So Guest List. Streamer Checklist. Preparation to Stream

New Gaming Guest on “So List”

I am happy to see new people on the “So List” blog as they help widen the known world of lists and checklists practice. Around a month ago there was a blog post about creating a checklist for a computer game, and now it’s a material on how to prepare for streaming.

The guest today is JoeBrewing, a gamer, and a blogger. Here is what Joe writes about himself:

I'm Joe. I play games badly. I used to be known for being able to go a long period of time without blinking. I just enjoy streaming and talking to people. Hope y'all decide to pop in and say hi.

Also, Joe writes that he is obsessed with the streaming quality, and not everyone you see on Twitch does. You know, stable internet connection via Ethernet cable, no background noise, and more. This is mostly the topic of this blog post. Here you can discover steps necessary to ensure a good streaming experience for your audience. Here you can find the live stream checklist.

Intro by Joe

When I first started streaming I would often forget to do things before I went live. It was annoying. It made me look like I didn't know what I was doing. I've never been good at coming up with checklists. It's something I tell myself that I need to do, and then I promptly forget about it until I get to the point that I'm reminded that I need to do it again.Maybe I need to come up with a checklist of checklists that I need to make. I would probably forget to make that checklist as well. Then we would end up with an Inception type scenario of me making checklists for my checklists for my checklists for my checklists.

Anyway...streaming checklist. You'd be surprised how many tasks there are that you need to do when you're getting ready to go live. It isn't just turn on computer and go live. There is SO MUCH MORE to it. This is a checklist that is very specific to me and the tasks that I do to get ready to stream. Some streamers might have more tasks. Some might have less. This is just what I find myself having to do every time I go live.

So, the Live Stream Checklist for Successful

1. Turn off any non-relevant channel point redeems.
2. Change the stream title and stream category.
3. Open my AMD Software and check the settings.
4. Open Logitech G Hub.
5. Open Stream Avatars if I'm not playing something that is too graphically intense.
6. Open Speakerbot/Streamerbot.
7. Open OBS Studio and connect Streamerbot to OBS Studio.
8. Open Lumia Stream and establish an overlay on my main monitor.
9. Open the game I'm playing.
10. Connect the game capture and the audio capture in OBS to the game I'm playing.
11. Check every audio source in OBS and make sure that it's properly connected.
12. Setup the privacy screen I use to block out the background of my room.
13. Turn on my ring light.
14. Pick the blazer I want to wear on stream and put it on.
15. Turn off the fan light.
16. Start playing “High Hopes” from Panic at the Disco.
17. Go live.

Turn Off Any Non-Relevant Channel Point Redeems

I have some channel point redeems that are catered specifically to a single game that I play. If I'm not playing that game then I need to turn off the channel point redeem as it wouldn't make any sense for it to be enabled, and more than likely would confuse the viewer. Confusing the viewer is a bad user experience, which gives them a bad impression of your stream, and if you've read my blog in the past...you know that I 100% obsess about the quality of my stream.

Change the Stream Title and Stream Category

These are the easiest to do and also the easiest to overlook. If you were playing Path of Exile 2 one day, are playing Elden Ring the next day, and you go live without changing your stream category and title then your viewers are going to be very confused when they see that you're NOT playing Path of Exile 2.

Open My AMD Software and Check the Settings

This is a VERY specific to me example so I won't delve too much into it. Just know that games often crash on me if I don't do this.

Open Logitech G Hub

This usually serves two fold for me. Logitech G Hub is what I use for my microphone audio tuning. I also use it as a way to know before going live that my microphone is working and connected the way that it should be. The cable has a way of getting a little loose while I'm sleeping. If it's not connected the way it needs to be then it won't show up in the G Hub dashboard.

Open Stream Avatars if I'm Not Playing Something That Is Too Graphically Intense

Stream Avatars is a cool little app that puts different characters at the bottom of my stream for everyone that's talking in chat. I've got a 5 year old computer so it does NOT play well with more modern and graphically intense games.

Open Speakerbot/Streamerbot

These both kind of work in tandem. Speakerbot is an app I set up that gives viewers the ability to use text to speech. Streamerbot is a super powerful tool that does a lot of my stream notifications, a lot of what happens when you redeem a channel point reward in my stream is done here, and the text to speech redeems start here before they're sent to Speakerbot. That's why I said that they kind of work in tandem.

Streamerbot is an amazingly powerful tool and EVERYONE who is a streamer should be using it. I'd imagine that 99% of streamers who use it only realize 1% of the potential that it has. It even has the ability to write C# code to do some even more complex and cool stuff. My goal is to eventually transition to doing everything through Streamerbot. Maybe I should write another blog post about Streamerbot. thinks

Open OBS and Connect Streamerbot to OBS

None of the cool things I mentioned in the bullet point above will work if I don't connect Streamerbot to OBS. This is probably THE MOST IMPORTANT step, and I've had some really bad things happen in the past if I haven't remembered to do it.

Open Lumia Stream and Establish an Overlay on My Main Monitor

Lumia Stream is a cool app that gives viewers the ability to jump scare me. It's better than most other jump scare functionalities out there. Usually when a system gives the ability to jump scare the streamer it's just a loud noise that they hear as they're streaming. Lumia puts a jump scare video over the game that they're playing as well as plays a sound. It's scared the shit out of me every time someone has used it on my stream.

Open the Game I'm Playing

This one's pretty straight forward. I can't stream myself playing a game if I'm not...playing the game.

Connect the Game Capture and the Audio Capture in OBS to the Game I'm Playing

If I don't do this then the viewers and my followers won't be able to hear the sound from the game I'm playing.

Check Every Audio Source in OBS and Make Sure That It's Properly Connected

This is one of the last things I do before I go live and it's more of a sanity check to make sure that everything will sound right than anything. Sometimes things change between the last time you turned on your computer. It's just to make sure that all of the audio sources are properly connected so that they'll be able to be heard. I have everything set up as a separate audio source. I do it that way because it gives me the ability to fine tune what audio I want to be in the VOD, and what I don't. That way I don't have to worry about the audio on the VOD being muted due to copyright issues.

Set Up the Privacy Screen

I stream from my bedroom so there's a fair amount of clutter and things on the other side of my room that I don't necessarily want to be seen on stream. Overall having them in view would decrease the overal streaming quality. I put up a privacy screen behind my chair so that what is seen on my web camera is much more appealing to my audience when I broadcast.

Turn on My Ring Light

Proper lighting is one of the most important things to have on a stream. Having poor lighting can really hurt the overall video quality from your camera. I have one ring light that I setup behind my two monitors that really helps in creating the lighting that I need to have a clear and visible camera presence on my stream.

Pick the Blazer I Want to Wear on Stream and Put It On

I wear a blazer on every stream. It's kind of become my online personality at this point, and I prefer to do so. It makes me feel fancy. There's no real functional reason for wearing one. I have two blazers that I kind of alternate between. I would like to have more at some point. I doubt that it brings in any more viewers to watch my stream, but in my mind it helps in creating the high quality atmosphere that I like to have on each stream.

Turn Off the Fan Light

Turning off the light on my ceiling fan is just one of the last steps I do before I go live. It's another step that I use to help increase the overall quality of the video feed from my camera. I also get enough light from the ring light in front of me and the curtain light behind me. So I don't really need to have the fan light on as well.

Start Playing “High Hopes” From Panic at the Disco

Start playing “High Hopes” Panic at the Disco because it is the song I play at the start of every stream to hype myself up.

Go Live

Press the go live button.

Some Follow-up Words by Joe

That's it. That's what I do every time I go live, and I go live every day. Other streamers will have other rituals and things that they do when they're getting ready to go live, but there will be parts of that list that are shared among everyone. Typically it takes me about 10-20 minutes to get ready for the next stream and to go live. So if (when) I'm late to starting my scheduled stream...it's usually because I didn't start working on the checklist soon enough.

If you ever decide to become a streamer then make sure to create your checklist. Don't procrastinate on it like I did. It'll probably start small, but you can add more onto it as you start adding more tools that you incorporate with your stream. I just installed Voicemod this morning. I'm going to use it to give the ability for viewers to redeem a channel point reward that will apply a voice modulator to my microphone. Once I completely get that set up...that's another thing that's going to be going on my checklist.

Lists, checklists, lists of checklists...they are all important.

Conclusion

Thank you for reading! Let your upload speed be good and internet connection stable. Don’t forget to visit and bookmark Joe’s blog. You can also find him on Twitch (joebrewing), Joe has a YouTube Channel (joebrewing), Twitter (@joebrewing), Instagram (@joebrewing), and Threads (@joebrewing).

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