These days, an average person spends as much as 415.5 minutes each day consuming some form of content. So, if you are pursuing a career as a content creator, this arena is pretty spacious and it will keep growing in the following years.
What you need to keep in mind, though, is that despite immense interest in online content, people do have a limited attention span, and content creators capable of releasing new stuff faster, better, and more efficiently, will have a great advantage in capturing the attention of this massive global audience.
Therefore, your goal in the following period should be to work smarter, rather than harder. Let us take a look then at a couple of tools and gadgets to help you along the way.
Professional microphone and the mic arm
No matter whether you are a professional podcaster or a gaming YouTuber people will like to hear your unique opinions about the matter at hand. And even if you are not doing that type of thing, you will be doing a lot of online conferencing so a professional mic in the vein of Logitech StreamMic Concept will make sure that everything you say is heard loud and clear.
But, if you really want to nail this down, be sure to get yourself a mic arm that will allow you to easily reposition the mic, get the best possible sound quality, and counterbalance some of the eventual weaknesses of the room where you record.
Top-tier video and sound editing software
These tools can drastically cut down the time you spend on editing the content and improve the quality of the final product. That being said, we would like to remind you that even though you may produce only the audio material, top-tier video editing platforms like Adobe Premiere Pro or Final Cut Pro will help you improve your marketing game, and produce easy-to-digest content samples you can post on YouTube and social media.
As for sound editing, you will probably get the most use from platforms like Audacity and stock sound libraries like PremiumBeat, MixKit, Adobe Stock Studio, and Marmoset Music.
Main and portable devices
These days, content creation is a 24/7 job. Therefore, we suggest that, besides your main desktop setup where you will complete the majority of the most taxing and time-consuming tasks, you also buy one portable device that will allow you to deal with the lower-priority tasks on the go.
For instance, the Apple Air lineup is known for light weight and agility so you can search and shop for Apple Macbook Air online to find the device you need. If you are not ready to carry around a laptop with you all the time, you can also consider getting a tablet, since these devices can handle a great number of productivity tasks.
High-performance screen and desk light
Of course, as we mentioned in the previous sections the bulk of your work will be performed with your main desktop device. With that in mind, your endless hours in the chair will be made much easier if you own a beautiful bright screen that won’t cause excessive eye strain – think something like Apple Studio Display with its beautiful 27-inch, 5K Retina display.
All you need from that point on would be a USB desk light that can serve as a regular desk light during productivity hours (without producing glare like regular room lights) or brighten up your face during broadcasts, online conferences, and recordings.
Professional studio headphones
Any form of content creation requires at least some sort of sound recording and sound editing. Even if you are doing casual conferencing, you need to make sure that you are able to hear the content or the people on the other sound of the screen. Unfortunately, surrounding noise and regular speaker sound quality doesn’t always make these tasks any easier.
So, consider getting yourself some professional studio headphones like Sennheiser HD 400 PRO and make all these problems go away. Besides the excellent comfort and noise cancellation, you also get stellar sound quality and a 6 Hz to 38 kHz frequency response range.
Stabilizers, gimbals, and tripods
Last but not least, content creation means you will need to capture a lot of footage and images on the go in circumstances that are considered everything but ideal. Well, no matter where you are and what are the conditions outside, you can drastically improve the quality of the output with nothing more than a simple gimbal, tripod, or dual hand stabilizer.
In the latter case, you will not only get extra support coming in the form of an additional hand grip but also an option to mount other gadgets like lights and mikes and adjust the frame for more precise accurate angles. So, you really get a mini recording studio in your backpack.
Wrapping up
So, there you have it – the top six gadgets you need if you want to start a career as a content creator. Of course, depending on the niche you choose, you may need a couple of additional tools laying around, but these few mentions should definitely set you up with strong foundations and push you in the right direction. And from that point on, every step you make will be a step forward.
© 2022, Mike Johnston. All rights reserved.
