How To Take Your Twitch Stream on The Road: A Guide To Streaming Abroad(2022 Updated)š« š
Itās always been a life-long dream of mine to visit Japan. My fascination grew ever since I was a kid falling asleep to late-night anime on the TV after my parents went to bed, since my Dad brought home a Super Nintendo when I was seven, and so on.
At the beginning of this year, my lifelong dream came true when I was lucky enough to take a two-month working holiday in Japan. It was a beautiful and life-changing experience.
As a streamer, I didnāt want to lose the momentum I was building during my time abroad so I made a point of carefully planning my trip around keeping my stream going during my regular schedule. Thatās three times per week that I needed to make sure I had good enough internet speeds, the proper gear and the ability to stream.
To make it simple, I didnāt have any agendas for my streams abroadā¦ the main goal was GOING LIVE and figuring out the rest later. Sometimes I did IRL streams outdoors (eating ramen LOLš¤£) showing people around where I was staying in Tokyo, Kyoto or Osaka, and sometimes I played games (BOSHY FMLš¤¬) or just chatted. It didnāt really matter, AS LONG AS I KEPT THE STREAM MOMENTUM GOING!
šØBig FYI
šÆ ProTip: before streaming (OR TRAVELING) anywhere, always research and read about cultural rules of etiquette for wherever youāre going.
Ever since the whole Logan Paul debacle, streaming IRL in foreign countries (especially Japan) can be a super-sensitive thing. Always remember that youāre a visitor in other peopleās homeland. Things will be different from what youāre used to and try to put yourself in other peopleās shoes. How would you like it if you were on your way home from work and someone was disrupting you and pointing their camera at you?
On the one hand, if youāre a streamer, it would be a shame to miss out on taking your community outside with you to experience some of your travels. On the other hand, you donāt want to make any locals feel uncomfortable or be disrespectful as a visitor.
Above all else, if filming publically is culturally inappropriate then DO NOT DO IT! I did a ton of research into what was appropriate, what I could/couldnāt do, and even how to ask if filming was OK in Japanese (Satsuei shite mo daijÅbudesuka?).
I also made sure to stick to some rules of engagement every time I did an IRL stream in public:
- āDo not be LOUD or obnoxious, try and blend in and be respectful as best you can.
- āDonāt point your camera at other people, do your best to keep others out of your shot.
- ā Look out for āšµNO CAMERAšµā signs everywhere (some are hard to see).
- ā Learn how to say āSORRYā in the native language if you end up accidentally being rude or if you see someone who is clearly uncomfortable about what youāre doing.
- ā Above all else, always be ready to SHUT DOWN YOUR STREAM IMMEDIATELY if youāre in trouble or if youāre accidentally filming a place of worship, cemetery, private property, etc. You never know whatās going to happen in public.
š¹ Streaming abroad & on the road
If youāre a Twitch streamer, you know how important it is to have a regular schedule. Be it three, four or even five times/week, your community relies on you to be on during those times.
For most of us, streaming isnāt our whole life. But anyone who wants to take streaming more seriously should do whatever it takes to keep their streaming routine consistent ā even if it means streaming all over Japan with a completely different setup!
šÆ ProTip: download the speedtest by Ookla app on your phone and test your connection before you go live. If itās slow, reboot your internet.
Streaming on the road/remotely also makes you a more dynamic content creator. It shows how adaptable you are, it allows others to live vicariously through you and it can even make you appreciate your typical setup/routine way more (or discover you never really liked it in the first place). The point is, there are lots of great reasons to take your Twitch stream on the road with you.
āļø What you need to stream remotely
The range is broad for what kind of gear you need to take your stream on the road and it entirely depends on what you plan to do. You can spend thousands of dollars buying uber fancy IRL streaming equipment or even just do IRL streams from your phone with a decent WiFi connection.
If youāre doing both IRL streams outside and from a computer in a hotel or Airbnb (like me), hereās what youāll need:
- Your regular streaming gear (computer/laptop, mic, headphones, webcam, mouse, ring light, green screen)
- A decent phone that can run PRISM Live Studio on Android/iOS app
- A pocket WiFi or an alternative data plan that is (ideally) unlimited with minimum upload speeds of 10ā15 Mbps
My setup included:
- MSI GP63 Leopard 8RD (8th Gen Intel i7ā8750H 2.2GHz Hexa Core processor w/ GeForce GTX 1050 Ti)
- Razer Nari Ultimate
- Razer SeirÄn X
- Razer Kiyo
- Razer Mamba Wireless
- Pixel 3 and a selfie stick
- Japan Wireless pocket WiFi
This Razer hardware stack worked particularly well not only because itās built for streaming, but because the hardware is compact and easy to travel with. For example, the SeirÄn X breaks down into two components so I could fit the mic in a small silk bag and the stand would just fit easily anywhere in my luggage. Same with the Mamba Wireless
Iād basically carry my Nari Ultimateās with me wherever I went for both listening to music and streamingā¦ which are CRAZY by the way. I didnāt know what HyperSense was until I tried it for myself. The headphones basically rumble with the audio making the experience way more immersive. Iād definitely recommend these if you can afford a cool $279.99 CAD. Far superior to the Logitech G633 Artemis Spectrums I was previously used to.
My favourite component to this remote streaming stack was the Razer Kiyo not only because itās a fantastic webcam, but it saved me from carrying around an extra ring light. The on-camera illumination packs a surprisingly powerful punch and saved me a few times when I was staying in places with poor lighting.
Unlike the Logitech C920 webcam, the Kiyo actually REMEMBERED my settings which saved me TONS of setup time.
The Razer Mamba Wireless mouse was a simple, clean and compact mouse that worked great the entire trip. No fancy bells or whistles, just good clean function, and durability which is what I was going for.
The MSI GP63 Leopard 8RD was a baseline PC laptop that could simultaneously handle streaming and gaming. It was working pretty hard, but did not fail and worked fine with no issues the entire trip so I was happy with it overall.
My Pixel 3 had a fantastic camera and was great overall, but it had a massive hardware glitch with the camera. When streaming video over WiFi, if I knocked the phone slightly the camera feed would start buzzing uncontrollably although it was having a seizure and I would have to completely turn the camera off and turn it back on again (and even sometimes that wouldnāt fix it). Although it was problematic, it didnāt completely ruin my IRL streams and Google is sending me a new Pixel 3. I decided not to give up on it because, apparently, itās not a commonly reported issue with Pixel 3 phones.
Despite carrying all this gear around with me halfway across the world (and ALL OVER Japan), it proved to be tough, durable, reliable and all very simple to use.
š” Rent pocket WiFi (if possible)!
But make sure you do a lot of research into the company youāre renting from beforehand. WiFi is where I had the vast majority of my issues streaming remotely, which Iāll get into a little later.
Pocket WiFi is simply a portable wireless modem/hotspot that connects any Wi-Fi-enabled device (smartphones, laptops, and tablets) to the internet through a mobile telephone network. It works like a home Wi-Fi hotspot, generating a WiFi network with a radius of about 10ā15 meters around you and itās extremely portable.
It requires no installation, cables, or software. Just turn on the pocket WiFi, enter the password and then you can immediately connect your personal devices; most countries carry them for travellers to rent.
As mentioned before, my pocket WiFi was a big headache the entire trip. One of the coolest IRL streams I did feeding deer in Nara Japan was completely ruined because of my shitty pocket WiFi.
šÆ ProTip: the main thing you need to verify with any pocket WiFi carrier is upload speeds. Most companies over promise and under deliver. Ask them ahead of time.
I paid extra for a premium plan on Japan Wireless which was supposed to give me max speeds of 95 Mbps, 99% nationwide coverage and unlimited use. Iāll admit, I DID NOT write the company ahead of time explaining my situation and stressing my need for fast upload speeds. I had to exchange my pocket WiFi device three times and only on the last device (over halfway through my trip) did I get something that seemed to work properly.
In retrospect, I should have written them ahead of time explaining that āmy jobā required me to upload large files and stream HD video so they could recommend the best option for me.
Thankfully, Japan Wireless was EXTREMELY responsive and apologetic and actually refunded me for part of my rental for the days I had extra crappy WiFi. For that reason alone, I would still give them a chance next time I go.
Your other option is to get a data plan on a SIM card with your phone. I wouldnāt recommend it because of the high costs youāll incur from streaming.
Further viewing
Gaming Careers also has a very in-depth video on streaming IRL and on the road. Check it out below!
š©āš§ When youāre abroad, you have to MacGyver your setup
Youāll be far away from your home setup that you put hundreds of hours into personalizing and making just right. Your homes abroad wonāt be optimized or set up for streaming either, so youāll have to get creative with what you have as soon as you put down your luggage.
For example, I didnāt bring my greenscreen so I went to a local fabric store close to my Airbnb in Tokyo and showed them the color. I gestured the size I needed and the staffer just ripped me a big piece and boom: greenscreen.
I did my best not to fold it too much, got some electrical tape and slapped it to any flat wall I could findā¦ at least when I was doing indoor streams on the laptop.
My CRAZIEST setup was in my first Airbnb when I did a cooking stream whilst attempting to make Japanese Candy Sushi from one of those kits.
I literally mounted a see-through coffee table on top of a tiny chair using a kitchen pot to raise it ever so slightly, then mounted a kitchen grate on top of the table raising it with two cups on each side. On top of my regular stream setup, I created a Google Meet event with myself, called in with my phone, and used the browser source of that meeting as a feed to use as an OBS overlay on the screen so people could see me ācookingā at the same time they could see my face. See my step by step here.
šÆ ProTip: donāt mess up anyone elseās furniture in a process like this. Itās not yours, so be careful and respectful of other peopleās belongings when staying in an Airbnb.
It did not work wellā¦ but godammit we put our best foot forward.
My next Airbnb was about the size of your closet (no, not a walk-in) and I donāt want to talk about it.
Apart from your environment, thereās the whole issue around making sure all your settings are properly carrying over and working on your remote setup. Letās get into the details.
š§ QA your Live Streaming & Chatbot settings BEFORE you leave
This is a big one!
šÆ ProTip: make sure your filters are working properly AHEAD OF TIME on your new setup for both your audio and visual.
PRISM Live Studio is amazing because it saves a lot of your settings over the cloud. Where you run into problems is when things like your audio files for all your sound commands have different sources on your streaming laptop.
As well, I had a lot of issues with how my laptop treated different functions. For example, I couldnāt create a source in OBS Studio that was a mirror of my laptop screen, so I had to switch it to feature a Chrome browser source instead.
šÆ ProTip: got sound commands and/or chatbots? Those will need to be configured on your new setup as well. Donāt wait to do that an hour before your first remote stream!
With a new setup comes new settings that youāll need to update/configure so that you have a smooth stream when it comes time to go live. I recommend doing a full stream on the setup you plan on using abroad BEFORE you go away. That way, you can let your viewers know that youāre testing a new setup, so youāre not fumbling when itās go-time on the other side of the world.
š Conclusion
There HAS to be other remote streamers and travellers out there that have taken their Twitch stream on the road. Before writing this, I couldnāt find any decent guides or breakdowns on how to take my Twitch stream on the road with me.
If youāve taken your stream on the road with you, please let me know in the comments what Iāve left out, forgotten or should add. This work is meant to be updated, refined and discussed critically by the Twitch community. Take a look at my other series on growing your Twitch channel here. You can also (of course) find me on Twitch and Twitter. Looking forward to continuing the conversation, and talk soon!
P.S., enjoying this article? Check out my other series on how to GROW your Twitch channel!
P.P.S., my stories have blown up a lot more than I ever could have imagined! They seem to be helping a lot of new streamers and many people are writing to me asking how they can support me. Here are a few things to consider: you can tip me anywhere from $1-$5 through PayPal directly here, or you could share this article with anyone else looking to get into streaming, or you could follow me on Twitch and come say hi next time Iām š“LIVE! Thanks everyone, and happy streaming!
