New Year's Eve DJ stream visuals: the countdown, the loops and midnight in OBS

Checked 13 November 2026. By Rob (TheRND2). Menu names can differ slightly between OBS versions.

What does a DJ stream need for New Year's Eve?

Four things, in the order viewers notice them. A background loop behind your camera for the hours before midnight, at the tempo you play. A countdown that sits over that scene without hiding you. A midnight moment, a stinger or a hard cut, so the drop at twelve lands on screen as well as in the mix. Then a second loop for after midnight, because the room keeps going and the countdown look is stale by 12:05. Keep it to one scene with layers rather than four scenes you have to switch between while you mix. Every switch is a chance to miss a transition, and on New Year's Eve the mix matters more than the graphics.

How do you run a countdown at midnight in OBS?

1. Add the countdown as a Media Source above your loop and your camera.
2. Untick Loop, and tick Restart playback when source becomes active.
3. Hide the source with the eye icon. It now waits at its first frame.
4. Show it at the right second: 23:59:00 for a 60-second countdown, 23:59:50 for a 10-second one. Use a clock that shows seconds, on your phone or a second screen.
5. Rehearse it once that week, start to finish, with the stream offline.

OBS doesn't read the clock for you, so the timing is a button press. Map the show and hide to a hotkey in Settings, then Hotkeys, and you can trigger it without leaving the decks.

Whose midnight do you count down to?

Your own, said out loud. Chat will be spread over time zones, and a stream that counts down for every zone turns into a clock show. Count down to your local midnight, tell chat which zone that is in your title and on a panel, and give the other zones a shout as their hour comes round. If your audience is mostly in one zone that isn't yours, count down to theirs and say so. Either way, one countdown that you rehearsed beats three that you improvise.

Will a countdown overlay cover your camera?

Not if it carries transparency. A countdown saved as a WebM with an alpha channel (VP9) shows only the numbers and effects, and OBS and Streamlabs play the see-through parts as see-through, so your camera and the loop stay visible underneath. A plain MP4 has no transparency and will cover whatever is below it with a solid frame. Check the file before the night: drop it into a test scene over your camera and watch it once.

Which loops work for a New Year's Eve DJ set?

Ones cut to a whole number of beats at the tempo you play, so the seam lands on the beat. These are the five in our Crate 03: Countdown.

Loop	BPM	Beats	Length
Midnight Descent	128	32	15.0 s
Flip Clock 59	140	64	27.4 s
Ten on the Bar	128	32	15.0 s
After Midnight	150	32	12.8 s
Countdown TV	138	64	27.8 s

Can you stream New Year's Eve loops on Twitch, Kick and YouTube?

That depends on the license, so read it before you buy any pack. Some VJ packs allow live shows but not streams, and some allow streams but not replays. Crate 03 comes with a commercial streaming license: your own streams, replays and clips, monetized channels included, plus screens and LED walls at clubs, venues and private events where you play. You can't resell, share or re-upload the files. The music is a separate question: the loop license covers the visuals only, not the tracks in your set.

Where can you get New Year's Eve DJ visuals?

Crate 03: Countdown is $19, an edition of 50: the five loops above in 1080p60, a 60-second countdown, a 10-second countdown and a midnight stinger as transparent WebM, and three bonus loops. If you want to try loops in your scene first, our free Starter Kit has five 32-beat loops at 128, 138, 140, 150 and 174 BPM.

More for DJs who stream: BPM-synced VJ loops for Twitch and OBS, OBS lag on a DJ stream: fix it before you buy a new PC, Twitch DJ overlays: what you need and what it costs