The Gear I Use

Here is the list of gear I am currently using to code and make my videos. Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Audio

Audio-Technica AT2020 | US | UK

AT2020

I bought this mic to replace the cheap mic I had before and was really pleased with the sound quality upgrade I got. It’s priced well, feels solid and well made and sounds great. My videos all use this mic and I hardly ever have to edit my audio tracks which is fantastic. I have it on a standard desk arm plugged into my audio interface which provides the power. For a mic this price I’d highly recommend. Will probably only upgrade to the fabled SM7B once I have everything else I wanted.

Focusrite Scarlett Solo 3rd Gen | US | UK

Scarlett Solo 3

For those of you with a keen eye you might notice the guitars in the background of my videos. I wanted to get a good audio interface that would let me plug my microphone in and my guitars to record. This one fitted the bill, had enough inputs for my usage and had the quality I was looking for.

Now all my audio goes through this red box. Works great powering my mic, and lets me record my guitar playing too. Recommend! Upgrade your audio people!

Video

Logitech C920 | US | UK

Other video: Nikon D3300 UK | US

Logitech c920

I rate audio over video, especially for the videos that I create. It’s much more important to be able to hear what I say rather than have top notch video quality. However I have been very pleased with the results with both of these cameras. The logitech webcam has proven very good, especially when you light yourself well.

It’s great for having yourself in the bottom corner of the video. It’s not great for anything else mind, and you may find that your phone would work better for vlog style videos. Having said that I still use it and although I have plans on upgrading, that will cost a lot of cash so if you can get one of these cheap then they are worth the money.

The rest of my vlog style videos are shot on the Nikon D3300 . This is an older model now but still produces pretty good results. I use the kit lens still too, as I didn’t want to invest into Nikon for video due too a couple of reasonably large flaws.

The first is the autofocus, which is pretty terrible. The second is no flippy screen. I’ve recorded mysel plenty of times and had to trash it because I was out of focus a little or the top of my head was off the top of the screen. This camera is good for photos though, its compact and with good image quality. Plus the SD card loads at the side, which is incredibly handy when using on a tripod !

If its video you are after many people recommend the Canon M50 for its vlogging ability. When it’s time to upgrade my video I will look to this option first, with a capture card to replace both my webcam and dslr.

Headphones#

Grado SR60 Grados

SR60’s

I have the older SR60i but this one and the SR60e are basically the same. It took me a while to get into these headphones, prefering the neutral sound of my Superlux HD668B’s but now I love them. The sounds is amazing and I love the retro look. Handmade in New York too, great design and fully openback for that large soundstage. Not good for if you are around other people mind they can hear everything you can! This rules out portability a bit too but for me sat at my desk watching YouTube or Netflix they are fantastic.

Extras

ESDDI studio lights | US | UK

ESDDI Lights

Pretty straight forward, no thrills but come with everything you need. No adjustable brightness but I find in a dark room 2 of these setup in the right places gives great lighting. Probably the best upgrade I made

Zoom HN1 | US | UK

Zoom H1N

I use this for vlogs as it sounds better than my DSLRs onboard mic, and allows me to freed from being tethered to the camera. I use a cheap mix with it too and it still sounds awesome. Records in MP3 or WAV and with a good lav mic attached this would be excellent sound quality!

Other fun stuff#

Old Thinkpad:

Thinkpad X200

Bit of a thing about these, bought for 90 quid on eBay, one battery and SSD later and we have a useful machine! Runs linux and used for messing around on and coding in public places. So I look cool.

2012 Macbook:

Macbook Pro

Thought I needed one of these. A very good machine and even now represent good value. Well put together and the trackpads are fantastic. Needs some more RAM but still good for coding/watching videos in bed… Mainly used as a prop…

Software

All of these are FREE and will serve you until the end of time.