Podcast Studio Setup: Creating The Perfect Creative Space

[00:00:00] What up, potty people? And welcome back to Clipped. As always, I'm Eric, your host. Clip brings you podcasts, production tips, podcasting resources, podcast education. And oftentimes conversations with my potty pals all aim to help you become a better, more efficient podcaster.

[00:00:27] We're on a mission to help you start grow and monetize your show. And yes, we're back. I apologize. I missed last week, guys, but that's because I moved. My wife and I bought a house.

[00:00:40] We're now still in LA about 20 minutes from Burbank where we used to live, still on the San Fernando Valley. But we're in a home. We rented for, God, like two years. I think like seven years total and so stoked to finally be able to buy a house.

[00:00:57] I'm in the garage as you can see, and I'm getting it set up. This is like the temporary new setup, but I'm going to put some more stuff on the walls, play with angles, did some work in the garage. So hopefully I'm going to be content.

[00:01:11] I think I am. I'm already feeling it. I like the vibe in here. I'm separate from the house because with my daughter, it's difficult to work even if I'm in a second, like a different bedroom. She'll come and she'll knock on the door or the dog will scratch.

[00:01:24] So a lot of different things to consider and a lot of different issues and workarounds. But that's really what today's episode is about. I'm talking about like creating the perfect podcast space for you, whether it's podcasting YouTube, some form of content creation.

[00:01:43] You need a studio or a space. And that's what this episode is about because as I moved into here just several days ago, I've learned a lot. I mean, I've built home studios in the past and every time there's different things to

[00:01:55] overcome different things to juggle different things you've got to tweak and taken into consideration. And so I had to do that. And although I've done it a lot, I haven't done it in a while and probably five years.

[00:02:08] And so this episode is all about creating a podcast space or a podcast studio. And I'm going to be hitting you with five things that you need to consider when building the space. And it's important to have a space.

[00:02:21] And I have like a place that you can call your own, that you can get away, that you can focus, that you could be creative. So that's what we're going to be getting into.

[00:02:28] But before that, just want to let you know that this episode is sponsored by Riverside stoked to be partnering with them again this year. If you didn't know, Riverside is an awesome place online to record remote podcasts. You can record 4k video and high fidelity audio all remotely.

[00:02:45] They've got a lot of cool features too. There's some AI that can help you with your show notes that can cut clips out of your video. And they're constantly developing like new things and listening to podcasters and seeing like what the community wants.

[00:02:59] So if you haven't already, I highly recommend you check out Riverside. That's riverside.fm. And if you're new enter promo code clipped the name of this show CLIPPED for 20% off any individual plan. All right. So podcasting studios. Let's give it a go.

[00:03:29] So you need some kind of ideal workstation. You're going to be recording, editing, maybe doing videos for social media, YouTube. You need a dedicated space and get yourself a desk, get yourself a chair. And you might even want to get a sit stand desk. That's what I have.

[00:03:47] I'm sitting now. It's funny. I used to stand all the time. Now I find myself sitting all the time, but that's going to change with this new setup. Try to avoid closets or like weird corners in the bedroom. I mean, if that's all you have, fine.

[00:03:59] But at least get yourself like a desk where you're comfortable, where you can like move around and like ship things on your desk and you're not so like tied into this cramped space.

[00:04:10] And the other thing I say that, and I know it's not possible for everyone, but like you're going to feel your best when you have a proper workstation. And I think at least for me, that's going to help you be the most creative with

[00:04:20] your content, with your ideas and with your work, with your editing, recording, et cetera. And I highly recommend getting a like dedicated desk and a dedicated setup. I use a very desk. I'll link to this in the show notes. It's a sit stand desk.

[00:04:37] I'm going to put it up right now. If you're watching this, there you go. We're going up and we're going back down. And let's just make sure I think it was on 112. Yes. Okay. So the ideal workstation, you need it, set it up, fit your

[00:04:54] vibe, have fun, get comfy. All right. Then you're going to also need to listen to how your room stands. So you got your desk, there's sounds. You're going to need to listen to how your room sounds because you don't know, like there could be a lot of echoes.

[00:05:10] If you're hardwood floor, you're probably going to want to get a carpet, maybe a couch, anything to absorb sound. And if you can afford it, you've got a hundred bucks or couple hundred bucks, get yourself some sound panels like this or just some foam.

[00:05:25] Foam is really cheap, but you need to listen to how your room sounds clap. Do you hear it bouncing off the walls? Play some music, listen to how your voice sounds record like some demo stuff. And are you hearing a lot of slapback?

[00:05:39] Are you hearing a lot of room tone? Yes, that could be because the mic is too far away. But also that's part of how your room sounds and you're going to need to fix that. So when you're creating that setup, you need to invest a little bit of

[00:05:53] money in that or use some household items, carpets, soft furnishings. That's going to be huge for getting that isolated dialogue sound that we all love on podcasts. I'm going to link to what I use in the show notes.

[00:06:08] If you feel like checking it out, giving that a buy would love that. The next is you got to think about external noise in your setup. So you got your desk, your inside your room is sounding pretty good. But how does it sound outside?

[00:06:21] Got to pay attention for gardeners the time of day. I realized just moving in here is Friday and my neighbor told me, and I think we're going to hire the gardener that he recommended that does his yard because that person does like three or four other yards

[00:06:35] around here. And I didn't know what day the week that was, but I found out just last week that it was Friday. So that's good and bad. The one that's bad for Friday morning, because for like three hours, I can hear all around. I'm in the garage.

[00:06:49] So I'm kind of pushed towards the front of the property, but that's good. Monday through Thursday, cause that means like the houses around me aren't going to have a gardener. And so those days of the week, it's to be super quiet in here.

[00:07:00] And so that's just something to think about. Are you on a busy street? Do you live in like New York? Do you live in the city? Are you more in the suburbs? You could definitely hear cars passing by. If you can hear it when you're not wearing headphones.

[00:07:13] Then for sure you're going to hear the mic is going to hear it cause the mic can hear better than you. Could be a freeway to whatever it is you've got to think about that. Kids in the other room, dogs, TV, whatever's going on in your

[00:07:25] personal household, all those things come into consideration. So once you've got your desk, you're comfy, you're set up, you're feeling good, you can move around, you can grab things. That's really important for me to be able to like turn knobs

[00:07:37] quickly and grab things and like have it all set up. I want my face in front of my pro tools when I'm editing and recording. That's all key. And then after you've got that set up, you're thinking about the outside. Yeah.

[00:07:50] Inside it sounds great, but it sounds like shit because my mic's picking up the cars going by. So something to think about. Okay. And then next, and I'm still dialing mine in, but is especially if you're on YouTube, but also if you're, you know, making

[00:08:06] YouTube shorts or reels the background, you want to visually appealing background that reflects your vibe, your podcast vibe. Have a little fun. I'm sure you've seen on YouTube people got really rad setups invest in like a light like this. This is a Phillips hue light. This is great.

[00:08:23] I like, I gotta get rid of this shadow right here, but so far so good. I've got a Govee light over here. That's this white part. That's like a tall standup like going to link to both of those.

[00:08:34] Finally have a solid background, which I love before I was in the baby's room and I was in the corner and my desk has always been bomb, but like, I wasn't happy with the setup. So you've got to create a good background and get yourself a ring light.

[00:08:48] Lighting is important. Yeah, you got to look good on camera. That includes your face, your lighting and what's going on behind you. So that's very much key. And number five, the last one is the importance of headphones.

[00:09:03] And that kind of comes into play for the other steps where I was talking about listening to how the room sounds and how outside sounds, because if you don't wear headphones, you're not going to know. You're not going to know how your room sounds.

[00:09:15] You're not going to know how outside sounds. Yeah, you're going to record, but then you're going to like listen back and be like, what is all this external noise or ambient noise, cars, reflections on the wall? That shit sucks. So wear your headphones.

[00:09:29] And additionally that goes into your setup because you're going to want to hear how you sound on the mic. You might be too far away from the mic and you're wondering why you're mainly hearing the room and not yourself, or you might

[00:09:41] be too close to the mic and you kind of like modulate or blow out the capsule. Also, you're going to get more comfortable with yourself. You're going to hear how you sound, your intonation, your dynamic level, whether you get loud or really excited or really quiet.

[00:09:56] If you're off mic and it's like to the side and you're talking anyway, headphones are going to be key for that. And that is going to help you hear everything. And that's also key. So some things to consider. I've got a refrigerator over there.

[00:10:11] It just does this weird thing where it kicks on maybe like 10 minutes ago. I don't, it's like part, I think it's timed on a cycle, but you get how it outputs like this hum and this it's fucking piss me off.

[00:10:23] I can definitely hear it, but I think I can do us some little noise reduction to get rid of it. And hey, if I just started plugging it when I record, I'll do that. But I wanted to record this also as like a test to see how

[00:10:35] that fridge is going to sound. It's raining. I don't think you can hear that. I can't hear it unless it really starts dumping, but that's all key with the headphones and it's just all key for setting up your space to get yourself a good

[00:10:47] podcast space that's only going to benefit you. You're going to get more creative, more efficient. And yeah, that's, that's what you want. That's what you want for your podcast. And hey, if you work from home and that's like your setup too from working for home, that's awesome.

[00:11:01] Get a little Vibee, good desk feeling good, crushing it. Okay guys. So that is it. If you're looking for podcast tips and resources, head on over to the podcast haven.com slash blog. The blog's been blowing up guys. There's a lot of good resources.

[00:11:20] I often turn these episodes into blog posts. So if you'd like this episode, and you also want to read along and get like more in depth, would love for you to do that. We'd love for you to check that out. That's the podcast haven.com slash blog.

[00:11:33] Keep listening, keep engaging, keep creating. I'm out.