While I still consider myself a newbie Youtuber, I recognize that there are individuals out there that are just starting out and have no idea what tools are needed or available, especially on a Linux workstation.  With so many options video editing and capture options available, it is difficult to decide on which one.  The listing below is by no means the best, but is simply what I personally use.  From newbie to newbie, I hope you find it helpful.  

Screen Capture - OBS Studio

For my first couple of Youtube videos, I had played around with the Kazam screen recorder and was pretty satisfied.  Interestingly enough, it was while using a Windows 10 PC that I found out about OBS, another open source screen capture application available for Windows, Linux, and OSX .  While not as straight forward to use as Kazam, all it took for me to fully except OBS was a 5 minute Youtube tutorial.  I don’t remember the exact video I watched, but any of the top results of a Youtube search should suffice and likely turn you into an OBS Studio fan.

Video Editing - Openshot

It took me a little while to become sofisticated enough to use a video editor.  At first, I would literaly do my videos on a single take, and redo the entire thing if I was not 100% satisfied.  At some point I realized the benefits of doing the video as a series of takes and combining them into a single file using a video editor.  For that function, I opted for Openshot .  Openshot was the first editor I used, but has served me well enough to stick with it even after using more advanced, yet also free, options such as DaVinci Resolve .  Maybe one day I’ll be fancy enough to require something more powerful;  Until then, Openshot will remain my top choice.

Microphone - FIFINE Plug and Play

This is one thing I wish I had invested in earlier on.  I started with an old Logitech headphone + microphone combo I had laying around.  While it worked fine, there was noticeable noise interference in the videos.  After misplacing it during a long Youtube hiatus, I ended up buying the FIFINE K668 plug and play microphone from Amazon.  At around $20, you simply can’t go wrong.  I was nervous about its compatibility with Linux initially, so was stunned when it worked on the first try on my Linux Mint 19 workstation, without needing to install any software.

Virtualization Platform - VirtualBox

Nowdays I do all my experimenting and screen capture on a virtual machine.  OBS Studio is installed on the physical / host PC, and provides an option to record the screen of a single application.  This means that I can record the VirtualBox screen only, which allows me to easily create videos on any platform (i.e. Windows, Linux, etc) without needing to modify my physical machine.