(tapping noise)
- That's the kinda sound you wanna listen for.
Hi, I'm Nathan and I go by Taeha Types online
on YouTube and Twitch,
and I'm a content creator that creates videos
regarding the custom mechanical keyboards.
(casual music)
So I first got introduced into
the whole world kind of
very briefly in 2013
when I was building my first nice, high-end custom PC.
And I was in college at the time
and I also majored in software engineering
so knowing that I was gonna be programming,
I assumed that I was gonna be programming
for the most of my life,
so I wanted to find the nicest keyboard
that I could at the time
with the budget that I had
and I found the mechanical keyboard subreddit
and it kind of was radical from there.
(laugh)
Not many people, you know, are into mechanical keyboards
and not many people spend a lot on mechanical keyboards.
And when you meet someone online
who has that same shared interest as you,
there's this automatic level of connection
that you an suddenly start talking with them about.
So, in the keyboard community,
everything in general is made in a limited run
because all these products are mostly run
by a community of members.
They're not made by large corporations, large companies.
You get other people to join in on your projects
so that you bring the cost down,
and then once the project's done,
that's kind of it.
So if you missed out on that project,
there's no way for you to get it,
other than by on the aftermarket.
I think the platforms are definitely integral
in growing the community.
But I think more so than that,
it's just the fact that we share this silly hobby.
I think that's what brings people together.
For a lot of newcomers,
I think it's a very interesting and novel thing to see
someone building a keyboard from scratch.
I for sure, didn't know how a keyboard was built
until I dove deep into the hobby so,
I think there's that novelty factor
for a lot of new people.
And most likely, for new people,
I'm mostly dealing with parts that they have never seen
or even heard of.
So, I think there's that.
For a lot of returning members,
who have been watching me for a long time,
I think it becomes less about the keyboard,
to be honest, and more about just hanging out with me.
What am I cutting?
Ah, yes, I forgot to explain.
So your stabilizers come like this,
so you can see how there's these two little prongs
that are sticking out.
So when you bottom out,
it prevents the stabilizer from hitting evenly.
So I definitely wasn't the first content creator
for the mechanical keyboard scene to arrive.
But one think I think that I provided differently was
I kind of made the media easy to consume for newcomers.
I feel like Razor's gonna hate me after.
This is what this keyboard sounds like
(quick tapping noise)
I think certain people have different preferences.
For me, I think acoustics I would prioritize over feel.
My viewers know that and when they come into my stream,
we generally talk about how a certain build sounds
at the end quite a bit.
(quick tapping noise)
They all sound that thocky?
Yeah, I mean these are Tealios though.
Tealios aren't generally known for their thock.
People consider it to have a higher pitch
but they're really smooth,
and switches do feel pretty nice.
I wouldn't say this is universal,
but generally if you ask keyboard community enthusiasts,
they will say the sound they strive for is called a thock.
(laughs)
It's kind of like a nice, not very high-pitched,
kind of low-pitched deep
I don't know how to describe it.
It's just a thock.
You know it when you hear it,
but there's no way to really predict
what it's gonna sound like.
Yay!
I've been streaming under the Makers & Crafting category,
but when you look at the numbers between the people looking
at channels streaming under the Makers & Crafting category
versus any other category, it's massive.
Discovery has been hard
and the one thing that's helped me to stay alive
is being noticed by these big gamers
who bring exposure to my channel.
I believe my first big client
was a streamer named BeasttrollMC.
You can consider him the first biggest client
that kind of kick started my career.
- Our brand new keyboard.
- [Nathan] But yeah, at the time I just realized
okay, there's tons of people out there,
these high profile people on Twitch,
who show their keyboard every day
that's their job.
They work on a keyboard,
they show it off,
some people have hand cams on their streams.
And, maybe I should target these folks.
These are the kind of people
who might be interested
in the keyboards that I'm building.
I think Tfue probably is
the biggest client undoubtedly
that I've had so far.
And his first message, I believe, was like,
"What's the most expensive keyboard
"you can build me?", obviously.
So we started working from there,
I reached out to Keycult, one of my sponsors now,
and they also produce high-end luxury custom keyboards,
and they also have a commission service
of their own.
But I work with them on my own service as well.
So, we started working from there.
It was a multi-month project.
(tapping noise) You just hear the pure switch noise.
(tapping noise)
Nice.
(clicking sounds)
And it was finally finished in January
of this year.
And, getting that off my plate
was such a big relief (laughs).
I'm very glad he liked it.
- Oh my god!
Dude, this thing is nuts!
- I mean, at first
I thought it would just be a side gig
that I would do at home
to de-stress on the weekends.
Last September,
I decided to quit my job full-time.
My friends and boss,
they had no idea why I would leave
a secure programming job in the Bay Area
to pursue a career in content creation,
but it's been working out so far (laughs).
It's left me with a couple things,
I guess one being maybe I can do more stuff like this
that people enjoy and that people watch.
And then there's also the stress of
how can I top this now?
Like I've landed Tfue,
what's next for me?
(upbeat music)
I think this thing works too.
(thunk)