How I set up my home studio

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“Get rid of the shitty sound. Life's too short (Hans Zimmer).”

First, happy new year 2024! May your dreams come true and your family stay healthy!

Those of you who have already been in an online meeting with me know that I attach great importance to the perfect sound of my voice. My entire setup had two goals:

To make my voice sound brilliant.
To be as easy to use as possible.

Since several of you have asked me over the last few weeks how I set up my home studio and which components I use, I'll explain it in detail for you in this article. Let's go!

Desk

"Dude, it's just a desk, don't go crazy about it". Ehm, nope. As I spent the majority of my time at this desk during my studies and later the pandemic, a good one was like the holy grail for me. It had to be

big enough to fit all of my components and future add-ons,
adjustable in height and
of proper quality to survive one or more relocation(s).

I don't remember exactly how I found it but I ended up configuring one on https://www.inwerk-bueromoebel.de/, which is a German manufacturer for office furniture. Now, I am using the desk for almost four years and didn't regret the purchase a single minute of my life.

Computer

Okay, cool! But, what's on it? Of course, my computer is the actual main part of my setup, which connects all other technical devices and ultimately transmits the sound to Microsoft Teams etc.. In this case, I use a Macbook Pro both privately and professionally. It doesn't matter that I use an "older" Macbook with an Intel chip at home and the newer M1 chip from Apple at work. As operation system, I always use the latest MacOS release -- which is currently MacOS Sonoma.

Disclaimer: As I have been using Apple for years, I cannot say whether my setup works in exactly the same way with Microsoft Windows.

Display(s)

Since I already used various software to write my papers or program my tools during my studies, several screens were always very important to me. I'm a big fan of being able to read and implement something at the same time without having to switch windows and losing focus. Accordingly, I use two EIZO FlexScan EV2450-BK 60.4cm (23.8inch) Ultra-Slim displays. I selected these ones as I like the slim borders and eye-friendly color grading.

Display Port Adapter

With this, the first challenge came up. My private Macbook Pro has no HDMI nor a Display Port. Therefore, I had to get an adapter that has two Display Ports and connects to the Macbook Pro via USB-C. Even if the newer one has an HDMI port, I wanted to have an easy to use setup that simply connects my two displays to both of my laptops. Thus, I got the Sabrent Thunderbolt 3 to Dual DisplayPort Adapter.

Docking Station

Well, two displays are by far not the only components I connect to my computer... and one goal of my setup is the ease of use, so... I required a fancy and powerful Docking Station that acts as the central connector of my digital universe. This task was not as easy as I thought. Why?

This boy had to take multiple USB-C and USB-2 driven components as input.
The station had to provide enough power to charge my laptop while working.
It should have some kind of nice design as it would be placed on my working desk. I know, but I like nice design.

After some research on the internet, I found the CalDigit Thunderbolt Station 4 which was not cheap. No, it was damn expensive but it works like a craftsman for years now!

Keyboard

With a closed laptop that is relaxing and drinking some energy, I could not use the built-in keyboard anymore. That was not a problem at all as I had one of these bit older Apple bluetooth keyboards that you power with some batteries. However, a good friend of mine introduced me to the wonderful world of mechanical keyboards. Damn it, I fell in love with these fancy gadgets faster than Romeo with Juliette. Trust me, I ended up ordering the most flower-like one I could find! It has so-called silent keys which almost make no sound while typing; and all keys are black with just the escape key red. Oh yeah, I know -- Looking at this peace should be 18+. It is a Realforce R2 PFU Limited Edition with a price tag I cannot share for reasons 😃.

Mouse

When you sit at a computer all day, you appreciate a certain ergonomics. For many years I used the Magic Mouse from Apple, which is cool but unfortunately not ergonomic. Since I already have some problems with my left wrist, I didn't want to add the right one to the mix. So I started looking for alternatives and found the DeLUX Ergonomic Bluetooth Mouse. It improved my work so significantly from day one that I ordered another one straight away so that I could have one for both my private and professional life. I have also recommended it to my colleagues and friends. It really makes all the difference!

Microphone

Got it, right? I can use two large full HD displays, have a perfect keyboard, an ergonomic mouse and I can connect my computer to all of this with just one USB-C cable. Ready to work, I guess...

Unfortunately, I am obsessed with perfect audio quality. At home, I listen to my music on a record player and decorate our living room with gigantic stereo speakers. But I'll talk about that another time.

Hence, let's talk audio!

If you want to have very good audio quality of your voice but don't want to go crazy like I did, you can get yourself a decent USB microphone, such as the well-known and popular RØDE NT-USB. Honestly, this will be perfect for most of you. Bye, thanks for reading.

However, for those of you who don't trust in USB for audio but know the advantages of XLR cables for transmitting audio to an interface that itself amplifies it and finally sends it as digital signal to your computer, I have another suggestion: Shure SM7B. I'm pretty sure you've already seen this microphone somewhere. Why? It's the most popular microphone for recording your own voice for speaking. It is used by radio stations and podcasters. Some music studios also use it as a vocal microphone. As a musician, I use my setup not just for work but also as studio to record stuff for my band and do some music production on my own. Hence, it's a completely different story in my case. So, yes, I use this one.

Studio Arm

During my meetings and sessions I want to be in control of the position of my microphone at any time and be able to move it around. For this reason, the Shure SM7B is mounted on a so-called studio arm. In this case, the PSA1+. With this arm in place, I can move it to my mouth for perfect sound quality of my voice, move it away when I stop talking and move it to my music keyboard during rehearsals with my band.

Audio Interface

If you go with the RØDE NT-USB or another one in this category, this section is not interesting for you. However, for the musicians, professional podcasters and other audio nerds, an audio interface that amplifies your voice audio signal and transmits it in high quality to your computer is quite important. Like I now mentioned, the main task of an audio interface is to connect your XLR microphone to your computer and, at the same time, amplify the signal. For quite some time, I used a very well-known interface called Focusrite 2i2 which has two XLR/Line inputs in order to connect two microphones or two instruments. Most of the time, I used it to connect my acoustic guitar and a microphone to my computer to do some good old Ed Sheeran like songwriter sessions.

However, with the new focus on ease of use, I researched the internet for some alternatives. I ended up getting the RØDECaster Pro II. On the website it says that “The RØDECaster Pro II is the ultimate audio production solution for content creators, including streamers, podcasters and musicians. Combining revolutionary features with superior sound quality, endless customisability and unmatched ease of use, the RØDECaster Pro II is all you will ever need to record incredible audio for your content. (Rode, 2024)” and yes, I have to say that each and every word is true. It makes my life way easier since I am managing my entire sound through this intelligent and powerful audio interface. For example, I can configure advanced audio processing for my connected microphone on the fly and make my voice sound like a radio host. Moreover, I can tune in multiple audio sources such as my mobile phone to share a phone call with others during a meeting and some more cool things.

There are hundreds of videos about the features of this audio interface on YouTube. Check it out yourself: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=rodcaster+pro+2.

Camera & Light

Last but not least, I updated my camera set up lately. The cool thing about it? I didn't buy a new webcam nor one of these super expensive system cameras. No, I just use my iPhone. With the latest releases of iOS, Apple introduced the iPhone as webcam to Mac and Windows users. As mentioned online, one can "use the powerful camera system of [their] iPhone to do things never before possible with a webcam, including Center Stage, Portrait mode, Studio Light, and Desk View Apple, 2024". For me, that's brilliant as I can make use of this awesome camera quality by default! I will talk about how I mount it in a second.

First, let me talk about the light which task it is to place my face into the center of the view that all attendees of a meeeting see. My day to day job consists of quite important presentations and discussions about enterprise projects so that people should be able to see me properly and interpret my gestures to understand what I would like to bring across. With a black chair I am sitting on, very dark hair and, yeah, rather a mediterrean skin color, I could easy disappear in the dark at night -- that's what my old webcam thought though... Accordingly, I did some research and decided to get the Elgato Ring Light which is "designed to flatter the skin, eliminate shadows, and give your eyes that special sparkle without glare (Elgato, 2024)".

Inside of this "ring", there is a common 1/4inch thread that can be used to mount any commoon camera gadgets and accessories to the ring light. Hence, I got QUAD LOCK Camera Tripod Adapter as I am using their mounts for my motorcycle, car and golf rolley as well.

That's it, my home studio set up. If you have more questions, just reach out to me. Thank you very much for reading! Cheers.