After Covid changed the entertainment business, actors are rarely asked to come in person for first-round auditions. The new normal has become a world of self-taping, a process of an actor recording themselves reading the lines at home before editing and sending it in to the casting team. Whether you’re renting an apartment in Los Angeles, CA, renting a home in Chicago, or looking to buy a home in Atlanta, building a self-tape studio can make the experience of recording your auditions even smoother.
To help you on this journey, Redfin reached out to an assortment of experts in the entertainment business to gather tips about what gear you need to create the perfect self-tape studio. Read on to learn more.
1. Pick your space
The first step in building a self-tape studio is selecting the right space. “Look for a quiet area in your home with minimal distractions. Ideally, this should be a room with enough space to set up your camera, lighting, and backdrop,” says The Taylor Studio, an acting studio in Burbank, California. “If possible, choose a room with good natural light. Large windows can provide soft, flattering light. However, be aware of the time of day, as changing light conditions can affect your tape. Also, select a space that minimizes background noise. Avoid rooms near busy streets or noisy appliances. You can also use soft furnishings (like rugs and curtains) to absorb sound and reduce echoes.”
2. Create a space to be free and alive
After selecting your space, make sure it’s one where you can feel free. “Acting is about presence, not perfection. So your self-tape studio isn’t about your directing skills — it’s about creating a space where you can show up fully free, instinctive, and alive,” says Jo Kelly of To Be or Not to Act, an online acting studio with classes and workshops. “Directors and casting directors aren’t looking for the best lighting or backdrop; they’re looking for the authentic you, raw and uninhibited.”
3. Reduce friction in recording
Whether or not you’re able to devote an entire room to building your self-tape studio, reducing friction points can make recording more efficient and fun. “I’ve found that keeping my lights and tripod in a dedicated space makes a huge difference — after a long day, all I have to do is switch on the lights, mount my phone, and start recording,” says Joel Kawira, an actor and content creator of blogs that give actors tools to succeed. “I also recommend using a music stand next to your tripod to hold your laptop at eye level. This keeps your sides easily visible and helps you stay engaged with your virtual reader as you tape. I occasionally like to use an online teleprompter tool on my laptop to scroll through my sides as I tape. This is useful for the more lengthy audition reads.”
Shannon Sturges of Speiser/Sturges Acting Studio, an acting studio in Los Angeles with elite acting coaches, seconds this the use of a laptop stand in your set-up. “I’d also suggest a laptop stand if you may be doing Zoom auditions from this location as well.”
4. Keep your space lightweight and dynamic
The best self-tape studio is one that can change based on the demands of the audition and be put away when not in use. “If you have a dedicated self-tape space, opt for lightweight, movable furniture to allow for flexibility,” says April Grady of Los Angeles Acting Coach. “Just be sure any creative choices enhance rather than distract from your acting.”
If you’re tighter on space, just take some notes from Craig Archibald of The Archibald Studio, an accomplished acting studio for professionals in Hollywood, on a collapsible set-up. “You don’t need a lot of space to create your own self-tape studio. The lights are easily dismantled and stored in cases included in their price,” says Craig. “Two small screws or nails to hold your backdrop can go into any wall, or top plate. I’ve seen clients hang the fabric on a large mirror or framed art. I’ve used the door hinges on the back of a door too. If you use background stands, they can be a little more labor intensive and take more storage space.”
5. Use natural lighting when possible
When building your self-tape studio, try your best to have a space with good natural light. “The best lighting is natural. If you can swing it, tape during the day in front of natural light coming through a window or door,” says Brooke McCormick of Los Angeles Acting Studio, a boutique LA acting studio in the heart of San Diego. “The trick is to be across the room from the light, or if you must be close to it due to a small space filter the light by hanging a light-colored curtain or sheet over it and voila! You have soft box lighting! Film when the sun is high, if it’s too low you will get harsh lighting which can either blow you out at the end of the day or make you look older than you are in the early morning bright light.”
Lindsay Cummings, a professor of theatre at Chicago Music and Acting Academy and acting studio owner in Chicago, IL, seconds the use of natural light. “Natural lighting is the best, but you can enhance your set-up with additional lighting if needed,” says Lindsay. “Lamps and soft lighting work best. Avoid harsh lights that cast shadows on your face and your background. You want to make sure the lighting makes your eyes really stand out.”
Windows are great to give you some good lighting, but make sure you aren’t filming in front of one. “Avoid strong backlighting or standing with windows behind you,” says Rita Litton, a film and theatre acting coach with classes online and in person in New York City. “Test natural light and enhance it with a ring light to even out shadows if necessary.”
6. Get a ring light
If you can’t get natural light to work out, try a ring light. “The best location for a home self-tape set up is facing a window so that you can get natural light,” says Shannon Sturges of Speiser/Sturges Acting Studio. “When that is not possible, or you’re shooting at night, I like the simplicity of a ring light. I use the Neewer.”
Kate Krieger, an actor and acting coach for in-person and online acting classes, is also a proponent of getting a ring light. “Purchase a standing ring light with adjustable legs and a phone holder, so your money maker is evenly lit from the front, and so that you can record your work with solid framing, regardless of whether you’re sitting or standing,” says Kate.
7. Employ the three-point lighting technique
If you have the money and the space, try using the three-point lighting technique. “The secret to excellent professional lighting is that you have three points of light,” says Craig Archibald of The Archibald Studio. “Ideally you want two lights from the front and one behind the subject shooting onto the background. It can be from the floor up or from above. An easy solution for this is a simple desk lamp placed on the floor behind the subject and shooting up the background. The reason for the rear light is that it differentiates your body from the background creating a 3D effect which looks very professional.”
Destiny Washington, owner and coach with Dallas-based acting studio I Got Taped, agrees with Craig on the three-point lighting setup. “For the perfect setup, focus on a good location, lighting, backdrop, and sound,” starts Destiny. “Use a 3-point lighting setup with two softbox lights and a ring light for balanced illumination, and position them to frame you.”
8. Grab a pop-up backdrop
Now that your lighting is all dialed in, it’s time to work on your background. “You don’t need to donate a whole room for your self-tapes,” says Colleen Finnegan Kahl of Actors Connection, an acting school offering online Zoom acting classes, seminars, casting director workshops, and more. “A pop-up backdrop can cover over any wall art or bookshelves to make sure that there is nothing in the background pulling from your performance. Foldable backdrops can live in a closet or under a bed to make room for regular life when they are not in use.”
9. Try out a denim backdrop
If a pop-up backdrop isn’t your speed, try out this tip for a good background from Craig Archibald of The Archibald Studio. “You certainly can invest into a professional background which will come with paper or fabric backgrounds and the metal stands to hold it all behind you,” says Craig. “But my fiscally frugal suggestion is to go to a fabric store and buy yourself two yards of denim in a color that compliments your skin tone. In my studio, we have a navy blue denim background. The fabric can be easily mounted on a wall with small pins or nails. For my studio, we put two screws in the wall and poked holes in the denim which then hangs on the screws.”
10. Paint a wall
For a more permanent backdrop, paint a wall in your self-tape studio. “Forget the flimsy pop-up backdrops,” says Joseph Pearlman of Pearlman Acting Academy, an acting studio in Los Angeles. “A clean, light gray or slate-colored wall is all you need — no wrinkles, no distractions, just you. Light it with two LED stands to kill shadows, and you’ve got a pro setup that works every time.”
April Grady of Los Angeles Acting Coach seconds the idea of painting a wall if you can afford the space. “Paint a wall in a matte bluish-grey — it flatters most skin tones,” says April. “Position this wall opposite a window to take advantage of natural light. For additional lighting, use a ring light or an adjustable LED panel (cool/warm settings preferred) as your key light. No need to overcomplicate — what matters most is being clearly seen and heard while delivering a strong performance.”
11. Prioritize good audio
You’ll want to be heard in your audition, so make sure you prioritize good sound quality in your self-tape studio. “Bad audio can ruin an otherwise good recording, so for best results you want the microphone to be as close to your mouth and not 10 feet away,” says Alex Rain of Rain Voiceovers, an accomplished voice actor seen in many commercials and TV shows. “You can use a wearable mic like the Rode Wireless Micro which can connect directly to your phone or a wireless mic system plugged into your camera like The Rode Wireless Go or the DJI Mic Wireless.”
If you’ll be using this audio setup for singing auditions, take a few practice recordings. “Our students are typically submitting vocal auditions to karaoke tracks,” says Lisa Wagner, Executive Director of Wagner Summer Theater, a performing arts program for children of all ages in the Waukee and Clive area. “You want to take a few practice videos to make sure the volume of your track and your voice are adjusted accordingly. We need to hear your backing track but we don’t want it so loud it drowns you out and not so quiet we can’t hear the music.”
12. Optimize for voice-over auditions
Voice-over auditions require a slightly different set-up than filmed self-tapes. “For voice-over auditions, I recommend a walk-in closet and an Audio-Technica USB microphone with a Euroboom stand,” says Kate Krieger. “All of these products are user-friendly, easy to set up and store, and will make you look and sound like a seasoned pro even if you’re greener than Kermit.”
Darren Stephens of Voiceover Studio Chicago, a voiceover coaching and demo production studio, expands on these ideas. “Interestingly, it’s actually not difficult to build a studio for home recording for voiceover work. As I discuss with beginning coaching clients who take the Voiceover Exploration, all you really need is a good-quality USB microphone and some sound conditioning material,” says Darren. “The ease with which a home studio can be created is one of the reasons the voiceover business has become very competitive. Yet new people interested in voiceover work for commercials on TV and radio, audiobooks, narrations, animation and videogames and more enter the business all the time. Beginner microphones include the Rode NT1, the Blue Yeti and the Audio-Technica AT2020USB. These ‘beginner’ microphones are widely available, including on Amazon, and are good enough quality to do auditions and jobs.”
13. Condition your space for good sound
You can have the best mics in the world, but if your space has a bad echo you’re still going to have a bad recording. “Another important component of home studio creation is sound conditioning,” continues Darren Stephens. “To work in the voiceover business, it’s not essential to have a vocal booth, which is a sound-isolating room with a door that closes. Many can and do participate in the business with little more than inexpensive egg crate foam on the walls of the recording space. With the microphone in the corner of the room and sound conditioning material on the wall, impressive-sounding recording can occur. Of course, it takes more than a simple home studio – it takes skill and training to stand out from the crowd of people entering this busy field.”
Sound conditioning isn’t just for voice-over auditions, it is also important for film auditions, too. “Too much echo? Soft furnishings like couches and mattresses absorb sound and furnishings like bookcases help break up sound waves,” says Alex Rain of Rain Voiceovers. “For sound treatment on a budget, heavy moving blankets can be hung from the ceiling with hooks or clamped to a collapsible PVC frame and placed just outside of the camera view to your left and right.”
Shannon Sturges of Speiser/Sturges Acting Studio expands on these ideas. “If your home can get noisy, curtains for sound dampening can work well and even double as a backdrop. Quiet curtains have a range of options and can offer a non-distring background,” says Shannon.
14. Show off your personality
Although you want the focus on your performance, you can still let a bit of your personality come through in your audition. “Video auditions can limit those in-person connections you get from live auditions. In video auditions, from the moment you slate, you want to start to show your personality,” says Lisa Wagner, Executive Director of Wagner Summer Theater.
Depending on what you’re recording, your personality can seep through a little more. Listen to this example from ChiCitySports, a Chicago sports news site, about being a sports commentator. “In addition to a desk and comfy office chair, you’re going to want a Professional-Grade RODE NT-USB+ desktop Microphone with a good Broadcast Lighting Kit and a simple backdrop,” shares the ChiCitySports team. “The backdrop could be framed art on a couple floating shelves accompanied by a spattering of neat sports memorabilia or it could be super straight forward with minimal distraction by using a solid color from something like a screen fabric.”
15. Get some help learning your lines.
Sometimes auditions will come through last minute and you need to be ready to record at the drop of a hat. “A great self-tape setup enhances your performance by ensuring proper lighting, clear audio, and a distraction-free environment. By using tools like the Imparato app, actors can rehearse naturally, making their self-tape feel more authentic and compelling,” shares Caro of Imparato, an app to rehearse lines with virtual actors.
16. Decompress after your self-tape
Just as important as the audition is the moment after. To get yourself out of work-mode, it’s important to have a system in place. “After recording, decompress by folding the equipment away and getting yourself and your space back to neutral. Under-the-bed storage remains a classic and reliable choice,” shares the Stella Adler Academy of Acting and Theatre-Los Angeles, an accomplished acting studio in Los Angeles for actors of all skill levels.
17. Upgrade as you go
You don’t need to come out of the gate with an expensive set-up. Sometimes it’s better to start with the basics and go from there. “My advice would be don’t spend a lot, or any, money on your self tape setup until money starts coming in through booking jobs,” says Casey Feigh, a teacher of an Online Commercial Auditioning class at Upright Citizens Brigade, a famous comedy theater specializing in everything from stand-up to improv comedy. “Actors often feel they have little to no control over their careers, so they’ll overspend on equipment to have control over something. Don’t fall into this trap! There is no ‘perfect’ self-tape setup. Remember you are trying to showcase your acting ability, not how expensive your camera is. So keep it simple.”
18. Be seen and heard – keep it simple
At the end of the day, all you need when building a self-tape studio is to be seen and heard. “The number one rule of a self-tape studio is to keep it simple,” says April Grady of Los Angeles Acting Coach. “You can invest in a fancy camera, directional mic, and expensive lights but you don’t need any of it! It’s so much easier than people think. The camera and mic on the iPhone is all you need. You can even edit right there on your phone with iMovie.”
Rosie Moan, an actor and acting coach in Chicago, adds to this idea of simplicity. “The only essentials for a good self-tape setup is to be seen and heard. Phones have great cameras and great mics so you just need a plain background and a light in front of you. That can be a plain painted wall with windows in front of you, or a curtain and a ring light. Nothing fancy, simple works great,” says Rosie.
In conclusion: start with the basics
A lot of information has been thrown at you through this article, so let’s summarize what you need when building a self-tape studio. “Start with the basics: a phone, a tripod, a neutral wall with light directly in front of you, and a good microphone (many under $20 connect directly to your phone),” advises the Stella Adler Academy of Acting and Theatre-Los Angeles.
“When it comes to self tapes you don’t have to go out and buy the most expensive equipment as self tapes have changed dramatically the last few years!” adds Pierce Bailey of On Set Acting Studio, a comprehensive acting studio in Keller, Texas. “If you don’t want to break the bank a ring light that has either a phone holder or camera stand is sufficient! Also, when filming at home I always recommend trying to use a natural light source that directly hits the actor from the front! Lastly, for backdrops, you can either film in front of a solid color wall or Amazon has great small blue portable backdrops you can purchase!”
Remember to have fun and be proud of your work. Everything in a self-tape studio is just to help make sure you can be seen and heard. It’s your skills that help you get the job. If you need some help in that area, consider reaching out to any of the esteemed acting coaches or acting studios from this article. Each of them are experts in their field.
Now that you know how to build a self-tape studio, it’s time to work on sourcing your gear and creating a space where you can feel free to explore and work.
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