I am thinking about starting my own YouTube channel that focuses on video essays on software technology like languages or software tools. For example an essay on the computer terminal. For all of you who have tech YouTube channels how do I set up for good content material and make my videos interesting and where can I find royalty free music and clips.
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>and make my videos interesting and where can I find royalty free music and clips.
reply to commenter akulbe: >Do you think using AI for text-to-speech lessens the value of the content?
You really don't need any music soundtracks or B-roll stock-footage clips to make compelling tech content. Another problem with music is that most content creators mix it too loud which is distracting and often drowns out the voiceover and makes words unintelligible.
E.g. this (relatively new) channel about computer hardware and programming uses no music and no B-roll cuts with a AI generated voice ("Dylan" voice from ElevenLabs) and yet the quality of content allowed it to amass ~275k subscribers in less than 18 months : https://www.youtube.com/@CoreDumpped/videos
An AI gen voice is not usually ideal but it will be accepted by audiences if the native accent makes the English pronunciation too difficult for viewers to understand -- and the insights from the content itself are high quality. The content creator in the above example is from Ecuador and he said his native English voice is not good.
Ben Krasnow's "Applied Science" is another successful channel without music and no stock footage clips: https://www.youtube.com/c/AppliedScience/videos
By slyall 2025-06-099:53 Many people also watch videos speed up. So clear speech and no music is even more important to them.
If you content doesn't depend on visuals also consider releasing episodes as podcasts.
By hardwaregeek 2025-06-092:181 reply Check out this video: [1]. It's one of my favorite videos on YouTube. It covers instructional design from a YouTube perspective in a thorough, thoughtful manner.
By testycool 2025-06-0911:12 +1 for these types of videos from Internet Shaquille
There are some good advice here, particularly the "Shaquille" video. But one thing I want to add is that no amount of advice can help you when all you have is a blank piece of paper. I don't mean this in a negative way.
Tips and tricks are great when you have a working machine you want to improve. But when you are getting started, do it a hundred times, or until you figure it out. For videos, you have to get all your bad videos out of the way so you can start making good ones.
Do you think using AI for text-to-speech lessens the value of the content?
I can't speak in a normal voice anymore, after being on a ventilator.
I'm just wondering... if the content is useful, but oh no it's AI talking... detracts from it?
I thought about putting an intro in my normal "speaking" voice, so people would understand why.
By lawik 2025-06-096:07 AI voice will detract because voice is very important in video. Especially in essays. And AI voices are very common for low effort slop video so it would not be novel.
But it is not necessarily a dealbreaker. Good research, good writing, funny timing, great editing. All of these can elevate the whole. Or being exceptional at one or two can compensate for missing one.
CGP Gray does well without a face and started with terrible animation.
Sorry to say but if I hear an AI voice I close the video. Too much spam/slop does the same thing.
Maybe hire or partner with a voice actor or friend?
By em-bee 2025-06-0911:46 i generally do too. but on the other hand hiring a voice actor is cost prohibitive for someone just starting out and even asking a friend will multiply the amount of effort unless you want to do this as equal partners where the better speaker simply gets more airtime and the other does more of the research.
as an alternative maybe it helps to explain the reason up front. not being able to speak is a good excuse and i wouldn't want to miss out on good material just because the creator has no voice.
for someone who is simply not speaking english well enough, practice and get better.
as an alternative, record the video in your native language and offer the computer voice in english as a second audio track. then we can tell the difference from AI slop.
By brudgers 2025-06-096:56 Approximately nobody likes the sound of their own voice.
And approximately nobody sounds like a voice actor.
And most importantly, your audience won’t care because it will be your audience.
I mean people listened to Stephen Hawking’s voice.
By shortrounddev2 2025-06-0913:372 reply As soon as I realize that there's any AI-generated aspect of the video, I stop watching the video
By akulbe 2025-06-113:48 That's a bummer. This is why I use AI. https://youtu.be/8gFa36nCwoU
By phrotoma 2025-06-0913:45 Same. Major turnoff.
