QUESTION · TUESDAY FOCUS

Which supposed "must-haves" can you drop from a show without much trouble, and which "creature comforts" have you found surprisingly necessary?

ASKED BY · Josh Kaufman · PITTSBURGH, PA, USA · 03 NOV 2026 · ▶ 00:52:10

THE PANEL'S ANSWER
Stephen Heywood

Moved from SDI cables to NDI workflow and wireless audio to simplify setup while maintaining quality; dropped hardwired solutions in favor of wireless microphone systems and iPad-based audio control for portability.

Summarised by AI from what the panel said. Watch the moment for the full answer.

IN THEIR OWN WORDS

From the transcript.

Machine-transcribed, so it may contain errors. Every timestamp opens the episode at that second.

52:09Let's go to the next question. This one's from Josh Kaufman in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Which supposed must-haves can you drop from a show without much trouble, and which creature comforts have you found surprisingly necessary? Ooh, that's an interpretable question. How do you interpret it? I think he's asking about what things in the production should I drop. and what things am I, uh, like I'm comfortable with that.

52:36I don't want to drop at least if I'm understanding the question, right. Um, you, since a lot of these guys, you guys are broadcasters, you understand this in my background being broadcasting, I have software switchers, but I am, I am a fan of hardware switchers. I am, I love NDI, but an old SDI cable, you can't beat it, man. And like, I, I am right.

53:01I, I maybe, I like to be hardwired with everything as much as I possibly can. But lately I've, again, to let go of things, I've moved to a completely NDI workflow. I'm moving more and more to, I hate to say it, but wireless audio. I have a rack mount personas that I use. So everything's wireless. I just throw that in and use the iPad to control the audio.

53:26I've I've certain things I've gone through and I'm like it pains me but those are some things that I you know I had to I had to get rid of the old snake the 50 foot snake you know and uh podcast mic with a countryman I had to go to a wireless you know so it is what it is we have one more question to get to before we wrap things up

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ALSO IN THIS EPISODE

14 more questions
from Reinventing a Brand with Stephen Heywood.

The whole episode →
▶ 00:02:30You have a fascinating story of reinvention. You came out of tech broadcasting. How did you decide to make the pivot into the gaming world?▶ 00:24:28What changes are you seeing in the game world now that anyone can spin up a version of Doom in AI? Could we all become game creators? Pong, Mario, Call of Duty?▶ 00:26:38Steven, please talk about your views on where the live streaming landscape is heading next.▶ 00:29:23Gaming continues to be bigger than most Hollywood blockbusters. What are those audiences looking for? And how can Office Hours Global work alongside that group? We have a lot of similarities: technical interests in streaming, interactivity, community.▶ 00:31:11What words of encouragement do you have for our community members that want to start or grow a YouTube channel?▶ 00:33:37Did you visit or have friends visit the Call of Duty Modern Warfare 4 pop-up in LA? Thoughts on if it was successful for the game? Could this be done for independent games?▶ 00:35:45What are your thoughts on these IRL "Backpacks"?▶ 00:37:21Stephen, do you consider professional producers are still relevant now that "everyone" can have a YouTube channel and stream? How can you be an outlier in the industry?▶ 00:39:50What feels distinctive about the culture of gaming communities compared with the tech community you came from?▶ 00:43:22Looking at your channel and the old videos versus the new, what initiated the "Reinvention"?▶ 00:49:06Have you seen people turn skills learned through gaming streams into opportunities in live production or other fields?▶ 00:51:01Besides YouTube, do you still follow through your career in a regular 9-5? Or has this YouTube channel and convention production become your business?▶ 00:53:51What would you advise us to transform ourselves and shift on improving our content and channels?▶ 00:57:55What do you do to help people find your channel and make it feel connected and relevant?