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Money Focused Podcast
Helping ordinary people, become extraordinary with MONEY! Each weekly episode is packed with actionable tips, expert insights, and real-world advice to help you grow financially and take control of your future. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to level up your wealth, you’ve found the perfect place. Get ready to transform your financial journey, one episode at a time!
Money Focused Podcast
EP 61 - Professional Home Studio Mastery, You Need To Know This!!
Ever thought about how to make a professional home studio? In this episode, I chat with Junaid Ahmed, a tech expert with 30 years of video production experience. He shares his journey from software design to becoming a home studio pro. Learn why having a home studio is a game-changer for content creators. Junaid gives tips on clear audio, good lighting, and great camera gear to help you connect with your audience better. We also talk about setting up a home studio on different budgets. Junaid explains the stages of home studio setup, from basic to advanced gear, and why it's important to keep learning new tech. Tune in and learn how to make a top-notch home studio for your content creation journey.
📺 You can watch this episode on Moses The Mentor's YouTube page and don't forget to subscribe: https://youtu.be/IWyUZyVZ9lo
🎯Connect with Junaid Ahmed @superjunaind on Instagram and visit his website homestudiomastery.com
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Welcome back to the Money Focus Podcast. I'm your host, Moses, the mentor, and in this episode, I have the pleasure of welcoming on Junaid Ahmed. He's been creating videos now for over 30 years and he's mastered the art of building powerful home studios. In this episode, he'll share with us why having a home studio is crucial for content creators looking to make more money and command more authority. I'm eager to dive into his insights and his experiences, so let's get it started.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for bringing me on to the podcast. I'm super excited to be here. I've been a tech enthusiast for a very long time. I got introduced to cameras almost 30 years ago, designing software, designing websites, and as the journey progressed, you know, as I got deeper and deeper into it, going from design to graphic design to app design to now designing home studios. And then it was until the pandemic hit that I started creating my own space for my own video production of my own things.
Speaker 2:And as I brought my 10 years of video production, filmmaking experience into my own home, people started asking me why is your video so sharp? Why are you looking so clean and sound so real, like you're sitting right next to me? I'm like, well, I paid attention to what Hollywood does. I paid attention to how they're setting up the stage. I know the trifecta of what a camera brings together. People are like, oh my God, I need to bring you on, I need your help to figure out my space. So that's what got me started with the home studio mastery portion of it of the things and how I started my company.
Speaker 2:But my career has been, again, a tech enthusiast loves photography, loves video production. My podcast episodes that I've done, 500 of every single episode starts with how to blah, blah, blah with this guest, right, it all came down to that's just how my brain works and I try to find those things, so bringing it full circle. Now I figure out how do they look good on camera, how do they sound more effective and all that stuff. And that's short of it all.
Speaker 1:Thank you, you definitely look sharp and it looks perfectly clear and sound great. So you definitely are representing your business well. So hopefully by the end of this episode I'll get some great pointers and definitely the listeners and everyone that's watching as well. Let's talk about, you know, mastering home studios in general. Can you really break it down for us why it's so important for a content creator, anybody who is interested in producing any podcasts or YouTube or anything like that why is it so essential for them to go ahead and set up a home studio?
Speaker 2:Growing up, especially this generation. Right now, I have a two-year-old, I have a six-year-old, I have a nine-year-old and a 14-year-old, and all of these kids are very well-versed in how to use a TV remote control to watch YouTube. Youtube is the number one place, or number two search engine, and then the number one place that people go to watch video content. In fact, billions of hours of video is consumed on YouTube, as well as uploaded on YouTube. It's happening all of the time.
Speaker 2:A home studio enables you to create content as a content creator, as a marketer, as a business owner, as an entrepreneur, as somebody creating podcasts. It is creating a deeper connection with your audience. It's creating a much more unique way of connecting with people, and we have examples from Colin and Samir creating their YouTube channel, from Mr Beast launching his you know he's giving away a million dollars all the time and every single video. He's giving away millions of dollars because he can right, he's partnered up with uh, amazing brands. He's created amazing brands, all thanks to video. Right, I think he did a foreword in the youtube formula book by daryl eves and he talks about your first 100 videos are gonna suck, but each video is going to be better than the previous one, because what happens is, when you get started, you're going to get better over and over. So a home studio does that exact same thing. It enables you to create content, get comfortable and build your rhythm, build your reps. It reduces the friction for you so that you can create content faster. What are some essentials?
Speaker 1:of a home studio, so obviously video. You need a camera For someone to say that they have their own home studio. What are some things that you say hey, at a baseline level?
Speaker 2:Great question. Thank you so much, moses. The number one thing that you should pay attention on your video is the audio. Sure, if your video is all around, you know, faceless, and you're just creating something or you're working, then you can just lay a music track. But if you're trying to deliver a message, your audio needs to be sharp and clean. And, yes, there are tools out there that can clean up audio bad, bad, echo audio. But again, if you can shortcut that by using a good microphone connected to your phone to create that video content, then it's going to be better in the long run. And you're you're already, you know one step up from them. So, number one, audio. Number two is lighting. Make sure that you lit up properly.
Speaker 2:We're not shooting a feature-length film like the Blair Witch Project where you don't even know what the heck is going on, right, unless you're going for that kind of thing, your message needs to be heard and seen properly and that's where you need proper lighting.
Speaker 2:For example, I've got multiple lights overhead that are that are lighting me up, and everything else is kind of, like you know, toned down. The focus is on the talent, and the talent is you in that video. So, again good audio, better lighting and any camera will do the job. In fact, there are numerous films shot completely on smartphones like iPhone and the Samsung Apple. All of their events that they're doing now are completely shot on the iPhone 15 Pro Max. They might either be mounted on a long, 40-foot crane behind a teleprompter or it's mounted on a drone flying all over the place. The cameras are really accessible. Now you want to make sure that your audio and your lighting is good, because camera we already have. So those are the essentials to get started and that we can talk more into these little details the seven different stages on how you can level up from one stage to the next stage, but that's the most essential thing that you want to worry about Got you.
Speaker 1:So that's interesting. I mean because you know I would have thought you would have said, hey, you need to have this high-end camera, but you really said, hey, it's how you sound and how you're lit up. So that's interesting, it's how you sound and how you're lit up, so that's interesting. And for those who are listening, definitely go to most of the mentors YouTube page my page so you can see, because Jermaine just did an incredible alternate view of his setup and you're able to see the lights right in front of him. And before I go to the next question, I did have a question because it seemed like the rest of the room is pretty dark. So, like in my room here, I have the lights on, but then I also have other like lights as well. So do you recommend to keep the room dark and then have the added lights on you Like? Is that a difference?
Speaker 2:Yes. So the reason I do that is because, again, I'm focusing these lights to be lighting me up more than the room. But if everything is lit up, then people start staggering. Okay, what do I look at? What do I look at? But with the specific lighting, they're just now focusing on you.
Speaker 1:Let's talk about the opportunities that are presented for someone who has their home studio versus going elsewhere. So I'm sure it's more convenient to be at home, but I'm just hoping to hear you kind of break down some of the different opportunities that's presented to someone who has a home studio in play.
Speaker 2:Great question, moses. Now we are in the creator economy, and the reason I do quotes is because literally every single social media platform has a creator program Instagram, facebook, tiktok, youtube everybody has a creator program. I think even LinkedIn and Vimeo, like there's so many other platforms that are creator focused, because they know there's a ton of creators, a lot more creators, and it's the creators that bring the other audience to those platforms. If you think about it, you know 4 billion hours of video is consumed every hour on YouTube. Who's creating the content for it? Well, if the creators don't create the content, well, there's going to be no consumers. So, again, it all comes down to, we got to empower the creator so that they can create more content.
Speaker 2:And if you look at the entire arc of what TikTok has done in the past four years alone, they have now, essentially, they've built an army of creators by teaching them the tools inside of their applications. And now literally every person creating content on TikTok is now a TikTok shop owner. They're driving traffic to this shop. So again, those are the opportunities that you have access to when you have your own studio. You can create content that then monetizes and makes money for you through these platforms. If you're creating a ton of content on Facebook Reels, they'll pay you for creating this content and, like I see, every week, I'm getting an email from Facebook with a meta invoice. I'm like, what is this? And they're paying me money because my content is doing so well, right? So, again, those are the opportunities that presented to you.
Speaker 2:Number two so those are the platforms opportunities that are given to you because you are a content creator with your own studio. Number two more and more people are going to ask you to are a content creator with your own studio. Number two more and more people are going to ask you to come talk to their audiences. They're going to come. They're going to ask you to come be a guest. They're going to ask you to come speak on their stages. They're going to ask you to come teach their small communities, because there are new people entering the creator space every single year Kids graduating from high school, from high school, from colleges like these are new people entering, because I've done some research right 300,000 new babies are born every single day.
Speaker 2:New babies are born every single day, right? So that's new target audience being born every single day. So that's why, as a creator, you want to have a space that you can easily create content, you can easily share your message, you can easily do the things that you're passionate about, and that's why my podcast, hacks and Hobbies Passion to Profit Stories talks about all of these things, that I bring on so many guests that talk about how they took their passion because we can now do that. We are in this economy. Those are the opportunities get unleashed when you have your own home studio.
Speaker 1:So let's talk about setup, navigating, setup challenges. So what would you say for someone who's kind of new to this lane of setting up a home studios and not familiar with the equipment in itself? What are some of the challenges as far as setting up a home studio that you run across the most for?
Speaker 2:for newbies, Absolutely so the number one thing people are struggling with is framing themselves correctly on the camera. A lot of people are using smartphones to jump on Zoom calls and they're not sure how to show up correctly. You ought to be looking up their nose, or you know the camera's too high or the camera's too low, so those things affect how they look and that affects on the impression that they make on the people that are on the other side, right? So, first impression how do you show up? Right, and what does that look like? Frame yourself at eye level. So your camera needs to be at eye level to where you're sitting, right? So that way you're looking directly eye to eye to somebody. It's as if we're sitting we're both sitting at a table and we see eye to eye. You want to make sure that you're matching mano a mano how you show up on camera. So that's going to help with framing. So, again, I haven't talked about anything about equipment, because you want to make sure that you, number one, show up with whatever equipment you have You're using a webcam, a laptop camera, a phone camera, a DSLR camera or whatever it is you want to make sure that you're framed in correctly.
Speaker 2:The number two thing that I've seen people is they don't have the lighting set up right. There's a window in the background. With the blinds shut, it's still overpowering the lack of light that they have in front of them. If they were just to turn around and use that big light source, that window, as the main light for them, it's going to change everything for them. You'll see, sometimes they do implement a type of light, but it's the wrong color. They have one blue, one yellow. It's like okay, it doesn't jive well, you want to be as even, as natural and as flattering as possible, and that's what it's going to do when you have the right color setting. So that's number two. Number three they're not using a proper microphone, which is not placed close enough to them. And what do I mean by that? Well, when I'm placing a microphone, I make sure that it's about a fist away from my face and it's a little farther away. So as my voice falls, it falls into the microphone and I'm not speaking. Voice falls, it falls into the microphone and I'm not speaking, speaking out.
Speaker 2:And really cool is there's so many different types of microphones. You can attach one to your shirt. You can attach, you know, having one in front of you. There's even boom mics that you can place, you know, a little further away, but they have a much farther range to capture audio. I mean, they're designed to be off camera and they can capture your audio the best way possible. So those are the three main things that I've seen people framing lighting and proper microphone. And even when people do use a microphone they're like okay, I bought this really microphone, but it's sitting an arm's length away from you. And then the other thing people are doing is they're sitting close to walls and that's going to create that echo bouncing back from that wall going into the microphone. So now you're hearing like I've got that microphone but it's not like why are you still hearing my echo? Well, it's further away from you. Need to bring it closer, and that way it's going to eliminate capturing those additional audio coming into it.
Speaker 1:So let's talk about the lighting part. So I don't have any windows in this side of the basement. What do you suggest if someone's in a room that has no natural light?
Speaker 2:Well, in my room, I'm also in the basement and I do have two windows, but I've shut them off. I have completely blocked them because I want to control the lights in my room. So I started with a dark room and I started adding one light at a time. I start with a dark room and I start adding one light, two light, three light, and then adjust the camera settings based on what I wanted at, and then that's how I, you know, get the right look. So that's how we start.
Speaker 2:For being in a basement, the other thing that that you can do to avoid the echo is adding soundproofing material or sound absorption panels. So you can, you know, make sure you have a carpet or a rug where you're sitting on and make sure you also have some kind of sound absorption panels on your ceiling, because that's going to absorb that sound and keep it from bouncing back. Another thing that you can also do is add in corner bass traps that are going to absorb the bass sound and you know you, you get really good sound coming into you and then none of that bounce back nice, so great tips.
Speaker 1:I appreciate it. But one thing you didn't um mention that. Uh, I'm sure a lot of people will create content because it's it's flexible, but at the same time it it's kind of difficult to make it look real. Is your background. So you know, I have a green screen in my studio Number one. Do you recommend them, or do you recommend more of like a static setup, like how you have in your background background to where you know it's real? You don't have to worry about post-production and editing green screen and all that stuff?
Speaker 2:just want to know your your, your take on that a lot of the movies that we watch use green screen or blue screen chroma and it doesn't look like green screen at all. Why is that? Because they spend a lot of time and energy and production on those green screen so it looks more real. But when we do stuff at home, we think that green screen is the answer, without even understanding what the green screen's purpose is. Now, if you do have a green screen, make sure that it's lit up properly and is at least two to three feet away from you, which means you need a larger green screen that's away from you, lit up properly, so now the camera can do proper chroma cancellation and then, once that's done, then you can replace that green screen with more realistic backgrounds.
Speaker 1:I appreciate that explanation. I know my green screen is definitely not two to three feet away from me. I'm probably closer to one or two feet. I need to pull it back a little bit and I'll test that. I've seen, obviously've seen, obviously you know, major motion pictures and TV shows. You know you can kind of tell it's green screen but you can't notice any difference, you know. Let's talk about some economics. As far as the cost to put together a studio, I'm interested to know that.
Speaker 2:So that's a great question, moses. And what's funny is that for some people, a starter budget might be $5,000 and other people you know, their high budget is 50K. So it all comes down to the individuals and how serious are they into investing into their own businesses and investing into their own personal brand, as well as who they want to show up as an authority? Right, because as business owners, we spend a ton of money in a lot of different places. That doesn't show the right type of result. But investing in a home studio absolutely is going to show you result and it's immediate, because as you add a gear to your setup, people can tell oh my God, you've done something different. You can immediately see that gain of what it is. Does it translate to financial gains? I'm not sure, but it does help you appear and it helps you with the authority. It helps you with your confidence as well, because guess what's happening when you look good on camera, you immediately feel more powerful. You immediately feel, oh my God, I got this. Those are some of the ROI benefits of investing in a studio. And when I say investing, you're literally investing, because gear in my studio, like all of the gear in my studio is. And when I say investing, you're literally investing, because gear in my studio, like all of the gear in my studio, is easily seven years old, 67 years old, which means you can still buy gear that's used, that's going to work in your studio for another decade to come, without a doubt. So in my book you know Seven Stages of Home Studio Evolution.
Speaker 2:I have different budget drains in different stages and each stage says hey, in this first stage, make sure you have your smartphone and make sure you have a microphone, that's it. So what's investment in that? Well, that's probably around $50 to $60 on a good microphone. All right, you want to level up from stage one to the novice to the enthusiast? Well, make sure you invest in a microphone. That's kind of costs you anywhere from $150 to $250. Okay, I'm now ready to go to the next level, which is the enthusiast. So you've got the novice. Go to the next level, which is the enthusiast. So you've got the novice, the hobbyist, the enthusiast, the enthusiast stage. We're like okay, now it's time to level up your camera. Let's spend a thousand bucks on your camera so that you can look even sharper on camera.
Speaker 2:So again, there's different levels and as you go up higher, you might have more money to spend towards leveling up your space, towards leveling up to your equipment, and it also helps you learn how to use the equipment, because a lot of the times what's happening is that we buy the best microphone but we don't know how to use it.
Speaker 2:You buy the best car, but you can't really take it to the track right. So the question is, where do you start and how deep do you want to go with your experience? Because you can literally go rent a really high-quality studio for, say, $300, $400 an hour, but if you don't have your messaging down, if you don't know what you're going to be saying in front of the camera, that's the work that we all have to do, and even though I had this beautiful studio set up, I didn't know how to speak in front of the camera, right, I had to practice that. You got to do the reps. So that's why I tell everybody start with your phone, do a 30 day challenge, do a one video a day. You don't even have to post it anywhere. As long as you're doing the reps and you're creating the content, you're going to get better and better and better.
Speaker 1:I appreciate that and, yeah, you know, because again, I bought, I tried to buy. I didn't buy the highest end of everything. I mean, I don't have unlimited money, but I wanted to buy something that I can buy and I can keep for years to come. But you're right, there's so many different settings in the camera that I'm not familiar with and it's like it's like crazy, you know. So I think it's just as much time and effort to purchase. You have to take the time to learn your equipment. You got to take the time to get used to speaking on camera, looking in the camera, things like that. But it does feel good when you do have a dedicated setup, for sure, because it's like hey, I'm coming to work. You know I'm a pro, you know everybody might not know me yet, but I'm a pro, so I think it's a worthwhile investment for sure yet, but I'm a pro, so I think it's a worthwhile investment for sure.
Speaker 2:You know, when my wife got me the first dslr camera back in 2013, I was ecstatic. Now I've had cameras for a long time digital cameras, you know, camcorders and whatnot, so I knew how to use the cameras a little bit. But when I got this pro camera, I was like I need to know everything, nuts and bolts, a to Z, about this. So I took like 15 different courses all around photography, filmmaking, videography, interviewing to understand, hey, how is this camera being used? What settings do I need to know? How am I framing everything?
Speaker 2:I even took the Hollywood camera course, which teaches you blocking shots, setting up two shots, three shots, one shot and how, how the interaction is happening between one actor coming in and the other actor coming in. And as I took that course and when I watch TV shows, I'm like, oh my God, they're using that camera angle, they're using that movement from this shot. And you could kind of like, understand filmmaking, understand camera movement, because I've taken that thing. So, again, you want to go deep into the learning of how a device is being used and then you can continue to level up. So, again, there's two paths right your internal path of understanding the gear and then your external equipment that you're using.
Speaker 1:Talk to us about your book and then your external equipment that you're using. Talk to us about your book. I want to give you some time to really educate the audience about your book and why we should go out and run and go grab it today, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much, moses. So for the past three years I've been talking with people looking to level up their spaces for podcasting, for course creation, for marketing material, for VSLs, like you name it. They're like, hey, I want to create this content, what do I need? What camera do I need? So I've had numerous questions I've talked to over 400 consults, taught people hey, this is what you need to do in here. And I was like what if there was a place? Because I still continue to get those questions from new people. Like, what if there was a place? Because I still continue to get those questions from new people. Like, what if there was a place? They can just grab this book and know exactly where they want to go.
Speaker 2:So in the book, the Seven Stages of Home Studio Evolution, I've got a little discover your home studio avatar. You know, are you a novice, are you a hobbyist, are you an enthusiast? Are you a semi-pro, professional expert or a broadcaster? And every single stage it kind of gives you an idea of where you fall in, what gear you already have and what's the next stage to move forward to. So it details all of those things. It even has a list of gear on there that's going to say, hey, get this gear if you're trying to go from this step to this step, and it's going to do these things for you, for your studio, even you have signal flow diagrams to show you. This is your computer, here's your microphone, here's your camera and here's. All of these things connect together to create your experience. So I've delved a lot into it to explain why each step is necessary.
Speaker 2:And that's because when I started, like when I started my podcast, I was like I'm going to do this podcast. I went and bought the microphone but that microphone sat in a box in my office where I wasn't spending a whole bunch of time. So the first year that I actually recorded my podcast was all on my phone while I was in my car commuting to work and I was like this is helping me get the reps in. I've got to do it so I get better at it. And the more better I got, the more comfortable I got speaking in the microphone, speaking to what was in my mind and blurring it out. So, again, putting that effort in is really, really important.
Speaker 2:So, again, those are the different paths that I took and I detailed them in the book. Hey, here's where you're starting, here's why it matters and here's you know where you should go. Next, you can buy it on Amazon through you know, I think an e-book format or a physical copy. But if you want to sign a copy, head on over to homestudiobookcom. I'll sign a copy just for you and mail it out to you, and you'll even have access to a free PDF download. And you'll even have access to a free PDF download through homesuitabookcom.
Speaker 1:What final thoughts or advice would you like to give to any potential or current content creator that's out there who's really you know, on this journey that we discussed, on this episode, and then shout out your book one more time, your website and the best way to reach you on social media?
Speaker 2:Absolutely, Thanks so much, moses, for this opportunity. This was a lot of fun. As you can see, I love talking about this stuff. This is why I do this. And so, final thoughts If you're thinking about doing something, stop and just go and do, and just go and do, because if you're thinking about putting your shoes on or going for a run, or deciding to do something, well, you're still in the stage of deciding and not actually taking the action.
Speaker 2:So get up, take the action. If you have to record a video on your smartphone right now, just pull it up, press a video and start talking to the camera, because there's no time like now to get started to the camera. Because there's no time like now to get started, because you can improve as you go forward continually. And that's how human beings are. My, my young kid, my two-year-old kid. He doesn't think, oh, I want to walk, no, he just gets up and walk. But he, when he wasn't walking, you know he's like he's crawling everywhere. So, again, we just got to go and do and you're going to get better along the way. Thank you so much. You can again go over to homestudiobookcom to get a copy of the book If you want to connect with me on the socials. Head on over to you know. Look me up at SuperJunaid on any platform, and I'd be happy to answer any of your questions. Perfect, and.
Speaker 1:I'm definitely going to grab me a copy of the book. I need a lot of help with my studio, so I'll include all of your contact information in the video show notes, so if anybody's listening or watching, just make sure to check that out. Junaid, thank you so much for joining the show and we're out. Thank you so much for joining the show and, uh, we're out. Thanks so much.
