Speaker 1: Think Media, welcome to the video department. This is my studio here in Las Vegas that I have built out to create all my content from. And I'm so excited to be breaking down the video podcast setup that I got going on. So if you're looking to start a 4K high quality video podcast, I'm gonna be breaking down everything I use from the mics, lights, to cameras, and so much more. Let's get into it. Welcome to the video department. You gotta just press record. Hey, what's up? It's Omar El-Takrori with Think Media. Now I wanted to start this out by saying I have kind of two versions that I use to create video podcasts from. The one you see right now is kind of like your lounge vibe. As you can see from this footage from a conversation me, Nolan, and Sean had. This is just us using sofas and chairs that I have from Ikea, which allow for a great conversation if you wanna get more comfortable. But I also have a setup where I have a table in the middle. Sean and Shaleen Johnson use this setup as well as other people who have come through the studio. And so you kind of have the two options to go with that. All right, so let's break down the mic setup that I got going on for this podcast setup. Right now, you're listening to the Wireless GO, the Rode Wireless GO. I'm gonna jump to this mic that I recommend, which is the Samsung Q9U in three, two, one. This is the Samsung Q9U. Sounds amazing. This mic comes in at right around $100 at the time of shooting this video here in the US. It's incredible build quality. It's an XLR mic, a USB mic, and it also has a headphone jack, which is dope. But I love this mic, and maybe a lot of people are like, bro, you got a podcast studio and you didn't get a Shure SM7B? Dog, cause that mic's $500 and this sounds amazing. I know you think this sounds amazing. But anyway, I also got a 90 degree XLR cable just to make it a lot more cleaner as it goes into this Rode PSA boom arm. And honestly, I can't say enough good things about the Rode boom arm. I think it's like a legendary boom arm because it's clean. Like it has no springs that are visual and the way it just like stays in the position wherever you put it, it's just so nice and you don't have to worry about tweaking things and tightening things, which I absolutely love. And I actually have it clamped to this side table. Now this is something probably nobody will ever talk about in a YouTube video, but if you go to somewhere like a HomeGoods or an Ikea and you get a side table, this comes in at right around 60 bucks. By the way, the Rode arm is about 100. So you're like 200 bucks for the mic and the arm. And this is about $60. I love this because it puts the mic at just the perfect place to either sit in this position or even use the tabletop podcast setup that I talked about just moments ago. And so this all in all with both mics, you're looking at about $500 when you include the XLR cables, but a great audio solution. And by the way, I'll post links down to everything in the description below. Now, when it comes to audio, you can't overlook audio treatment. This is not the gear you're buying, but this is what you're doing to make sure the audio will sound good regardless of the gear you're using. And my studio is essentially a concrete box. Like we have concrete floors, white walls, and that's it. But if you see on the ceiling, you can see I actually have these sound panels. And if you follow me over here, I have sound panels literally at every place that you could think of, because I was heavily invested in making sure that the sound treatment of this studio was A1. And so I legit, I'm gonna throw the number out there because it hurts me. I spent about 3,600 bucks on these sound panels. And because a lot of them were custom made to certain sizes and things like that. But I would say it's just something to consider. You may not need to spend that much, but you might wanna buy a couple or make sure you get some carpet if you're filming in a place that's kind of echoey. And speaking of audio, if you wanna level up your content with the use of royalty-free music, then look no further than Epidemic Sound. They're one of our favorite resources when it comes to finding dope music and dope sound effects for our video. Their database is so easy to search for like songs and like sounds. And really music creates the vibe in which you want your viewer or listener to feel. And maybe you're doing a sponsored ad read or something, being able to use tracks right off Epidemic Sound, and that won't get you demonetized on YouTube or anywhere else. But the creativity becomes unlimited when you have a resource like Epidemic Sound. And if you wanna check them out, we have a special deal going on. Just check out the link down in the description below. Thank you Epidemic Sound for sponsoring this video. Now let's talk about the cameras that I decided to go with for this setup, which I believe is probably one of the best cameras you can get for video podcasting. And that is the Sony FX30. This is Sony's entry-level cinema camera. And when you pair it with the right lenses, it looks so good. The colors are amazing, and it really is a workhorse of a camera. And what I mean by that is you're not gonna have any issues of overheating when recording long periods of time. So if you have a podcast that's gonna be at least an hour or around an hour or over an hour, you won't have to worry about it being overheated because there's a built-in internal fans, which is super dope. But you're seeing the model that comes with this top handle XLR input. And let me just say this for a second. A lot of people start podcasts, they'll get their mic, and then they get a separate recorder to record their audio separately. And then they in post have to sync that audio with the scratch audio from the camera. And it just adds another layer to the process. What's cool about this setup, which comes in at $2,200 for the top handle XLR input and the body of the camera, is that you could plug up to two XLR mics directly into the camera. And then it's gonna put the audio on the left and the right speaker. And then you could just fix that in post. But that's so nice for a lot of people when it comes to the workflow side of things, that this video angle has the audio file essentially baked into the video file. So that just streamlines the process so much when it comes to audio. But if you do have more than two people, then I would encourage you to potentially get something like the Rodecaster or a Zoom recorder so you could plug more than two people or two microphones into it. But when you pair this camera with Sigma's lenses and they have incredible prime lenses, you're gonna be so happy you did. Now, the center camera angle that I have, which is a medium wide shot, I have the infamous Sigma 16 millimeter lens. And this lens goes all the way down to 1.4. But for this angle, you can kind of keep it around 2.2 or 2.8 because you want both people to be in focus with this angle. So I keep this camera at the center of the shot. But the other angles have Sigma 56 millimeter lenses, which is equivalent to about an 80 to 85 millimeter shot, which is super nice and compressed. And it's gonna make the background look so buttery and soft and the person who's talking so sharp. So that's kind of the camera and lens setup that I got going on. I'm using the same tripod on them all. This is the Ulanzi Ombra tripod. It's about a $60 tripod. And these are great because they're super lightweight. You have the ball head on top. So if you wanna adjust your shot, you can do so. And I love how the middle even has the ability to go up and down. So you don't have to like unclick all three legs to adjust the level of the camera. And another thing I invest in is quick releases. And so, Ulanzi also has a quick release system called the Falcon 38, which is super nice and allows me to just take off the camera and then put it back when I need to. And another cool thing about the FX30 is that there's actually these screws on the camera itself. So when I shoot reels and stuff, I actually have a quick release on this. I know this is bonus content right here. It's gonna make you be like, what? So if I wanna shoot reels and stuff, I'm ready to go. And it's just a quick release. I don't have to screw anything, which is super nice. All right, let's talk about lighting and what I use to light our faces, which is what you could call a key light. And the light that I went with is the Amaran 100D. Now, if you are in a bigger space and you need more power, they have the 200D, but this is a phenomenal, super dummy-proof light. And when I say dummy-proof is that it's not bi-colored. There's no different temperatures. It's literally the perfect temperature for your face. So you never have to be too worried about white balance in the camera with the light temperatures and things like that. So I love this light. And then I love using the Lantern Softbox Modifier that goes on this light. And this just produces a large soft light and it spills everywhere. So if I'm pointing this light in the general vicinity of the area of where we're filming, it's essentially gonna light two people. But I usually have two of these going when there's two people talking. So I have one light hitting this person, the other light hitting the other person, and then it's filling the shadows as well as they cross over. And I think it's important to note this awesome light stand. I need to make a dedicated video on this light stand because I can't say enough good things. This is a newer light stand and it comes with caster wheels, but it's just so nice to be able to roll this away or just lock it in place. And it doesn't take up much room. Making sure that people can maneuver around the space and around the gear is really important. You don't want people tripping up on stuff. Incredible light solution. Like I said, the Amaran 100D, or if you need more power, you can go with the 200D. And that's what I use for lights. Now, you'll see throughout my studio that there's other types of lights. I think it's important to mention, this is what you would call like an accent light. And sometimes when we're filming, it makes sense to actually throw one of these in the back of a shot. So this lamp, this floor lamp is from Ikea, but you can get a floor lamp from HomeGoods or on Amazon and things like that. But it's definitely something that's nice to get in the shot. And then way over here, if you could follow me, I have a room divider that I got from Ikea, but behind that room divider, behind door number one is a panel light. So, you know, like the panel lights that all you guys have in your house, I got this behind here. And what it does is it just creates a cool effect and warms up this background a little bit, giving your background a little bit of texture. So that covers the gear side of the things when it comes to my studio setup for video podcasting. But a lot of the times people overlook the design element to a studio space. And I had told you that tip where first get your cameras in place and place them and adjust your shot, then design. And some things you could actually consider looking into, number one, I would say are fake plants. If you look around my studio, I got fake plants everywhere. I got one over there that is from Ikea. And at the front of the studio, I got real plants, but, you know, having fake plants are nice because they break up the background if it's plain Jane. And again, add some texture, which is dope. I mentioned the room dividers. I never would have thought this would do so much wonders. It just looks so clean. It adds leading lines to the shot, which are super dope. And I actually got another one right here. Again, from Ikea. I think it's meant to go outside. You know, when I'm sitting here or when a subject is sitting here, and this is just a nice way to break up. You think it's so much more than what it is because it's just in the background, but it's literally just a room divider. What's also cool about this is I wanted to go with like a luxury high loft vibe. This is a fake fireplace, y'all. I bought this at a liquidation spot for a couple hundred bucks and it just makes my studio have more of a home feel, which is what I was going for. So just thinking about these things, another cool thing, this is what you call a stendig calendar. I love this because it's a large design piece, but it has no reflection because it's literally paper. And every month there's a new color, which is dope. And then I mentioned it earlier, but the furniture I really went with is Ikea furniture. Like minus this thing being from HomeGoods, my sofa here is from Ikea. These lounge chairs right here that you see are from Ikea. And so you don't have to break the bank when it comes to good furniture because it doesn't have to be heavy duty, restoration hardware stuff. A lot of people make that mistake and then they hit me up and then having to move it around, it's annoying. But because I have light furniture, I'm able to swap this out, create a new look, if I'm going to shoot other things like talking head YouTube videos and things like that. But the question that all y'all are asking, how much are you all in with this studio? Let me say, when it comes to the gear side of things, you're going to be at right around eight to $10,000. That does not count audio panels that I got going on and all the other furniture and stuff like that. If you have any questions, post them down in the comments. You can hit me up on Instagram. And if you'd be interested, maybe you live in Las Vegas and you want to see some of the services that I'm doing out of this studio, then check out the link down in the description below and maybe we can work together. But I hope you got value in this video and that you crush with your video podcast. It is a huge opportunity right now to invest in this form of content. Appreciate you guys so much. We'll see you in the next video.