Someone help me find recording equipment for high quality smash bros commentary!

[Nips]

I'm holding some smash bros melee tournaments in my local area and we want to record some commentary but we don't have all the equipment we need. So far we only have recording equipment to record the game but we don't know how to record to commentators at the same time. It would help me out a lot if someone could tell me what equipment I need to buy! Thanks!

 

[Flashed_Inferno]

You would need headsets for the commentators. these are inexpensive headsets I use actually.
http://amzn.to/1bLmFm5

Once you get headsets, download audacity.
http://bit.ly/1gbWKZe

I am not sure how to livestream a computer though...

 

[Kadano]

Headsets usually have pretty bad microphones. I don’t have a stand-alone mic yet, but I had the same problem recently so I read about it quite a bit. I ended up buying this one because it has many good reviews and, seemingly, an included XLR → 3.5mm cable: http://dx.com/p/91752
I’ll review it as soon as I receive it.

 

[Flashed_Inferno]

The mic on the headset I showed works great. High quality.

 

[Nips]

we want to have two commentators commentating on the same thing, would i have to get a mixer to do that?

 

[Vixen]

What capture card are you using? Let's address that first. Built-in, or usb 2.0/3.0? Are you using Windows, Linux, or Mac?

Newscasting headphones have solid built-in microphones. Sennheiser, Beyerdynamic, Shure. and Audio Technica make great ones. For reference, Chibo and Gimr use Senn, and AT respectively. I use monitoring headphones with clip-on lapel mics.

You don't need a mixer right away, but it does help. An external DAC to lower the noise floor, and an inexpensive mixer will help with audio and bypass window's inferior kmixer. You really only need an audio splitter if you're using on-board and being cheap about it.

As for software, I personally don't bother with audacity, I use programs that can interweave audio with video natively. We're talking program like Open Broadcast Software, XSplit, VirtualDub, etc. I personally recommend OBS, as it's open source, and extremely strong.

For your commentators, I recommend an external monitor for them, and keep all the chat, etc to yourself. While sometimes it is nice to interract with the stream chat, at higher profile tournaments, it's kinda unprofessional. Give them a monitor with full-screen smash, and have the person running and maintaining the stream handle all of the technical aspects on their own.

Try to put together a solid, dedicated crew of commentators. Everyone and their mother wants to try their hand, but not everyone is cut out for it.

As for links:

Professional Headsets:

Shure: http://www.amazon.com/Shure-BRH440M...qid=1389221602&sr=8-15&keywords=shure+headset

Beyer: http://www.amazon.com/Beyerdynamic-...789&sr=8-1&keywords=beyerdynamic+news+headset

Senn: http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-Du...221725&sr=8-4&keywords=sennheiser+280+headset

AT: http://www.amazon.com/Audio-Technic...221850&sr=8-2&keywords=audio+technica+headset
http://www.amazon.com/Audio-Technic...221850&sr=8-4&keywords=audio+technica+headset

Open Broadcast Software: http://obsproject.com/

 

[Nips]

What capture card are you using? Let's address that first. Built-in, or usb 2.0/3.0? Are you using Windows, Linux, or Mac?

Newscasting headphones have solid built-in microphones. Sennheiser, Beyerdynamic, Shure. and Audio Technica make great ones. For reference, Chibo and Gimr use Senn, and AT respectively. I use monitoring headphones with clip-on lapel mics.

You don't need a mixer right away, but it does help. An external DAC to lower the noise floor, and an inexpensive mixer will help with audio and bypass window's inferior kmixer. You really only need an audio splitter if you're using on-board and being cheap about it.

As for software, I personally don't bother with audacity, I use programs that can interweave audio with video natively. We're talking program like Open Broadcast Software, XSplit, VirtualDub, etc. I personally recommend OBS, as it's open source, and extremely strong.

For your commentators, I recommend an external monitor for them, and keep all the chat, etc to yourself. While sometimes it is nice to interract with the stream chat, at higher profile tournaments, it's kinda unprofessional. Give them a monitor with full-screen smash, and have the person running and maintaining the stream handle all of the technical aspects on their own.

Try to put together a solid, dedicated crew of commentators. Everyone and their mother wants to try their hand, but not everyone is cut out for it.

As for links:

Professional Headsets:

Shure: http://www.amazon.com/Shure-BRH440M-Dual-Sided-Broadcast-Headset/dp/B009K1WTO0/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1389221602&sr=8-15&keywords=shure headset

Beyer: http://www.amazon.com/Beyerdynamic-DT-109-200-50-GREY-Headset-Hypercardioid-Microphone/dp/B003D85G96/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1389221789&sr=8-1&keywords=beyerdynamic news headset

Senn: http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-Dual-Sided-Closed-Back-Supercardioid-Microphone/dp/B000Z76JBM/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1389221725&sr=8-4&keywords=sennheiser 280 headset

AT: http://www.amazon.com/Audio-Technica-Broadcast-Stereo-Headset-Dynamic/dp/B003D87JI2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1389221850&sr=8-2&keywords=audio technica headset
http://www.amazon.com/Audio-Technica-ATH-770COM-Stereo-Headset/dp/B003X519CW/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1389221850&sr=8-4&keywords=audio technica headset

Open Broadcast Software: http://obsproject.com/

thank you very much, this helped a lot!