How to turn your office into a video podcast set

Choose the room: sound first, then picture

The most common mistake is picking the prettiest room in the office, which usually has the most glass and the least furniture. That room echoes. Before checking how it looks on camera, walk in, clap and listen: if the sound bounces, it will need treatment. The ideal is a mid-sized room with shelves, sofas, curtains or a rug, away from the street, the lift and the coffee machine. Check the air conditioning and ventilation too: a hum you never notice during the day is audible through the whole episode. Ask what happens in the building at the time you plan to record, because building work upstairs can ruin a whole morning.

Light: do not trust the window

Daylight looks beautiful for ten minutes and then changes. Over an hour-long episode it goes from sun to cloud several times and the shots stop matching. So it is worth covering or diffusing the windows and setting up your own light: a soft key light for each person, some fill and a little light behind them to separate them from the background. It is the same logic we explain in three-point lighting, applied to a table with two or three people. Practical lamps on the set, switched on and well placed, keep the background alive so it does not feel like a cold studio.

The background says who you are

What appears behind people is part of the message. A flat white wall looks like a video call; a cluttered one distracts. What works is depth: move the hosts away from the wall, place objects that relate to your company behind them (product, books, materials, a discreet logo) and let the background fall slightly out of focus. If the company has a space with character, such as a workshop, a machine room or a brick wall, it is usually a better backdrop than the meeting room. Think about close-ups too: each person will have their own frame, and each background has to work on its own.

Microphones, cameras and the table

Sound matters more than picture: a podcast that looks average but sounds good holds up; the reverse does not. Each person needs a microphone close to the mouth, recorded on its own track, as we cover in how to get good audio for video and podcasts. Two or three cameras cover a wide shot and one per person, with more if the format calls for it. The table matters more than it seems: it should not knock when hands rest on it, should not reflect light and should let people face each other without twisting.

Build it once, record many times

The beauty of recording in the office is that the set can be repeated. Mark the position of cameras, lights and chairs and take photos of the setup, and every following session is quicker to prepare and the episodes look consistent, which is what makes it feel like a show. It is common to batch several episodes in one day to make the most of the setup. At Bostak Films we adapt client offices and venues in Barcelona and across Spain into video podcast sets: we visit the space, propose the setup and handle recording and editing. If you want to know whether your office works, tell us what it is like.

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