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That's not too shabby actually. I've never worked with a kit using energy efficient bulbs, only higher wattage equipment, but I can't imagine for inside use, especially a normal apartment, being too unwieldy.

From working in the photo studios in the universities I've been in, I would suggest using soft boxes rather than bounce systems though. The bounce systems are going to have a bit more light pollution coming from the exposed bulbs themselves where the boxes will contain the light and only let out the glow from the white screens. A little easier to control and direct. But at the end of the day it really comes down to your budget and what you're comfortable fussing around with!

Here are two that are a bit pricier but give an idea of what I'm talking about.

Number One
and
Number Two

For my videos, and nearly all of my photo work, I use natural and found light. I've done studio work and taught myself how to work with flashes and off camera lights but I always come back to natural lighting. In the videos on my channel I've been using the window in our "dining area." I think it's about 5ftx6ft maybe. I'm probably over exaggerating it but it's a godsend and a was a nice surprise when we looked a the place but I'm getting off track. The reason I shoot with natural light, window light specifically, is I can more often get a hold of some solid chiaroscuro when aiming for lighting situations inspired by Dutch Still Life Painting from the 17th Century. I'm not falling in to full shadows but more taking inspiration.

That direction is really what's most important though. It's not necessarily about what I'm using to get a certain lighting scenario so much as having a clear idea of what kind of light and look I want, and then making it happen to the best of my abilities. The same can go for when you're looking at equipment to purchase, what's going to best suit the look you're wanting? Casey Neistat uses a lot of full frontal lighting to give that "fashion" look occasionally in his studio, a lot of makeup artists on Youtube seem to either be sitting right in front of a window or using a softbox behind their camera to get a bright, full coverage, lighting scenario with fairly natural color to aid their content.

So this reply turned into WAY more than I meant to. I hope I didn't ramble too far off track.

Now I'd like to start off by saying, great video! No, really! The idea was one of the first of it's type that I've seen on YT, granted I don't watch a lot of sims, but it was executed well and even had a bit of connection with your viewers, in the sense that, it was about your channel and the things that you use in your video. Now because I'm only going off of the one video and the video in question is completely sped up I will have to comment more on the side of your audio.

The first thing that I'd like to address is the fact that you don't seem confident in your mic and it's ability pick up your voice well. All I'm going to say about your mic is that it's okay and you shouldn't need a newer/better one unless that one breaks. You have little to no background noise, which is great, and for someone with an accent, you speak clearly enough for people to easily understand you.

Now onto your actual voice itself. You seem nervous and/or out of breath during your video, now I'm not sure of how to fix this problem directly, but I'd imagine a few good solutions would be to either get a good [pop filter] (https://www.amazon.com/Professional-Microphone-Stabilizing-Awesome-Recordings/dp/B01N21H9WY/ref=sr_1_3?s=musical-instruments&ie=UTF8&qid=1522666504&sr=1-3&keywords=pop+filter) or to try and 'stealthily' breath purposely away from you mic to minimize interference. But if you are genuinely nervous about recording I would suggest just imagining that you were talking to your best friend/s, not strangers over the internet.

Another thing that I've noticed in your videos is that you tend to go over the same concept over and over again at the beginning of your videos, now this isn't the worst problem you could possibly have, but all you need to do is explain it once clearly enough so that it wouldn't seem out of place in one of those "For Dummies" books.

As for the question you asked me to answer, I believe that you should likely test out some different type of music for different types of videos. An example of this being the video that you linked me was one that was sped up to the point of only being a few minutes long (Isn't a bad thing with this type of video) so you may want to use some music that is slightly faster than most, but make sure it's still only at a low volume so that the audience can still hear you.

Hope this helped <3

Some consistency with the thumbnails would be a great idea, I think. For a logo or a brand of some sort, if you've got no ideas at all, why not CBTV with your font that you've chosen for the channel logo, and have that always persist in the bottom left corner? I am pretty bad at thumbnails myself though, so just take my advice only if you've got absolutely nothing to go off of lol.

I saw somewhere above that you said you're bad with colors - try this website: http://paletton.com/#uid=30e0u0ktyE3ilLQnRH5CxuVDqnN at the top, there's some icons to click on - go for the one that says triad. that will give you a really nice and easy way of figuring out which colors compliment each other to help design your thumbnail elements.

Yeah, I think less weird would work wonders haha! I showed your video to my partner this morning and she loved it and thought it was very cute. While rewatching it we noticed that, if you can, you could definitely afford to upgrade the video quality of the face cam. It looks like you're using an ordinary webcam. I have a cheap suggestion that might help with better video quality - provided you already have a fairly up to date smartphone. Just buy a tripod and one of these - https://www.amazon.com/Cell-Phone-Tripod-Adapter-Smartphone/dp/B00OS9E6AO

As long as your lighting is good, you'd have great video quality for the cost of basically just the tripod. I hope that helps man. Cheers!

I'm guessing filming on a webcam. C920 by Logitech or something in that vein?

Around the 36 second mark your voice doesn't sync up with your lips for a few seconds when you turn to Mime Jr.

Yikes, 1:18 the audio clip! My ears. Maybe it's just me but the clipping audio jokes are never funny. I have crazy sensitive ears.

So, we finally get into the meat of the video by 1:18 of a 14:08 video. I'm a big, big proponent of having your introduction tight. This is where your audience will decide to keep watching or immediately click away, leaving your audience retention rate plummeting. You don't have enough views for an adequate sample size, but I can say that personally I'd have clicked away.

I don't have as much time to spare nowadays to be patient on content. The quicker, the punchier, the video, the more it will keep me watching. I want the meat of the video, NOW, not later. Not a bad segment introduction for Triple Play either, very retro and it fits the concept well.

We're getting a ton of light refraction off your glasses, as well as some direct cast shadows behind you on your shelf. You can definitely tell where the light is coming from. If I might make a recommendation, if you're going with this setup you need to get some diffusers and some cross lighting to your sides to filter out those shadows and prevent that kind of direct refraction on your glasses, if you choose to wear them.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B018KE5XUO/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

This is the set I use. It's cheap and effective for my purposes, which is mainly light up my shots. I don't wear glasses during my live action shots though. I don't have enough lights to diffuse to the sides (removing my cast shadows) or the front enough to light up my face. I have one single light up front, which still gives me a glare. If you don't understand this concept let me know. I'm in my office right now and can record a brief video giving a mild tutorial on how my lights are setup and how they impact my live action shot.

There's a big imbalance in your live shot audio and your narration audio when you break into the video. Your narration is actually really pleasant, the live action shot wasn't. The equipment you have at your disposal needs to strengthen your presentation and you need to work with that in mind. Your strength is going to come in your presentation on the non-live action parts, so break into this quicker.

If you want to do live action shots, you're going to need the lighting and some work on how to frame your shots. While I appreciate that you've setup in front of a bunch of games/game consoles and a shelf full of pretty stuff to look at, the live action shot (ignoring the points I referenced above) aren't very nice to look at. We have a frame that's split in half; a top blue wall with nothing up top and a lot of dead space, and the bottom half that's filled to the brim with tons of colors. Your frame also looks slightly askew too.

As I'm watching the video your narration is still out of sync with your live action shots of your voice. Again, I want to click away. I really, really want to click away. These live action shots aren't good, man, I'm sorry. I want you back to the in game narration ASAP.

This is where I just couldn't keep it together anymore. I clicked away. The screaming, audio clipping and the joke setup about motion controls just wasn't funny. Some younger views might get a kick out of it, but I'm definitely not the person who would enjoy this.

Overall there's some good stuff here to build on, but a lot of bad stuff detracting from it. Sorry for taking so long to respond to you, I fell asleep.

Ok :) Yeah exactly, it's really important! Ah ok. I use one of these and have found it really, really good honestly. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rode-Microphones-NT-USB-Microphone/dp/B00KQPGRRE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1506712467&sr=8-1&keywords=rode+nt+usb. For me it was expensive but it was worth it. I have a fan on and the PC is right beside me. I also have an MSI 970, the one with the fan problem so one goes jet engine mode every now and then. Mic cuts it all out, with some techno magic O_O The Vegas audio stuff is pretty good and simple, worth your time :) EQ and Compressor seem to normally suffice. You'll have to fiddle a bit to get it the way you want but if you play it by ear it's pretty straightforward, just make sure you save your presets hah.

So ill focus on three things: Audio, lighting and general video stability ect.

First off Audio.
Audio makes up alot of the video and if it sucks its bad. The built in mics on phones are pretty good but the rode video mic me will add value
I dont think this is the first and most important thing and you should look at some alternatives wich are cheaper. Just buy something because if youre going to be further away from the phone the sound will often suck. Heres a good video on this topic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5M3Zn8h27c

next up lighting, think about your current setup, will you be able to film at night, wdo you have enough light? If you have alot of space id recommend a softbox kit from amazon. You get 2 sopftboxes for usually around 50bucks wich will give you soft even light.If you dont have enough space/budet look for led video lights on amazon. neewer has something called like 160 or whatever.Its just a big thing with lots of leds and it gets super bright(https://www.amazon.com/Dimmable-Digital-Camcorder-Panasonic-Samsung/dp/B004TJ6JH6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1487198195&sr=8-1&keywords=neewer+led)
You might need something to hold up the light but books will also do the job.

As for general I think theres 2 things. One either a gorilla pod or tripod, think about your situation. Will a gorilla pod get high enough?Again books will do the job fine but it can be annoying. A regular tripod will be comfortable to use but might not work for you. And last is some app that lets you change settings, I think theres one called filmicpro just look up some video shoting apps. Mainly you want it to turn off auto focus exposure ect so theres no weird jumping around focus/exposure.

Good luck with your channel, I think an app that lets you turn off autofocus and exposure is very important and depending on your situation you should invest in lights or audio. Or maybe even both.

Have fun with your eating!

Continue to practice until you feel that you can overcome your nervousness. Redo the lines where you feel you stuttered, or edit them out. I've recently been given advice on my speech and audio quality as well.

This is going to be long, but I hope it helps:

My problem with my speech during recording is that air gets recorded as well (if I make popping sounds when I say a certain word such as Piano, Karen, etc.)

So, I've told to keep away from recording too closely, and I tested it out recently, and it's working perfectly!

As for the audio quality/mic, here a few links I've been given as well to improve it:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00XBQ8UGG/

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ACFAULC/

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B076HMR23G/

I also use audacity for audio editing (editing out stutter words or incorrect words, adding in the right words, increasing the audio volume, reducing background noise, etc)

You'll definitely get better the more you practice, and this is your first video, so it's not going to be perfect.

I didn't mean to make this long, but I hope this helps!

I will try to keep this short and to the point even though your question is quite in depth.

What is vlog? 
Its a Video blog. There are various types of vlogs. Some youtubers like shaytards and casey neistat are really good storytellers. So they post their day to day lives online sharing interesting parts of their day. 

What are the unexpected challenges of making vlogs? 
For many you tubers who vlog without setting boundaries and respecting those boundaries have ended up in broken relationships. 2014-2016 I have seen some long time you tubers (some who have been doing it from 2006) ended up separating or divorced because of this. So choose wisely.

What camera to use? 
The nikon d7000 you have is a good starting camera for entry level video Production. But it is not a good vlogging camera when you are starting out. It is too heavy for the initial vloggin application.


Any one of the three cameras that she wants would suffice for her application. I currently use the sony rx100 mVI. 

This is my recommended list for vlogging cameras. If you have good budget.

1. Sony rx100 mV http://amzn.to/2gilEAC
   
2. Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark II http://amzn.to/2gh0Btq
   the list below might be an over kill. But will allow for her to grow into higher production value in the long term.
   
3. Canon EOS M5! http://amzn.to/2hcEB52
   
4. Sony A6500 http://amzn.to/2gHGTIp
   
   Make sure you get a gorilla tripod or a flexible tripod that she would find it easy to carry around and also a ton of third part batteries. You can find them cheap on amazon.
   
   For video editing. I would suggest starting with Sony vegas movie suite. http://amzn.to/2gHJoua
   This is what I started on after doing Movie maker for years. It has plenty of built in tutorials with guided editing within the application. So you would learn some advanced techniques. This will prepare the mind for other complex systems like hit film final cut and adobe. Sony’s editing software is really robust. they are just not good at marketing it well.
   
   
   Hopefully I answered all your questions. If I missed something or if you need clarification do not hesitate to reach out. 

Good luck!
   
   

I think you have some great energy and a good plan to move forward. I would recommend a better mic. Something like This works amazing and gives you the ability to edit your audio as well. Other then that..keep it up! #Roadto100Subs

https://www.amazon.com/Rode-NT-USB-Versatile-Studio-Quality-Microphone/dp/B00KQPGRRE/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=rode+n1&qid=1565524439&s=gateway&sr=8-5

So you just got an animation of a subscribe not even an intro. interesting. Not really you shouldn't do that. you should write something down. There's a lot of you repeating yourself. Your energy is so low. I understand that you're not saying anything like exciting but you should show more of your own personality and not have such a monotone delivery. There's a lot of motivational speakers that talk about similar things that you're talking about.

I think you should study up on some motivational speakers to better improve. Marie Forleo is a good youtube that does motivational speaking. She also brands herself really well and her delivery is good. Also get rid of that white background. Find some place else you can record. it's just so bland you have to liven everything up. Everything right now just seems so stilted and quiet.

Depends on how serious you are, but you might want to think about picking up some dedicated LED lights. I wound up with two of these guys: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NH503GG

And I've been thrilled with them. Nice, bright, good even light. They really upped my game.

Wow! I'm really surprised that you don't have more subscribers. You were really entertaining and funny through the video. If I was to critique anything is that you should do more videos like this on your channel and maybe look at the camera a bit more.

You just earned a new subscriber😎

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00XBQ8UGG/ref=mp_s_a_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1500864731&sr=8-12&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=mic

My brother uses this mic and it works really good.

Nice job! I thought it was a real good list and I've gotta agree with most of it, especially maximum overdrive. A few suggestions I'd make would be to try a different background, maybe have some horror related things around you like posters, figures, whatever. I'd also say try messing around with the lighting a bit for the face cam parts. It was shadowy too yellow. If you don't have anything specific you use I'd suggest this set.

https://www.amazon.com/Photography-Portrait-Continuous-LimoStudio-LMS103/dp/B005FHZ2SI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1469661904&sr=8-1&keywords=limostudio+lighting+kit

It's cheap and it works really well. You are very charismatic and the content of the video itself is really good. I liked the overall length of the video too, not overly long and just enough to describe each film and get the idea of why it made the list. Keep up the good work!

A blanket on the wall would help a lot, especially if you splurge a little and get one specifically for sound dampening.

I personally use one of these. If you have room and don't mind talking into a foam box this thing is amazing. It isolates your mic from ambient noise (like your roommate) plus it'll eliminate audio reflections which will improve the quality of your recordings.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07H6VJHX2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Also if his voice coming through on your recordings is the only real issue you may be able to eliminate it using a noise gate in post production which is free.

​

Good luck!

"nice"

"gaming headset"

Yeah, those words don't belong together...do yourself a favor, buy a real set of headphones, and a real mic. The sound will be far superior, your ears will thank you, and whoever you end up playing with will also thank you.

Go to Massdrop, buy a set of the Sennheiser 58x Jubilees ($160, free shipping in US), then buy a ModMic 5 from AntLion ($70 via Amazon). It's versatile, it'll sound really damn good without requiring preamps or DACs, and you can probably knock it out with a single paycheck.

So if you want to use your favorite pair of headphones that has a detachable mic.

You can buy something like this or this

Now if you dont have a nice pair of headphones.

I would suggest a set a headset of some kind. Not sure how the 3.5mm to rj9 converter works so I cant comment on that.

In terms of headsets something from the likes of HyperX or Logitech would be good options. I heard good things with HyperX cloud line up of headsets.

However my personal recommendation are headphones similar

Samson SR850 and Superlux HD668B with the detachable mics I listed before.

Choice is yours though.

Let me know if you have any questions

Haha thanks man. I used this exact lamp for the shot, just without the shade and a softer light bulb. It's one of those "mom gifts" I got when I started playing guitar haha
(Not sure why it's so expensive on Amazon!)
https://www.amazon.com/Novelty-Guitar-Table-Decoration-Living/dp/B073GNLXFH

Thanks! I've been eyeing something cheap like this (comes with stand):
https://www.amazon.com/Photography-Portrait-Continuous-LimoStudio-LMS103/dp/B005FHZ2SI/ref=sr_1_2?s=photo&ie=UTF8&qid=1474599365&sr=1-2&keywords=light+set

Have you used the neewer one? Seems like it would be a great key light. I've heard the cheaper ones can sometimes have flicker problems, but the reviews are kind of amazing for it only being $33. Might have to pick it up. What's your lighting like?

Spend money on an expansive camera is a big mistake when you just start.

If you have the last iPhone or Samsung it will be enough. Even Huawei make greats videos!

You have to buy a stabilizer and a tripod for your smartphone.

For the sound, you can buy a microphone for smartphone on Amazon.

I recommend this one:

- Movo VXR10 Universal Microphone Video with Shock Mount - 39.95$

https://www.amazon.com/Movo-VXR10-Microphone-Windscreen-Smartphones/dp/B0723D3FVL/

Great sound if you're close enough to the camera. I have it since 1 year now

​

Good luck

The best bang-for-the-buck microphone right now it the AT 2020. Countless musicians, voice actors, etc recommend it for beginners and people looking to step up their game.

If you're absolutely hellbent on a USB mic, I've heard that the Samson C01U is good, but I do highly recommend going XLR.

Nice snappy editing! I think you would really benefit from a soft light - whatever you were using while sat on the sofa was far too harsh, and the talking head shot at the desk is too flat.

​

A ring light is a great idea, and doesn't have to be expensive... https://www.amazon.com/Selfie-Ring-Light-LEDGLE-Upgraded/dp/B07T1BDTXX/ref=sr_1_22_sspa?keywords=ring+light&qid=1563797233&s=gateway&sr=8-22-spons&psc=1

Ig i payed $50 for it actually but it works great

Blue Snowball iCE Condenser Microphone, Cardioid - Black https://www.amazon.com/dp/B014PYGTUQ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_QBpxzbBR718J0

And what type, headset, one to place on a desk or handheld ones?
For ones on the desk a snowball are pretty good:

https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Snowball-Condenser-Microphone-Cardioid/dp/B014PYGTUQ/ref=sr_1_4?crid=35Q42ABO64FU&keywords=snowball+mic&qid=1572375229&sprefix=snowball+mic%2Caps%2C400&sr=8-4

Oh, gotcha. I don't know about compatibility with blue yeti, I guess that's something either someone else can give you an answer for or you can research some more.

My mic is an ATR2500 USB: https://www.amazon.com/Audio-Technica-ATR2500-USB-Cardioid-Condenser-Microphone/dp/B004QJREXM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1497220275&sr=8-2&keywords=atr2500+usb

The boom stand I'm using is a cheap NEEWER stand: https://www.amazon.com/Adjustable-Microphone-Suspension-Broadcasting-Voice-Over/dp/B00DY1F2CS/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1497220124&sr=8-3&keywords=mic+boom+arm
It works pretty well for the price.

Buy this: https://www.amazon.com/Samson-C01U-Studio-Condenser-Microphone/dp/B00HXE4BYW/ref=sr_1_3?s=musical-instruments&ie=UTF8&qid=1510400515&sr=1-3&keywords=Samson+C01U

This: https://www.amazon.com/Tree-New-Bee-Microphone-Suspension/dp/B01JTOK5DE/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?s=musical-instruments&ie=UTF8&qid=1510400601&sr=1-1-spons&keywords=microphone+arm&psc=1

And this (in case you're appearing on camera, that pop filter that comes with the mic arm might be a little bit to big): https://www.amazon.com/PEMOTech-Microphone-Isolation-Windscreen-Recording/dp/B01J5OTVTC/ref=sr_1_6?s=musical-instruments&ie=UTF8&qid=1510400541&sr=1-6&keywords=pop+filter

This is enough to have great audio.

I used the provided stand for a bit. It's serviceable, the main problem being the base needs to be where the mic is, which is often where your keyboard is too. I just got a NEEWER mic stand which works with the Blue Snowball and it's awesome. Super cheap too! When you look at it, it doesn't seem to be compatible, but the mic holder can be unscrewed and the base can be further unscrewed again to reveal the connector for the Snowball.

https://www.amazon.com/NEEWER-Microphone-Suspension-Scissor-Stand/dp/B00DY1F2CS

Personally I use the Blue Snowball but if $50 is a bit out of range you could always go with ZaxSound