- Welcome to my editing suite. So I've been working on building out the spare bedroom for a little while now and this is gonna be the video that goes through everything that I've done in here to get it to where it is right now, and to make this a fully functional editing suite, working off my M1 Mac Mini. So my goal with this video is to show you guys what I've done, but also hopefully give you guys some ideas on things that you can do in your editing space to optimize your ability to have a space where you can edit your videos, potentially even shoot your videos and just have like a dedicated space where you can be the most creative. All right guys. So let's get into it. (air whooshing) (bright upbeat music) Links to everything will
be in the description. I've put together a kit that has all the equipment I'm gonna talk about and all the pieces of gear that I use in my studio. So if there's anything specific that you want from my setup, I'll put links to all
that in the description. So first let's talk about something that's super important when it comes to your editing workflow, and that is your chair. So this is an X-chair. And this is the chair that I've been using
for a little while now. It's got so many different features that make it super ergonomic, and it's just feels comfortable. X-Chair has sponsored today's video. And later on, I'm gonna go through what makes this chair so unique and why it's so great to edit from. Let's talk about this Mac Mini M1. It's a super powerful computer and I'm just running the base model. I'll put a link down
below in the description to another video all about the M1. But what I wanna talk about is what I have connected into my M1. So on the back you have a bunch of dedicated ports which makes it very easy to build out an editing
suite from this computer. So there's two Thunderbolt ports. One of them I use for my SSD drive and my SSD drive is what I edit off of. I'm using a base model Mac Mini. There's not a lot of storage on it. You're not gonna edit
from the computer itself. So I use a fast SSD drive to edit from. Now, if you did get like the two terabyte model of the Mac Mini, then you could just edit straight off the drive and it's gonna be super fast. But I will use one Thunderbolt three port for my SSD drive. And then the second Thunderbolt three port I use for a hyper-drive hub. This is a 12-in-1, and it has some things on this hub that I already have on the back of the Mac Mini. However, this hub allows me to have a few more USB ports. So it's got two USB 3, two slower USB. It's got a USBC that's a pass through. And then it has a display port and two HDMI ports. So what I use out of this hub is one of the HDMIs and that goes to my monitor up top there. And then I use the USBs for slower hard drives. A lot of times I'll plug in back up hard drives to the slower USBs, 'cause I'm not editing off those drives. They're just there for redundancy. So when I'm importing footage, I'll import to my fast drive and then I'll always auto duplicate to those other drives. And it's not important that they're super fast like my main SSD drive. Now, there's two more USB 3 on the back of the Mac Mini. One of those goes to my card transfer and I use this card transfer that allows me to do four SD cards at once. And what's cool about this tower is that each one of these slots you can pop out. So right now I have four SD card slots, but I can take out this attachment. And instead of using an SD card, I could do micro SD or I could do CF or another type of card. And so depending on what cards I'm shooting on, I can put up to four
different cards in here. And I use this a lot because when I'm shooting my content for my production company, I typically do multicam and I do two or three cameras and we'll run multiple
cards throughout the day. So instead of going one by one, I'll stick four cards in at once. And I have to do only one or two transfers to be able to get all the footage onto my hard drives. And the second USB 3 on the back of the Mac Mini is just for another hard drive. Now, my ethernet, I have that tied into my
Synology backup server and that server has everything on it. I have a ton of data on my Synology server and I have that server in my closet. So when I'm in here editing you actually can't hear the server. Like those hard drives are much louder than the SSDs and the other hard drives I'm using, and I've locked it away in my closet, in a server rack. So I like to be safe with my data and I never just have one copy of data. My Synology is kind of like where I dump everything after I'm done working on it. But I always do keep a second copy of it on one of these small drives. Now, also here in my closet is my UPS. Now, this is important because this is power for everything in my editing setup. Basically, if the power goes out, this thing kicks in, it's a giant battery and it will power everything in my studio for like a couple hours. So it's a kind of worst case scenario. This thing kicks on and then I can deal with shutting everything off and I don't lose anything. Now, also, if there's
any sort of power surge or power flickering, this thing keeps the power consistent so that there's never an instance where the computer will shut off or a hard drive will shut off. Now, the Mac Mini also has an HDMI out and that main HDMI out goes to my bottom monitor. So with the Mac Mini you only can have two monitors and that's all I use. So for me this workflow is great. Now, the last port that I use on the back of my Mac Mini is the headphone out. And instead of using it for headphones, I have it tied into my studio monitors and it works well. However, there's plenty of space if I do wanna add an audio interface down the road. I'll plug it into one of the USBs that's open. And then I might add like an audio interface that sits on the desk and I can control audio that way. For final cut users, if you're someone who does everything in final cut, I highly suggest this especially when you're building out an editing suite like this. Everything just works so
smoothly on that computer and it's made my life so much easier. All right. So let's
talk about this X-Chair. This is the X3-HMT from X-Chair and it has 10 ergonomic adjustments, to be able to fit any body type and to give you comfort while you're sitting and working. I didn't realize how bad my other office chair was until I sat down in this thing. So what really stands out on this chair is how you can adjust it to fit your comfort level. So there's standard adjustments like you might expect like the chair height or the armrest height. However, beyond that, you can slide the seat forward or back and then adjust the proper seat depth for your lower back
against the lumbar support. Now, the entire backrest independently adjust up and down depending on how tall you are. And it also allows you to get that lumbar support in the natural curve of your spine. There's also an adjustable headrest that moves in different
directions up down, and it curves around. One of my favorite
adjustments is the sciflow and how this works is it changes the intensity of how much you're reclining. So when I'm working I don't have the chair locked and I'll move freely. So if I want to tilt back, I just lean back into the chair and you can change how much pressure the chair is gonna push back on you. It helps boost comfort and productivity while
you're editing in this chair. One of the best features about this chair is the dynamic variable lumbar support. So this automatically adjusts as you're sitting in the chair. And the one that I have not only does massage but it also does heat. It responds to your weight, your height, your body position, and the amount of pressure that you place on it. So guys, if you wanna
learn more about X-Chair, I'll put a link down
below in the description where you can find more about how all of this works. And if you use my code, JEVENX, you'll get a free set of wheels, which is a $50 value. Now, personally, this chair has been such a big improvement in my editing workflow. I really do like this chair and it's something that I sit on every day when I'm working. Okay. So let's talk about the top of the desk. Everything that you see that's not tied into the Mac Mini down in the rack case over there. There's something important
about having less clutter in your working space. So what I tried to do with this setup is make it super minimal. I wanted to go with a big desk and this big desk is about seven feet across. And I have my studio
monitors up right here positioned at the perfect angle to get the best audio. And then I have my two monitors stacked. These are both ViewSonic
ColorPro Monitors. The one on the bottom is a curved 38 inch. And the one on the top is a flat 38 inch. And this one's a little bit more square. So the one on the top I use to display my videos in full resolution, across the entire screen. Whereas the bottom, the curved screen that's what I use to do all my editing offer. It's longer. I can see more of my timeline and this setup has
worked super well for me. My studio monitors are
sitting on isolation pads which help give you better sound when you're listening back to your audio. Now, for keyboard and mouse, I use the Apple Magic mouse. I really like these. Some people don't, but for me this seems to work great. And then I just use one of the Apple keyboards and I went black with both of these to just match everything in my studio. This is all set up to
just be super functional and just have more space. And the idea is when you have more space you don't have all the clutter everywhere. You can focus in on the work at hand. When we have a mess around us and we're super cluttered, that kind of anxiety tends to seep into our minds. There's been studies on this where the clutter in our physical space actually will affect our mental space. So this is why I went for a super minimalist
design in my studio. I want to just be completely focused on what I'm working on here and not just have a bunch of things everywhere. All right, let's talk about the build-out of this room because what you do to your space will affect how you're
seeing your monitors and how you're hearing your audio. All right. So let's talk about audio. So it's super important how you've set up your room to be able to get the best audio because if you have just flat walls and a hard floor you're gonna get a lot of reverb. So this room has carpet in it and that kills a lot of the reverb. And then also up top, I have acoustic foam and basically I've lined
the entire ceiling. I have a couple spots I got to finish. But both of these things help in killing all the reverb in this room. When you're editing you
don't wanna hear sounds bouncing off the room. You wanna have a completely silent space, so you hear exactly what's going on in the edit. Now, there's a few more things I can do because I still have flat walls. And I still get a little bit of reverb especially when I'm shooting. So what I plan to do is, add a few more sound panels on these walls to break up the sound. Right now, it's pretty empty. So ideally what you wanna do in your space is fill it with things that break up how the sound is moving. When you have a big flat wall like this, there's a lot of sound that bounces off of that. So as you break up your wall space, your floor, your ceiling, you're gonna find that you're gonna get less of that reverb. So good for shooting and also good for editing. So the paint on your walls is gonna have an impact on how you view your screens. This is a neutral gray And this is actually special cinema paint. It's called Cmlite. And this is not cheap. This was like $100 a can. Is it 100, maybe 80. I don't know. It was a lot of money. And this paint basically has no color value in the gray. So this is just great. There's no blue cast, there's no orange cast. And the reason is when you're looking at your monitors and you have some paint that has a little bit of a tint to it, it's gonna change the way that you actually see the color. So when you're color grading you wanna have gray, just flat gray walls. So you don't have to go out and get this kind of paint. But what you wanna try and find is a gray paint that doesn't have a color cast in it. And then cover the area around your computer monitor so that what you're
seeing behind the monitor is just the flat gray. Now, you also don't want any light pollution when you're editing. So you don't wanna have like a bunch of outside source coming in. And also you don't wanna have like orange lights from above, depending on what your setup is. So what I've done in here is I've put blackout curtains on all the windows. So I have windows and doors and I have these blackout curtains that allow me to just completely block out all the light. And then when I'm
specifically looking at color, I turn off all my lights except for one light. And I use one of these CAME-TV lights and it's underneath my desk mounted. And that allows me to splash a little bit of light on the back wall. You want just this touch of light on the back wall because it helps you see the monitors a little bit better. So that's what I use when I'm specifically looking at color. However, I also have the set up so that when I'm editing I don't always have to be in a super dark room. That's really only for like final color grading touches, but I can open all my windows up, I can see outside. And I think it's important that you don't always just sit in a dark room all the time. So the way that I have this position is my computers here and there's a wall behind me. So there's no reflection on the screen and I can still have the windows open over here. Originally, I had my
computer against that wall. It kind of felt like
it made the most sense but I was getting tons of glare from my windows hitting the screen. So I changed it. So I have this over here. And that allows me to work both with all the windows open and also with all the windows closed. Now, this is the first time I've had a temperature controlled room. So I put this AC unit in which also doubles as heat and having a temperature controlled room makes it easier to shoot. So I'm not sweating all the time and also edit. Now, in my previous studios, I had one in an apartment which we had no AC and I was on the third floor. So I was always sweating in summer. My second studio was in a garage, again, no AC, was sweating all the time in summer. So now that I have an AC unit here in my studio it makes such a difference. It's something that I've always wanted as a creator because I've been making videos on this channel for over five years. And this is the first time, the last few months that I've been able to control how hot or how cold I am while I'm shooting and editing in my studio. Let's talk about my filming space. So this is something new that I've set up. And I like having a dedicated space where I can sit down, hit record, and everything's ready to go. Now, I had this kind of
setup over by my desk, but it still just didn't
work right for me. And I've really wanted like a dedicated space. So I got this little table off Amazon. It was cheap. It looks nice. It works. And then I have a single stand over here that has my camera, my monitor, my audio, and my light all on one stand. So that I basically have this one thing that I can move around. And that's where my camera is and there's just not a bunch of stands. There's not a bunch of
extra things hanging around and it just makes it
super clean and simple. Now, this is a stand you can actually buy off Amazon. They have two versions. One is the standalone version, which is what I have. And they have another one that clips onto the side of your desk. So if you are someone who wants your setup kind of over there with the editing setup, you can just clip it on the side of your desk. Now, I've definitely made some modifications to this because out of the box, it's not perfect for what I'm doing. However, I've made it work and I've tweaked a few things. And now the stand works great to be like my all-in-one YouTube filming stand. And guys let me know down the comments, do you want me to do a video about this whole setup, breaking down every piece that I use to make it work. I'd love to hear from you guys. I might make that video in the future. Now, also having this desk gives me a space to work that's not in front of my computer and this is another thing that goes along with what I was talking about
earlier of having space. I feel like when I'm sitting in front of the computer I'm always working on editing and I'm always like in that kind of workflow. So when it comes time to sit down and write or do a script or something like that, I kind of get all jumbled in my head. And I just comes down to like, you need to have a space that you can walk away from that's not by your computer. Like maybe we'll close to this and put it away. So when I'm here I can work on ideas. I can work on scripts. And also I have a whiteboard here. So I kind of work freely between my space here. I go up to my whiteboard. I can kind of move
around between the space and I'm not sitting at my desk. I'm not getting bombarded by emails. I'm not looking at my to-do lists. Like I'm more focused on actually just making videos and coming up with ideas and concepts. So I'll use a notepad. I mean, I might have my laptop here, but I'll turn off wifi. And I just won't open any of the apps. And I'll just be focused on the idea creation phase. And this has helped me a lot because having a space where I can get away from my main computer and get away from things like emails and to-do lists and all that just lets me be creative and not have to worry about anything else that's going on. And I've set this up in a way where yes, I have a good spot. I have a lot of depth behind me to be able to shoot my videos, but also I can look out the window. I can see out into my yard. And so I can open all the blinds and I can have some view of what's around me and outside rather than just always being locked in a dark studio. So my space is not perfect, but I've optimized it for what I need as a creator. And the few things that I might change moving
forward is one, my desk. I'll probably change out the top and the legs because I wanna go with like a darker wood or a gray, and the legs I wanna go with a black 'cause right now they're white. I also wanna get that upper monitor mounted to the wall because right now it's
sitting on a C Stand and maybe I'll go with a bigger monitor. And then also I need to do some more soundproofing on the walls, some more acoustic panels. And I think on this back wall would be a good place to do like a big piece of art. I don't want a bunch of little things in here. I think I just want like one big piece of art. And then when I'm filming, it's in the background and might be something that I can tie into my channel as well. Then I guess the last thing is that I have my Silver 100,000 subscriber play button over there. And there's a spot for my Gold 1 million YouTube play button over here. So guys, if you're new here make sure you hit that subscribe button so you can help me get to that 1 million subscribers. And guys, if you wanna see any of this gear in more detail, and you wanna see more about X-Chair which I highly suggest you check out, I'll put links to all of it down below in the description. And guys, if you want to see more details why I switched over to the M1 Mac Mini, I'll put a video right here that goes through all the reasons why I think that M1 is an awesome computer and why I think a base model M1 is more than enough power for your editing setup. All right, guys, I'll see you over there.
