You Already Know What Good Looks Like. Now Build It.
For media and production professionals building remote broadcast capability
On September 6, 2024, Office Hours Global featured Junaid Ahmed, a home studio architect, entrepreneur, and author who has spent two decades in video production helping people build home studios that perform. His book, Home Studio Evolution: From Beginner to Broadcast, lays out seven stages of studio development: novice, hobbyist, enthusiast, semi-pro, pro, expert, and broadcaster. Each stage adds different gear and capability. The principle is the same at every level: master where you are before you move up.
Here's how that progression breaks down into three practical kit levels, and what to consider at each one.
Before the Gear: Start With Your Mission
Junaid is direct on this. Before you buy anything, know what you're trying to do and who you're trying to reach. The gear follows the mission, not the other way around. Coffee shops all sell coffee, but each one has a different message and attracts different people. Your studio communicates the same way. Figuring out your mission first makes every gear decision easier.
Tier 1: The Foundation Kit
Novice to Hobbyist
Three things matter most at this level: a good microphone, a quiet room, and sound absorption. That order is intentional. Junaid is clear that you can buy the most expensive microphone available, and if your room has wood floors, flat walls, and nothing on the walls, you will still get echo. Room treatment is not optional. It is the foundation.
For the camera, one rule: eye level. Not looking up at you, not looking down. Eye level. That single adjustment changes how you show up to the person on the other side of the screen.
For lighting, Junaid recommends skipping the ring light. Ring lights are designed for gaming streams where the camera is a small thumbnail, not for being fully on camera. You need a light that is large enough to cast a broad, soft stroke of light without putting it directly in your eyes.
DIY is valid here. Junaid recommends shower curtains to diffuse window light, bed sheets, and moving blankets for sound absorption. They serve the same purpose as professional solutions at a fraction of the cost.
Tier 2: The Production Position
Enthusiast to Semi-Pro
This is where branding enters the conversation. Once you are comfortable on camera, your audio is dialed in, and your messaging is consistent, Junaid says it is time to start bringing intentional elements into your space. The colors in your background, the objects on your wall, all of it communicates something before you say a word. His own setup includes Avengers and Star Wars references because those are things he loves. That specificity is what separates one studio from another.
A second camera angle becomes useful at this level, but it introduces an acoustic problem: whatever wall is behind you in that shot now shows up on camera. If it is bare, the audio reflects off it. Junaid learned this firsthand when vinyl panels on his secondary wall gave him echo. His fix was posters and pictures to break up the sound. Sound panels work too, and they can be integrated into the background design.
On camera and lens: Junaid uses a 35mm lens on a full frame for his face camera because it is closest to how the human eye naturally sees. He notes our eyes are roughly 50mm, and 35mm is close enough that the image reads as natural. For his wide secondary shot, he uses a 24mm. Wide angle lenses show the environment and set context. Tighter lenses focus on the person. The same logic applies in film: wide to establish the scene, tighter for the face.
The shift from DSLR to mirrorless was, in Junaid's words, a huge jump. A hardware switcher like the ATEM Mini allows clean cuts between camera angles and was another major turning point for him.
One more thing at this level: automate your lighting. Junaid has his studio set up so one command turns on every light he needs. Every minute spent adjusting gear before going on camera is a minute taken away from the actual work.
Tier 3: The Broadcast Position
Pro to Broadcaster
At this level, the operation runs without you thinking about it. Junaid points to a LinkedIn CEO studio setup as an example: a full studio with a control room so the CEO could focus entirely on the message while a team managed the stream. The investment was significant. The return was a CEO who could speak with more authority and less mental overhead.
Multiple camera angles are standard here. Junaid runs a face camera, a wide environmental shot, a second angle on a Rhino camera slider connected via HDMI to his ATEM Mini, and a fourth angle using a phone on an orbital ceiling mount. Each angle is framed and ready before the session starts.
Room acoustics are fully addressed. Sound panels are placed wherever a camera can see. The background in every shot is intentional. The technology requires no troubleshooting.
What Applies at Every Level
Audio before everything else. Junaid says it plainly: people will tolerate bad video, but bad audio means they stop listening. If you are making tradeoffs, spend on your audio chain first and treat your room first.
The camera angle matters as much as the camera. Ceiling fans, lights, and distractions disappear from the frame when the camera is at the right height. Junaid's face camera sits at roughly five feet off the ground. At that height, the ceiling fan and overhead lights are out of the shot entirely.
Gear has diminishing returns. Junaid uses the analogy of a cyclist who kept training alongside faster riders on a 2014 bike. He committed to upgrading only when he could keep pace for the full hundred miles. That day never came, and the point is the same for studios: there is more to gain from working the setup you have than from upgrading before you have maxed it out.
The goal is a space where you sit down, the lights come on, and you go to work. Everything else is in service of that.
Watch the full episode. The September 6, 2024 Office Hours Global conversation with Junaid Ahmed goes deeper on every topic covered here, including live Q&A from media professionals around the world. Watch it on YouTube and see the studio setup in action.
Based on insights from Junaid Ahmed, author of "Home Studio Evolution: From Beginner to Broadcast" and founder of Home Studio Mastery.