I pretty much spent the entire day today recording videos over at our home video studio. My business partners, Joe Fier, and I built this very professional studio for a little under a thousand dollars and it makes ultra professional videos. You can easily do the same and create a home video studio (just ignore the cost of rent).
I'm not going to try to sell you on any of the equipment or anything but I thought it would be cool to show you the studio and tell you what equipment we used to build it.
It's a pretty awesome setup and the videos we've been able to crank out from here have been amazing.
Here's a quick look at what the studio looks like:
So here's the breakdown of the studio:
Rent: $400/month – We are paying for an office space that we converted in to this studio. We did this so we can have a dedicated video room. We both do a lot of videos and when you have a setup at home, it can be a major pain. Usually you need to set up the lights, the green screen and the camera every single time you want to make a video and then pull them all down when you're done. This can be a major chore. Having a dedicated space allows us to just jump over to the studio, hit record, and get to work.
Next month we're going to start renting out the video studio as well. So we'll be able to cover our monthly costs by allowing one or two people per month to jump in and use the studio. So this cost will eventually be a wash.
The Camera: Canon 60D: $230 (used) / Nikon D7000: $500 (used) – Joe and I both already had good DSLR cameras before creating this studio so we had no new costs for cameras going in to this. Having two cameras allows us to film multiple angles in a single take. You definitely don't need a camera this expensive to get extremely high quality videos. A good GoPro will do the trick just fine.
The Tripod: Pistol Grip Tripod: $60 – This is a great, heavy-duty tripod. I specifically love this tripod because the pistol grip makes it super easy to adjust. Just grab the trigger and point the camera where you want it. Super simple. It's also great because I'm tall and this tripod lifts high to line the camera up with my face.
The Microphone: Audio-Technica ATR-3350: $29 – This mic is awesome. It's a tiny lapel mic with a super long cord. Just run it under your shirt and you get awesome sound quality and a low-profile mic. Can't beat the price either. We have a couple of these in our studio.
The Green Screen: Cowboy Studio 10'x20′ Muslin Screen: $50 – This is the exact green screen that we use in the studio. It works great. I'm sure there's cheaper options out there and I'm sure they're all pretty much the same.
The Green Screen Mounts: Cowboy Studio 3 Roller Mount: $58 – This is the exact mount that we have mounted to our wall for the screen. We intend to get a white screen and possibly a blue or a black screen but right now, we just have the green screen mounted on it.
The Lights: Cowboy Studio 2275 Light Kit: $158 – We actually have two of these lighting kits because Joe and I both had a set of them before we got the studio. In most scenarios, however, three lights is plenty to light your screen and your subject.
The Teleprompter: TMP100: $198 – This is a teleprompter that syncs up to your iPad. You basically hook it up to your camera put your iPad inside of it and it reflects whatever's on your iPad on to a mirror in front of the camera. You can read right off of it and it always looks like you're looking straight in to the camera. It's pretty amazing and really helps you knock out quality videos in a single take.
Edited August 1st, 2019 to reflect update equipment pricing on Amazon.com
Here's a look at the view when staring in to the teleprompter:
And that's it… That's our entire setup to get pretty amazing looking quality videos.
Sponsor:
Make A Home Video Studio
here's what I think will work to build something inexpensively:
Camera: Canon 60D – $230
Tripod: Pistol Grip – $60
Mic: ATR-3350 – $29
Green Screen – $50
Screen Mounts – $57
Lighting – $158
Teleprompter – $198
Total Kit: $782
For $782 you can have a kick ass studio that puts out some of the highest quality videos you can make.
Curious how our journey has gone since we built this studio? Check out this discussion between the two of us on our journey so far.
