A multi-cam home studio powered by MacBook Pro & Thunderbolt

After years of waffling, I decided that it was time to update my workspace to be more friendly to on-camera work, reviews, tutorials, product photography, podcasting, etc. alternatively of having a space that I sometimes usage for work, sometimes for survey and entertainment, and sometimes for editing, I decided to control it up and wholly dedicate it to video and photograph production.

This setup is primarily powered by a 14-inch MacBook Pro connected to a single Thunderbolt cable. It’s besides made possible by a full host of software, including MovieRecorder, a pricey but fantastic application from Softron. MovieRecorder allows me to simultaneously evidence high-quality HEVC-encoded video in a multi-cam setup from multiple cameras straight to my computer, bypassing SD Cards of CFexpress cards entirely.

As you’ll see in my hands-on video, I’ve done many another things to customize my setup for productivity, and I hope you find it enlightening and fun. Be certain to subscribe to 9to5Mac on YouTube for more videos like this.

My Desk Setup

At the center of my setup is the aforementioned 14-inch MacBook Pro featuring an M1 Max chip, and 32GB of RAM. This device continues to impress me with how utterly capable it is. due to the fact that it’s an M1 Max chip, it has adequate power and video encoding capability to make for a rock-solid centerpiece to my setup.

The 512GB of configured retention isn’t ideal, but since MovieRecorder can encode in HEVC, the retention limit is much little of an issue than if I were working with ProRes-encoded video. I plan to upgrade to a 16-inch MacBook Pro eventually, and I’ll configure more retention then, but my current device has performed so well that I haven’t felt rushed.

Video: Jeff’s 2024 multi-cam home studio tour

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I sold my Pro Display XDR, a staple of my setup since early 2020, and picked up a Studio Display. I miss the HDR capabilities of the Pro Display XDR, but the smaller size and added functionality of the Studio Display make it better for my tiny workspace.

My MacBook Pro and Studio Display remainder on a Husky mobile workbench from Home Depot. This 52-inch workbench includes a wood desktop and 2 drawers underneath. The drawers are instrumental to my setup, however, I needed to remove the top drawer in order to fit everything inside. This besides allows me to store items like the Rode Rodecaster Duo Integrated Production Studio, and rapidly access the smart pads without even beginning the drawer.

The Husky workbench features 4 high-quality casters, so I can rapidly decision it around and reconfigure my shooting space. The bench is besides tallness adjustable, although it’s the manual variety featuring a hand-crank.

Another desktop staple is the Elgato Wave Mic Arm LP microphone arm with a Shure SM7dB attached. The Elgato Wave is simply a amazingly well-built and capable arm that costs just $99, and it’s perfect for on-camera work due to its low-profile nature.

The Shure SM7dB sounds fantastic, and its non-boosted iteration, the regular SM7B, is the de facto standard for podcasting. I have reviews of the SM7dB and the Rodecaster Duo in the works. The Rode interface is an insanely capable all-in-one production studio that features powerful pre-amps, smart pads for sound effects and midi, and a ridiculous amount of connectivity options.

The Rodecaster Duo can even way audio from 1 or 2 Macs, and way audio from circumstantial apps. And yes, you can even connect it straight to your iPhone 15 Pro via USB-C, and interface with the audio coming from it. The Rodecaster Duo is by far 1 of my favourite products in my setup, and I haven’t even started to scratch the surface of what I can do with it.

Although I usage the boom arm for podcasting, I enjoy utilizing the Rode Wireless Pro lapel microphone for reviews, unboxings, etc. The Rode Wireless Pro is an highly capable microphone that sounds great. And due to the fact that the wireless mics can connect straight to the Rodecaster Duo, it makes utilizing 1 or both wireless transmitters even more seamless.

Sidenote: On my fresh journey to Vegas for NAB, I put the Rode Wireless Pro to the test in the field, and I was amazed at the performance. This is easy 1 of the best lapel mics I’ve always used, and it has absurdly good ambient sound rejection. You can watch the full video here:

Also inside my Husky Workbench is the Elgato Stream Deck + controller, which I usage exclusively to control the Elgato Prompter that’s attached to my A-cam utilized for talking head shots. The knobs on the Elgato Stream Deck + are perfect for scrubbing back and forward through a script, changing the velocity of the teleprompter, and even adjusting the display brightness.

For headphones, I usage the super-flexible Shure AONIC 50 Gen 2 wireless headphones. Although I usage AirPods Pro 2 primarily, erstwhile I request direct audio monitoring, the AONIC 50 is my go to. The AONIC 50 can be utilized wirelessly via Bluetooth, but besides features high-resolution USB-C audio capability. More importantly, they can even be utilized with a conventional 3.5mm headphone jack, and that’s how I have these connected to my Rodecaster Duo for monitoring voiceovers. I have a review of these headphones in the works, so stay tuned.

A Single Thunderbolt cable

It took a while, but the USB-C Thunderbolt cable now lives up to the promises initially laid out during the 2016 MacBook Pro refresh launch. We were promised a single cable to supply power, connect to peripherals, and even drive displays. Accessory makers took a fewer years to get on board, but now we have a vast array of Thunderbolt-enabled products.

Connected to my MacBook Pro is simply a single 3-meter Thunderbolt Cable from Apple. This cable is costly, but it’s exceptionally well built and long adequate that I can rapidly decision my MacBook Pro around on my desk, or even decision it off the desktop, and work from my couch while maintaining connectivity. A second 3-meter Thunderbolt cable connects 1 of my hub interfaces to another Thunderbolt-enabled interface, which makes the full setup work.

With just a single Thunderbolt connection to my MacBook Pro, I’m able to connect to the following devices:

These connections are made possible by respective additional hardware devices in between, including:

(Full disclosure: I am a CalDigit ambassador and sometimes make paid content for CalDigit independently of 9to5Mac.)

Inside the OWC Mercury Helios 3S external PCIe enclosure is the Blackmagic plan DeckLink Quad HDMI Recorder. The DeckLink Quad, as its name alludes to, features 4 HDMI inputs on a single interface, allowing me to connect up to 4 Sony FX30 cameras simultaneously. Unfortunately, the card’s stock fan is super loud, so I replaced the stock heat sync, which greatly helped.

Sony FX30

I chose the Sony FX30 as my main camera for various reasons. The biggest reason is that they are comparatively inexpensive, considering their awesome capabilities.

The FX30 is the Super35 version of the popular full-frame FX3. It’s not as good as the FX3 in low-light scenarios, but I have plenty of light in my controlled environment. The FX30 is simply a wildly-capable camera for its asking price, and it’s hands-down 1 of the best values in cameras I’ve always seen.

Two FX30s are “permanently” mounted in specified a way that avoids utilizing typical stands, and thus saves precious level space. I mounted an FX30 on an Impact Wall-Mounted Boom Arm for my overhead camera. These boom arms are permanently installed and can rapidly rise and pivot. The overhead camera resides straight over my Husky mobile workbench and works large for product showcases and detailed unboxing videos.

Attached to the overhead FX30 is simply a Sony E PZ 18-105mm f/4 G OSS lens. At f4, this power zoom lens isn’t the fastest, but its scope and power zooming capabilities are hard to beat. This lens lets me rapidly zoom out to capture a wide shot, say, a giant product unboxing, while besides letting me zoom in to capture detail.

Two additional cameras reside straight in front of my workbench. The first camera, mounted to the wall above the television, is dedicated to on-camera talking headshots. This FX30 is paired with a Sony FE 35mm f/1.4 GM lens, which provides a about 50mm angle of view after the crop origin is taken into account.

Attached to the front of the 35mm lens is the Elgato Prompter, an excellent teleprompter that Elgato late launched. I’ve long tried to usage iPad and iPhone-based teleprompter solutions, but I much like to usage a dedicated solution. It’s just a much simpler and cleaner solution and for the most part it just works.

Beneath the talking head camera, mounted on a tripod, is another FX30. I usage this camera for detailed product shots on the desktop. A simple Sony FE 50mm f/1.8 lens is attached to this camera.

The final FX30 is my alleged “floating” camera. Sometimes, I usage it handheld; sometimes, I attach it to a gimbal; another times, I mount it to a tripod. I usage this camera to capture everything else the mounted cameras can not, and mostly don’t have it rigged to my multi-cam setup, although I can with a simple HDMI connection.

Setup routing hardware

The Thunderbolt cable connected to my MacBook Pro goes straight to the upstream port of the OWC Thunderbolt Hub, which is mounted on the back of my Husky mobile workbench. The 8TB SSD (also mounted on the bench), Pro Display XDR are all connected to this hub.

Additionally, I have the CalDigit SOHO Dock connected the OWC Thunderbolt Hub, which provides me with a fewer more essential ports. The SOHO Dock is besides mounted to the back of my workbench, and it have it connected to the Rodecaster Duo, which is connected to the Shure SM7dB, and the Rode Wireless Pro TX. 1 of the awesome things about the Rodecaster Duo is that it allows for a direct connection to 1 or 2 of the Rode Wireless Pro transmitters, which makes it super easy to capture audio for talking head shots or for sound design.

This setup makes it so that I can keep connections to critical components like the microphones, external drive, and external display while being disconnected from the another elements of my studio setup that connect my cameras.

The second 3-meter Thunderbolt 3 cable in my setup goes from a port on the OWC Thunderbolt Hub to the uplink port on the CalDigit Thunderbolt 4 component Hub. I had any issues with handshaking erstwhile waking up my MacBook, and I found that introducing the CalDigit hub into the mix eliminated the handshaking issues and made it so that I could more easy power-cycle the hub to get everything back online if needed.

The Sonnet Echo 20 Thunderbolt 4 Superdock and the OWC Mercury Helios 3S each connect to a separate port on the CalDigit Thunderbolt 4 component Hub, completing the routing.

The Sonnet Echo 20 Thunderbolt 4 Superdock is simply a fantastic part of hardware for the sheer amount of ports it allows you to access from a single interface. It features a 2.5Gb Ethernet port, which I have connected to my AT&T fibre connection. This provides my MacBook Pro with blazing-fast upload and download speeds, which is especially useful erstwhile uploading large videos to YouTube and for live streaming to YouTube with OBS.

The second, more crucial reason I usage the Sonnet Echo 20 Thunderbolt 4 Superdock, is that it features terrific power transportation properties that just works. Sonnet’s dock features multiple USB ports that supply consistent power to attached devices via USB-C. In addition to connecting all of my FX30s to my MacBook Pro so that I can control them remotely, the Sonnet Dock besides keeps all connected cameras charged, eliminating the request to control batteries or, worse yet, utilize dangerous dummy batteries.

Finally, there’s the OWC Mercury Helios 3S. I installed the Blackmagic plan DeckLink Quad HDMI Recorder inside this PCIe Thunderbolt enclosure. The FX30s connect to the DeckLink Quad via HDMI cables, and while I’m beautiful bad at cable management, I’ve tried my best to make it look somewhat presentable.

MovieRecorder – a pricey but awesome multi-cam solution

So now that we’ve gotten most of the hardware details out of the way, the software issue remains. How might 1 interface and capture video from specified a complex setup? Is it overly tricky? Thankfully, respective apps can do the job, but 1 stands out above the others.

Before I learned about MovieRecorder, I utilized Blackmagic Media Express to interface with my cameras via the DeckLink hardware. Unfortunately, Media Express can only interface with a single camera at a time, which means moving multiple instances of the app. It works, but it gets messy.

The bigger problem with utilizing Blackmagic Media Express is its limited amount of available codec options. ProRes 422 Proxy is the most lightweight option, and those files can inactive get huge. On a 512GB MacBook Pro, this rapidly poses a problem unless you trust on an external drive. It’s not the worst problem in the world, but even with a cavernous external drive, ProRes files rapidly eat up storage.

MovieRecorder solves the issues with Blackmagic Media Express I mentioned and is better suited for multi-cam environments. As long as your computer is capable, it can simultaneously capture video from multiple cameras. Softron gave me a trial licence throughout my testing, letting me capture 4 inputs. Many another licence options are available, even 1 that can capture up to 8 inputs, but it gets pricey.

Granted, this software is aimed at larger production companies with vast budgets. Softron’s S|40 Bundle featuring 4 movie Recorder licenses on a single serial will set you back a cool €5950,00, north of $7500 USD. Again, for a solo creator like myself, that’s most likely not going to be realistic, but there are lesser versions of Softron’s apps that are a bit more palatable price-wise. For instance, MovieRecorder Express, a pared-down version of the main app, can be had with 4 licenses for €2195 or about $2800 USD. It’s inactive not inexpensive but much more realistic for a solo creator like myself.

The large thing about MovieRecorder is how simple and easy it makes things. Video devices from Blackmagic, AJA, and NDI sources are automatically discovered and surfaced. It’s just a substance of clicking the checkbox next to the local sources, which are immediately displayed in the viewer.

You can rename sources – for instance, I have Talking Head, Desk, Overhead, and Extra as origin names. You can besides configure details for each source, like resolution and frame rate, audio source, and even timecode settings.

Destination settings let you configure codec, including super-efficient 10-bit HEVC, save location, customized naming, metadata, and more. You can even set up AppleScripts to trigger at the start or end of the recording. I feel like I’m just scratching the surface of what’s possible with MovieRecorder, and I could most likely make the process even more efficient than it already is.

Each viewer can be individually interfaced with. There are transport controls for starting, pausing, and stopping a recording, renaming a source, switching out a source, or altering configured destinations. You can besides maximize a given origin to get a larger view of its contents.

For multi-cam setups, MovieRecorder includes useful gang controls. These controls let you to simultaneously start or halt capturing footage from all enabled sources. This is super-handy for multi-cam setups due to the fact that it captures video from all origin with a single click.

OBS

Because I can’t afford a full MovieRecorder license, I usage OBS for all of my capturing and live streaming functions. The top thing about OBS? It’s free!

OBS works well, is highly customizable, and it has any features that I like erstwhile compared to another software. The main issue I encountered with OBS is that it doesn’t let you to evidence from multiple sources at erstwhile without a plugin, and the plugin doesn’t work very well in my experience.

There are also issues with OBS, and it has a much higher learning curve than MovieRecorder, but it’s most likely the best solution for those on a budget. It’s besides large due to the fact that it can evidence advanced quality HEVC video.

I usage the smart pads on the RodeCaster Duo to control OBS via MIDI commands interpreted by the amazing BetterTouchTool utility for Mac. With a fast press of 1 of the pads I can easy cycle through all camera angles, start and halt recording, and more. I’ll have a lot more on how I usage OBS in an upcoming post and video.

Control

Being able to rapidly and efficiently control this setup was imperative to me. My goal was to have as small friction as possible. Here are any of the ways that this setup removes friction.

Camera charging and battery management

The FX30 features a good strategy of battery management and features USB PD that lets you keep the cameras charged via a USB-C cable. Each USB-C cable connects straight to a port on the Sonnet Echo 20 Thunderbolt 4 Superdock, which has large power transportation capability. Thus, all 3 of my main FX30s are always ready to go erstwhile its time to start filming.

Camera power

I usage a respective smart switches, specified as the Eve Energy, to power on and power off my cameras. For example, the Sonnet Echo 20 Thunderbolt 4 Superdock is connected to 1 of these smart switches, and I created a simple shortcut to control the timing of the power in order to manage the connected FX30s. To turn on the cameras, the shortcut looks like this.

To power off the cameras (actually putting them to sleep utilizing the FX30’s battery management settings), the shortcut is simply a bit more complex to accommodate for the FX30s power management timing:

The goal of this shortcut was to put all connected cameras to sleep at the same time, and besides make it so that the cameras would begin charging erstwhile they were sleep. The FX30 will not charge while awake, even if you have a USB-C cable connected. If you don’t get the timing right, sending power to the FX30 via the USB-C cable will wake the devices and thus prevent them from charging. It took quite a few guess and checking to figure out the exact timing, but it works.

After the shortcuts were configured, I then mapped them to a smart pad on the Rodecaster Duo. With a simple press of a smart pad, I can power on or power off all of my FX30s in 1 fell swoop.

Remote controlling cameras

Sony’s excellent Imaging Edge Desktop suite features a distant tether option that lets you control various aspects of the cameras via USB-C. This is yet another benefit of having each camera connected to my MacBook Pro via the setup routing explained earlier.

I have a dedicated desktop page that I can swipe to featuring 3 instances of Sony distant for controlling all 3 cameras if needed. I don’t usage distant control often, but in certain situations it can be useful erstwhile you request to change vulnerability values or change focus area.

Teleprompter

The Elgato Prompter connects to my setup via USB and it besides straight integrates with the Stream Deck + for direct control. With it, I can easy scroll forward or backward through my script, rapidly jump between paragraphs, change font and brightness, or start or halt scrolling via the knob controls on the Stream Deck +.

It’s not perfect, but having a dedicated teleprompter that’s this easy to control has been a game-changer for my workflow, and saves tons of time. Stay tuned for the full breakdown and review.

Conclusion

This is my home studio setup in a nutshell. Of course, there are many another aspects to my setup, specified as lighting, that I haven’t touched on. possibly I’ll save that for another post and video.

The full point of this setup was to streamline my workflow, and reduce friction as much as possible, and I think it mostly achieves this. There’s no juggling SD Cards, batteries, etc. It’s fundamentally just a substance of pressing a couple of buttons and you’re ready to record. I’m inactive tinkering and making refinements, but for the most part, I’m very happy with it.

As most of you know, I’m not usually 1 to appear on camera, and like to stay behind the scenes so to speak, but this setup has made me a lot more comfortable sitting in front of the camera.

But the biggest takeaway, in my opinion, is just how flexible and capable the MacBook Pro is. With Thunderbolt connectivity, there is just so much you can do, and it all works via a single cable connection to my Mac. erstwhile I’m finished, I can just eject my SSD, disconnect the cable, and take my Mac with me for working on the go. Throughout all of this the MacBook Pro has performed beautiful much flawlessly.

What do you think about my setup? Do you have any suggested changes or observations? Sound off down below in the comments with your thoughts.