Best setup for a YouTube channel

Giraffe76

Hi all,

I have a friend who is a mobile mechanic and wants to setup his own YouTube channel to showcase his skills and services.

He's asked me what setup would be needed to achieve this but I wasn't sure so can anyone suggest what's needed please.

Laptop or tablet? What spec of pc to use to edit videos and what software to use? What camera to use?

He hasn't specified a budget

Any help would be appreciated

Kind regards mark

Woodstok2000

No idea on most of this, but Danny Boyle has shot parts of his recent films on iphones, so in terms of a camera any of the latest smartphones will do.

Cornucopia

It depends what kind of videos he intends to make. Simple speak-to-camera stuff can be made with anything these days. Simple editing could be done on a phone.

Something more complicated like filming the work would probably require a reasonable mobile camera and possibly some lighting. Editing might need a decent PC/laptop especially if he wants to combine multiple sources and add video effects. There are lots of video editing tools available which vary in complexity and cost. Generally, a decent PC spec is required to do video editing without seeing performance problems.

Giraffe76

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81941398#Comment_81941398

He's a mobile mechanic so wants to showcase his work

Giraffe76

Could you suggest any specs of a laptop or pc that would meet his requirements or maybe recommend any particular types of cameras please?

And any particular software to do a good job on the editing side

forgotmyname

Any laptop or desktop will work, depends on the video size and whether he wants to spend minutes/days/weeks editing the video.

Will he use a single camera setup or multiple cameras? Problem with a single setup is that the camera will always be in the
wrong location.

He could start with a decent phone camera or use multiple Go Pro's or similar. Depends on the quality he wants. He may want
some decent lighting on stands because there is little worse than a dark video when your trying to see what they are doing.

And the little worse is…. Whatever he does tell him not to play stupid music whilst talking.

Cornucopia

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81941408#Comment_81941408

I'm not a PC expert, but it would need to be a decent Laptop/PC spec, and not one of the cut down budget models. Look to be spending £500+ on a brand new machine.

I've used Lightworks software, which is reasonably straightforward. It has the advantage of having a free option so he could try before buying (which I expect he might need to do for commercial use).

Neil_Jones

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81941408#Comment_81941408

Mobile phones can do a decent job of recording video on their own, and most often audio as well.

You can always re-record audio and edit it in something like Audacity if required.

For editing, OBS Studio can do what you want, and its free on a basic level if you just want to stick various video files together to make a final edit.

Terms of hardware support for video editing you don't need anything fantastic.

It won't be possible on a laptop but a desktop you are suggested to get a secondary drive with as much space as you can afford - raw 4k video can and will suck up a considerable amount of space,, though less once its been compressed to something more manageable (though that being said most cameras will probably compress on the fly). Laptops will be dependent on a USB external drive which makes it a lot slower to access. Not that you can't do it on a laptop, like most laptops you trade performance for convenience.

Giraffe76

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81941425#Comment_81941425

He did mention about using more than 1 camera so that was definitely a thought of his.

Vitor

Good sound is an important as video, nobody wants to listen to a voice fading in and out as he moves about or a lot of background hubbub. Get a noise-cancelling radio mic he can pin to shirt.

MattMattMattUK

You need a budget otherwise we could suggest everything from "do it all on a phone you already own" through to "Here is a great setup and it will only cost you £500k".

What is his target audience, are these videos for others to learn from or are they "I did this" promotional type videos which would be a waste of time and effort.