I’ve built a combined home office and Video Podcast Studio in one room.

This allows me to work from home and also interview podcast guests with a full 3-camera setup.

The video podcast has 3 camera angles, and is live-edited by a producer who sits by a video switching board.

You can see the layout of all the equipment here:

Here's what the 3-camera setup ends up looking like at each angle:

Camera 1 View (Me):

This is the camera that points at me.

Camera 2 View (Guest):

This is the camera that points at the guest.

Camera 3 View (Wide Shot):

This is the camera that points at both me and the guest.

Cable Clutter 🙄

If you know me, I'm militant about getting rid of unsightly cables....but since we move equipment around all the time, I've just had to accept a certain level of cable messiness.

If all the equipment stayed in one place all the time, hiding cables is easy, but having to shuffle things around makes it harder :-/

This also allows me to host video podcast interviews

• Can work out of this room as normal home office
• 2x sit-stand desks (one for me, one for guest)
• Video Podcast 3-camera and 2-mic setup
• Editing station for producer to sit

The office is 14’ x 13’. It also has a closet for storage, and a little nook by the window.

Overall it’s a pretty standard square box of room with a concrete floor.

Reducing Echo:

This is often the first thing you'll need to do in any home office. Echo sucks in every way, so you must get rid of it.

This office was just all concrete and bare walls.....an ECHO NIGHTMARE!

When I first setup the initial equipment in there the echo was like yelling into the Grand Canyon 😂

One of the first things I did was add textured wallpaper to the place. The stuff I used was called "grasscloth wallpaper" which is literally wallpaper with dead grass weaved into it.

This texture diffuses sound waves and stops them from bouncing around:

The next thing I did was add a rug to absorb some of that echo from the concrete flooring.

9' X 12' rugs are the largest rugs you normally get, and it covers part of the room but not all.

In retrospect I would've bought 2 single-color fuzzy rugs, and cut them so they essentially "carpet" the office.

Just adding the grasscloth wallpaper and the rug made a HUGE difference in echo!

I have a couch that's also supposed to be in this room, but is being used in another room whilst waiting for another couch....and anytime you add soft furniture to a room it further reduces echo.

Adding decorative stuff:

You can go wild adding whatever decorations to your studio background, but I wanted to keep it simple, so I ended up going with this Article Bookshelf.

I actually just saw this on an Instagram Ad, saved it, and a few days later bought. Online ad spending in action!

The first things I did were:

• Reduce echo (grasscloth wallpaper + rug)
• Light the place up bright (lamps + Hue lighting)
• Add a full audio/video setup (lots of video/audio gear).
• Have table/chairs for you and guests (need to find perfect size for your room).

If you have a dedicated home office, you basically setup a small video podcast studio inside of it pretty easily.

There’s a million videos and tutorials how to do this, but it’s highly customized to your needs, and the space you have available.

Also the sky is the limit on your budget.

I’d say all in I spent about $10,000 on this (including all equipment and professional wallpaper installation).

Lighting:

You have to make sure the room is filled with bright light, but not too harsh. "Soft Light" is the term for this.

Around the room I have 4 floor lamps that aim their light upwards and then radiates that light evenly throughout the room.

For some softer background lighting that I can move around (and can lay on the floor) I have 4 Philips Hue Play Lights which I can control via remote or my phone.

There's a million different ways to light up your office....and a lot of great products you can buy now to make that lighting look cool.

The Full List of Equipment for a Video Podcast Setup:

The setup seems very easy right now....but as I was compiling this list of stuff I realized just how much "little stuff" there is to buy.

Video Podcast Setup:

• Sony a6400 (Camera)

• Camera HDMI cables (3x)
• Camera charging USB cables 3-Pack
• 16" teleprompter
• USB Charging Hub
• Cable Management Boxes (2x)
• Neewer Camera Tripod (3x)

Noise Reduction & Decoration:

• Grasscloth Wallpaper (Wheat Beige)

• Fake Bamboo Decorative Tree (2x)
• Sit/Stand Desk Legs
• White Swivel Chair
• Rollerblade Chair Wheels
• 12’X9’ Sailmaker Rug
• Article Bookshelf

Lighting:

• Brightech Floor Lamp (4x)

• Portable Battery Lights (2x)
• Portable LED Panel
• LED Panel Tripod
• Hue Play Lights (4x lights total)
• Hue Bridge Hub
• Hue Smart Plugs for Lamps (4x)
• Hue Smart Button for Lamps

Audio & Mixer Board:

• Roland Mixer Board

• Shure SM7B Microphone (2x)
• Rode Microphone Holder (2x)
• CloudLifter Microphone Amp
• Roland to Computer cable
• 6 foot cables for CloudLifter to Board (2x)
• 25 foot microphone cables (2x)
• Extra podcast microphone table holders (2x)

I hope this inspires others to make a cool home office studio!

Sincerely,

Neville Medhora