[00:01] use for filming all of my videos here at Think Media. And what's interesting about this space [music] is that actually it's pretty modular and a lot set up in the space is actually pretty beginner-friendly and easy to use. So
[00:14] behind-the-scenes look at everything I have going on in my studio and how I use basis. >> [music]
[00:34] is this desk setup which is my main desk setup that I use for my daily content creation and Zoom meetings, coaching calls, all of those things I do here at this main workstation. And it's actually powered mostly by my MacBook Pro. This
[00:49] is the 16-in MacBook Pro. It's an M3 Max chip. It's basically fully specked out and I've never needed any more horsepower out of my laptop than I have with this machine. Now as you might notice right here, I only have one cable
[01:01] running into my MacBook Pro. That is connecting all of the devices that you the reason I'm able to do that is this little box right here on the desk. It's called the CalDigit [music] TS4 docking station. And all that really
[01:15] is is a cool tool that allows me to plug in all of the other tech that you see here including my Rodecaster Pro which is my audio interface, a secondary is my audio interface, a secondary monitor that can connect USB or HDMI, my
[01:27] probably my favorite piece of tech in this whole build and even my Sony FX30 that I use for all of my live streaming and a lot of my video recordings. So all of that tech and more funnels directly into the CalDigit TS4 [music] and that
[01:42] plugs directly into my computer and I can use and see everything from that one cable. Now for my camera setup, I am using the Sony FX30 at this workstation. I think it's a great camera setup. It has beautiful image quality and yeah,
[01:54] it's like a cinema camera that's only $2,000. Yeah, that might be kind of expensive to some people, but I can use this for professional video production live streaming, YouTube videos, and more. And because it has that internal
[02:07] fan, it will never overheat on me. The lens I'm using on the FX30 is the Sigma 16mm f/1.4 lens. It's a beautiful lens that gets me that shallow depth of field to kind of make that background look a
[02:19] I'll link that in the description below as well as all of the other tech in this my favorite piece of gear in this entire studio. It's the Elgato Prompter. And I use this not only for just content
[02:32] creation, where maybe I load up a teleprompter script or some notes that I can look into the teleprompter and still be looking directly into my lens. That's it's also just an extended display. So, right now I have one main display for my
[02:45] MacBook Pro, a secondary display. It's just a really simple USB or HDMI display that you can get off of Amazon. Super affordable, only like $80 or so. And Elgato Prompter. So, three displays in this array right now, and that gives me
[03:00] a ton of flexibility for going live on YouTube or doing any coaching calls or teammates. For audio, we're using the Shure SM7dB. I love this microphone, and my podcast arm right now is the newer low-profile desk arm. I really like this
[03:17] microphone arm and mic combo. It gets me great audio, and all of that audio is running directly into my Rodecaster Pro II, which is my audio interface of choice. I use this for all of my podcasting, live streams, and voiceover
[03:30] work. And that is just plugged directly into my CalDigit TS4, which connects to do most of my daily work, too, I have some other accessories like SD cards, sticky notes, some Apple headphones, as well as a notepad that I use pretty
[03:44] often for my to-do list. This little remote right here controls these lights, Filmmaker. You can turn them on or off together at the same time and then also control things like color temperature and brightness. So, these are cool
[03:58] studio. In lighting for this main desk setup, I'm using the Amaran 60D S for my Amaran Light Dome Mini on just a little light stand that's pointing right here
[04:10] actually don't even have a fill. Sort of these bar lights act as a little bit of a fill back here, but for the most part I'm just relying on this main key light look down here. [music] Tabs are tough. We've got We're testing different
[04:24] chargers, lights, batteries. Just Just pretend none of that exists. And then this little extra light right here is from Amaran. It's their Pano 60C and I often use this to add a splash of color to my background. It's usually just set
[04:36] to blue and I just point it up towards my ceiling to add a little bit of a blue fill to the entire background. It's super bright. It's only at 21% right now and it fills the entire space looking blue, so I use this all the time.
[04:57] daily workflow. This is actually more for like filming B-roll or filming talking head videos only. I really don't do a lot of work from this workstation. I more film videos here or use it as a set piece if I'm demonstrating different
[05:12] tabletop [music] work or filming B-roll of cameras. I like just to have kind of a techy background and I'll use this set for that. Audio for this setup, I actually find myself using the FIFINE AM8 pretty often because I love
[05:25] showcasing affordable tech and this is by far the best microphone I have found that produces the best sound quality for the most affordable price. This mic is only about $50 and it even comes with a boom arm or you could grab it with a
[05:38] tabletop mic stand. Either option is great, but the sound quality is what's even better. The studio monitors that I have here are a new addition from Samsung and so they're a great company that also makes really good microphones
[05:50] like the Samson Q2U or the Q9U. We featured both of those on the channel before, but these are their MediaOne MX5BT studio monitors. So, they actually connect via Bluetooth. So, that's what
[06:02] the BT stands for, or I can connect them directly to my Mac mini and run the speakers. So, I actually review edits right here at this workstation. I also love listening to podcasts or music while I'm filming b-roll in my studio.
[06:16] using for this setup. Now, as I mentioned, my computer for this setup is the 2024 Mac mini M4. And honestly, this thing is powerful enough to do some basic 4K video editing. This is like the baseline unit that I got for $500 on
[06:31] sale. So, really cool, you can power an entire workstation off of a simple computer like the Mac mini. Now, the cameras that I have at this workstation filming that month, but right now I actually have two webcams from Yolo
[06:45] Live. This is their Yolo Cam S3, which is about a $200 webcam. This is the best image quality I've ever seen out of a camera for under $200, and it's a webcam, which is pretty wild. And then behind it, I have one of their more
[06:58] professional webcams, which is the Yolo Cam S7. So, a little bit of a larger sensor. It's a micro 4/3 mount as well. So, you can actually interchange different lenses, and I just have Yolo Live's 18 mm lens on the front of that
[07:12] beautiful images. And another reason I use those cameras at this setup is because of this little monitoring device right here called the YoloBox Extreme. So, we've done reviews about this before on the channel, but this is a dedicated
[07:25] touchscreen switcher and recording interface that I can use to record multiple 4K audio inputs, but I can also live stream directly from the YoloBox itself. I can even invite remote guests if I want them to participate in a live
[07:38] released this cool little device, which is called their Yolo Deck. It's kind of similar to a Stream Deck if you've used one of those before, but basically I can control some of my live switching right here with these buttons and presets, or
[07:52] adjust right here with the Yolo Deck. For lighting, I have one streaming light stand. Again, I'll link these model numbers in the description for you. And then over here, I actually have a light from Zhiyun that I've had for a couple
[08:06] years that I just set up, so I don't have to keep twisting this light over here over to this side of my studio. I decided, "Hey, let's just get two set up, one key light on each side, so I don't ever have to move these around."
[08:18] in the corner that I use often for adding some texture in my scenes and a lives right here in the corner and I pull it out whenever I need it. So, those are my main desk setups, but I actually have one other desk over here
[08:31] in this corner that I use often for top-down work. So, if I'm filming tabletop unboxing videos, or if I want to do some B-roll of products on a desk, I will actually pull this out away from the corner and [music] put it in the
[08:44] some of these lights that I use to light a nice scene for filming some beautiful product [music] B-roll. I'll also shoot YouTube thumbnails sometimes in this for that. But basically, it's just a utility table that I pull out when I
[08:58] need it, so I don't have to try and reach these heavy tables over here that have a ton of stuff on them. I can just leave those exactly where they are and pretty light to move around my studio for product B-roll. And obviously, this
[09:11] here is a couch. I use it to sit on. >> [music] I'll try to clean it up and organize it a little bit better for the B-roll of
[09:27] staging equipment and really try to organize my gear based on my daily cameras that I'll use for different purposes, like filming YouTube style talking head videos or my professional video production work or shooting
[09:42] weddings. Based on the season of life I'm in, I'll have different cameras out that are rigged in different ways just depending on what I'm shooting. And I different types of categories. So, the top shelf is mostly like audio gear and
[09:55] rigging accessories. The second shelf is more for cameras and lenses. The third shelf is for different types of cameras, like action cameras and gimbals and also a few Canon cameras and Yolo Live cameras that I use and work into my
[10:08] towards the bottom, there's a bunch of wireless microphones and different ton of hard drives and other accessories. Now, this little bench has actually pulls out. And a lot of times I'll store in here tripods and different
[10:23] C-stands or gimbals or just like shoulder rigs that I won't use as often, time to time, especially the C-stand for creating some top-down shots. And then the shelving on this side is just like some more storage and props that I use
[10:37] lot of books right here that I love to read. So, you can see you can pause the video anytime you want and just see kind of like the books that I'm interested in reading. A lot about like business, entrepreneurship, and content creation.
[10:50] button from Think Media. And then probably my favorite prop in this whole shelf is this little camera right here. This was my first camera. It's the Nikon P530 and I bought it to teach myself
[11:02] photography. And at one point it was the only piece of tech that I had related to anything photo video. So, I just love keeping that right there visible as a reminder of where I started and as like some inspiration to keep going. So,
[11:15] studio set up. And honestly, it's constantly evolving and changing. I'm always swapping around different lighting and cameras just to try out new up on a typical basis. If you're interested in any of this gear, I'll be
[11:28] description below. And if you have a question about something that maybe I comment section and I'll be sure to help you out. And if you want to check out some of my favorite affordable YouTube accessories for creators, you can click
[11:41] that video and I'll see you in the next one.