From iPod Touch to Twitch [Guest: RayLiveTV]

Ever wondered how a high schooler's curiosity with an iPod Touch could lead to a thriving career in content creation? Join us on "Uploaded and Unfiltered" as we chat with Raylive, who transformed his early passion for video editing into a remarkable journey. From the humble beginnings of capturing band trip memories to becoming inspired by legendary YouTubers like Dashie Games, AfroSenju, and CoryxKenshin, Raylive's story is a masterclass in starting with what you have and growing through experience.

Transcript

Content Creation Journey With Raylive

Speaker 1 0:07

Welcome . Welcome back to another episode of uploaded and unfiltered , the podcast in which I , your host Jermaine , interviews another content creator in regards to the journey thus far single episodes , solo episodes but today we got a guest . I am excited to talk to him , but before we do , I'm going to read his bio , get a bit of information on him and then we'll start this conversation . Just another guy trying to make it out here , ray live , likes playing video games , loves technology , tv movies , anime and watching youtube . He's a casual gamer for the most part , but if he locks in , then watch him cook . If you're down with chilling and having a good time , raylive is your guy . And with that I'd like to introduce my guest for the evening . Raylive , thank you for being here , ray . How are you doing today ?

Speaker 2 0:59

Hey , I'm doing good , I'm doing good . I am Like I usually say , like in my streams , like I'm chilling .

Speaker 1 1:20

Well welcome .

Speaker 2 1:20

I'm glad you were able to slice out some time to do this . I'm gonna go ahead and jump into it . We're not gonna pump the brakes , we're going full steam ahead . Ray , what got you like started with content , we can go a bit like . I remember like high school I was like just watching like some simple stuff on like youtube . Um , like I was watching , you know , the epic rap battles of history at that time . Oh yeah , like the old day storm power videos where he started off , I say , and what's up ? World , another day , another challenge . Yes , that was for me , that was like peak right there . But I remember back , going back like 2012 , 2013 .

Speaker 2 1:52

I was like I was like you know what I got like a .

Speaker 2 1:54

I got an ipod touch that has a camera on it I was like , let me , you know , just see like I do like some trips or whatnot . I was like let me like record , like you know , just see like I do like some trips or whatnot . I was like , let me like record , like you know , like our band trip that we do when we go to the Gatlinburg , Tennessee . And so I just like you know like just took like a little like five second video here , something there , and then put that all together , edit it on the iPod .

Speaker 1 2:23

What Hold on hold on hold on . You edited this video on the ipod how I didn't know you could do that I don't remember what app I had on that thing .

Speaker 2 2:32

Like it was like the most simplest thing in the world just just being able to put things together , have , like you know , little text pop up every now . And then , yeah , I was like some like video effects . But I started , I , I did that and I was like , oh , okay , this was I kind of like it . I kind of like it . You know , I did like three of those . I upload those to like a channel that I don't even know if it's even active or not , but those , like that is , those were like oh , like that was like a senior year high school for me . So like , yeah , I did those but then later on for me .

Speaker 2 3:04

So like yeah , I did those . But then later on , you know , I kind of like paused on that because you know I was going off to college . I was like , ok , let me , let me try to lock in here , let me try to try and not screw up all this money that we're trying to put in Exactly .

Speaker 2 3:27

But then later on , I say 2016 school year , me and the homies we were . You know , we're just in the , we're in our apartment in college and , yeah , you know we're just playing games or whatnot and I think , overwatch the overwatch one came out and I was like you know what ? We are having so much fun on this and I figured out how you could like record videos on your playstation and have like other people's voices in it okay so I was like okay , okay , like let's play , let's play some overwatch we .

Speaker 2 3:53

And we're just gonna play it like normal , like we ain't gonna do nothing special , just raw overwatch . Like this is us , and I recorded and all those videos on my playstation , what there was a thing on the playstation called share factory oh yeah I edited .

Speaker 2 4:12

I edited a whole lot of videos through share factory . That is awesome and it was simple , but some things just didn't want to look right . But after you rendered the whole video it looked perfect , with the little slow down and speed up effects . Yeah , that initially was like okay , I'm making videos on YouTube , that's how I'm going to do it . Because at that time now I'm watching people like Dashie Games , I'm watching Axl dashi games , I'm watching afro send you , I'm watching corey x kenshin , I'm watching the bigs at the time you know for in the community , and so I'm just watching them . And I was like I can do it , I , I can do it . So , yeah , that's how it initially started . And now I can say I can edit videos on a laptop . So , yeah , we graduated .

Speaker 1 5:12

Oh man , that is awesome . I I've said this on numerous signs and for y'all who've listened , I'm sorry I'm saying it again . I love when the beginning is as simple as possible , because who would have known you could make a damn youtube video off an ipod touch and edit it and get it up , like the fact that you even thought about that . You were like no , I'm doing this , that's huge . Like most people have been like well , I don't have a camera , I'm not doing anything and leave it at that . But you're like nah , I got a damn , I got a camera right here , right ?

Speaker 2 5:42

I got .

Speaker 1 5:42

I got something . Yeah , that was a great start to the podcast . I like again , I love hearing those beginning stories . Let's go ahead and slip into now . We're going to step into the present , where you're creating content . Not only what does that look like for you and how's it , how's it feeling , how's the journey been thus far ?

Speaker 2 6:03

Creating the content for me now has been a bit on the slower end , because now I'm trying to do Twitch and also YouTube , so I'm trying to figure out a good management for both of those , as I can . But I mean creating content , say it's . It is a process I have

Content Creation and Lessons Learned

Speaker 2 6:32

. I can't tell you how many times I recorded a video and I was like , okay , I'm gonna edit this , I'm gonna have it uploaded this day and we'll go on to the next . I have been been like on high A's on YouTube for a good minute now and I look like legit . I put out . I was like I put out a video saying , ok , we're going to do this , we're going to do this , we're going to do this and we're going to do that . I didn't do neither one of those things .

Speaker 1 6:58

Yeah , that's how it goes sometimes , so right now are you ?

Speaker 2 7:06

are you streaming to youtube as well , or just to twitch ? Okay , so now what ? What I wanted to do was the the stream on youtube again , because before I did twitch , I was the streaming on youtube , and the old thing that was called used to be called mixer .

Speaker 1 7:24

Oh , yeah , microsoft's mixer yeah yeah , on my playstation .

Speaker 2 7:29

I was like streaming straight to uh youtube on my playstation and then on my xbox I was streaming straight to mixer . Right then mixer microsoft was like , yeah , mixers , no more , um , but if you want , you can go over to uh facebook gaming and we can , you know , merge an account and make that happen .

Speaker 2 7:48

I was like , yeah , no , I'm good yeah , only told me about twitch and I was like , okay , I'm like do twitch , but as of right now I haven't been um streaming on youtube . I'm trying to figure that whole process out again and how I'm going to make that different than just my usual Twitch stream , because I mean , as of right now I'm doing both .

Speaker 2 8:11

A I'm doing like a multi stream thing where , like , the mainstream is on Twitch but I have a . Since I can't stream on TikTok for some odd reason , I found a plug in for OBS and it allows me to like stream vertically on youtube . So it looks like like a youtube short . Okay with their , yeah , and so you can like scroll through like live streams in the short format and I was like , okay , that'll work , that'll work nice .

Speaker 1 8:38

Okay , that's dope . I didn't realize . I didn't know you could do that . I didn't know youtube was allowing you to stream in the short form format . That's dope . So the goal is to have both of those going at the same time , both YouTube and Twitch .

Speaker 2 8:52

Yes , I would like for both of them . You know when I'm going to be streaming . You can go on Twitch and you know I'm going to upload a video on these certain days . You can go over on YouTube , so you always have something that I am doing to occupy your time . However you want to occupy your time .

Speaker 1 9:10

That makes sense . And if you the , I think what I didn't learn when I started ? Okay , so I went from youtube just like playing around and then I went to twitch and I was doing twitch heavy but not doing youtube . I think the smart thing .

Speaker 1 9:26

Uh , I've been telling a lot of new new who have started , especially when you just start because you have the bandwidth to do it , try to do both . Even if you are taking your VODs and cutting them up or just taking like highlights of your VODs and throwing it up on YouTube , I would say , do both . Only because YouTube allows that back catalog to just sit out there . I got videos from like 10 years ago that are still doing numbers because it's up there .

Speaker 1 9:53

I think I want everybody to get a youtube channel , because I went to this uh festival creator fest a couple weeks ago , right , and the overall story was all of these content creators were like I wish I would have started my youtube channel earlier and I'm like why ? And they're like well , now I'm two years in and I'm finally making money , but all of those ideas that I thought nobody cared about or nobody was going to watch , those are the ones doing numbers . For me it's like random generic stuff . But just throw that content up and I was like , all right , you're right , you're right , I'm going to get on it and I , I'm gonna get on it and I'm currently working on reviving my Channel .

Speaker 2 10:33

I like to have my , my youtube back going how I initially had it , because at a certain point , like I Did like a whole like the month of February , I was like , okay , getting a video every day , like mother February , you're gonna get that video every day for the month of February . Yeah , so I , you're gonna get that video every day for the month of february . Yeah , so I , I did that one , I did that one year and I was like I'm gonna do it again , but I just I failed at it . But I was like that's something like if I can't upload a video for like 28 , 29 days , depending on if it's a leap year or not , like then , like all these other months are longer .

Speaker 2 11:07

It's like I need to be able to like , do , like , make this happen and I can make all these other things happen yeah , I don't think people realize how hard it is .

Speaker 1 11:19

No , I don't want to say hard , I don't want to think . I don't think people realize how much of a challenge it is to do a piece of content daily .

Speaker 2 11:26

Oh yeah , no like I'm doing , you know , nine to fives and I'm like trying to like I'm work , I'm working here , I'm doing this , and then I got to go record this , edit something else , like make sure everything is getting uploaded scheduled on time . So yeah , it's a whole lot of management and I'm just trying to get better at that .

Speaker 1 11:48

Exactly , and all the time that time just hearing other people's processes , like you're just gonna refine that and it's gonna be dope . I can't wait to see it because I haven't heard anybody . I did a challenge on tiktok . To me it was easy because tiktok are shorts . Uh , for christmas I think . I didn't do two years . Yeah , I did it two years . I bought an advent calendar . The first year was a Marvel advent calendar Funko Pop Marvel calendar they're like these little miniature figures and the second time I did Pokemon , because I don't know shit about Pokemon and I was like all right .

Speaker 1 12:23

I know , I know .

Speaker 2 12:24

Listen , so on .

Speaker 1 12:28

TikTok . I opened these boxes and , like some of them , I knew , I knew who Pikachu was , I knew Charizard , I knew , like the big ones , but some of the small ones , I'm like I would just make up names for them and I told them from the beginning I'm like , hey , I don't know who the hell this is Today . This one is Dergy Derg and people were like shit . They're like that is not , that is not dirty I'm like , hey , listen , I don't know , bro , I didn't .

Speaker 1 12:52

I didn't get to watch pokemon as a kid , so , oh my god , I missed all that . But doing that like just it , it helped me two things a , it showed me that I can do that on a daily basis if I wanted to . And b , I saw the process like by the like knife video . I had a format ready . I was like , all right , I'm gonna set the camera up here , I'm gonna open it , I'm gonna talk as I'm doing it , show the thing , react done . Those things were like 45 to a minute , 45 seconds to a minute , and just that repetition like kept it going .

Speaker 1 13:24

And so when january 1st hit , I was sitting there like , oh , what am I ? What am I supposed to do now ? I don't have an advent calendar and that's the kind of where we left that . But yes , if y'all listening out there , push yourself like that , make , make a challenge . You know I'm gonna make a video a day for two weeks and just to see how it feels . If you fail , figure out why you failed . But I think doing that as a content creator is a nice exercise and just understanding your process and maybe figuring out a new one . All right Ray , we are going to jump into one of my favorite sections . They're all my favorite sections . I don't know why I say that this is Lessons Learned , where I ask my guests what is the lesson that you learned ?

Speaker 2 14:08

because you started creating content I will say the biggest lesson I learned is you do not need the fanciest things out there because , like , like I said earlier , like I started off by just doing stuff on an ipod and then like I just did everything off of a playstation for the longest amount of time and so , you know , eventually I thought got in my head and I was like , well , you know , I'm going to need like this type of face cam , I'm going to need like this like key light here . I'm going to need like this fancy like mic . I'm like , okay , I didn't need like all that know high grade , like special type ones , like this green screen .

Speaker 2 14:54

I got behind me yeah this thing costed me only 30 that's what I'm talking about only 30 dollars from gamestop . Mind you really , what from gamestop ? So I went there one day . I was like hey , this green screen , how much is it ? I'm a pro member and they're like we can give it to you for $30 . And I was like I'll take it .

Speaker 1 15:20

What that is . Yo , I love a good deal and again to your point , you don't need the most fancy stuff

Content Creation Wisdom and Success

Speaker 1 15:27

. If I was going to start over today from streaming , honestly I would yeah , if you have a nice phone uh , 14 , iphone , I would say even 12 , or galaxy I can't remember where they up to now but almost every video I shoot if you see a video on me on tiktok or on youtube , it's from my phone . Like I have two like nice cameras for the stream anything that is shot content it's from my phone . Like I have two like nice cameras for the stream . Anything that is shot content-wise is from my phone . Because these phones are crazy , like they do so many amazing things . Don't sleep on the phone , oh no , oh no , they are great . That's hilarious , all right .

Speaker 1 16:06

Next , next up , we have a piece of advice or two , or however you want to do this . This is a section where we drop even more knowledge on someone who's either want to create content or somebody who's been doing it for a while . What type of knowledge would you bestow upon these people ?

Speaker 2 16:31

upon these people . One thing I will say for for anybody trying to get in this space is something that I heard , that kind of you know stuck with me and I probably heard , just like many different ways , like I'll just be you or just be you . It was . But I heard like one day at church I was like um , the person that was speaking , they were like in a room full of them , be you . And I was like um , the person that was speaking , they were like in a room full of them , be you . And I was like that's a different way of saying just be you . But I was like I don't know why , but that resonated with me and like , in this space , don't try to be like your favorite content creator . Yes , they , they do stuff that you like . Let people know what you like , without trying to be somebody else .

Speaker 1 17:12

Yes , that takes a while to learn and , like you said , you heard it a few different flavors , but that specific way that it was said to you stuck and I feel like that's why another reason I keep doing a podcast is we hear from creators . We're 59 deep Different creators , all of them different . Everybody has a different style , the way that they interact with community . Some read , chat , some don't . There's no right way to do this , but if you're doing it your way , that is the right way . I think with that comes less guessing . You don't have to guess . If you're doing it correctly , you don't have to guess . If you're doing it correctly , you don't have to guess if what's the next move is because you're doing it your way . So you basically you're making a blueprint as you go , which to some sounds scary . I personally think it's not only freeing but it's exciting because anything that's in your head , if you want to put it it out , do it like there's no barriers and I love that . Yeah , more people need to be authentic and do them .

Speaker 2 18:14

Do what makes you unique , what makes you you oh yeah , 100 , because like one thing I tell like some of my friends like that also , like want try to do like content and they're like well , this isn't really hitting like I thought it would and I , I just straight up be like , well , you like this , you , you like this , like this is something you like . If you like it , do it . Yes , like eventually other people that also like what you like will see it and it will just .

Speaker 1 18:49

It will like take off from there yeah , exactly , I think the one thing I told one of my friends I was like listen , if I told you it's going to take you 10 years to be successful in content creation , would you do it ? And if you say no , then this might not be for you , because unfortunately we don't know when that thing is going to pop . It could be tomorrow . Hell , you could be sitting on a video right now and you don't even know it . It has a million views . Like you get off of here , you go check your email and you're like what the what huh ? That could happen and I've seen it happen to numerous people . But I think the thing that you got to remember is is , if you enjoy it , just make the content and eventually , those who also enjoy it will show up like it's gonna happen . As long as you believe that , don't worry about anything else . Just keep doing what you love , have fun and , uh , all the good stuff will come with that .

Speaker 2 19:39

I 100 believe that oh no , yeah , like , and other than that like , because , like I remember I posted , like I was like that's how I'm like trying to post stuff on tiktok , and I was like I'm just gonna post things that you know I'm either doing or I like to do or whatnot , and so like on the ps5 , like there was a game like pre-installed , called like um astro's playroom oh yeah okay , I was playing it and the the best thing about that game is , like , at the end of every level it's the um startup sound from different generations of playstation .

Speaker 2 20:20

Yeah , and one tech toggle blew up because it was the playstation 2 sound . It was like it was just like this open like galaxy type area , and then when you walked up closer to like the end , it like did everything and it took me back and then , like I uploaded it and I was like , okay , whatever I upload it , that's all I know . Like in the next couple of days , I'm like such just like like video , like video , like video , like video , like video .

Speaker 1 20:54

I'm like huh . I was like okay , okay , it's only on this last flight .

Speaker 2 21:00

You know , like today , maybe tomorrow two weeks go by like video like I'm like what yo , that is awesome that that video is like the most like tiktok I have in , the most view tiktok that I have , and like I have so many comments on that and it's it for me . It's crazy because some of them are also in like different languages , but I know like I was just like okay . I was like okay , this one hit .

Speaker 2 21:29

I don't know why this one hit , but I was like yeah , this is probably like a good point for reference for like different people that grew up like around the same time I did like that ps2 startup was was like it was it was like I hear it in my head as soon as you said it .

Speaker 1 21:46

I'm like I'm in space . Now let's go that's awesome and again that speaks to your point . Like , just put the content up , you never , never know what's going to happen with it , 100% . Well , ray , we have reached the end of our destination . I thoroughly enjoyed our talk , but before we go , we got to let the people know where should they go to check out your content well , if you wanna see more of me , I guess you can go over to my twitch .

Speaker 2 22:18

It's just RayLiveTV all together . There's no spaces in it . Apparently I thought I put a space in there . I didn't , but I thought I did , I didn't so I , I was like okay ray live tv just all together . But if you want to see like some of my older stuff , you can go to my own youtube , because eventually I'm gonna get back on youtube . I do have things planned for it .

Speaker 2 22:45

Those are the places you can find me , it's just ray live tv basically everywhere at this point . Are the places you can find me ? It's just RayLiveTV Basically everywhere at this point ?

Speaker 1 22:49

Hell yeah , if you can't spell RayLive , I got you . There will be links in the comments of this episode , as well as all the socials . If you haven't already , go ahead and subscribe to the podcast Uploaded and Unfiltered . Every week on Tuesday , we put out a podcast I don't see any signs of , I don't see any signs of stopping Ray . I want to thank you again for doing this . Everybody who's listening . I appreciate y'all listening . If you out there listener can think of a guest that you want to have on the podcast , let me know and I will do my best to get them on . Other than that , I will let you guys go , appreciate y'all and , as always , protect your mental , mental , keep creating content and we'll talk in the next one . Peace .