Three days before: account and verification
- Create or upgrade the Twitch account you want to broadcast from. Pick a username you will not outgrow in six months.
- Turn on two-factor authentication. Twitch requires 2FA before you can stream, and you want it regardless.
- Verify your email and phone in account settings. This unblocks stream key creation.
- Add a profile picture and a short bio. Even a placeholder is better than a blank profile when new viewers check who you are.
The day before: install OBS and run the auto-configuration wizard
- Download OBS Studio from obsproject.com. Do not install random third-party builds.
- Run Tools → Auto-Configuration Wizard. Let it test your upload and pick a starter preset.
- Open Settings → Video and confirm the canvas matches your monitor’s native resolution and the output is what you actually want to broadcast (1920x1080 is the safe default).
- Open Settings → Output, switch to Advanced output mode, and confirm CBR, 2-second keyframe interval, and a sensible bitrate (4500 to 6000 kbps for 1080p30, with your upload as the ceiling).
If the bitrate wizard picked something your connection cannot hold, run it again with a lower target bitrate. The stream bitrate calculator is a quick sanity check.
An hour before: audio and microphone
- Wear headphones. Speakers and open mics cause echo on stream.
- Mic gain: in OBS’s audio mixer, set your mic so normal speaking peaks around -12 to -6 dB. Loud shouting should not clip.
- Add noise suppression. OBS’s built-in RNNoise filter is a reasonable starting point. Add a compressor if your voice swings between loud and quiet, and a limiter if you want a safety net against sudden laughs or shouts.
- Mic monitoring off when actually streaming. Mic monitoring is for setup testing, not live broadcasting.
An hour before: sources, scenes, and overlays
- Game Capture (Windows) for the game itself. Set the mode to capture the specific executable, not the whole desktop.
- Video Capture Device for your webcam, sized to the bottom corner of your layout.
- Audio Input Capture for your microphone. Add as its own audio source so it stays separate from desktop audio.
- One starting-soon scene and one gameplay scene is enough for a first stream. More scenes can wait until you have something to switch to.
- Skip alerts and bots on day one. They are nice, but they also break, and the time spent fixing a broken alert before going live is the time you wanted to spend testing your picture.
Thirty minutes before: record a test and listen back
- Click Start Recording in OBS. Play the game for 30 to 60 seconds and talk like you are actually streaming.
- Listen with headphones. The test only counts if you actually play it back.
- Check the recording: is your voice clearly louder than the game? Any echo? Any notification sounds? Any pop or hiss?
- Fix what you find and record again. Two short tests are faster than a 30-minute stream you will not be able to re-use.
Five minutes before: title, category, and go live
- Pick a title that says what you are actually doing (“Painting a Dungeon Map for the First Time” beats “Just Chatting #1”).
- Pick the correct category on Twitch. Putting a game in the wrong category hurts discoverability.
- Set language. It only takes a moment and helps the platform route your stream.
- Decide if you want stream chat visible on screen. Most streamers do not, at least at first.
- Close any private windows, mute notifications, silence phone alerts, and tell anyone in the room you are about to go live.
- Click Start Streaming in OBS. Watch the dock for dropped or skipped frames for the first 60 seconds.
During the stream: keep it simple
- Plan 30 to 60 minutes. Long first streams usually end in fatigue and sloppy audio. A solid 30 minute stream is a great first goal.
- Talk through what you are doing. Even when chat is quiet, narrate your decisions and the small things you are thinking about.
- Watch chat on a phone or second monitor. Do not put chat on stream until you trust your layout.
- End before you burn out. Finish on a high note and say when you will be back.
After the stream: review and pick one improvement
- Watch the VOD yourself. Audio issues you missed during the stream are obvious on playback.
- Pick one thing to improve next time. Audio, picture, or layout. Not all three at once.
- Save the OBS scene as your starting point for stream two.