Podcast · Video

Where can you record a video podcast in NYC?

Audio-only podcasting leaves discovery on the table — clips drive growth now, and clips need cameras. A video podcast studio is a treated room plus a multi-camera setup plus someone who keeps frames, levels, and sync honest for the whole session. Union Square Loft runs video podcast sessions at $350/hr — or 4 hours for $1,200 — with cameras, lighting, per-host audio, and an operator included, in a daylight loft on Broadway.

What separates a video podcast studio from an audio room

Adding a webcam to an audio booth doesn't make a video podcast — it makes evidence. A real video setup means: two to three cameras covering wide and singles, lighting built for faces across a full session, per-host audio on isolated tracks, and frames that stay honest as people lean, gesture, and trade the conversation. Someone has to mind all of it while you host, because hosting and operating are two jobs and doing both does both badly.

The setup that actually works

• 2–3 camera coverage. A wide for the room, a single per host. Singles are what make episodes watchable and clips possible.
• Lighting for faces, not vibes. The moody neon look reads great in photos and terrible across 60 minutes of cuts. Soft, consistent key light wins — and real daylight through 9-foot windows is the best key there is.
• Per-host audio tracks. Isolated tracks let your editor fix one voice without touching the others. Non-negotiable past one host.
• An operator. Watching frames, riding levels, flagging the moment a mic drifts. Included in every USL video session.

The daylight-loft look vs. the neon-couch cliché

Video podcast sets have collapsed into a template: dark room, LED strips, two chairs, a plant. It's recognizable, which is exactly the problem — your show looks like two hundred others. A real loft with daylight, height, hardwood, and real furniture gives the frame a place instead of a set. Real rooms read as credible on camera, and credibility is the asset a show is building.

What a session yields

A 4-hour video block typically delivers: one or two full episodes, covered wide-plus-singles; 8–15 vertical clip candidates per episode when singles are framed with the 9:16 crop in mind (how that works); and stills for thumbnails and promotion pulled from the same coverage. One booking feeds a month of channel output.

USL session anatomy and rates

Sessions here run for networks, agencies, and independent hosts on the same setup — the room and the operator don't change with the size of the show, only the booking does.