Studio-grade. Kitchen-table budget.

For most people: a wireless clip-on system that plugs straight into your phone - it fixes distance-from-mouth, which is the thing that actually ruins phone audio. Check the connector (USB-C vs Lightning) and whether the receiver supports your editing workflow. Our microphone guides match systems to formats and budgets.

Honest answer: a recent phone beats a cheap dedicated camera for most creators. A dedicated camera earns its price when you need optical zoom, clean HDMI for streaming, or better low-light performance. Our camera guides tell you when to switch - and when to spend the money on lighting instead.

Bare walls and hard surfaces. Soft furnishings help, but targeted acoustic panels at the first reflection points do the real work - a modest panel kit transforms a spare-room studio. Our studio guides cover placement, because position matters more than quantity.

It's a programmable button pad: scene switching, audio mutes, overlays and shortcuts, one press each. For live streamers juggling software mid-broadcast it's genuinely useful; for recorded video it's a luxury. Our streaming guides are clear about which one you are.