How do I choose the right studio for my podcast?
The London podcast market has grown considerably over the past few years, and with it, the number of studios offering recording space. For independent creators, agencies, and brands, choosing the right studio is one of the most important production decisions you can make. Get it right and your show looks and sounds great, your guests feel comfortable and your time/budget is spent productively. Get it wrong and you spend more time firefighting logistics than focusing on content.
At BISON, we run a full-service video podcast studio, and so we have had thousands of conversations with clients from all walks of life considering different studios. If you're new to podcasting, I wanted to share a few thoughts which might help to decide whether a studio like ours is the right fit for you.
Do You Need Support?
The first question to ask is what level of support you actually need. Some studios offer dry hire, which means you rent the space and bring your own equipment and crew. This can work well for experienced production teams who have their own gear and engineers they trust. It can also work for some independent creators who work directly with a videographer. But for most video podcast productions, a full-service studio offers a more streamlined and cost-effective option.
A full-service studio like BISON provides the space, the cameras, the microphones, the lighting rig, the vision mixing, and a dedicated engineer to run everything on the day. This is set up permanently and optimised to the studio environment, with a team who knows the specifics of the space and the equipment. Using a full-service studio means your hosts and guests can arrive, sit down, and focus entirely on the conversation with minimal setup. You are not spending the first hour of your session troubleshooting audio issues or adjusting camera angles. For agencies and businesses producing regular content, the reliability of a full-service setup is particularly valuable. You can brief the studio once, establish a workflow, and deliver consistent results across multiple episodes.
I would ask you to consider that your time and budget can be spent in different ways, and whilst a dry hire space may be cheaper up front, you will almost certainly incur further cost in the time needed to book and manage freelance videographers, rent equipment, coordinate transport, setup time and manage file delivery. A full-service studio will handle all of this for you for a flat fee.
The Set
Different shows have different visual identities, and the studio you choose needs to support yours. Some studios offer a fixed set that looks the same for every client. Others, like BISON, offer a semi-customisable environment where lighting, layout, and background elements can be adjusted to suit your brand. A third option is building your own set from scratch, which some larger productions choose for flagship shows.
For most clients, a semi-customisable studio strikes the right balance. It gives you a professional, polished look without the cost and complexity of a full set build, and it allows your show to have a visual identity that feels distinct. Before booking any studio, ask to see examples of how the space has been used for different productions, and check whether you can make meaningful changes to the look and feel. Options like table setups for 3-4 people, or armchairs for 2 people will feel very different, especially when the lighting is also changed.
Before you even start contacting studios, spend some time gathering visual references for your show. A wellness or mental health podcast typically calls for warm tones, soft lighting, and an intimate feel. A podcast focused on business, technology, or expertise tends to want something sharper, more structured, and visually authoritative. These are genuinely different briefs, and not every studio can deliver both.
Being clear on your references saves a significant amount of time and helps you assess quickly whether they can deliver what you have in mind. How a studio responds to that question will tell you a lot about their editorial experience and whether they understand your vision.
Location Matters
For single-host podcasts, studio location is a practical consideration. For interview-format shows, it is a critical one. Every time you bring a guest into your studio, you are asking them to give up their time. A studio that is difficult to reach, poorly connected, or in an inconvenient part of the city creates friction that puts guests off and can affect the quality of the conversation before it even starts.
We're based at 445 Hackney Road in E2, East London, two minutes from Cambridge Heath Overground station and ten minutes from Bethnal Green Underground, making it straightforward to reach from most parts of London and easy for guests coming in from outside the city via Liverpool Street. Round the corner are Broadway Market and Columbia Road, which gives guests and production teams great options for coffee and food before or after a session, as well as the independent businesses which East London is renowned for.
When you are weighing up studios, check the transport links carefully and think about where your regular guests are coming from. A slightly cheaper studio on the wrong side of London can cost you more in cancelled appearances and rearranged schedules than you save on the day rate.
If you are looking for a video podcast studio in London that offers full-service production, a semi-customisable set, and a straightforward location for guests, get in touch with and we’d be delighted to discuss your project. More information about our studio and rates can be found on our website.
