Hey smores, I'm Shannon Morse, welcome to Morse Code. I do tech reviews and tutorials.
If you're looking for in depth tech and gadget content, you've come to the right place.
Today I'm wrapping up 2021 and I'm wrapping up my basement series and I gotta say,
its kind of bittersweet. This whole studio basement build has been a dream of mine for
so long, so I really wanted to take you with me on the entire journey
so you could see what it's like to work through the whole process.
So I hope it was useful and entertaining. I'm really glad I decided to jump headfirst into
the construction when I did. We save up when we moved into this house, and about a year
after we first got our keys, we broke ground on building this studio with our hired contractors.
I knew it would take a long time because of delays with materials and because
the company we hired had multiple projects going at the same time,
but it definitely took a little longer than I'd expected, even with my assumed delays considered.
So I didn't even get to move into the space until July, and I went to NC in July so didn't
unpack and get settled into the space to start recording again until later in August.
It was a lot of pressure and stress, for sure.
Because not only was construction happening in our basement, but I was also managing that
construction as the project manager, making sure everything was done the way I wanted and needed it
done, but I was also working my own job. Trying to make videos all day every day. And
I couldn't do as many videos as I wanted and I directly saw slower growth because of that.
So my channel didn't grow as fast as I wanted it to this year. I had to slow down. Breath. I really
had to cut back on production so that I could pay attention to the studio as well. And that
worried me, because the point of the studio build is to grow my channel, so I really wanted
to keep up a steady momentum on my channel at the same time. But doing those two jobs at once was
kind of like trying to keep a fulltime job after having a kid, at least thats what I've been told
by people who have kids. Unless you have help, you have to sacrifice something and that something
often times ends up being sleep or your own mental and physical health. So I did have some personal
goals for the channel this year that I didn't hit and I'm disappointed that they didn't happen,
but I'm also trying to tell myself that's what needed to happen so I didn't get burnt out.
In the middle of all of the construction, one of the contractors sent me some unsolicited
and uninvited texts and photos late on a Saturday night and that not only freaked
me out (because the dude had access to my home and knew where I live and what my routine is),
but also when I talked about it online and how I told his boss about it, I was targeted by a
hate group for a few days because I got the guy fired. Screw my safety, because I guess
"boys will be boys?", so this group that had mob mentality told me things like "watch your back"
and "we know who you are" and crap like that. Talk about an emotionally draining experience
that makes you wonder why you even do this job when people hate you for standing up for yourself
and your physical safety in your own home. I'm glad I talked about it though, because
the amount of replies I got to my twitter thread about that whole ordeal made me realize that tons
of women straight up make their husbands deal with contractors because they've had even worse
cases of harassment than I have and they know their husbands will be treated with respect.
So I went through this somewhat paranoid process of setting up alarms and motion sensors and
cameras and alerted my neighbors about the guy just in case he showed up unannounced and luckily
that never happened but I don't think I'll ever let my guard down. It's scary to know that a man
who should be treating you with respect and have boundaries in a workplace environment
would decide that that's a perfect time to come onto you, even though he's been in the household
that you and your husband own and share. Talk about disrespectful and a huge power play.
That was a part of the reason things slowed down on the construction. The GM had to bring in a new
drywall guy to finish the job. But since he had multiple projects going,
the new guy was already working on other houses.
I did that video earlier this year about the water leak we had because the people who built
our home put a nail gun straight through PEX water pipes. You'd think they'd use
nail guards or check for that kind of error but I guess not.
There's still few things I haven't gotten to for the studio. I need to set up some more
studio foam so there's less reverb, I think that's my priority. And I think
I need to rearrange a few things to fit my needs a little better now that I'm working
in this studio fulltime instead of a small bedroom. Cable organization for
my desk needs a bit of a revamp since I was just in a hurry to get it up and working...
but I think everything, for the most part, is where it needs to be and is working for my needs.
It's kind of weird being back in a home studio and I feel like I went full circle from when I started
in 2008 as a content creator. When I started down this very deep rabbit hole, I was hosting Hak5
and we were working out of our bachelor pad home in Virginia, out of our kitchen and dining area.
That's where we shot the shows. It wasn't until 2010 or 2011 when we all moved to San Francisco,
that I started working on shows in a garage... then a office space... then a warehouse...
then we moved into a bigger office space with a dedicated studio room... and then in like 2019,
we went back to recording shows out of our homes. And during that decade I was also producing and
hosting shows with other networks and studios so I got to see how all these incredible shows were
made and I learned how I could produce my shows at a better quality. So through all those moves and
job changes, I've been mentally notating things I liked and disliked about each studio I worked in.
And that includes little things like... the Litter Robot is upstairs because I can hear
it's motor on my mic when it's near my studio and my cats like to poop while I'm recording.
So I made sure my new studio is as far away from that robot as it can be. Cables on the floor
always bugged me in studios, so I made sure I had plugs in the ceiling here.
I feel like this studio gives me the freedom to do what I want to do without feeling like my space
is being a burden. I removed all of the burdens of entry that would delay my
ability to get onto the set and hit record. So now I don't have to set up my cameras or my lights
everytime because they live in the same place all the time. I bought magnetic RGB lights so
they're easy to move around and I switched all of my tripods to the same arca mounting system
so it's easier to move my camera around. I tried to make the studio a thoughtful and
convenient process instead of having it be a burden to setup and break down every week.
So what's coming up for 2022? I'll share my plans in an upcoming video. But until then...
subscribe... I have a feeling there's gonna be some really fun
videos coming up in January which you'll want to stick around for.
Huge thank you again to my sponsors for this basement studio series - lutron caseta,
alienware, uplift desk, and ubiquiti. I reviewed all of the products they provided in separate
videos and showed how I'm using them. These sponsors were chosen by me because they all
make products that I know will last me a long time and are perfect for this studio.
If you want to support the content on this channel which is always free to view,
check out the links in the description. My personal favorites are Patreon,
Youtube Memberships (via that join button) and Buy Me A Coffee because you also get perks when
you sign up, but if you wanna grab some stickers or swag, I've got a store link for merch as well.
Thanks again to my smores for subscribing
and watching. I'm Shannon Morse and I'll see ya soon. Bye yall!