A tour of my tiny, cheap home studio
Two metres of apartment, two lamps and a very patient plant. Everything I use, what it cost and what I would skip.
Maya Ortiz
4 min read
People keep asking about the corner of my apartment that shows up behind me in every video call. They assume it is a proper studio. It is a desk, two lamps and a very patient houseplant, squeezed into a space that is about two metres wide.
This issue is the full tour: what I use, what it cost, what I would skip and the one cheap change that made the biggest difference. No affiliate links, no sponsors. Just the stuff.
The rule: nothing I would not use every week
The creator internet is full of beautiful setups that cost more than a car. I have nothing against them, but most people do not need them, and gear is the most expensive way there is to avoid doing the work.
My rule is simple. If I would not use it at least once a week, it does not get a place on the desk. That rule has saved me thousands. It has also made the space calmer, because every object earns its spot.
Sound first, always
If you only upgrade one thing, make it the microphone. Viewers will forgive a slightly soft picture. They will not forgive audio that sounds like it was recorded in a bathroom, because bad sound is tiring to listen to.
I use a simple dynamic USB microphone on a cheap boom arm. Dynamic microphones pick up less of the room, which matters when your room is a small apartment next to a busy street. Total cost: about one hundred and twenty dollars.
Light: two lamps and a window
For years I thought I needed a ring light. I bought one. It made me look like a hostage. What actually works is simple: face the window during the day, and use two ordinary lamps with warm bulbs in the evening, one slightly in front of me and one behind, to separate me from the wall.
The camera question
I record on an older mirrorless camera I bought second-hand. For most people, though, a recent phone is enough. The phone camera is excellent; the problem is usually everything around it: framing, light and sound. Fix those, and a phone looks professional.
If you do buy a camera, buy the lens that lets in the most light you can afford, and a cheap "dummy battery" so it can run for hours without dying mid-recording. Those two things matter more than the camera body.
What I would skip
- Green screens. Unless you are making a specific kind of video, a real, tidy background looks better.
- Expensive chairs, at first. Buy a good one eventually. But nobody has ever made better work because of an office chair.
- A second monitor before a good microphone. Nice to have. Not important.
- Anything with RGB lights. You will turn them off within a week. I know I did.
The cheapest, best change
The best thing I ever did for this space cost nothing. I moved the desk so that it faces the window instead of the wall. The light is better, obviously. But the real change is that I look up from the screen and see the sky and the street and the tree across the road, instead of a blank wall.
It sounds like nothing. It changed how I feel about sitting down to work every single day.
Keeping it tidy
A small space gets messy fast, and mess shows up on camera. The fix is boring but it works: everything has a home, and the desk is cleared at the end of every day. Cables are tied under the desk with velcro strips. The microphone arm swings out of the way when I am not recording. Chargers live in one drawer, not across the surface.
It also helps to think about what the camera actually sees. My frame shows a bookshelf, a lamp and Gerald. Everything outside that frame can be chaos, and some days it is. Viewers never know.
Upgrades in the right order
If you are building a space from nothing, this is the order I would buy things in, based on what made the biggest difference for the least money:
- A rug, cushions and a curtain to soften the room's echo.
- A decent dynamic microphone and a boom arm.
- Two warm lamps, placed in front of and behind you.
- Headphones, so you can hear what your viewers will hear.
- A camera, if a phone really is not enough.
Most people buy them in exactly the reverse order, and wonder why their expensive camera does not make their videos feel better.
The full list
Microphone, boom arm, two lamps, one camera with a fast lens, a rug, headphones and Gerald. Total spend over three years: under nine hundred dollars, most of it second-hand. Everything else is just a desk, a chair and turning up.
