Why do you need a home studio?

No matter how good you are at presenting your show but a professional home studio setup will sure make you look and sound more professional. This will help increase engagement with your audience which will lead to a stronger community. Read this article to get an overview and starting point for your home studio.

Benefits of a home studio?

The most prominent and important benefit of a recording home studio is the professional touch that it adds to your video content. Also not forget the comfort it offers wherein you can live stream from your house and connect with your audience anywhere in the world. It is important to record your videos with proper background visuals and lights and not to forget the quality of audio matters a lot as well. Also, it helps avoid scheduling hassles at private recording studios and lets you control the environment of the recording space in the comfort of your own space. Instead of paying exorbitant studio fees, which are usually charged by the hour, you can spend as much time as you want, record as many takes as you want, without having to worry about what it will cost you.

As home customization becomes more prevalent, there have been more and more innovative ways to make your home your oasis. Some people prefer personal home theaters, others large garages it really depends on the scale of your production set up required. If you invest in quality recording equipment you will still be left with a professional-quality recording without the burden of studio fees. Also, remember driving to a studio takes time out of your day.

Another important advantage is that it helps you keep your equipment in one place. When you record at a studio, you either must use the equipment there that you are not familiar with or drag your heavy equipment into your car and then into the studio. It’s annoying to get ready to go out, wait in traffic, and then drive home after a long recording session. Having a home studio allows you to spend more time focusing on making your video great.

Let us find out how we can do it and what to keep in your mind while setting up your own home studio.

Setting up the lights

If you are going to set up lights in your home studio, then the first thing you need to do is to shut out all the natural light so that you have a higher degree of control over the lighting conditions. Go for a windowless room with a high ceiling. Precise control of the intensity, amount, direction and color of the light is an important consideration for studio shoots. High ceilings are easy to create – all you have to do is remove the drop ceilings to create more room.

It is important that you consider having a high ceiling for your lighting requirements. You need to use light fixtures that make use of reflective umbrellas and big translucent softboxes cut out of fabric. These are gawky units and need to be mounted on top of tall light stands.

The size of the room is a deciding factor as well. You need some space if you want to precisely control the light and achieve studio effects. The backdrop and the subject need to have six feet distance between them for you to get the ideal light separation distance. The distance between the wall and the camera needs to be around 18 feet. Keep that space free of clutter so that it is easy for you to start a shoot when you want to.

The key lights must point towards the subject at an angle of 45 degrees. You also need to have one light aimed at the backdrop so that you can round out the light and keep moving objects from throwing shadows.
Setting up the audio

Noise is one of the major problems in make-do studios. You might not notice the overhead hum when you are just sitting at a desk. It is an entirely different matter altogether when you are adjusting sensitive microphones so that you get a clean and clear sound. Get a sound engineer from your locality to check out the place and give you an estimate of how much it will cost to soundproof the room. Once you have set up the physical studio space, then you can buy the right equipment to make the most of it.

Equipment checklist

• Cameras – This topic alone can fill up books and an entire group of people made it to their hobbies to talk about camera tech. You can start with a smartphone or a streaming webcam like the Logitech® StreamCam. Reusing older digital cameras is also possible but might bring some challenges. In recent years many camera makers have released software for connecting DSLR cameras with a computer to capture live video. As experts ourselves, we can not recommend this at all. The reseasons is that the old sensor technology of DSLR cameras is not optimized for continuous video use. The sensor temperature increases a lot and this results in a noisy image.
  Mirrorless cameras in contrast are highly capable of delivering a stable video feed and are the way into a professional video setup. To step up your camera game, look into the system cameras like the Sony α Series, Canon EOS R, Canon EOS M, Nikon Z, Fuji X, BlackMagic Pocket, Panasonic GH and Leica SL.
• For more latest details and recommendations, check out YouTube and search for Best Streaming Camera.
• Microphones – Perfect sound is the most underestimated role in video production from beginners. Don’t take it for granted that your video will get watched often if the sound is annoying. The tech levels, in general, are very high and the viewers are used to professional sound even if watching amateur videos.
  Good microphones are mandatory for good sound. But beginners seem to almost skip out on this topic. If you want clean sound, you cannot really depend on your iPhone and hope for professional quality results.
  Consider first what kind of video setup you will have. In a home studio environment, the requirements are different from that of outdoor video production or interviews. Make sure that your microphones cover these situations. The industry has uncovered the amateur video market and in recent years the tech of microphones has made a big step. Especially in the smaller wireless sector products getting more and more affordable for amateurs.
• Lights – They make you look good or note. Besides cameras, lenses and mics your light setup needs some attention. In the same way, as for the microphones, the latest developments have pushed lots of new products into the markets and to amateurs. Today, LED battery-powered light systems are the most convenient choice. They cover a broad range of situations and with control over the colors and whitepoint from your smartphone – they are the most flexible systems. For LED products with a good mix of quality, features and price – check out rollei.com.
  In a studio, large softboxes and light-forming elements create a cinematic look but they are less flexible. For the highest level of professional lightning gear, we can personally recommend our friends at Briese Lichtechnik from Hamburg, Germany.

Building a home studio is a one-time investment. If you want your videos to look more professional then it’s advisable to make the effort. To generate some income you might even rent out your studio to others or have friends or special guests over to your house to record, jam, and create. Having your own home studio will offer unlimited potential to develop and grow your craft and also connect better with your audience.