings
These are the best settings for recording directly from your camera, and not intended for live streaming.
In the main settings panel, go to Output/Recording.
- Output Type: Standard
- Recording Format: Mp4
- Audio Track: 1
- Rate Control: CBR
- Bitrate: 40000 Kbps
- GPU: 0
- Max B-frames: 2
This is a reasonable bitrate that will produce a perfect image and capture the most our of your camera, but if it is too taxing on your system and causing dropped frames, loser the bitrate slightly or consider dropping to 1080p.
Audio Settings
- Track 1 / Audio Bitrate: 320 kbps
- If you’re using multiple tracks, repeat this audio quality setting for each additional track.
Under the Audio Mixer on the main OPS page, mute any additional tracks coming from your camera that aren’t intended to be recorded. Here you can also click on the settings icon for your track and add audio effects such as a compressor or a limiter. This eliminates the need to go back and add these effects later in Premiere Pro.
Working Smarter
If you want to make it as a YouTuber, you’ve got to work more efficiently and a system like OPS can really speed up your workflow.
In editing, it’s the little things that slow you down and take the most time. Recording directly to your camera’s SD card, ingesting your footage, syncing up audio with another source, affecting the video and audio, and outputting all take up incremental amounts of time when you could be doing it all in realtime.
Even if it isn’t OPS, try to find a system that works for you and makes things as efficient as possible, then make as many quality videos as you can. Information-based, user-generated content has spurred a revolution in personal education.
YouTube isn’t just cat videos anymore, we all use it to figure out something new and it is a fantastic way to learn. But, you don’t need to be killing yourself to produce eye-popping videos or one-upping the next channel. What viewers are after is information and this is a fantastic way to get it to them clearly.
[source: Kriscoart]
Order Links:
Elgato Cam Link 4K (B&H, Amazon)
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