Building a Studio

Having worked in both corporate and newsroom environments, there are similarities when it comes to building a video studio. Most of these tips can even be applied to building your own home studio.
​

1. Maximising shoot space: don't just shoot in the studio but all around, whether in the control room, maintenance space, or even the office itself
2. Lighting: do you want TV light fixtures in the ceiling of the podcast room or are you planning on bringing in lighting when there is a shoot? Personally, and if there is budget, a permanent light railing fixed to the ceiling with studio lights would be more helpful
3. Cameras: same question as lighting, do you want fixed cameras or just bring mobile cameras? It might be good to use smaller cameras on tripods/wheels that can be moved around the space according to the type of shoot, feeding back into the control room (this means cables, see below)
4. Connectivity & flooring: I would consider elevating the podcast floor if possible, that way the camera, light & network cables running to and from the gallery can be hidden underneath the elevation
5. Curved table: a curved desk (half-moon, flat side facing camera) anchored to one side of the room would mean only having to dress up one side of the room (the gallery side potentially, depends what the background needs to be) and have all cameras on one side of the room out of each others’ way
6. Reflective surfaces: need to avoid any gloss textures and see if any glass in the room can either be frosted (if you don’t want to see through it) or treated with anti-glare 
7. Talkback & comms: need to figure out how the presenters in the room will communicate with people in the control room – i.e. will this be via earpieces (wireless) or via some kind of intercom system
8. Access: is there a way to build the room so that presenters can come in and out without being seen doing so? I would put the desk and background where you do not have an access door, to maximise shoot space and allow smooth entries/exits out of shot
9. Backgrounds: this is extremely dependent on what you want to use the room for; I personally think it would be useful to have a large TV (the size of a wall) on wheels stored in that room regardless of context, that way the room can be used to shoot anything with virtual backgrounds
   
10. Network strength: this might seem basic but it needs to be tested ASAP