Male VTubers, Tips on Audio Balancing, and Toxic Friendships 【Mari Monday】

QUESTION — What would you like me to talk about next?

I've noticed a lot of male vtuber models are, to be quite frank, overcompensating on musculature. It's usually not that the head is too small, it's that the torso is too big, which then makes the head look small since most of the time all the viewers see from a model is the upper torso and head.

I always assumed the exaggerated body proportions of male vtubers were based on yaoi art styles, especially the long chins, and large elongated torsos/hands.

I could be wrong, of course, but I think elongated, pointy triangular chins were a pretty common physical feature in BL, at least historically (although BL art styles are way more diverse now).

I would prefer more realistic proportions, personally, but the art style must appeal to someone because male vtubers keep adopting it.

I work out. I'm disabled so I never thought I'd be able to work out so getting to in my 40s is kind of a big deal. So I asked the artist to make me "uncomfortably masculine."

As a freelance audio engineer for over a decade, using a compressor or limiter in software will only prevent peaking/distortion if you're adjusting the volume in software as well. What most people have issues with is distortion that occurs in the audio interface itself, usually by setting the volume too high.

My recommendation for OBS users would be to set their audio interface volume quite low, so that even when you yell, it doesn't peak or distort. Then, in OBS, set a Noise Gate filter to block out any ambient background noise your microphone is picking up, followed by an Upward Compressor filter to bring the volume back up to listening volume. Specifically, it'll only raise the volume of quieter parts, while keeping the volume of louder parts unchanged (such as when you yell etc.)

If you want to get fancy, you can even link Compressor filters together so that, for example, your game or BGM audio will automatically lower in volume when you talk, and return to normal volume when you stop speaking. That way you don't need to worry about your voice being drowned out by loud game audio.

One thing that I've noticed when trying to design myself a male vtuber model is that there often aren't great references for proportions. For instance an actual picture of a man often proportionally doesn't match up with what people want stylistically. I typically lean towards cuter designs anyway so once i gave up on making a super manly looking male vtuber it was easier for me to make an actual design I liked. But overall it is very hard to find good examples of proportions because real people often don't match the style people want and so many existing male vtuber models fall into those proportion issues that you mentioned.

Many moons ago I went to school for audio engineering so maybe this'll be helpful:

One handy thing to know about audio on YouTube, if you're setting a brickwall limiter for your audio so you don't peak (hardware or software), try to set it so that you don't go above -1db. YouTube & most streaming platforms (even Spotify) like to try to normalize audio a lil bit & if it sees you're encroaching on 0db it'll sometimes compensate by turning down the entire audio channel on the viewer's side.

Mari's 100% right on compressors being your best friend - pairing it with a gate is also very handy too if you have a lot of background noise you'd like to not bleed through constantly as well. Just make sure you figure out the db level of your noise floor so that you're not cutting out your own voice with it as well lol.

Audio's a bit of a deep topic, but you're on YouTube already, there's tons of tutorials to find here haha

As a former people pleaser, the advice for toxic friendships is on point absolutely important to learn and a boundary one needs to learn to set for any relationship period.

There're also going to be people who will go out of their way to disrespect you. They'll become a bigger drain of your time and energy. Some people you gotta teach them how they should treat you. If they're rude, talk behind your back, talk smack to your face you don't even need to talk it out. Just block them move on. I know it feels like a harsh move. but people can be selfish and it's a very selfish world in reality. Save your energy and friendship for the people who show they do deserve it 😊

The male vtuber proportion thing is super valid! A lot of male designs seen very... Jojo's-esque? There's something to be said about the masculine ideals there.

Though what's even more curious to me is legs! Ive seen both male and female models with legs that are far taller than the torso and its just kinda strange to me, like. Though I guess that comes across far less often, as most vtubers just show their upper half most of the time.

Thank you for responding! I bought an interface, but I didn't realize my new mic was also usb lmao, it was expensive and many recommended it, so I went with it
Now I am trying to see if there is a way to connect a usb C mic to an interface with the right cable, but I am not too good when it comes to this stuff sadly!

just wanted to say that I loved the episode and that kirby amazing mirror was such a memory trip wow, remember playing this on my purple gba ages ago

I really appreciate how you answered the last question. I've had too many run ins with emotional vampires and they really have no interest in improving their situation or behavior, they just abuse the kindness of others over and over again. More people need to hear that it's not acceptable to treat people like that and it's 100% OK to cut ties with them.

You're not wrong about male models, but it is a little funny. Let's not forget that SO MANY female models have huge heads compared to their bodies, or have huge booba. I'm not saying this in an argumentative way, rather just that there are tons of ways that models are disproportionate in vtubing. But also, I do think that a lot of artists, or at least anime-style artists, have a lot less practice drawing men. I've heard it so often that they have a ton of skill with women but virtually none with men.

In terms of the male vtubers, it generally comes down to bad artistic choices lol even mine isn't that great but I'm not live 2d

I went with designs that would bring the most fun and align with my personality 😂

Mari Yume coming through with these daily uploads🙏🙏

I've recently wondered what was up with the male VTuber model style!!!! I vowed that if/when I made one it wouldn't have such a skinny/pointy head.

on the topic of toxic people and finding your positive ones, i know its SUPER hard to find those special people but i know you can find them all like i have (: you guys got this and keep searching and staying positive!!!!

Audio engineering major here! I'm graduating with my degree in one week! I haven't tried streaming apps yet myself, so I don't have suggestions for settings there, but you could look into limiters if you're yelling a lot. Compressors actually reduce the dynamic range of your mix (how loud the loud things are and how soft the soft things are), but it depends on what settings you use. For example, you can set up a ducking compressor for things like reducing the loudness of background music whenever you talk. Focusrite is a good decently priced audio interface, and if you want something high-end, you could go for an interface by Universal Audio. I can vouch for the UA Apollo Twin X Duo being really nice.

I actually used myself as a model for my... well, model. Only difference is my hair is nowhere near that long. YET.

I do wish I could have changed my arms and skin tone a bit, but I am still learning about design. Maybe someday!