I have been shooting video since 2018. In 2022 I opened a studio in Ferndale because I kept watching podcasts that sounded good and looked like an afterthought. Samas Studio is the room I wanted those shows to be recorded in.
Before there was a studio, there was a camera bag. Since 2018 I have shot many events, written client testimonials, and worked in the film industry. Different jobs, but the same skills every time: reading a room, running cameras, directing people who are not actors, and keeping a conversation alive while three cameras are rolling.
That last part matters more than most people expect. Anyone can point a camera at two chairs. Knowing when to let a pause breathe, when to reframe, and how to get a guest to forget the lens is what separates footage you can publish from footage you have to rescue in the edit.
Around 2021 I started watching a lot of podcasts. The audio was usually fine. The video almost never was. Flat lighting, one locked-off angle, and framing that made a two-hour conversation feel like a security camera recording. These were shows with real audiences and real sponsors, and the video was the weakest thing about them.
It was not a talent problem. It was a room problem. Most podcasters were recording wherever they could find space, then hoping the edit would fix it. In 2022 I opened Samas Studio in Ferndale to remove that compromise.
After the first few sessions, a pattern showed up. Clients walked out with footage that looked genuinely good, and then it sat on a hard drive. The recording was never the hard part. Editing was. Cutting clips was. Getting the episode in front of anyone was.
So we stopped stopping at the recording. Post-production came first, then the workaround for it: websites to host the show, search visibility, and social clips. Not because we wanted to be an agency, but because our clients kept hitting the same wall in the same place.
The studio runs three Sony FS7 II bodies, a Canon C500 Mark II, and two Sony FX3s. Every one of them appears on Netflix’s approved camera list, which is a standard built for productions that cannot afford to be wrong about image quality.
For a podcast, that buys you two things. Your wide, your two-shot, and your close-ups all match, so the edit never looks stitched together. And when a clip from your episode ends up in an ad or on a screen bigger than a phone, it holds up.
I do not hand over a key and disappear. I set the cameras, light the space, and run the session while you record. If you have never been on camera before, I will help you get the conversation moving instead of leaving you to figure it out on your own.
Most studios end their job when the cameras stop. Ours does not, because that is exactly where our clients used to get stuck.
Full episode edits, short-form clips, color and audio cleanup. Your footage becomes something you can publish this week.
On-location shoots, brand films, and commercial work outside the studio walls.
Search visibility and social distribution, so one recording session feeds a month of content.
Sama does. He sets up the cameras and lighting and stays in the room while you record.
Since 2018, across natural events, testimonials, and film industry work. He opened Samas Studio in 2022.
Yes. Most people who book the studio have never recorded a video podcast before. You do not need to bring equipment or technical knowledge.
You can take the raw files, or we can handle the edit, the clips, and the distribution.
Studio time starts at $135 an hour with a one hour minimum. Parking is free. Call and Sama will walk you through what your session would look like.
2505 Hilton Rd, Ferndale, MI 48220 | Monday to Saturday, by appointment
