How to Easily Design a Home Studio and Make Your Videos Look Incredible [With Expert Tips]

With 100K+ subscribers under our belt and years of experience creating content, we’re well-versed in starting a career as a creator from scratch, and we all started — yes, you guessed it — at home. 

The sheer number of creators online with insanely impressive video setups can seem intimidating. Still, the video team at VEED is here to help you overcome the pain of comparison and hit the ground running as a video creator. 

In this guide, we’ll advise you on creating the perfect home studio wherever you’re based and whatever your budget. You don’t need the biggest space or the shiniest equipment to get started; most of us already have all we need. Let’s dive straight into what you need to get going. 

Jump to a specific section:

• Pick a Good Spot with Ample Space
• Set Up a Well-Balanced Background
• Light Up Your Studio
• Pay Attention to the Acoustics

Pick a Quiet Spot with Ample Space

The space you pick to build your setup will make or break your home studio. You don’t need a huge spare room to film; just enough space to experiment with the background, placement, and lights will do.

A clear space means a clear mind, so ideally, find a spot to record in that gives you ample space to position your equipment and act freely. The more room you have, the more creative you can get with your script (cue all the hand gestures and movements you wish!).

When you get to filming, you don’t want to be recording retake after retake, so find a spot in your home where there will be little to no distractions or disturbances. Once you’ve nailed this, look at the light sources you have.   

“Make sure to use a room with lots of natural light, but also make sure you have the means to control said light (i.e. with blinds that partially or completely block it, or bed sheets that you can put up to diffuse direct sunlight).”

Salim Harinck, Video Editor at VEED

It can be tricky to record in a room with a lot of natural light, as you’ll have to spend longer fixing it before you begin. Use blinds, curtains, or even bedsheets to soften harsh sunlight. 

Set Up a Well-Balanced Background

A common mistake most people make while setting up their studio’s background is getting too caught up with what they need and not paying enough attention to how it should be set up. Focusing on the how can go a long way in making your videos look more professional.

While you should decorate your background to add some personality, the ultimate goal should be to create a more balanced composition. You want to avoid a cluttered environment that may distract your viewers.

For starters, make any items in your background (like a bookshelf, frames, etc.) evenly spread out. Lumping them all together could make things seem a bit tight and crowded. Spreading objects apart — where they extend out of the frame — makes it seem like you’re shooting in a bigger space, making your videos more pleasant to watch.

If you can’t rearrange your belongings, move your desk or shooting spot elsewhere to get the best shot while ensuring other distracting things (like doorframes or windows) don’t feature in the background.

Next, if your wall is a dull, beige-like color, consider painting it a different, more vibrant tone. Opting for brighter colors in your background is an easy way to keep your content easily identifiable for people scrolling their crowded feeds. Secondly, it helps distinguish you — the subject — from the background.

"Try to keep the subject and background distinguishable. This centralizes the subject, and it's way calmer to look at."

Tim Zaal, Video Content Creator at VEED

Now that you know the basic principles and best practices for creating a well-balanced environment, it's time to add some necessary objects.

The type of video you're looking to make should influence your backdrop. For example, your wardrobe could be the perfect shooting environment if you're a beauty influencer. If you're presenting creative hacks to your audience, you could record standing in front of a whiteboard with brainstorming ideas. Get creative!

We recommend other more general items for every type of video:

• Characterful decorations, like frames and neon signs, make the background pop.
• Some flowers and plants add a wholesome, refreshing touch and some color to your videos.
• Have any colorful quilts or tapestries? Pinning fabric with a repetitive pattern behind you could help personalize your setup.
• If you’re a bookworm, evenly stacked bookshelves can make a brilliant background for your videos. You can arrange the different shapes, sizes, and colors of the books to make them fit the aesthetic of your video, too.
• LED lights will create some ambient glow in the background. Ryan Hall, YouTube Content Creator at VEED (and the genius spearheading the VEED Creators channel) recommends Philips’ range of budget-friendly LED lights to set the mood. Salim agrees, saying, “Some small practical lights (meaning you can see them in the frame) behind you not only help make the frame interesting but also help with backlighting the subject, making it stand out more.”

Light Up Your Studio

The overall quality of your video relies on you finding the right light for you. You can have the most expensive camera your budget allows, but a shiny new camera would be rendered fairly useless without good lighting.

To get that professional, studio-grade look, you should have the following lights:

• Key Light: this is your main light. If you’re just starting out, we recommend the Godox ML30 LED Video Light as it’s affordable and results in crisp videos. 
• Fill Light: this will be your secondary light that will fill up any noticeable shadows. The Aputure MC Pro is smaller than the Godox mentioned above, so is more accessible to move around and act as a secondary light source.
• Back Light: as the name suggests, this light goes behind the subject. It helps add depth and separates the subject from the background. Any decent LED backlight could work.

Once you’ve copped the ideal light for your shoots, enjoy this lowdown on how to get a perfectly lit setup. 

Here are some expert tips:  

Positioning Your Lights‍

Place your key light in front—a few feet away and at an angle of about 45 degrees from where you sit. The fill light would also be in the front, at the same angle, but situated opposite to the key light. The back light would be placed behind the subject at a distance of approximately 3 feet. The goal is to create some details and shadows, adding depth to your video and up the quality. If you’re only using one, place your light source in front of you.

Bright, Warm, and Cool Lighting‍

Brighter lighting does not necessarily mean better. Too much brightness in a video can make it look unprofessional. Instead, adjust the brightness of the light to create a soft, cinematic touch.

Warmer, natural-looking lights are typically better than cooler lighting, which can feel more clinical and somber. Even worse, cold lighting can cause eyestrain in some viewers if they watch your videos in a dimly lit space.

Adjusting the Brightness of a Room‍

Turn off any bright ceiling lights and cover up your windows if it’s too bright outside. Use bedsheets to do this if you’re looking for a simple hack. 

Pay Attention to the Acoustics

Every professional video should have clear, crisp audio, so don’t do yourself a disservice by not paying attention to the acoustics of your space. 

“Filming in a room with lots of soft furnishings will absorb noisy sound and make your audio sound crisp.”

Lauren Cotter, YouTube Video Content Creator at VEED

An empty space with thin walls will be echoey and noticeable in your recordings (remember what we said about adding objects to your backdrop!).

If you’re struggling to cushion the sound in your room because of factors that are more difficult to manage, like high ceilings or glossy floorboards, you can take things into your own hands. Tim’s method is creative: “If the room is echoey, foam on the walls!” You can source soundproofing panels relatively cheaply online if you haven’t got a well-stocked DIY cupboard. 

Still needing help with soundproofing your studio? Using fabric to soak up excess sound is the most accessible preventative measure. "Add a rug or hang thick curtains to absorb sound and prevent echo," Salim recommends.  

Remember to Enjoy the Process!

Getting your feet off the ground as a video maker should now seem more manageable. It’s worth remembering that everybody starts somewhere, and the more videos you make, the more you will learn. 

“For me personally, having to set up a multitude of things before I can hit record stops me from making content and can cause me to lose creativity,” says Salim. Most importantly, try not to overcomplicate things. You don’t want to stifle your creative flow or sacrifice your ideas while trying to perfect everything else first; you’ve now got the basics down.

Now you’re armed with the know-how when setting up your studio, it’s time to invest in some video equipment. If you haven’t secured your equipment yet, don’t panic. Refer to our Video Equipment Guide for recommendations on the essential kit you need to start creating your videos, whatever your budget is.