How to record an online course at home?

A studio is a cost. A first online course at home stands on sound and readability. This piece is a setup checklist, not a review of cameras that cost 20 thousand.

The goal: the student hears the instruction and sees the move. Billboard-grade color can wait for edition two. The product around the recording: how to create a course from scratch.

Camera

A DSLR is not required. If you have a body — 1080p is enough for a lesson. Set exposure manually so the face does not jump when a curtain moves.

A tripod or anything that does not shake. Digital zoom ruins the picture — walk closer or crop in the edit. 4K makes sense if you crop the frame; it does not if it fills the disk and adds nothing to learning.

Smartphone

Rear camera, a tripod or a stack of books, a clean lens. Not the front camera if you can avoid it. Orientation lock. Space on the card before you start module 3.

Mute notifications. Turn on airplane mode if you are not recording to the cloud. One session = one lesson, then listen back. A streak of five “I’ll just add this” ends in a tired voice and a mess of files.

Microphone

A lavalier or a small condenser at the collar beats the laptop mic. Test in headphones: fridge hum, empty-kitchen echo, a muted voice. Sound beats 4K.

If you teach on a mat, the mic has to travel with you. If at a desk — fixed, 20–30 cm from the mouth, slightly to the side so it does not catch breaths. A soft panel or a blanket on the wall cuts echo cheaper than a new interface.

Light

A window beside the face, not behind the back (silhouette). A softbox lamp or a large shade if it is evening. One main source, a weaker second from the other side if you have it.

Avoid mixing a cold LED with a yellow bulb on the face. Set white balance once and do not touch it during the lesson. Hands demo: light the table, not only the forehead.

Framing

Eyes in the upper third. A little air above the head. What you show (mat, table, screen) should not clip at the edge. Talking head + a demo insert when you teach with your hands.

Leave room for captions at the bottom of the frame. Do not stand so a lesson title covers your hands. If you show an exercise — frame from the knees up or a full figure, consistently in the module.

Background

Calm, not “aesthetic mess” from a reel. A shelf, a plain wall, a plant. A madebyu logo does not need to hang behind you — this is your brand, not our backdrop.

Hide laundry, the vacuum, and open cabinets. The student will see it anyway, only instead of the lesson. One consistent background across a module builds the feel of a product, not a vlog.

Screen recording

A large cursor, one thread at a time, notifications off. Voice separately if you can — easier edit. For Figma, Lightroom, a course dashboard: screen + a small face window, or no face if it adds nothing.

Zoom the interface. A 13-inch laptop recorded 1:1 is unreadable on a phone. Show one panel, not a whole desk of windows.

Lesson length

8–20 minutes. One idea. Better three short ones than an hour of “I’ll just add this.” A student on a phone will not forgive padding.

If the topic needs 40 minutes — cut it into parts with their own assignments. A weekly program stands on that too: how to assemble an online program.

Editing

Cut openings, breaths, mistakes. A title with the lesson number. You do not need to grade color like a music video. Edit time must not eat the year in which you could have sold v1.

One audio track, steady volume between lessons. Level it before you upload. Cuts mid-sentence annoy more than a raw but complete take.

Export

H.264, 1080p, a bitrate that does not weigh half a terabyte per module. File name: module-02-lesson-03. You upload into a lesson in madebyu — platform video hosting, not public YouTube as the only lock.

Captions

They speed up watching without sound. Auto-captions as a draft, then correct proper names and numbers. Do not publish a transcript that turns your advice into an error.

1. 01Record a 30 s test, listen in headphones.
2. 02Lock the frame and light, then the lesson list.
3. 03One lesson = one file = one assignment at the end.

• —You can draft an outline with a model: AI for a course.