This week I kicked off a brand new client project that I thought would be fun to bring you along for, and share practical tips in case you’re trying to do something similar.
We’re building a broadcast-quality YouTube and podcast studio… inside a small bedroom for a busy professional.
The Goal:
Build a broadcast-level YouTube and podcast studio inside her home where she can easily film herself at any time, for both solo content and virtual interviews.
She needs to be able to look directly into the camera and see her guests at the same time, so the eyeline is always correct. The setup also needs to be good enough to support national television appearances from the same space.
Most importantly, the entire system needs to be designed so it turns on with essentially one switch, without having to reset, re-wire, or re-configure the studio every time.
The Challenge:
The only room available in the house is this small bedroom, and the bed and much of the furniture has to stay.
The Plan:
Whenever I’m faced with a limited-space challenge like this, the very first thing I do is design the shot on a diagonal.
In practical terms, that means placing the talent so the corner of the room sits behind them, and positioning the camera as far back from that corner as possible. Shooting into a corner instantly adds depth and makes a small room feel much larger on camera than shooting straight into a flat wall.
We’ll also be using the existing furniture in the background, but staging it intentionally so it feels designed (I’ll share more on that in the coming weeks).
There are windows in the room, but they won’t appear in the shot and will be fully covered with blackout curtains to control the light. This is critical. Uncontrolled window light causes your exposure to constantly shift as clouds pass by, which makes professional-looking lighting almost impossible.
To meet the virtual interview requirement, I’ll be installing a teleprompter so she can see her guest and look directly into the camera at the same time. The teleprompter monitor simply appears as an additional screen on her laptop, so it’s as easy as dragging her Riverside or Zoom window onto the teleprompter display.
Because there’s very little floor space for light stands, I’ll be ceiling-mounting two small, diffused LED panels for the main lighting, and adding a compact tube light behind her to create a clean hair and rim light for separation from the background.
The total cost of the gear (not including the laptop) comes in at right around $5,000, just to give you a realistic sense of the investment for a setup like this. Over the next few weeks, I’ll break down every piece of equipment with links, and I’ll also show you where there are smart ways to build a very similar setup for roughly half that cost.
In the meantime, use these principles when planning your own studio so that, no matter what space you have, you can create a truly great setup.
More to come!
