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Guide

One camera or three?

A single camera records a conversation. Three cameras record a programme. The difference shows up in the edit, and it shows up most in the clips.

What one camera gives you

One wide shot of two people talking. It is honest and it is cheap, and after four minutes the viewer has seen everything the frame will ever do. Every edit is visible as a jump, so the conversation has to run uncut or be covered with graphics.

What three cameras change

  • Reactions. The best moment in most conversations is the listener's face, not the speaker's. A tight camera on each side of the table catches it.
  • Invisible edits. Cut from the wide to a tight and a removed rambling minute disappears. Nobody sees the join. This is why produced episodes can be tightened without feeling cut.
  • Clips. A vertical clip needs a single face filling the frame. From one wide camera you crop and lose resolution; from a tight 4K camera you have a clean vertical frame of the speaker at full quality. It is the difference between ten usable clips and thirty.

How we run it

Three 4K cameras in the 4.5m by 4.5m room: a wide covering the table and a tight on each seat, each recorded individually so the editor has every angle for every second. The engineer keeps framing and focus honest while you talk. Panels of three or four use the same rig with the tights reframed.

When one camera is enough

Audio-first shows that publish a static video for YouTube, solo recordings to camera, and anything where the budget is better spent on more episodes than on more angles. The Solo hourly rate covers that. If clips are the point, three is the answer.

Multi-camera is standard on the Classic package at £395+VAT per episode. What else is in it is in what is in a produced episode.

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Questions we get asked

How many cameras does the podcast studio have?

Three 4K cameras: a wide on the table and a tight on each side, recorded individually.

Do I need multi-camera for a podcast?

If you want short vertical clips from the recording, yes: a tight 4K camera on each speaker is what makes thirty clean clips possible. Audio-first shows can use one camera.

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