Business Benefits
Increase the perceived value of your summit sessions by using the appropriate camera, lens, audio, and lighting.
Prioritize your recording gear by importance from high to low and set a budget for your equipment.
You’ll need these components for your recording studio, ordered by importance from high to low:
- Audio gear
- Lighting
- Camera
- Sound dampening
You don’t need to break your bank for your equipment. A baseline setup can cost between $200-$300 USD and, depending on the production quality you want, a professional setup can cost $3,000 USD or more.
Grab a quality microphone. Use a professional microphone, such as the Blue Yeti X or Audio Technica ATR2100, instead of a built-in microphone.
Your attendees will tolerate mediocre video quality but not bad sound quality.
Use at least two light panels, like the Elgato Key Light or Neewer Dimmable 5600K LED Video Light, or one ring light, like the Neewer Ring Light, to improve video quality.
Even a basic webcam can produce a good quality video with proper lighting. Investing in decent lighting gives you better video quality with the camera you already have.
Upgrade your lighting before you upgrade your camera, and only upgrade your camera if you’re still not happy with your video quality despite having upgraded your lighting.
Use a dedicated camera or webcam, like the Sony A5100 + Elgato Cam Link, the Logitech Brio 4k, or Logitech C920 HD, instead of built-in webcams.
Any of the suggested cameras will produce decent results for their price. Pick the camera that fits your budget.
Add a lens that creates a Bokeh effect (blurry background), such as the Sigma 16mm F1.4 DC DN lens, if you choose a DSLR camera.
Having a Bokeh effect makes your video look more interesting and separates you from the background. You come across as more professional and experienced to your audience.
Use a clean background instead of a green screen to look more professional.
Green screens are easily noticeable and don’t look professional.
Instead, opt for a clean background, such as one with a nice shelf you can put interesting items on. Consider adding RGB lights in the background to set the mood and let your personality shine through.
Add sound-proofing panels to your walls if you notice echo in your recording.
Acoustic foam panels can easily be purchased online and simply glued to your walls.
Alternatively, if you’re hesitant to permanently mount foam panels on your walls, you can use standing panels or build your own sound proofing panels following tutorials on YouTube.
Wear headphones while recording to avoid feeding the speaker voice through your speakers and back into your microphone.
To match your personality, you can either go with bulky over-ear or almost invisible in-ear monitor headphones.
Last edited by @hesh_fekry 2023-11-14T15:10:48Z