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Ask HN: Advice on starting a YouTube channel?

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Re: Ask HN: Advice on starting a YouTube channel?

#41

Post by circuit10 »

geerlingguy wrote: post #35
marginalia_nu wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can never tell the difference between supposedly good audio and the equivalent of two cans connected with a string. Dunno, maybe I'm lacking the audiophile chromosome or something.

A lot of it is just "is the can the string is attached to 3" from the speaker or 3'?" A mediocre mic placed 3-6" from the mouth is going to almost always sound better than any price of mic placed 5' away, except in sound treated studios with excellent technique and strong post-processing.

“ means inches and ‘ means feet in case anyone else needs to know because I had to look this up

Re: Ask HN: Advice on starting a YouTube channel?

#42

Post by hackermailman »

mattboardman wrote: post #31
lolinder wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't specifically looked at these podcasts, but getting advice from superstars is very rarely the right move in any domain, especially in something as arbitrary as media. It's hard for a superstar to tell in retrospect what they did that contributed to their success and what was just dumb luck and coincidence.

I would agree with you, but Mr. Beast is very methodical and has the algorithm beat at this point.

I've watched those, the recommender algo he claims is simple. Whoever achieves the longest continuous views wins so you introduce every video with very brief 'here is what you are watching' then do that video you just described. What you don't do is long intros, music intros or not tell people what's going on. The thumbnail helps but not as much in the past, it should just be something interesting and unique to the video encouraging viewers to click.

Like everything you should make it a story. Here is the build up and hook, here is the wow moment or climax. A basic programming video can be this.

That's all you have to do assuming it is well edited/audio. Edit: once he started having success he paid for translations because French/Spanish is also a huge YouTube userbase

Re: Ask HN: Advice on starting a YouTube channel?

#43

Post by Gunnerhead »

CM30 wrote: post #20

Try to stick to a schedule. That's something I've personally struggled with a lot, and it's something that the more successful channels I follow have usually done better with. People like to know when new uploads will be posted, and YouTube likes to push videos that people check out quickly after their initial airing. Because of that, it's probably best not to try and post daily (or multiple times a day) unless you c…

Do you mind me asking: Have you made money? Is the money lucrative?

Re: Ask HN: Advice on starting a YouTube channel?

#44

Post by rg111 »

throw0101b wrote: post #29
carom wrote: post #12

Find a niche. People love free content. It wasn't that hard. I was making computer security videos for people, real basics for programming, networking, web interactions, number bases, bit math - stuff that you need to learn as a base to get into hacking. Grew my channel pretty quickly to 1k subscribers just by sharing them to reddit. I deleted it because I got annoyed that I was making content for YT for free (the vi…

> - Get a good mic, mic stand, shock mount. Audio is 80% of video. People will watch potato-quality video; no one will listen to garbage audio.

I second this as a consumer of a lot of MOOCs.

Bad video as long as you can read everything on the screen is okay.

But poor audio is an absolute bummer. Cannot tolerate this at all.

This doesn't make rational sense to me. I think it is probably because people have access to decent audio for much longer time than they have had good video.

Re: Ask HN: Advice on starting a YouTube channel?

#45

Post by mentos »

mr_o47 wrote: post #37
mentos wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

buy a new mic to gain traction?

Sorry what I mean by this is that once I see it’s gaining popularity I’ll invest in a mic

Ha sorry I was suggesting you should first buy a good mic so that you can gain traction. From other comments here audio quality seems to be critical

Re: Ask HN: Advice on starting a YouTube channel?

#46

Post by ROTMetro »

echelon wrote: post #30
graiz wrote: post #19

- Good audio is more important than good video. People can listen to good audio and forgive bad video, but bad audio and people will stop watching. - It takes time/audience to get traction. I started with a bunch of different topics and this was a waste of time. Having a focus for the channel helps. - It takes a ton of time. I enjoy the process but don't underestimate the time commitment. - Don't do it for subs or mo…

This is the secret to filmmaking too. Your cinematics can look amazing, but if your sound is amateur, the entire finished product is too. Bad sound kills.

I just bought a 75 inch TV and strangely HATED watching anything on it. Hooked up a soundbar (something I said I would never waste money on) and I can't stop binge watching.

Re: Ask HN: Advice on starting a YouTube channel?

#47

Post by DANmode »

mentos wrote: post #45
mr_o47 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry what I mean by this is that once I see it’s gaining popularity I’ll invest in a mic

Ha sorry I was suggesting you should first buy a good mic so that you can gain traction. From other comments here audio quality seems to be critical

Subconscious, but true: it will impact the feeling your viewers get when spending time with you.

Re: Ask HN: Advice on starting a YouTube channel?

#48

Post by jonsen »

marginalia_nu wrote: post #32
carom wrote: post #12

Find a niche. People love free content. It wasn't that hard. I was making computer security videos for people, real basics for programming, networking, web interactions, number bases, bit math - stuff that you need to learn as a base to get into hacking. Grew my channel pretty quickly to 1k subscribers just by sharing them to reddit. I deleted it because I got annoyed that I was making content for YT for free (the vi…

> - Practice speaking. Slow down. This is good advice for most people in general. Speaking slower gives more time to think about what you're going to say, which means you say better things. It's shocking how slowly you can get away with speaking. Incidentally, slowing down is also good advice for improving your handwriting.

Also speaking slower gives the listener time to think about what you say.

Re: Ask HN: Advice on starting a YouTube channel?

#49

Post by mr_o47 »

DANmode wrote: post #47
mentos wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ha sorry I was suggesting you should first buy a good mic so that you can gain traction. From other comments here audio quality seems to be critical

Subconscious, but true: it will impact the feeling your viewers get when spending time with you.

Agreed,

I just posted my first video

Let me know how you guys feel about it https://youtu.be/PU75M0QkwTQ

Re: Ask HN: Advice on starting a YouTube channel?

#50

Post by [deleted] »

carom wrote: post #12

Find a niche. People love free content. It wasn't that hard. I was making computer security videos for people, real basics for programming, networking, web interactions, number bases, bit math - stuff that you need to learn as a base to get into hacking. Grew my channel pretty quickly to 1k subscribers just by sharing them to reddit. I deleted it because I got annoyed that I was making content for YT for free (the vi…

[deleted]
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