So, I did my first stream a little over a week ago. It went pretty well for a first (in my non-expert opinion). I did really well on my overlay edits so visually it was near perfection. My roommate suggested that I add better lighting which I will try next time… especially since I already have a ring light that is still unboxed after like 4 years. Oops.

The biggest problem I ran into was the audio, which I, unfortunately, did not know about until after my stream ended. I’m a very soft-spoken person so the game easily took over my voice for starters. This was followed by the fact that my sound settings for the output of my headset’s microphone were muted. *Insert facepalm* I managed an average of 3-4 viewers throughout the stream and had a total of 17 people stop in all together.

I mentioned in my last article that this is not something I expect to be a major source of income and that remains the case for now. However, I do want it to help me get out of my comfort zone and improve my social interaction skills. I am one of those people who may seem shy or even stuck up initially, but I just need to get a feel for people before I let my guard down. Sometimes I get lucky and meet people that I instantly “click” with, but it does not happen as often as I’d like.

I am not sure when I will stream again, or even which game(s). I am pretty sure I missed a great opportunity to stream during the Diablo IV beta over the weekend but I didn’t have the energy for it. I would like to develop a schedule over time, but I anticipate my next couple of streams will still be more of a test than anything else. Fortunately, I have almost found the sweet spot for my microphone when I am streaming… but it will take a bit more trial and error. If it is not close enough, it only picks up 45%-50% of my voice audio and if I put it too close it pulls in 100% and makes me sound muffled. I am very determined to figure this out though. Once I get the hang of it, I hope that I will try to stream more often. I’ve also been shopping around for standalone mics like the type used for podcasts. It just seems like it would be a worthwhile investment for content creation in general.

I was nervous but found it to be very fun and even had viewers help me with parts of the game when I got stuck. This is exactly what I desired so I have no regrets and only a smile. I will be sure to post info on my next stream once I decide on the date and time!