What are your favorite "Bob Ross" YouTube channels? (see body)
As in, channels where the presenter is laid back, calming, and the content is slower paced and chill. My go two examples are LGR for retro computer stuff, and Hainbach for experimental tape music.
Pask Makes - Australian wood- and metalworking guy who does the most elaborate and intricate things with absolute chill.
Dashner Design and Restoration - also woodworking, finds old and neglected mid century modern furniture at thrift stores and restores them beautifully.
Maybe tangential but FutureCanoe - meme-y cooking channel, super relatable and relaxing mostly because his voice sounds like existential dread.
Most of what I would have suggested has already been posted by others, but I can say Kruggsmash's Dwarf Fortress stories do this for me. The Waddlesquash/Kingdom of Autumn series he did (with the pumpkin mod) is particularly laid back, but even the action-heavy series are calming to watch/listen to.
Thomas Johnson Antique Furniture Restoration
I know there are a lot of restoration channels out there. Most of them annoy the fuck out of me.
Tom Johnson has the skill and experience and really takes his time to restore wooden furniture without trying to make it look brand new. At the same time teaches some of his skills in a calm and composed as well. But sometimes there are loud machine noises.
Joe Pera: https://m.youtube.com/@JoePeraComedy In theory comedy, but the most wholesome relaxing kind you can imagine.
WAY OUT WEST with Sandra and Tim, Kind of a farm / homestead in Western Ireland. https://m.youtube.com/@WayOutWestx2
Pretty much exactly Bob Ross if he were a nice Canadian lady doing nails...
Bill Hammack - TheEngineeringGuy
All manner of engineering gadgets and phenomena explained clearly and calmly.
All licenced as CC BY.
Easily Brutalmoose, or his VODs at Moose2. Watching him play Nancy Drew games or old Windows 98 games is the perfect backdrop to working from home.
Another one is a James Channel. Upbeat, nice guy with insane technical experience does crazy stuff like make a SNES console run on an NES console. And it works. (Mostly)
He doesn't really talk in his videos, but I really enjoy watching Philippe Faraut sculpt in clay. Guy has masterful technique.
I recommend Technology Connections to anyone who enjoys learning about how stuff works. I really appreciate the way this guy explains things for laypeople.
SummoningSalt is super interesting if you like learning about speedrunning. My only gripe is that the videos are all really chill, but tend to have clips of people breaking world records and flipping out, like "FUCK YEAAAAAAAHH WOOOOOOO FUCK YEAH LET'S FUCKING GOOOOO FUUUUUUCK" and it can be very jarring, lol. But I do enjoy seeing those clips in the videos.
Grand Illusions is a fun channel where an older British gentleman named Tim presents curiosities, puzzles, toys, and the like.
Honorable mention: while I don't watch many of his videos these days, Smarter Every Day is fantastic STEM content
LockPickingLawyer
Steve Wallis (Camping With Steve)
Math Queen
City Planner Plays is quite literally the Bob Ross of city building games. He uses his actual professional knowledge of city planning to build really creative and compelling stuff, and he makes it seem easy enough that you want to try doing it yourself. He has commissioned a library of chill lofi beats that he plays in the background of all his videos, which adds to the vibe immensely. And on top of that, he seems like a sincerely pleasant guy, just having fun doing a thing he enjoys doing. It's an absolute gem of a channel.
Ogmios - dude drives carefully around London, is nice to pedestrians and other traffic, and has a calming voice.
Cathode Ray Dude
Michael MJD: Retro tech youtuber with a very calming voice and video style. Often installs operating systems on unusual devices.
Techmoan: Tech youtuber focused on old audio equipment.
Ashens: British Youtuber, who has been reviewing mostly poundshop tat and occasionally other random items in front of a brown sofa since 2006.
Geowizard: British Youtuber who does online Geography quizzes like Geoguessr and sometimes goes on adventures. The former part is probably more relevant to your question, though even his adventures have a nice, calm narration and music (that he wrote himself).
The Trek Planner: Finds interesting spots on Google Earth and hikes there, usually in the deserts of the Western US. Videos are usually more focused on the journey than the destination, so there will always be lots of nice views of nature. Honorable mention also to Desert Drifter, who did similar videos but unfortunately passed away recently.
Second Geowizard. Chill British dude.
His Geo Detective bits are exactly what OP is looking for. No competition, just using his knowledge, skills, and luck to help people find things, usually from historical pictures of their loved ones.
Just background noise - morrowind challenges
Atomic shrimp - Walks, cooking, gardening, pretty varied content
In deep geek - In-depth fantasy lore
Patrician TV - ultra long format video essays on Elder scrolls games (also other games related stuff but his Elder scrolls essays are his best work imo)
Another Atomic Shrimp fan. I came for the scambaiting, I stayed for Slow TV ❤️
Another for In Deep Geek. All the ones I've seen listed here I've seen before I swear people in the their video comments often mention their soothing voice deliveries.
+1 for atomic shrimp, was going to comment about him. He's so positive and calming, I didn't have much of an interest in the stuff he does until I started watching him, but his quite calm demeanor and positive energy makes it so easy to watch!
Bernadette Banner - Historical handmade clothes and sewing tips
Food Wishes with Chef John. Very fun, laid back, and dare I even say informative if you're into cooking.
I revisit his channel every year at Thanksgiving when I need to prepare a turkey. His super simple roasted turkey video has served me well the last 5 or 6 years.
I always feel so reassured when you get to that one tricky step and Chef John says "But if you didn't, that's ok! It's still gonna taste really, really good!"
Florian Gadsby has an amazing channel for pottery. I find it incredibly relaxing and he is an amazing potter.
The Lock picking lawyer. Too bad the videos are so short; he has a very soothing voice.
And, of course, the OG Bob Ross. I do oil pastel drawing, and often take inspiration from his works.
Click spring for watchmaking. It can take 6 months to do a single build and they’re insanely intricate.
Andrea Borman's linux channel.
Not Youtube, but on my streaming service there's an America's Test Kitchen channel and a "The Repair Shop" channel.
I only just found them last night but manofdutch scratches that kind of itch for me with Minecraft builds
Patrick Dickinson. Some old bloke from UK goes on Hikes and does wildcamps overnight.