All right, so I've been meaning to do this, because I get a lot of questions about what gear I use, how I do my videos and all that good stuff? Okay, so this is my tiny little studio here. You see a big lights of there that were probably blind the camera. Those are my filming lights for what I'm doing live, streams and whatnot. This is my typical setup right here all right.

This is not how I started all right, let's step back all the way to the beginning of last year, all right! So as I started making videos, it was a real simple operation. I was literally just using my phone at the time. It was a Samsung Note. 4, I believe, and then I quickly upgraded to the s9 plus as soon as that phone came out.

I think I didn't sa-2 but anyways. This is the phone that I was using. This isn't my phone anymore. This is actually a phone I'm given to another tech, but I don't have a bunch of fancy.

Camera stuff. I've slowly acquired some of this other stuff over here, but I literally started with my computer, a blue Yeti, microphone and my phone and that's it. I basically started filming and I was using a program called Adobe Premiere Elements, yeah Doby Premiere Elements and it's a really simple program to use nothing too complex. You have an easy mode.

You have an advanced mode right. The first livestreams that I did. I was using my just regular Logitech webcam I'll, have links to all this gear guys inside the video show notes so slowly ice. Once I started doing live streams, I started to upgrade and I got a mixer ok.

This is just a two channel basic mixer. Actually, you can do more than two channels. You can only do one mic, though, really basic mixer, then my daughter uses this now, but then I upgraded to the gear that I use now. Alright, the mixer that I use now is a road caster Pro.

This is a really heavy-duty, sir. You can do all kinds of stuff with this. You have sound pads, so you can you know what I'm doing with live streams, my intro, music and different stuff. You can bring in phone callers, not that I do that.

You can have up to four mics. You can control everybody's volumes different headphones. You can record podcasts on here. This is a standalone podcast studio without a computer.

You can record directly on here. It's XLR mics. This thing does everything. Alright, then, as time went on, I upgraded my studio because I found myself really pushing the limits of my Samsung, laptop, of which I still use to this day.

I just don't use it for video editing and live streams anymore, because I found that my live streams are getting really choppy. My video editing wasn't great. It was having a hard time processing and you know uploading and all that good stuff. So I upgraded to a bigger bigger computer slowly over time I've acquired a GoPro.

I really don't film with the GoPro too much. This is a hero - 7 black. I think I do use this tripod right here. Often this is I'll throw this in my tool bag and when I'm working, because it's just really lightweight, I have a tiny tripod that I in the very beginning used for my when I tried to film on a GoPro also, this does come in handy.

This is a Wi-Fi hotspot. Sometimes I would use this if I wanted to do a live stream from my GoPro, not a fan of that anymore. I really got away from that. This is just my basic editing tablet.

I'm sorry, my tablet that I use for measure quick. It has an otter case on it. It's a Galaxy Tab, a 8 inch, I think, but again guys I'll have links for everything if you're gon na go the GoPro route. The one thing I don't like about the GoPro is the audio quality, so you need to come up with some sort of an external mic, because the audio sounds like you're in a tin can.

But this one does have good video stabilization. I highly suggest if you're gon na go the GoPro route, that you get a couple of these extra battery chargers, so I actually have another one. I got to go, get it and I have one two: three, four batteries, plus the one: that's in the GoPro, so that way you have batteries on the fly all the time you have to get a very, very high quality memory card, even when you're filming with Your phone, I have a very high quality memory card because I'll fill up the hard drive on my phone, really quick with video files, depending on your editing software you're, going to want to change the settings in your phone or your GoPro to record certain types of Video recently I acquired this tripod. This is a really really nice tripod I'll open it up for you guys and show you actually take you over cuz.

I have another one right here, but it collapses down and if I can get this in my hand, it collapses down to almost what two foot tall, but then it can go full-size and it has all the adjustments. So you can put a GoPro on it. Your phone - this is a phone holder. I have it's a really really nice tripod.

I've got one over here and I'll. Show you guys right now. I currently am using one so there it is right there you can do different stuff. So you see like how I have one leg shortened and the other two legs linked full length.

It's not really sturdy, so you can't put a heavy duty camera gear on it, but I happen to have my webcam for live streams on there right now. So pardon my crazy mess in my office, but you see it's a nice little tripod. I got it from. I think I got it from Best Buy but again I'll have links inside the video show notes.

So so that's my basic gear that I use to this day. Really I use this tripod more so now I still use this one every once in a while set it up in a walk-in or something like that. I really don't use the GoPro too much every once in a while. Sometimes I'll get some filming in the van or something like that this is a head strap mount, so you can put it on your head.

I don't know it just seems a little bulky and stuff. I find my phone to be the easiest, because I don't have to carry too much extra gear and I just pull it on in my pocket and start filming. So alright. So let's go ahead and go on over to the studio gear, so I have a little office set up here.

You see, I have wires everywhere guys. I really set this office up about two months ago and I really haven't fully cleaned everything up. You see, I just got everything going everywhere: powerstrips and all that good stuff. I recently, obviously it's dusty in here too.

I need to dust, but it's the last thing on my mind. One thing that I will say that's very, very important: when you're your filming is redundancy and you need to have backups of everything. So this is the hard drive. I started with it's a tiny little guy.

It doesn't say how big it is. Yeah, it's a tiny little harddrive. I think it's like a, I don't even know 500 gigabyte or something like that. When I upgraded my office setup and went to my 3 monitor setup, I ended up getting a very, very big harddrive and I believe this is a 6 terabyte external hard drive and then occasionally, what I'll do I'm probably going to look into another backup source? On top of that, just to make sure, because what I save every one of my videos that are on YouTube, I have hard copies of every one, just in case something was to happen alright.

So what you see going on here, I'll pan, the camera out what you see going on here, is my my monitor setup. So on this screen, I have my video editing software and that's Adobe Premiere Elements. Okay on this screen right here I have my livestream software and I use stream labs for OBS and then right here you have my audio software, which is Adobe Audition, that's not something you have to have, but I use that now that I record my outros for My videos on that. So when you see me in my office at the end of the video talking, I'm talking on Adobe Audition and it's basically capturing the audio from my mixer, that's coming from my mic and then it's record.

You know whatever it does it's magic and then I crop it and add it to the the video, because when I'm filming at this time right now, I still I'm still kind of rinky-dink with all my stuff. But when I'm filming my outros, I'm actually filming on my phone on the tripod that I had collapsed and I will film on that. But the audio doesn't come good through my phone because it just uses my phone microphone. So I use my rode procaster mic right here that you see that's my filming mic and it basically runs through Adobe Audition and that's how I get that deep, clear sound that you hear on the outros of my video now 99 % of the time during my Video, the filming on site on location is just using the microphone in my phone and that's why you can hear the background noise and all that good stuff.

Okay, so I really want to stress that you don't have to have three monitors. You don't have to have a studio set up like this. For my computer, I have a Dell XPS, that's basically maxed out to the limit of everything, I'm not like a really smart computer dude, but I just went to Dells website and just maxed out pretty much everything because I needed hard drive. I needed everything.

You know this processing, speed and everything to be able to edit my videos properly and all that good stuff and again I'll have a information about that computer in the show notes. So that way, you guys can see exactly what it is that I edit with nothing too fancy in here. Just a couple speakers, I'm gon na go ahead and turn off my studio lights. There we go now.

I can actually see those studio lights get a little bit bright when you're like looking around the room, you can see my messy office space this still. This is an office in my house, and this still has some of our. This was like a extra room in our house for a long time, so it still has a bunch of stuff that I need to get out of here, but I'm slowly getting it cleaned up. I use that fan right there for when, because I'm going in my studio all this stuff, this equipment gets really hot, and even if I have my house set at 74 it just it feels like a sauna in here.

So I have to get that fan moving and I have a ceiling fan on top of me moving too so alright. So when I'm editing or I'm sorry, when I'm doing my live streams, I'm using stream labs, OBS, okay - and I really like stream labs OBS. I had a hard time understanding everything in order to learn how to use everything. I just YouTube video, a lot of stuff.

You know different things, people. Basically, I have a really simple setup here. You can see my microphones picking up my audio right now, because it's bouncing back and forth one of the cool things that I like about stream labs OBS. Is they give you the ability to have a remote control? So that's what I have going on on this tablet.

This is actually the remote that I use so that way when I'm doing a live stream, I don't have to like look at my computer and click on stuff, I'm just talking to the camera above there and if I want to transition over you know I can Basically, I can cue up something so I'm going to turn the intro picture off and you see how it turned off and then I'm gon na transition. So this is what I'm getting ready to do, and this is what you guys would see so before I start a live stream when you guys see this - and you hear my intro music going on on this screen right here. This is my I'm getting ready to do everything screen and this is popping up, and you know it just kind of lets me know what's about to come so that way, I'm ready for the next scene, which is usually me you know entering over so on this Guy right here you won't hear my audio, but I click my audio. So there's my intro music.

You guys can hear it coming out of my headphones right now. So that's my intro music that I would you know, get ready to do as I'm doing my stream and then I'm usually chatting with you guys on a chat window that pops up on another screen. So this this, when you're, when you're doing the live streams, the multi screen setup really does help, but it's not absolutely necessary. You just have to work a little bit harder, but with this I can have my preview screen.

I can see what's there when I'm doing a live stream, I'll usually pull up a window. So I can see the chat over here and then I usually have like notes on this guy right here with what I'm gon na talk about and whatnot. So I'll often have I'll make a Word document before I go with anything that I think I'm gon na talk about. So I constantly will plug Ralph from Honeywell his information.

Actually, I don't have his right email address and that's why I was placed in it wrong, but I'll usually have people's email addresses that I want to talk about, and these are just basic topics that I want to talk about when I'm doing my stream just to Kind of keep me on track so that way, when I'm answering your guys's questions, I can look over when when there's no questions coming in - and I have another topic to talk about as far as my stream goes like I said I can transition everything over. So you know at the end of my intro music, I'm gon na hit transition boom and then now my my stream would be live and you'd be seeing me talking into my microphone like usual okay, my microphone just kind of sits over here until I'm ready for It and I'll swing it over and then start talking. Okay again I'll have links to everything that I'm using here in these show notes of this video. I do have an extra mic over here that I was using for the series that I was doing with my wife.

I think we have one more video in that series and we're going to talk about financial stuff. We just haven't recorded it yet. As far as my webcam that I use, I use a Logitech Brio, it's pretty much the fastest webcam that I could find right now. I've really really been contemplating going away from a webcam and going to a much better camera, but again that all takes money and this stuff gets really really expensive.

So I'm gon na basically intro picture transitions that we were not staring at myself. Okay, so as far as my setup, when I started this computer, I already had it and my phone already had it the mixer, I want to say, cost less than a hundred bucks and then you need some mic cables, and that was pretty much it. You know, and I should actually say that this mixer I actually had a different mixer before this one. If I remember right, because this is an XLR mixer and I was using my Yeti mic, which is a USB mic, so actually I wasn't even using a mixer.

I had my Yeti mic plugged right into my computer for recording audio, and then I went to this guy with an XLR mic. Originally I had just one of these rode rode protesters, yeah rode protesters, and then I always get confused because rode they they named their mixing board in their mics. This is the rode procaster, and this mixing board is the rode caster Pro it's it's kind of confusing for me, so so those ring lights. I recently acquired those because I needed better lighting in my office and you guys have probably seen my studio before, but just a bunch of posters and old tools and different things.

This is a training board for deaf detectors. I've made a couple. Things goes on that I use that everyone some want to show my guys. I just recently hung it on the wall because I haven't been using it at work.

My daughter likes to build little Legos to put in the back of my live streams because she likes to show those off. I just have a lot of cool stuff. I haven't really made a video on this yet, but I have a sportin dryer cutaway or you can see how the dryer works insides of it a couple other things over here, just older tools, an old Simpson meter, hermetic compressor, analyzer this one. I did not use this was before my time.

One of my previous texts brought that's any one time. I think his dad had got it at a garage, so this was my compressor analyzer that I used to use and then yeah just other stuff here, different stuff, that I'll show inside my streams, I've talked about the sheave gauge thing and yeah that's a volume. This is for air balancing registers that that's really old-school, so yeah, that's pretty much it. I have a dial a charge right there.

I never use that. That was just something that someone brought me there's some old tools. I think that's about it. If you guys have questions feel free to post them, like I said, I'm gon na put links to everything that I use inside my the show notes of this video.

I really think that's about it. I will say that, no matter what my cube, I just buy high-quality mic cables, so these are high-quality, XLR cables. I bought a lot of this stuff off at Amazon - probably majority of it, but these right here, like I read a lot of reviews. I just google searched, you, know good studio gear for live streams or whatever you know, and this right here is a shock mount.

So that way, if I accidentally bump the microphone, you don't hear the sound. This is a pop filter. It keeps the I think they call them plosives down. So basically, when you say P or it'll pop inside the mic, so you see the mic has a totally different look when it doesn't have the pop filter.

I kind of wish I didn't have to have the pop filter on there, but because it adds to the bulkiness of everything, but you still get those pops when you're, talkin and whatnot so yeah. And you know one thing if I could say if you guys, you guys, can probably hear my chair movie - that's driving nuts. Oh I'm about to upgrade these chairs. I had bought these at Costco because they were cheap and I'm really disappointed with them because they squeak.

Maybe I need to grease them or something off to get down there. Look at them because they're driving me nuts, but yeah, you know, like I said you don't have to have three monitors. Four monitors two monitors any of that stuff to start these videos. I just do this out of comfort because it makes it easier for me to be able to have multi screens up when I'm editing, videos and different things.

The process about editing videos with Adobe Premiere Elements is super easy. You have I mean this thing can still do more than what I want to do. I tried using some of the heavier editing programs like Adobe Premiere Pro. I have it it's just.

It takes me way too long and it just I don't know my videos, you guys have seen my videos. I don't have like crazy editing on my videos. That's not my style. I just like to be short and simple into the point.

So you know, I don't need Adobe Premiere Pro. I don't need the headache it makes my life stressful, trying to edit a video. You know with this right here. It doesn't take me too long to edit down a video.

I would have to say if I have a video, that's 20 minutes, I'm probably going to spend about an hour on it, editing it down and then figuring out all the optimization. The optimization is a huge thing about the videos, I'll pull up a screen right now and show some information on that. So this is my YouTube creator studio, and this is a video that's actually going to upload today or it's gon na be released today at 11:45 a.m. and it's 10:00 a.m.

right now. So I have to I always schedule my videos guys. So that way, I don't have to be there to push the button. So usually today is Sunday July 7th.

I usually release uploads on Mondays and Fridays, but lately I've been releasing them on Sundays, because I noticed that a lot of people watch them Sunday afternoon. So, for whatever reason it works out, but this video is already fully optimized and set up. This is a very, very time-consuming process, but it really makes it beneficial. I use a program called tube buddy and I will put an affiliate link in the bottom of this video.

If you guys are interested in using tube buddy. I highly suggest it. I get a little bit of credit if you sign up under mine but I'll put a link in there, but buddy basically teaches you how to optimize your videos. So this is the creator studio, but buddy adds some different things to this.

So it gives you the ability - and you can do all this without buddy it just it makes it easier by putting little things in here I get a little icon, it's a browser extension basically, and then it just puts stuff it. Overlays little added features to your YouTube experience. Basically, so it allows you to create thumbnails and it helps you gives you the tools to do so. You can either create a thumbnail from an image that you took, or you can create a thumbnail from a screenshot from the actual video.

The real big thing that buddy teaches you to do is to create tags, and the tags are very important for your video. Basically, in the beginning, I worked really hard to grow. My channel really hard constantly spamming Facebook groups, I say spamming, but I mean I know I was sharing something that people appreciated, but I would go into different Facebook groups, HVAC school group. I got their permission.

I would go into HEA C Pro Talk, got their permission and say hey and I would share a video on there. Now, I'm not sharing junk videos. I have a moral compass here so like this video right now that I'm making I'm not going to share this any of the groups, because it's not relevant to those groups. I'm just gon na release this on my channel, so I'm not gon na be a punk about it and I have had people say: hey.

Can you please stop sharing your videos in my groups gladly I just leave the group, that's all I did, but I would share my videos in groups and get people to check them out. If people had questions like hey, how does this work, I would say, hey? Would you mind if I show you a video and I would share a link to my video and then that slowly grew my channel now it's to the point that I really don't have to share them in facebook groups anymore, because I've built up a following of You know, and I kind of own, these tags that I use if you, if you look up HVAC our videos, if you look up ice machine videos, if you look walk up, walk in freezer, walk in cooler, if you look up any of those terms on YouTube, I can guarantee that my videos are going to be in the top 1 to 2 search results, if not the very top, and also, if you're, watching another video someone else's channel. My videos will likely be the next video that pops up on their channel. So if you're watching one of those you know YouTube, will continue and show you another video because of the tags that I use.

My videos will probably pop up, if you're looking for anything to do with HVAC and these tags are relevant to the video that I'm making so I'm making a video on a walk-in freezer. So you see, I have HVAC. Our videos is one of my tags, but then refrigeration, videos, walk-in freezer, walking, cool or walk-in freezer troubleshooting. You know all the basic stuff to buddy does a great job of helping me to learn how to do that.

So I hit suggested and then basically it's gon na say these are the tags that I should use based off of what I do. So you can see right here the tagged HVAC, our videos - and this tells you viewers received from this search term in YouTube. So if someone's looked up HVAC our videos, six thousand six point - nine thousand basically have have searched that and gotten one of my videos. So it tells you the the performance of your tags basically too, and it gives you an idea.

You know these ones are great for you. These have worked really well for your channel and then it also allows you to explore tags too. So let's say you want to look and you want to say hey. I think this would be a good tag and you type in compressor and it'll tell you yeah, it's probably not the greatest tag, and it gives you all kinds of technical, whatever stuff that I don't quite understand, but and then gives you other suggestions on different tags.

You should use so to buddy's a great great resource really really liked it. Also. I follow YouTube's best practices too. Buddy helps me with that.

So basically it gives you a whole list of things that you need to do. I need to have a playlist on my video. I need to have an end screen tags in my title and then I need to have tags. Your title needs to be one of your tags.

You need to have captions on your videos. Info cards get a like on Facebook. Your title needs to be so long. You need to be monetized.

You need to have a high resolution thumbnail. You need to share it on Twitter. I really don't share my videos on Twitter very much because I don't see a whole lot of that, but it gives you a lot of great information and suggestions to help you to understand how your video works basic info right here. This is all the show notes on my video so in this particular video right now that's going to be uploading today you see my standard, show notes and then there's affiliate links.

If someone wants to help me out on patreon, they can, if you want to help me out through stream labs, they can here's links for tools that I used inside the video share all that information. Here's my two buddy affiliate code share all that how people can get ahold of me and then I always always upload a full description kind of like so someone could read this and not even have to watch the video. You want to be very, very thorough with your description, also some other things that I do if you want to share it on Facebook, you hit allow or you deselect, allow embedding and that's what allows me to share a giant thumbnail on Facebook. If you notice, if you try to share a video on Facebook and you don't unclick that then it'll be a tiny thumbnail, but if you unclick that you can share a big thumbnail and the other thing I do too it just doesn't happen a lot.

But I allow viewers to contribute translated titles so basically for other countries, because I do get some people that watch my videos in other countries and I allow people to translate the video for me. If you look right here this. This changes every once in a while, but 87 % of the people watching my videos speak English 2 % German 1 % Arabic, Hindi, Dutch, Spanish, Filipino Swedish Danish Norwegian, so it kind of gives you an idea that will also help you to if you want to Pay to have someone translate your videos into other languages. I've thought about it, but I just don't know how good of a following I would get, but I would say that I'd probably end up translating into Spanish and maybe another language you can pay it a service to go through and watch your video listen to it And then translate it with subtitles into another language, so the subtitles are very important too, because I do have two regular people that watch no one regular person that watches my video, that's deaf and I have I've occasionally had a couple.

Other people mention that they're hearing impaired and they use the subtitles a lot. So I don't transcribe my own subtitles. I let YouTube automatically. Do it you if you want to transcribe your subtitles, that would be the best, but it's it's really time-consuming to watch your whole video and try to type it out and I'm not a fast typer again they have services that will do that for you.

So that's pretty much. It guys. Ask me more questions. I will try to give you more information.

I will have links to everything in the show notes of this video.