Last updated: 2026-01-22

For most consultants in the U.S., start with StreamYard: a browser-based studio that records each participant locally in up to 4K with 48kHz WAV audio, simple guest links, and built‑in branding tools, then export to your editor of choice. If you need a free, deeply configurable desktop recorder and are comfortable tweaking settings, OBS is a strong alternative for solo or screen‑heavy recordings.

Summary

• StreamYard gives consultants a browser studio with local per‑participant tracks, HD/4K masters, and easy guest onboarding for interviews and sales calls. (StreamYard Help Center)
• Paid plans support long‑form HD recording up to 10 hours per session, plus cloud storage so you are not juggling raw files on your laptop. (StreamYard Support)
• OBS is a capable, free desktop app for local recording and streaming, but it requires more setup and manual configuration. (OBS Project)
• For high‑impact reuse, StreamYard’s AI Clips and separate audio tracks on advanced plans make it easier to create podcasts, shorts, and course content from a single recording. (StreamYard Help Center)

What do consultants actually need from recording software?

Most consultants are not trying to become full‑time video producers. You want reliable, good‑looking recordings that:

• Capture high‑quality audio and video, even when a client’s internet is spotty.
• Are simple for non‑technical guests to join.
• Carry your brand — logo, colors, lower thirds — without hours in an editor.
• Turn easily into assets: webinar replays, course modules, social clips, podcast episodes.

This is where a browser studio with per‑participant local recording is powerful. StreamYard records each person’s audio and video on their own device, then uploads those tracks in the background, so your final files are not limited by the call quality. (StreamYard Help Center)

On top of that, consultants often run long sessions: half‑day workshops, multi‑hour coaching cohorts, or live Q&A shows. Paid StreamYard plans record in HD for up to 10 hours per stream, which comfortably covers most of these use cases. (StreamYard Support)

Why is StreamYard a strong default for consulting workflows?

For a typical consultant, time and ease of use matter more than tinkering with codecs.

At StreamYard, the workflow is straightforward:

1. Open your browser studio.
2. Share a simple guest link with clients or co‑hosts; they join from their browser.
3. Hit Record (you can go live or stay in recording‑only mode).
4. Each participant gets a local recording in up to 4K with uncompressed 48kHz WAV audio, as long as their device has enough disk space. (StreamYard Pricing)
5. On paid plans, you can download separate audio files per participant or media source for more flexible editing. (StreamYard Help Center)

Because everything runs in the browser, there is no software for your client to install. That alone removes a big barrier for executive interviews, stakeholder roundtables, or testimonial recordings.

The Free plan includes limited local recording time and storage, which is useful for testing your setup or running short sessions. Paid plans then remove local‑recording hour limits and expand storage so you can treat StreamYard as your primary capture environment. (StreamYard Help Center)

How does StreamYard compare to OBS for consultants?

OBS is a powerful, free desktop application for recording and live streaming. It can mix multiple sources — webcam, slides, screen captures — and record locally to your drive with flexible encoder options. (OBS Studio Overview)

Here is how the two options typically play out for consultants:

• Guest experience

  • StreamYard: Guests click a link and join in their browser; local tracks are captured automatically per participant. (StreamYard Help Center)
  • OBS: Guests usually join via a separate meeting tool; you then capture the window or screen, and any per‑guest isolation requires advanced routing and scene setup.

• Setup and learning curve

  • StreamYard: Preset layouts, color presets, and browser controls mean new users can get a professional‑looking recording in a single session. (StreamYard Pricing)
  • OBS: Offers deep control over scenes, encoders, and filters, which is great if you like to tune every parameter, but it takes more time to master. (OBS Knowledge Base)

• Recording model

  • StreamYard: Combines local per‑participant captures with cloud recording, so you have both device‑quality tracks and a cloud backup up to 10 hours per stream on paid plans. (StreamYard Support)
  • OBS: Records directly to your hard drive; there is no built‑in cloud library, so you are responsible for file management and backups. (OBS Project)

If you advise clients on infrastructure or already have a solid production rig, OBS can be useful for specific tasks like detailed screen tutorials. For the broader consulting toolkit — interviews, client stories, webinars, and group coaching — many people find a browser‑based studio with local tracks and built‑in branding a more streamlined day‑to‑day solution.

How does StreamYard handle quality, branding, and editing?

Consultants win business on clarity and trust, so your recordings need to look and sound like you know what you are doing.

• High‑fidelity masters
  StreamYard supports up to 4K local recordings, which gives you clean masters to crop, reframe, and repurpose without the image falling apart. (StreamYard Pricing)

• Professional audio
  Local recordings capture uncompressed 48kHz WAV audio per participant, which is ideal if you later send tracks to a podcast editor or audio specialist.

• Color and branding controls
  Built‑in color presets and grading controls help you dial in a consistent look that aligns with your brand, even if you are not a colorist.

• AI Clips for leverage, not for everything
  AI Clips lets you quickly identify and generate highlight moments from your recordings based on prompts, so you can spin off shorts and social posts in minutes. For heavy, frame‑level edits or complex sound design, we see dedicated editors (Premiere Pro, Final Cut, DaVinci, etc.) as the right place to finish; StreamYard is intentionally focused on capture and fast repurposing rather than trying to replace full NLEs.

In practice, many consultants run a simple workflow:

1. Record in StreamYard with local tracks on.
2. Use AI Clips to grab 4–6 short highlights for LinkedIn and email.
3. Export the full local files to your editor for any deeper polishing needed.

How much storage and access do you get with StreamYard?

For consulting businesses, storage and access control matter just as much as the recording itself.

On Free plans, StreamYard stores up to about 5 hours of recordings at a time; on paid plans, storage increases to around 50 hours in your account library, with options for additional storage if you need it. (StreamYard Help Center)

Downloading recordings — including the separate audio tracks where available — is a capability reserved for paid users and limited to account Owners/Admins, which can be useful if you delegate editing to a small, trusted team. (StreamYard Help Center)

This structure encourages a simple hygiene routine: keep active projects in StreamYard for quick access and backup, then archive finalized masters to your own storage once you are done.

When should a consultant consider OBS or Bandicam instead?

There are scenarios where another tool can make sense alongside StreamYard:

• You need advanced, free desktop recording with no subscription
  OBS is licensed under the GPL and is available at no monetary cost, with no feature tiers or subscriptions. (OBS Studio Help) If you are recording solo content, demos, or coding walkthroughs and are comfortable configuring scenes and encoders, it is a strong local‑only option.

• You only ever record your own screen on Windows
  Bandicam focuses on local screen and gameplay capture with paid, per‑PC licenses and is often bundled with Bandicut for quick cutting. (Bandicam) It does not provide a browser studio, cloud backup, or guest‑link workflows in the way StreamYard does, so it is more suited to narrow, screen‑only tasks.

In many consulting practices, a hybrid approach works well: use StreamYard as your default studio for anything involving people, interviews, or branding, and keep OBS or Bandicam around for occasional specialized screen‑capture needs.

What we recommend

• Use StreamYard as your primary recording studio for consulting: interviews, testimonials, webinars, and group coaching, leveraging per‑participant local 4K video and 48kHz WAV audio.
• Turn on separate audio tracks (on eligible paid plans) and use AI Clips so each long session becomes a library of repurposable assets with minimal extra work. (StreamYard Help Center)
• Add OBS if you need a free, configurable desktop recorder and are comfortable managing scenes, encoders, and local file workflows.
• Keep your StreamYard library tidy: use built‑in storage as an active workspace and periodically archive completed projects to your own long‑term storage.