During the pandemic, we were all stuck at home having video calls at home for work and school. Let’s be honest: we didn’t have the best video set up. Now that the pandemic is over, we have a lot integrated into our present lifestyle, including the need to have video calls and meetings regularly for work. The times may have changed, but we’re still stuck with our same old video set up. Let’s change that. This article will teach you how to set up a professional-looking video recording studio – at home. If you follow the steps presented in this article, you will have the knowledge and tools to set up your own video studio in the best way for you. Not only will you be able to have professional visuals and audio for your meetings, but you also will have the ability to record videos for YouTube and presentations that both look and sound amazing. Ready to get started? See you at Step One!

Step One: Evaluate Your Space

Do you have enough space? Determining your ideal location and space to film video is the crucial first step to recording high quality video content at home. Many times we want to film in our room, but this is not always feasible depending on the space of our layout. At the bare minimum, you will need enough space to safely place a tripod or desk in front of you while you record yourself in a chair from your head to about your upper arm. See visual below to get an idea of what you should be looking for. Think of it as like getting a professional headshot. Your whole body doesn’t need to be in the shot, just enough to get the top of your body in frame (not just your head either).

Shows man in frame with his thumbs up

Step Two: Get Your Equipment

A view from behind a ring light, the image displays a woman preparing her notes while being in the shot of her camera

It’s now time to get the equipment you’ll need to record yourself. The good news is that you really do not need to spend much if you don’t want to, but I will go over the essentials of what you’ll need but also provide options for those who are looking to create a high level professional studio at home.

The bare essentials:

For those going the extra mile:

Once you have your equipment, you are now ready to set it up in your recording space. See Step Three for the next steps.

Step Three: Lighting, Lighting, Lighting

The key to a professional-looking video image is lighting. Many times you can get by with average-sounding audio, but when a video image looks grainy and dark, it becomes very distracting and lowers the overall quality of your video. That’s where lighting comes in. When setting up a video recording studio at home, it’s important to keep in mind your main light source. Filming in front of a window (with the natural light hitting your face) looks great on camera, while you might not have any windows nearby (or perhaps are filming at nighttime) this can be remedied by filming with an electronic light. There are many different forms of electronic light like flashlights, panel lights, or if you are really fancy those studio lights commonly found in professional recording spaces (100% optional for at home video).

If you’re using natural light from a window: Simply set your desk by the window and sit on a chair behind the desk (facing the window). The light will hit your face and you will be ready to film from there. See image below for example.

Displaying a man sitting at a desk by a window while recording himself on a laptop camera

If you’re working with an electronic light, prop the light source in front of your desk and allow the light to hit your face, as you would with natural light. It’s that simple! See image below for example.

Shows a man having a video call at a desk while in the light from a ring light

Step Four: Get Your Camera Ready

As one might expect, recording video requires a camera. If you have a laptop with a webcam, that will work just fine, but nowadays smartphones have great looking cameras on them so feel free to use them as well. For an even more professional look, you can invest into a video camcorder or DSLR camera that shoots video (not necessary but nice to have), just remember that unlike smartphones or laptops, the ISO and White Balance settings may need to be manually set to optimally provide you with a good-looking image. If you are using a laptop, you can simply place it on your desk with the camera facing you. In the case of a smartphone, you are welcome to use a tripod that has a horizonal phone grip (see image below for example). Don’t have a tripod? No problem, you can also use books to prop up your smartphone at eye level to record just fine. The important part is that your camera is roughly at your eye level so you can make eye contact with it when on video calls (to avoid needing to awkwardly look down). Got it all set up? Great! You are now ready to work with audio in Step Five.

Displays a view from behind a ring light of a man giving a thumbs up filming himself on camera on his smartphone

Step Five: Audio…Can you hear me?

You are almost ready to get started filming professional-looking content at home! Nothing is worse than when you’re on an important call and suddenly your audio isn’t working. Let’s be honest, most of our computers come with really bad microphones. They all seem to work okay at first, until you hear what it sounds like on the other side. Yikes. Let’s get you set up to avoid that problem entirely.

Displays a set of microphones on a table: AirPods, Professional Lavalier, and Podcast microphone

External microphones are great for ensuring that you not only look good, but also sound good. You can find some of these on Amazon with great brands like Rode, but if you are looking to reuse something you might have already, look no further than your wireless smart-earbuds like AirPods. They have built-in microphones that do the job just great for video calls. Just make sure in your call’s settings that you are using that as your microphone source and not the standard mic, which it might automatically default to. Another option is using a professional lavalier recorder that records directly to an SD card, which you can later sync up to your camera’s audio in post-production (for YouTube videos and recorded presentations).

Step Six: YOU ARE READY TO FILM!

If you followed the previous steps, you are now ready to film some high-quality video content! You now have a home studio where you can shoot video content, whether it be for work calls, presentations, or YouTube videos. If you found this tutorial helpful, please share the link with your friends! Thank you so much for your time and I hope you have been inspired to up your video content game to the next level.

A view of a man at a desk having a video call while being lit by a ring light

Cheers!