Live-streaming your DJ sets became standard practice during the pandemic, and even though the dust is beginning to settle from the events of COVID, the relevancy of live-streamed DJ sets remains just as meaningful now as it was at the height of its initial rise to popularity. But now that Twitch streams have been a thing for a few years, audiences expect more than just setting up your decks in your living room and seeing what happens.
Fans and audiences expect some level of production value in the streams they want to watch, and putting just a minimal amount of effort into your setup can mean the difference between a passing viewer moving on and them becoming lifelong fans and subscribers. So let’s take a step beyond just the conventional “Ultimate Streaming Starter Guide Essential” articles spread across the internet and instead focus on a select group of products you can snag that can turn your amateur live stream into something professional.
Imaginando’s Visual Synth
Visuals are one of the most critical factors that can turn a decent live stream into something extraordinary. And while many DJs and streamers rely on mood lighting (we even have something for dope lighting in this very list coming up), there can be a certain X-Factor that is missing from static lighting.
Enter Imaginando’s visual synthesizer!
This plugin can receive input from audio or MIDI and create custom lighting and visuals that is dynamic in a way that responds to the input. So while I see a lot of producers using it to create pulsing beats that mirror that drum loop, they are working on or the bass line they are sound disengaging, you can just as easily set the input to be one of the outputs of your turntables and have the VST create live visuals for your DJ sets in seconds. They offer many different images and assets for you to use and are always adding even more to their library, meaning that you can have many customization options to make your live stream a unique experience for your users.
Nanoleaf Lines
It’s not a secret that mood lighting is essential to setting a vibe and tone for your live stream, but essential RGB lights in the corner only get you so far. Everyone is using them, and unless you’re finding some innovative way to light the room, it won’t make you stand out from the crowd of live streamers like it used to.
Nanoleaf Lines, on the other hand, can be a game changer for many reasons. Firstly, they spit out intense light, so I was shocked when I first tried them. Second, they have a beat-sync mode that allows the lights to flash and pulse in time with the room’s audio, which can help elevate the lighting factor as the lights pulse in time to your DJ mix. They also have an app that allows for remote controlling of the lights and other parameters, and while I wasn’t as impressed by the app as I was by its more out-of-the-box features, it’s worth mentioning!
Sound Assured’s PVC Diffuser Panels
When pulling off a great live stream, the two most important factors are great sound and a great vibe, and Sound Assured’s PVC Diffuser Panels check off both boxes better than I expected when they arrived at my door. Not only do their angled surfaces and material help break up sound and diffuse it around the room, but these same angles also take to light exceptionally well, which is to say that light hits the angles in different ways and creates cool gradients and interplays with whatever mood lighting you have in your studio or room where you stream from.
And even better, they are cheaper than you would think. You can get a package of 6 panels for less than the cost of many single acoustic panels, allowing you to deck out an entire wall in just one or two packages of these diffusers (the picture above is of the back wall of my studio, which was covered floor to ceiling with just two packages of these diffusers).
They look great and sound amazing, which is just what you want from them!
The Wood Veneer Hub’s Panels
If you have more money to invest in your creative space and want to deck it out with some of the most incredible wooden paneling, then the Wood Veneer Hub is an excellent choice. They provide a darker and more naturalistic aesthetic for you to perform against, and the acoustic qualities of the panels help control the sound and make for an even more pro-level DJ stream.
It’s crazy how much a single wall covered in these panels can transform an entire space, and they can be a great way to elevate the backdrop of your live stream without committing to redecorating the entire room. And the company prides itself on being sustainable and environmentally friendly, which is always a plus in such a tech-driven endeavor as live streaming.
SOMI-1 MIDI Device
While the SOMI-1 bills itself as being able to turn your movements into sound, at the end of the day, it’s just a MIDI device that responds to your movements, meaning that anything you can sync to MIDI is something you can control through your movement instead of a keyboard.
And with more and more features and functionalities responding to MIDI, there has never been a better time to start getting creative with what you can do with a device like this. The most obvious application would be controlling your visuals and lighting options through MIDI. Still, OBS also allows itself to be controlled through MIDI, meaning you can control and affect your Twitch overlays and more, all with the stroke and movement of your hands. I am not clever enough to get the most out of this, but the potential is undeniable.
Will Vance is a professional music producer who has been involved in the industry for the better part of a decade and has been the managing editor at Magnetic Magazine since mid-2022. In that time period, he has published thousands of articles on music production, industry think pieces and educational articles about the music industry. Over the last decade as a professional music producer, Will Vance has also ran multiple successful and highly respected record labels in the industry, including Where The Heart Is Records as well as having launched a new label with a focus on community through Magnetic Magazine. When not running these labels or producing his own music, Vance is likely writing for other top industry sites like Waves or the Hyperbits Masterclass or working on his upcoming book on mindfulness in music production. On the rare chance he's not thinking about music production, he's probably running a game of Dungeons and Dragons with his friends which he has been the dungeon master for for many years.
