Guides for creators
How-tos, product updates and setup guides from the Soulstack team.
Getting Started
First-time creator essentials: setting up, choosing tools, and shipping a first stream.
How to make a Twitch channel look good
A Twitch channel looks good when a new viewer can tell three things quickly: who you are, what kind of stream this is, and whether it feels active. That comes more from consistency
4 min readHow to plan your first live stream
The first live stream does not need to be memorable. It needs to be survivable. Most first broadcasts go wrong because the streamer planned the graphics and ignored the run of show
4 min readHow to start streaming on Twitch
The cheapest path to your first Twitch stream is a laptop, a USB microphone, OBS Studio, and an account. Nothing else is required. Most people overspend on gear before they have an
4 min readOBS for beginners
OBS Studio is the most common streaming software in use. It is free, open source, runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux, and works with every major streaming platform. It also has more
5 min readTwitch streaming setup for beginners
Most beginner setup guides mix three separate jobs into one list: buying gear, connecting accounts, and arranging the stream layout. Keeping those apart makes the whole process eas
4 min readTwitch vs YouTube streaming for beginners
Twitch is built around live discovery and chat culture. YouTube is built around video search, recommendations, and a much larger non-live audience that already uses the platform. B
4 min readWhat do you need to start streaming?
You need fewer things to start streaming than most shopping lists suggest. The category of essentials is genuinely short: a computer that can encode video, a microphone that is not
4 min readStream Production
OBS scenes, overlays, audio, lighting, and the technical craft of broadcasting live.
Best OBS settings for streaming
The best OBS settings are the ones your computer and connection can sustain without dropped frames or audio glitches. There is no universal preset. The right answer is bounded by t
4 min readHow to add chat to OBS
There are two common reasons to add Twitch chat to OBS: to display chat on screen for viewers (especially in IRL or face-cam streams), or to keep chat visible to yourself without a
5 min readHow to add overlays to OBS
An overlay is a layer of graphics or text shown on top of your game or webcam during a stream. Overlays can be static images (a frame around your webcam), animated graphics (a sub
4 min readHow to set up stream alerts
Stream alerts are the on-screen popups that play when someone follows, subscribes, donates, or cheers bits. They give the streamer a moment to acknowledge the supporter on stream a
5 min readHow to use browser sources in OBS
Browser sources are one of the most useful parts of OBS because they let a live webpage become part of your scene. Alerts, chat boxes, recent follower widgets, countdowns, donation
4 min readStream scenes explained
Scenes are the layouts that OBS switches between during a stream. One scene might show gameplay with a webcam. Another might be a starting screen. Another might be a full-screen ca
3 min readChat & Moderation
Twitch chat bots, AI assistants, commands, moderation workflows, and community safety.
Best Twitch chat commands
Chat commands work best when they answer the same questions your stream gets every week. A messy list full of in-jokes and half-used triggers only makes chat harder to read and giv
4 min readHow to moderate Twitch chat
Twitch chat moderation has three layers: settings you configure once, tools you use during a stream, and a small group of human moderators you trust. The settings catch the easy sp
4 min readTwitch chat commands for beginners
The easiest way to understand chat commands is to think of them as shortcuts. A viewer types a trigger like `!discord`, and your chatbot posts the stored reply. That is all a comma
4 min readTwitch chat rules examples
A useful set of Twitch chat rules is short, specific, and easy to enforce. Most channels need somewhere between five and eight rules. Less than that and edge cases create confusion
4 min readTwitch timers and commands
Timers and commands solve different problems. Commands answer a question after someone asks it. Timers post a message without being asked, usually on a set interval or after a cert
4 min readWhat does a Twitch chatbot do?
A Twitch chatbot is a helper that sits in chat and handles repeat jobs. It can post commands, run timers, filter spam, and give moderators extra tools. On a small channel, that mea
4 min readDiscord Communities
Discord automation, roles, levelling, ticketing, and running a creator community at scale.
Discord onboarding for community servers
A new member who joins your Discord server has roughly 30 seconds to decide whether to stay or leave the tab. Server onboarding is the system that uses those 30 seconds to give the
5 min readDiscord server roles explained
A Discord role is a set of permissions and a label you assign to members. Members can hold many roles at once. The permissions of each role combine to decide what someone can do on
4 min readDiscord server rules examples
Discord rules do two jobs at once. They tell members what behaviour is welcome, and they give moderators something clear to point to when a line gets crossed. If the rules are vagu
4 min readHow to grow a Discord server
A Discord server grows in two phases. The first 100 members come almost entirely from people you bring with you: existing viewers, friends, social followers. After 100, organic gro
5 min readHow to moderate a Discord server
Moderating a Discord server is mostly about consistency. Members can handle strict rules, loose rules, playful rules, or highly structured ones. What they struggle with is a mod te
4 min readHow to set up a Discord server
A clean Discord server has a small number of channels, a clear set of rules, and a way for new members to find their bearings in the first half minute. Most servers fail not becaus
4 min readVideo, Editing & Posting
Filming, editing, clipping VODs, posting to YouTube and TikTok, and turning streams into content.
How to make Twitch clips
A Twitch clip is a 5 to 60 second segment of a live or recently aired stream, captured by you or by a viewer. Clips are the easiest way to turn live moments into shareable content
4 min readHow to turn streams into Shorts
Shorts work best when the clip feels native to short-form video, not like a chunk cut out of a horizontal stream and dumped online. That usually means tighter pacing, a vertical cr
3 min readLivestream highlight editing tips
Editing highlights from a livestream is mostly a sorting problem. The raw footage is long, repetitive, and full of pauses that felt fine live but drag on replay. The edit gets bett
4 min readWhat to post after a live stream
The stream ending is not the end of the content window. It is the point where you know what actually happened, which moments landed, and what your audience reacted to. Posting afte
3 min readYouTube Shorts length and format
A YouTube Short is a vertical video up to 3 minutes long, played in a dedicated Shorts feed. The format has specific rules that decide whether a video is treated as a Short or as a
4 min readYouTube thumbnail tips for streamers
Most streamers lose clicks on YouTube because the thumbnail is trying to do too much. A good thumbnail does not explain the whole video. It gives one clear reason to click.
4 min readGrowing Your Audience
Discovery, branding, marketing, scheduling, and the long game of building viewers into a community.
How to get more viewers on Twitch
More viewers usually come from fixing a chain, not from finding one magic tactic. Someone has to discover you, click, stay long enough to understand the stream, and then come back
4 min readHow to make your stream more interactive
Interactivity is what separates streaming from a recorded video. The viewer can change what happens. If your stream does not give them anything to change, the unique thing about st
4 min readHow to promote your Twitch stream
Twitch's own discovery surfaces are a poor match for small new channels. The category browse page ranks streams by viewer count, so you compete against established channels in the
4 min readTwitch community night ideas
Community nights work when viewers know they can influence or join the stream in a concrete way. They fail when the concept sounds inclusive but only two people can actually take p
4 min readTwitch panels examples
A Twitch panel is one of the boxes that appears below your video on your channel page. Each panel is an image plus a short text caption plus an optional link. Panels are what peopl
4 min readWorkflow & Planning
Calendars, content planning, organisation, and the operational side of creating.
Content calendar for streamers
A content calendar is a single document that lists what you are streaming, when, and what supporting content (clips, Shorts, social posts, VOD uploads) goes with each stream. The p
4 min readHow to manage a creator community
Managing a creator community is mostly about rhythm and boundaries. People stay when the space feels alive, fair, and predictable. They leave when it feels chaotic, neglected, or b
3 min readHow to organise stream assets
Stream assets become a mess quietly. It starts with one overlay on the desktop, one alert sound in Downloads, and a logo version called "final-final-2". A few months later, every s
3 min readHow to plan stream content
Planning stream content is not about scripting every minute. It is about removing the blank-page problem before stream start. A little structure makes the broadcast easier to begin
3 min readPre-stream checklist
A 5-minute check before the stream starts catches the problems that ruin the first 15 minutes of a session. Most "I went live and my mic was off" stories are not about forgetfulnes
3 min readStreamer workflow tools
Workflow tools matter when they remove repeated decisions, not when they make your setup look sophisticated. A streamer can lose a lot of time maintaining a stack of apps that all
3 min readMonetisation & Business
Subscriptions, sponsorships, pricing, contracts, and the business mechanics of going pro.
Creator media kit for streamers
A creator media kit is a one-page document a streamer sends to brands interested in sponsorship. The kit lets a brand decide in 30 seconds whether the channel is a fit, what the ra
4 min readDo UK streamers pay tax?
If you make money from streaming in the UK and your total trading income for the tax year is more than £1,000, you almost certainly need to register for Self Assessment with HMRC.
4 min readHow do Twitch streamers make money?
Twitch streamers earn from a mix of platform features, direct viewer support, and external income. No single source covers most channels. A typical Affiliate or small Partner chann
4 min readHow to price sponsored streams
Pricing a sponsored stream is less about finding one perfect number and more about not undercharging for the work around the stream. The live segment is only part of the job. There
4 min readHow to run a charity stream
A charity stream works best when viewers trust the cause, understand where the money goes, and can tell that the event has been prepared properly. Good intentions are not enough on
4 min readTwitch Affiliate requirements
Twitch Affiliate is the first paid tier on Twitch. To qualify, your channel needs four things in any rolling 30-day window:
4 min readYouTube Partner programme requirements
YouTube now has two meaningful monetisation thresholds, not one. The earlier stage unlocks fan-funding tools and some shopping features in eligible countries. The higher stage unlo
4 min read