Opening a YouTube or Twitch channel is easy, but then there is the content creation part, which includes both the thematic initiative and the essential tools. Reaching the crowd is not simple, and what is worse, there is no magic formula that guarantees success.. The creator or author, through his or her charm and charisma, will probably become his or her subject for creating content, while other people will prefer to focus on certain points or specific fields and not on themselves.

But if you're starting from scratch, especially if you have little to no knowledge of creating videos, it's essential not to delude yourself and be realistic. Every path begins with the first step, but standing out isn't easy and, to top it off, it's not a meritocratic walk. A stroke of luck can help a channel take off, even if you don't deserve it if you stick to the quality of its content. Yes, the world is unfair. What can we do about it?

Having a clear concept of what you want to offer to the public is probably the first step to becoming a video creator.. But once this initial idea is clarified, what software tools are essential to make videos? Don't be impatient, because now we will mention some of the free and open source software to get you started in this world.

OBS Studio

We start with a traditional one in the field: OBS Studio. This program does not require any introduction at this point, as we are talking about Among the giants of video format content, both for recording and transmission.

We are faced with an app that has proven its worth more than enough in the professional field. Although its work platform can be daunting, the truth is that using it in a basic way is simple, although it is also necessary to have some prior knowledge about resolution, colors, image quality and audio quality.

When starting it for the first time, we recommend having all the devices that are going to be used connected in order to have an initial configuration much closer to the one that will then be used in production.

Kdenlive

Probably the most common non-linear video editor among users of Linux and those that are published as free software and free to use. A member of the KDE project, it stands out from many of its opponents due to the fact that it has a much slower learning curve while being able to provide enough features for low-profile professional projects.

In other words, if you don't know how to edit videos, Kdenlive is a great place to start. KDE is all about extreme usability and customization, two virtues that carry over into the app to make it much easier to use.

A user can end up creating easy videos through trial and error, but if one doesn't like to take too many shots in the dark, our video tutorial is at your disposal. tutorial Kdenlive Basics, where we explain how the most basic parts are used (covering all the features would make a thick encyclopedia).

Shotcut

Another exponent of free video editing, in this case with much more consistent support through Windows, Linux and macOS.

Shotcut is a video editor with Expert claims which has among its specifications the following: “detailed multimedia features, recent files with search, playlist with thumbnail view, filter panel, history view, encoding panel, job queue and merged server and playlist. It also allows drag and drop of assets from the file manager”.

Its working platform is not as malleable or obvious as Kdenlive's, but it will probably be much more familiar to those who have successfully dealt with a non-linear video editor. Its evolution is incessant and it has more and more followers.

GIMP

And another app that needs no introduction. GIMP is one of the leading exponents of free and open source image editing software, although its critics criticize its slow development.

Beyond everything, we are faced with an image manipulator who It more than covers the needs of a novice or low-profile content creatorWith some imagination it can be used to insert signs, put logos, images on the video, etc. To do this you need to make an image with exactly the same resolution as the video and then export to PNG by choosing the option “Store pixel color values with transparency”. Of course, the box with the alpha channel must be visible so that the PNG is transparent and not opaque after export.

Krita

Among the projects published as free and open source software that have seen the greatest growth over the previous decade, moving from a situation of relative marginality to becoming a leader in their segment.

To be much more specific, Krita is a noted drawing app that also has powerful options for image manipulation, although the options for the second task are not as “obvious” as in GIMP. In other words, you have to dig a bit through the app to get the most out of Krita for image manipulation, but even so, many choose it over GIMP.

Krita can be useful for making thumbnails/covers and also adding more imaginative/artistic images to videos. That now depends on what you want to do.

Audacity

Even though we are covering video creation and editing, it is possible to find yourself in the situation of having to deal specifically with audio. Although video editors have options for audio manipulation, sometimes it is better to deal with it with a solution focused on that.

Audacity is an audio editing veteran billed as free and open source. It has debugging options; instant recording; MIDI playback; multitrack capabilities with controls; navigation, zoom, single track editing and destructive and non-destructive effects processing; WAV, AIFF, MP3, AAC, WMA, ARM and OGG Vorbis import; plus noise reduction.

Audacity proved its worth in real production environments.

VLC

While it is popular mostly for being a video player, being the most notable for many, The truth is that VLC is a strong multimedia suite, since it is not only capable of playing video and audio, but also has recording options, so for many it is probably still an alternative to OBS Studio depending on what you want to do.

All of the above is combined with a modular design and the ability to support plugins, which makes VLC a highly customizable app that can be adapted to the needs and purposes of the user.

As we can see, VLC is not only used to play the pre- and post-editing material of video, as it integrates a number of options.

It is better to sacrifice image quality than sound quality

If one starts out as a self-taught person studying how to modify videos (as is the case with this server), it is logical to continue groping in the dark.

Although the way of editing depends on what you want to do (and there may even be different ways to do the same thing), there is one aspect that is partially universal, and that is the medium through which the content is consumed.

For a few years now, smartphones have become the preferred interface for consuming Internet content, even in video format.This situation suggests that many people watch YouTube, at least for part of the day, using the flat rate of their smartphone, which encourages lowering the resolution to avoid high data consumption.

Consequently, it is preferable to have excellent audio quality than image quality, especially since many low-end smart mobile gadgets range They don't offer much quality in that regard. If you're not sure whether to sacrifice image or sound quality because you can't cover both or you're not sure what to prioritize, the answer is clear for most situations: it's better to sacrifice image quality.

Other apps that could be useful in creating videos for YouTube

LMMS

LMMS, which previously stood for Linux MultiMedia Studio (not this way at the moment to emphasize its cross-platform nature), is a digital audio station published as a free and open source program that supports Windows, Linux and macOS.

It is possible to use it to generate music by organizing samples, synthesizing sounds, playing a keyboard MIDI and mixing tracker and sequencer functionalities. It is capable of reading and writing custom presets and themes and exporting audio in OGG, FLAC, MP3 and WAV formats. It has effects mixer, piano roll and song, rhythm and bassline editors.

Mixxx

Mixxx is a app of disc jockey for various platforms. It can be mastered with MIDI and HID and vinyl records with time code, apart from accepting to use the keyboard and a PC mouse.

Format-wise it supports MP3, Vorbis, Opus, AIFF and FLAC, and since version 1.8 it includes a plugin system that opens the door to reading other formats, including some patented ones such as AAC, whose free distribution is not permitted. In addition, through PortAudio it supports a wide selection of sound chips using the ASIO, WASAPI and DirectSound frameworks on Windows; OSS, ALSA and JACK on Linux; and CoreAudio on Mac OS X.

Blender

The archconodia 3D graphics creation and rendering solution It is not only a source of pride for free software, but it has also established itself in the professional field, having been used, for example, for the EVANGELION production:3.0+1.0.

Blender can assist in creating inputs and outputs and also has its own video editor. Although it is not an app particularly suited for the second purpose mentioned, there are those who dare to use it for that purpose.

Remember to grant money

Have you become a successful content creator and are you making money from it? If you use some of the projects mentioned above for your productions, it would be advisable to donate some money to help their development and maintenance, because as we know, it is well-born to be complacent.