Live coding setup

live-coding-setup.md

Live Coding Setup

Here is a list of tools and gear I use to make YouTube videos for coding. I will try to keep it up-to-date as I evolve and get better at producing content. Leave a comment, if you have suggestions!

Windows 10

I use both Mac and Windows, but I am currently doing all the capture and production on Windows. For coding, I find the Linux shell much better than PowerShell or the Windows Command Prompt.

• Windows Subsystem for Linux v2 (WSL2)
• Ubuntu 18.04 LTS

Development Environment

Visual Studio Code

You need to configure VS Code to integrate with WSL2:

• WSL2

Python setup

• Latest Anaconda

wget https://repo.anaconda.com/archive/Anaconda3-2020.02-Linux-x86_64.sh | bash

I prefer a fancy shell prompt:

• Powerline
• Powerline Git Status
  • Configure left-only

My new favorite coding font with excellent ligatures:

• Font: Monoid

Awesome code runner for quick testing of standalone code:

• Code Runner

JavaScript Environment

• Node Version Manager (NVM) is the way to go when managing NodeJS and NPM
• NPM Package eXecutor (NPX) is useful for executing NPM packages instead of installing them globally

API Testing

• Postman

Lighting

Two LED key lights mounted on my desk:

• Elgato Key Light, professional studio LED panel with 2800 lumens, color adjustable, app-enabled, for Mac/Windows/iPhone/Android, metal desk mount

As a small fill, positioned a bit low and pointing up at my face, eliminates the shadows caused by the higher key light:

• Acetaken Ring Light and Mount

Audio

I am using a Zoom H6 portable recorder in 'audio interface' mode with the "X/Y stereo input capsule" with a foam windscreen. (I use this for remote shoots, too, which is why I went with a single, portable solution.)

• Zoom H6

Video

Main camera:

• Panasonic Lumix FZ80 4K Digital Camera, 18.1 Megapixel Video Camera, 60X Zoom DC VARIO 20-1200mm Lens, F2.8-5.9 Aperture, Power O.I.S. Stabilization, Touch Enabled 3-Inch LCD, Wi-Fi, DC-FZ80K (Black)

Secondary cameras (2x):

• Logitech C920 Pro HD

This feeds into a virtual camera to do background replacement. I replace the background with a green image so that I can chroma key in Camtasia Studio.

• XSplit VCam

I use Camtasia to capture both the webcam via XSplit and the desktop. The webcam track has the microphone audio and the desktop track has the system audio. I position the webcam video and scale it down. I also use the "Remove Color" feature of Camtasia to remove the fake green screen background from VCam. I have also added mouse pointer tracking and generated keystroke annotations in Camtasia.

• Camtasia 2019

Post Production

I use the standard Adobe Creative Cloud suite:

• Photoshop for thumbnails and image editing
• Audition for audio processing
  • For voice-overs:
    • Noise print + Noise reduction
    • EQ (10 Bands) -> Simple Bass Lift
    • Multiband Compressor -> Enhance Lows
• After Effects for motion graphics
• Premiere for assembly and editing