How to Set Up Meld Studio: Your First Stream, Start to Finish ⭐

New to streaming, or new to Meld? This is the whole road: download to live, in plain steps. Nothing here needs a plugin, a second program, or a computer science degree. It's only metal — let's bolt it together.

Before you start

You need:

• A computer (Windows 10/11 or macOS 12+)
• A camera — a webcam is fine to start
• A microphone — even the one in your headphones beats no mic
• Internet with decent upload — wired ethernet if you can, Wi-Fi if you must (more on this in the bitrate guide)

Step 1: Get Meld

1. Go to meldstudio.co and download Meld Studio. It's free — no watermark, no time limit, no account needed to start.
2. Install it and open it.

Coming from OBS? Meld can import your existing OBS scenes in one click, so you don't rebuild everything from scratch.

Step 2: Build your first scene

A scene is what your viewers see — your layout. A layer is one thing inside it: your game, your camera, a picture, a webpage.

1. Click the + next to Scenes to make a new scene.
2. Right-click the scene and Rename it — call it "Live".
3. In the Layers panel (left side), click the + icon.
4. Pick Game Capture for a fullscreen game — it grabs the game automatically. For a window or your whole screen, pick Display Capture instead.
5. Click + again and pick Video Device, then choose your camera from the dropdown.
6. Drag the camera layer where you want it. Drag the corners to size it. Layers higher in the list sit on top of layers below them.

Make two more scenes the same way when you're ready: "Starting Soon" and "BRB". Same layers, calmer picture. You don't need them today.

🧰 Field note — from the bench: CleanDEE's go-to scene stack — which scenes he actually uses on stream and which ones turned out to be decoration — drops in here.

Step 3: Add your microphone

1. Find the Audio Mixer and click the + next to it to add a track.
2. Choose your microphone as the input.
3. Talk at your normal stream volume. Watch the meter: you want it bouncing in the green/yellow, not living in the red. Red means distortion — turn the track down or move the mic back a touch.

Want the fan and the keyboard clicks gone? Add the Voice Clarity filter to your mic track: on the track, click the + in the filters rack, pick Voice Clarity, and try the Moderate strength first. (Older Meld versions call this filter Magic Mic — same job.) The full audio walkthrough is in Audio Basics.

Step 4: Connect Kick or Twitch (no stream key needed)

Meld talks to Kick and Twitch directly — no copying stream keys for either one.

1. Open the Outputs panel (top-right corner of Meld).
2. Click the + icon.
3. Pick Kick or Twitch from the list.
4. Click Login and sign in through the browser window that opens. Your stream key fills itself in.
5. Turn on Start this stream when going live in that output's settings.

Streaming to both at once? Add both outputs. Meld multistreams built-in — one Go Live sends to every output you've turned on.

Before your first real stream, set your title and category on the platform itself (your Kick or Twitch dashboard). Do it before you hit the button, not after.

Step 5: Set your numbers (keep it simple)

1. Open Settings → General.
2. Set Main Canvas to 1920×1080.
3. In Stream Settings, leave the resolution at 1080p to start.

The settings Meld recommends for Kick, and a good starting point all round:

Setting	Value
Resolution	1920×1080
Frame rate	60 fps
Hardware encoder	On (NVENC if you have an NVIDIA card)
Video bitrate	Up to 8,000 kbps (your upload decides — see the bitrate guide)
Audio bitrate	160 kbps or higher

If your internet or PC struggles, drop to 720p before you drop anything else. A stable 720p beats a dying 1080p every single time.

Step 6: The pre-flight check

Before you press Go Live, every time:

• ☐ Camera shows you, framed the way you want
• ☐ Mic meter moves when you talk, stays quiet when you don't
• ☐ Game or screen capture shows the right thing
• ☐ Headphones ON if you're listening to anything (speakers feed your mic and give your viewers an echo)
• ☐ Title and category set on the platform
• ☐ Test recording first if anything changed since last stream: record 30 seconds, watch it back

Step 7: Go live

1. Click Go Live.
2. Say the thing. Be the human. Everything else is just plumbing.

🧰 Field note — from the bench: CleanDEE's first-stream story and the one mistake he tells every new streamer to skip — coming when he writes it.

Related guides: On OBS instead? How to Set Up OBS Studio for Streaming. Overlay next: How to Add Overlays to Meld Studio and OBS. Picture smearing? Why Is My Stream Blurry?

Is Meld Studio free? Yes — a free download with no watermark and no time limit, and you don't need an account to start.

Do I need a stream key to stream on Kick or Twitch with Meld? No. Meld talks to both platforms directly: add the output, click Login, and Meld fills the stream key in for you.

Can Meld Studio multistream? Yes. Add more than one output — Kick and Twitch, say — and one Go Live sends to all of them. It's built in, no plugins.

Can I bring my OBS scenes into Meld? Yes. Meld imports your existing OBS scenes in one click, so you don't rebuild your layout from scratch.